Posts Tagged ‘Graffiti Alley’

yyz mural, Uber 5000

Posted: August 16, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

This is another Graffiti Alley post to accompany yesterday’s hearts and love post.  This time, I want to share some photos of the latest large mural in the alley, Uber 5000’s Toronto themed mural.  There are lots of references to things found in the city!

below: A pair of CN towers.

Graffiti alley, large building covered on both sides with murals by Uber 5000, marine life facing the alley and a new Toronto themed mural on the west side, partially obscured by garages in the alley, and behind a chainlink fence.

below: Looking in windows with a black cat looking back out, some fish and an owl in a tree.

part of Uber 5000 Toronto mural in Graffiti Alley, houses, cat, orange fish, apartments, owl in a tree,
below:  That Toronto Maple Leaf fan isn’t looking very happy – I hope that he’s not about to jump off the roof! Perhaps the Blue Jay is there to console him?  The Leafs last won the Stanley cup in 1967 (it ‘s the 50th anniversary!).  As for the Hubbo dog reference, I have no idea what that is about.

blue jay with yyz baseball cap, baseball bat, a maple leaf fan dressed in hockey shirt with large blue maple leaf painted on his face, sitting on a roof

below: A shout out to Canada’s 150th birthday.   An Uber 5000 yellow birdie flies a helicopter – with a couple of happy looking passengers!

part of a large mural, blue sky painted background, the underside of an airplane as it passes overhead, painted with 150 and a red maple leaf, flying beside it is a red helicopter with a Uber5000 birdie flying it.

below: The IKEA monkey in its sheepskin jacket is climbing the CN Tower.   Look closely and you’ll see that someone has already made it to the top.   Another little figure is on the crane!

part of a larger mural, a monkey in a sheepskin jacket is climbing the CN tower. A small black figure is sitting on top of the tower.

below: One of the “nicknames” used for Toronto is YYZ which is the airport code for Pearson, Toronto’s largest airport.  The YTZ in the mural is the airport code for Toronto’s other airport, Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.   Also in the mural is the old Sam the Record Man sign that used to be hang over the store at 357 Yonge Street, a record/music store that was in business from there from 1961 to 2007.  The building has since been demolished to make way for the Ryerson University Student Learning Center.  There has been talk of installing the sign somewhere near Yonge Dundas Square but as far as I know, that hasn’t happened yet.

part of an Uber 5000 mural, yyz, condo building with balconies, a woman sitting on the roof with a yellow birdie, ghetto blaster on the roof, Sam the Record man sign,

below: A chainlink fence keeps people from getting close to the mural so taking photos of the bottom portion of the mural is difficult.  I think that the area behind the fence is actually someone’s backyard so I understand why there is no access.   The moose looks out over the fence.

a large mural on a wall behind a fence, painted moose, large, seems to be looking over the fence.

street art, graffiti, and murals on walls and garages in GRaffiti Alley

 

early June version, Graffiti Alley

Posted: June 2, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2

people walking down Graffiti Alley on a sunny afternoon

I found myself on a sunny Friday afternoon with time to spare.  I haven’t walked Graffiti Alley in the warmth for quite a few months so off we went, hunting for new things, forgotten things, and special ‘are they still there?’ things.

below: Vitality at 505 “It’s showtime baby girl, own it”

street art painting of a black woman's head, short hair, eyes closed, also on the door is the word vitality and the number 505

below: I guess that it’s painful to have your face stuck on a wall.

a dark grey three 3D rendition of a man's face. He looks like he's in pain.

below: Some black line drawn figures on top of text street art.

two figures, drawn abstractly with black marker on top of orange street art,

a drawing of a large eye on top of pink and green street art

on top of pink and green abstract swirly street art, a drawing in black marker of a hand, with a face (eye and mouth) coming out of the back of the hand.

below: Arty strings by lek_gold

a man on a lddder, a car parked, multi coloured strings used to make art by stretching it between nails on an outside wall.

below: This little giraffe has aged well.

a small stencil of a giraffe stands at the bottom corner of a wall

below: It looks like he has a strawberry beard and I’ll assume that that’s a can of spray paint in his hand, not a can of shaving cream!

street art painting on a garage door, turquoise background, a man standing with a spray paint can in his hand, awkeardly drawn, simplistic, man with only one eye and a large beard that looks like a strawberry

below: A yellow monster rises from the barrels.

behind a red van and two green metal barrels, a yellow monster street art painting on a wall

below: I didn’t touch it.  I just took a picture of it.

street art in blues and greys over whish someone has written in blue marker, don't touch this.

below: Anyone seen a guy running around in his underwear?

a pair of blue jeans are lying on the ground at the foot of a wall that has pink and green street art on it.

sort of Queen West

Posted: January 15, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art, stores
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

I started walking Graffiti Alley the other day but I didn’t stick to my plan.  I meandered and wandered through other alleys as well as I generally headed west.

below: A bright, vibrant, wonderful piece by birdo in an alley north of Queen Street West.

a birdo mural on a garage door of a woman in grey tones with a round red mouth in the shape of an O. she is holding her hand up near her face and a bird is sitting on it. The background of the mural is red and greenish triangles.

below: Another birdo nearby

birdo mural on the side of a building, a red high heel shoe, a brown circle, a grey head plus the colourful geometric shapes often found in a birdo mural, in reds and turquoise

below: Only remnants remain.  Was it a stikman?  Or was it something else?

a tiny bit of a stikman is left on a post that is covered with spray paint.

below: Auston Matthews already has his picture on T-shirts.
It can’t be easy having the hopes of all those Maple Leaf fans resting on your shoulders.

in front of a store that seels T-shirts, a blue T-shirt based on the famous Obama Hope poster, but this time the portrait is of a Maple Leaf player with the word hope below.

below: Of course normal is boring. What I need is a t-shirt that says “rather be walking”

Two t-shhirts in a store window, a grey woman's t-shirt with the words Normal is Boring on the front and a black t-shirt with the words rather be in bed.

below: This wall is not new but there is usually a car parked in front of it when I walk past.  King Reign and Son of S.O.U.L. were two Toronto hip hip artists who passed away in 2016.

a wall in Graffiti Alley, layers of different artist's work, some uber 5000, some elicser, plus a grey ton picture of two men wearing caps with the words son of soul king reign written underneath them.

below: Stickers on a box

stickers on a small metal box on a brightly coloured wall. almost the whole box is covered, a lovebot heart, a pink cat, a blue octopus, a shark, plus some stickers that are ads for music or records.

below: I love the juxtaposition of the car in the mural with the real cars parked in the alley. Also the alignment of the first two walls makes the painting look like one.

in an alley, a white car is parked between a blue car and a mural painting of a blue car. There is also a mural of three people with the words summertime in the city.

below: This is another painting that I saw in Graffiti Alley.
I think that it’s new, or at least I don’t remember seeing it before.

a street art painting on the back of a building in an alley, a surreal piece with a cube with one side as a face, two creatures are floating out of the top of the cube - they are tethered to each other. The bottom creature is half in the cube and the surface of the cube looks like liquid.

below: Your words of advice for today.

a street art piece in an alley that is purple background with with a dripping brownish circle with two eyes and the words don't forget to drink water. The alley is also in the picture with parts of a couple of other murals visible

below: Fake. as in Fake news. Fake people. Fake money.  Fake graffiti artist?

the man from the monopoly game is painted on a wall. Someone has sprayed a white x through his face and written the word fake on his top hat.

below: These grey paper paste-ups have appeared on top of a number of street art paintings in Graffiti Alley.
I’m not sure who did it or why.
a grid of grey paper paste ups has been put on top of a abstract street art painting on a wall in an alley.

below: Blowing bubbles. Looks irresistibly ready for someone to pop it!
It was painted by @wamurals aka WayneArt

on the corner of Queen West and a smaller side street, the Convenience Canada store with a small white picket fence outside of it. On the wall is a mural of a woman blowing a big pink bubble with gum and the words head candy written above her head.

below: Hidden houses. Being pushed out by the big boys.

three layers, in the background a high rise building, in the middle ground, the tops of three single family homes on Richmond Street, in the foreground, poster covered hoardings for construction on Queen Stree West.

below: Half of a lovebot in a doorway.

half of a large black lovebot painted in a doorway (one side of him). A black lovebot with yellow details and a red heart.

below: A whole lovebot mixing it up with another creature.  I think it’s by grominator but I’m not sure.
I like to think of it as lovebot fighting his demons.

a lovebot mural in an alley, he looks to be fighting a grominator monster

below: Look up, way up, to find the switch from love to fear.
Yikes!, it’s switched to fear now and it’s not going to be easy to change it.

high on a wall, a small 3D lovebot heart beside a light switch that is love on one side and fear on the other.

below: Lucy and trouble and a weird looking face in a messy dimly lit doorway that assaulted my nose.

in a dimly lit doorway, a lot of scribbles and graffiti including a roughly drawn face, the word Lucy and the word trouble

below: Many of the planters along Queen West have been painted including this tribute to Gord Downie.

a rectangular cement planter on Queen Street west with pine and cedar boughs in it. The sides have been painted. On the end is the head of a lion, on the side is the word courage and a picture of Gord Downie from the music group The Tragically Hip

a rectangular cement planter on Queen Street west with pine and cedar boughs in it. The sides have been painted. On the end is the roman numeral 4 and a red heart. On the side is a black cat walking on a red background.

below: A little astronaut floats away. But he’s not up in the air where you’d expect to find him. He’s way down low near the ground.  Perhaps he’s not floating away, perhaps he’s falling back to Earth?

a small paste up of an astronaut floating in space, on a black wall, close to the ground.

Don’t over think it though.  Just keep your eyes open and ready for the unexpected!

mademoiselle alley

Posted: September 16, 2016 in graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

On a hydro pole in Graffiti Alley, facing more to the nearest wall than to the alley, I discovered an intriguing collage. It was made of a series of pictures, old-style coloured pictures of women who look like they’d be more comfortable in the 1940’s and 1950’s….they’re straight out of vintage magazines.

an old fashioned type drawing in colour of a woman with short brown hair and a red v neck dress, from the waist up, eyes closed, face looking slightly downwards, on paper on a pole in a lane.

below:  A signature on the bottom of the artwork, Mademoiselle Berthelot.  She’s a street artist from Paris who recently left her mark in Toronto.

an old fashioned type drawing in colour of a woman, back of head mostly, flowers woven into her hair, signature of the artist, mademoiselle berthelot

Stylish women, like this one with long white gloves, surrounded by circles (bubbles?).  Circles made with splotches of paint and blue striped circles made with rubber stamps.

an old fashioned type drawing in colour of a woman in a low cut scoop neck dress, hands on her hips

If you look closely, there are pairs of birds sitting together on top of sealed envelopes.

an old fashioned type drawing in colour of a woman's head, mostly only the back showing, some small flowers braided into her hair.

an old fashioned type drawing in colour of a woman in a low cut yellow dress
So far, this is the only piece I’ve seen by Mademoiselle Berthelot.  Are there more in Toronto?

 

late afternoon, Graffiti Alley

Posted: August 12, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
3

As you may know, every few months I wander down Rush Lane and all the other lanes that make up Graffiti Alley on the south side of Queen West.  There is usually something new on the walls and hydro poles and there are often people watching opportunities as well.   Wednesday’s walk did not disappoint.   Here is the photographic evidence – some street art that I saw for the first time and some worth a second look… and even a person or two.

mural of a large face with paint brush by the mouth, wearing glasses, mural seems to be looking at a car that is parked in front of it, with reflections of the mural in the car window

below: Taking selfies is an artform in itself.

two young women pose in front of a colourful mural in an alley, while around the corner of the building a young man is looking at his phone,

below: Making a video in one of the side alleys.

making a music video in front of the street art in an alley, a young man in white t shirt is dancing to the music (and lip synching too I think) while another man, bald, is filming him and recording him.

below:  A home for hundreds of stickers, all nicely frames together

The words noo ideal painted above a window in an alley. The window is covered with a metal grille as well as hundreds of stickers

below: This poser bunny takes the spotlight.

a poser bunny painted on the side of a building, spotlighted by the afternoon sun, the wall behind him is in shadow

below: A new piece, with some older poser bunnies in the background.

street art on a wall in an alley, text starting with G, two yellow eyes as well

below: When I first saw this piece (by elicser?) I thought that he had his heart in his hands.  As I look at it more, I’m not so sure.   Any ideas?  Also, “How long do we have?”  An open question, an incomplete question, a mysterious question, or a question of philosophy.  You see, one question leads to another.

street art and graffiti in an alley, on a wall and in a doorway. On the wall is a headless man holding a pink blob in his hands, on the doorway is a lot of graffiti and tags along with the words, How long do we have?

below: This one isn’t new and isn’t particularly outstanding, but the way the sun was shining on it caught my eye.  A bit of a silly comment – I’ll assume that W C doesn’t stand for water closet!

wood double garage door, center opening, with a large street art W and C painted on it.

a large orange text graffiti across a large door and on the wall on both sides, all in orange, with three orange traffic cones in front of it.

below: Donald Trump and the lovebot share a pole.  Poor lovebot  😦

two stickers on a pole. The top one is a lovebot sticker and the bottom one is Donald Trump's head on a naked man's body.

below: Street art by gems

text graffiti by street artist gems, words spells gems in oranges and blues.

below: One more new street art piece

street art text painting in blue

below: Talking trash says “She’s bound to put a blanket on my bed”.

trash bins outside a restaurant. One of them has had words written on it,

below: A small blue airplane and another little blue thing, all that remains of a larger mural painted long ago.

very small street art painting of a blue airplane amongst tags

below: Apparently he doesn’t miss us?

small line drawing graffiti of a person with a word bubble that says I don't miss you

below: Oh no! Stikman is behind bars and lovebot’s been restrained.

a stikman is on a wall behind a metal grille and lovebot is on a metal pole to which a metal strap has been placed, over top of lovebot

below: A seat and a smoke at break time. Maybe he’s texting his girlfriend about the weirdos he sees in the alley. Or maybe he took my picture and he’s adding it to his instagram collection of strangers in the lane! 🙂

a man is sitting on a small orange plastic stool in an alley. He has a yellow apron on. He has a cell phone and a cigarette in his hands.

below: A protest piece.  A play on the national anthem. Oh Canada our home on native land.

street art on a wall in an alley, Canadian flag with background colours changed to Native flag colours, and words that say Oh Canada Our Home On Native Land. Honour our treaties.

 

below: One word of warning if you plan to walk this alley in the late afternoon, you may be dodging cars that are trying to avoid Queen Street traffic.

close up of the side of a car as it drives past in an alley

below: But you’ll also be entertained by those who get stuck.  It’s especially amusing when it’s the more aggressive drivers who are thwarted.   It is a working alley, not a street, after all.

cars trying to go in two different directions as they pass a truck parked in an alley

anatomy lesson, and more

Posted: May 31, 2016 in graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

Today’s blog starts with an anatomy lesson as illustrated by vampz on a wall in Graffiti Alley – the arterial and venous blood flow of the head and neck.

street art painting of a larger than life, realistic depiction of the blood supply to the human head. Skull with eyeball, teeth, some neck muscles as well as arterial and venous blood vessels. In profile.

I walked the alleys behind Queen St West today to see if there was anything new.  The biggest new pieces were the above head and a new birdo creation, pictured below.  A realistic looking blue jay and a floating pink gem.

a garage decorated with a mural by birdo, of a realistic blue jay and a pink cut gem floating in front of the bird.

  below: The back part of the blue jay is on the side wall of the garage
which produces an interesting 3D effect.

a garage decorated with a mural by birdo, of a realistic blue jay and a pink cut gem floating in front of the bird. The front part of the bird is on the garage door and the back part of the bird is on the side wall.

below: This tribute to the basketball Raptors and their appearance in the 2016 Eastern Conference Finals is also a new addition.  DeRozan is pictured on the left and my apologies for not knowing the player on the right.  Unfortunately, it was too close to garbage day and the bins were overflowing so I couldn’t move them out of the way.  Next time.

streetart mural in tribute to Toronto Raptors basketball team and their presence in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2016. The heads of two black basketball players on a red and purple background.

below: And unfortunately, garbage was an issue today.

a bin of garbage plus a pile of garbage bags in front of a street art piece, a face and a tag in green and red, signed hangman, detroit.

below: The face isn’t new to the alley, but the words are.
Written by a woman with priorities!

Pretty female working retail falls in love with guys who need bail
the sweet smell of lust or love
you mean well, but money can get her a new car and clean nails.
The Lady”

number 669 in lime green letters above a stylized woman's face with yellow hair and a blue top. Someone has written words on the brick wall beside the painting.

below: Love Department featuring Phoebe.
You can find more of her on instagram @phoebenewyork

A little paper paste up of a large headed girl with black hair and a large red heart on her head. on a pink background with the words Love Department. Stuck on a garage door painted in pink and blue shapes

below: Even a simple smile will do most of the time.

under the rusted metal of a wire grill over a window, on a wall that was painted in black and orange street art, there is a small white line drawing of a girl's head

below: Cloud Monet and the woman in white, or Who you lookin’ at Mr. Fish?

small vertical drawing of a woman, drawn in white, wearing a long form fitting dress, standing, on brown, tied to a wall with a mural laready painted on it.

a painted piece of street art has been partially covered with many vertical lines in black marker, producing an interesting pattern over the colours below.

Three hinges have been bent forward so they are flat, multicoloured graffiti behind them, words written on the hinges except for the bottom one which has a question mark on it.

below: A couple of stikmans.  No anatomical realism here!

a little wooden stikman with only one leg on a green concrete block wall, with white stencilled daisies above him, street art in an alley

a very pale blue stikman on a very pale blue window and wall.

below: A bit of mystery.  I’m not sure if it’s a stikman or if it’s a newcomer to the alley

orange coloured stikman, double, foot to foot, in a pink wall with foam insulation on both sides of him

below: Pull up a seat and rest a bit, we’re almost done.

cast off furniture in a lane, two chairs, a TV, a small yellow set of drawers, a mop,

below: The final words on today’s walk.  Someone’s not happy!

graffiti wods on a red and white wall, "Graffiti Sucks"

eyes open, watching for spring

Posted: April 3, 2016 in graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
4

Faces in the alley, Graffiti Alley

As March turns into April and winter sort of turns into spring.

blog_girl_window_streetart_painting

blog_old_man_head_graffiti

blog_painting_man_cigarette

below: Looks like someone has already started his spring cleaning.

blog_graffiti_man_spring_cleaning

below: He says, “See you in hell”.
She thinks, “I’m already there. You should try living beside this smelly thing.”

blog_oreks_denial_hell_porta_potty

below: Jarus has painted a young man

blog_jarus_man_streetart_painting

below: It seems that even Lovebot needs to eat…  Not sure about the purple hamburger bun though!

blog_lovebot_hamburger_mcdonalds

blog_lovebot_ghak_concrete

P.K., a newcomer to the alley?

Posted: April 2, 2016 in graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

I took a short walk through the graffiti alleys behind Queen St. West yesterday.  I found four new face/skull paintings by artist P.K. (which is short for?) all close together on Rush Lane, and all near 530 Richmond St. West.

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - intricate black line drawing of skull and facial features on teal background

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - black outlines of top of skull, eyes, nose holes, and sort of teeth, on red background

below: A turtlecaps paste-up from last year is still on the wall.

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - black spray paint outlines of features on multicoloured background - on a brick wall between two windows, small turtlecaps paste up also in the picture

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - red and yellow drippy blobs on a black background

October edition

Posted: October 15, 2015 in graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Another month, another walk through Graffiti Alley.
As usual, there were some new things that I noticed and here is a sample. 

below: This big guy sits where Batman was just a few weeks ago.

Street art painting of a large rodent like creature sitting Brown, furry, little paws, small feature on face,

below:  Little town scene by Peru with a poser bunny beside.

Street art piece by Peru of the word Peru written in block letters but also used as the backbone of a city scene of stylized little houses with red roofs. The painting has a little truck in front of the houses with the word waistoid on it. Street art Poser bunny to the left.

below: The flu hating rapper

A character in a white lab coat and with spikey grey hair, street art painting. He's hold a microphone to his mouth. The words say Flu Hating Rapper

A street art painting of a man wearing a cap, he's painted standing between two windows with metal grilles over them.

below: Shanghai Toronto 2015

Bright red street art wavy and curly lines on blue and purple toned background.

below:  Lovebot is on the move

large wheatpaste lovebot on a wall that's been painted sky blue. 3D lovebot looks like he's running or jumping.

Street art, tag like painting in white with green and blue and black in the background. On a wall in an alley PHLS ATC

below: Stikman in green and grey

Stickman on a wall with green and grey spray paint on top of him and around him

The corner of a two storey building in Graffiti Alley, photo taken so that both sides of the building are visible. On one side is a group of poser bunnies in brown and white with red background on the lower flooor and a blck lovebot with red heart on the upper floor. On the other side of the corner is a Uber5000 bird above and something that's been tagged over on the bottom.

street art painting of a man with a fat cigar in his mouth, wearing a hat, carrying a briefcase, wearing a suit jacket and tie. Words written in cursive beside him say Love Smelling Daisies.

below:  Any idea what she might be holding in her hands?

Stencil graffiti, black paint on grey wall, of a seated woman holding something in her hands. At first I thought she was holding a camera close to her face but I'm not sure.

Narrow street art painting of a smoking gun sticking out of a hole in a wall.

constant evolution

Posted: August 26, 2015 in graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

It was busy in Graffiti Alley on Saturday afternoon.

Graffiti Alley - man on ladder spray painting a street art piece, other people in the alley, some taking pictures of each other, some in a group

Graffiti Alley - man on ladder spray painting a street art piece

…. the finished wall

Graffiti Alley -

below: This cat is new.  It replaces a painting of a woman’s face

Graffiti Alley - in a corner, a grey tones painting of a cat's head, blue recycling bins in front of it and partially obscuring one corner.
below: Another woman’s face is different but instead of being painted over, this one has been drawn on with black marker.   The little red and yellow guy is a recent addition too.

Graffiti Alley - people in the alley in the background. In the foreground is the painting of a woman's face by Insane that has been scribbled over in black marker.
below:  There are other drawings, probably by the same person that took a marker to the woman above.

Graffiti Alley - two black line drawings of faces that have been drawn on top of a pink and purple street art painting.
At Portland, a new larger than life raccoon.

blog_changes_graffiti_alley_raccoon

Plus other murals and street art that I saw this past weekend in the alley.  Some are more recent than others.

Graffiti Alley - uber5000 mural of a boating scene, yellow bird sterring a boat, black dog sitting on the bow, another yellow bird paddling a red canoe

Graffiti Alley - garge door painted in two shades of pink with the words Wanted Woman Gotham painted on the garage door as well

Graffiti Alley - part of a wall painted light blue with the word Yarka painted in purple and orange script

Graffiti Alley - on a light turquoise door, a stylized painting of a woman with yellow hair, red lips, blue dress, long black eye lashes

Graffiti Alley - a wall with a window on one side. Under the window is written the word Don in large pink and red letters. Beside the window is a painting of a man with a pointy top hat that covers his eyes, he has a big nose and a large white beard.

a woman sticks her head out of a window of a building in Graffiti Alley.

painting on a garage door - older man with orange jacket and orange bowler hat. Around the garage door are flowers on a blur background.

A garage door painted orange, then the word Yarka painted in blue letters

Mural of a large monkey sitting, holding a green book with his feet and smoking a pipe using one of his hands.

Older Entries
Newer Entries