Posts Tagged ‘Graffiti Alley’

from Portland to Niagara

Posted: July 10, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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A few days ago I posted a series of photos of some of the graffiti and street art that I saw in Graffiti Alley between Portland and Spadina.   This post is a continuation of that one as it consists of the photos that I took on the same day but in a different section of the alley, between Portland and Niagara streets.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a very large grominator on the second storey, beside a door that goes nowhere

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a large two headed grominator above a garage door, and a birdo creature on the door.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - on a concrete wall, a birdo creature with a mouse head, a blue waffle body and pink and turquoise striped curvy body with long legs. It is holding a green oval shape in its front paws.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a wooden gate, double doors, so that when the doors are closed a stylized face is the result. It has mirror symmetry.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - three large scowling men's heads in blue above a garage door that has swirls in pinks and purples.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - black line drawing on white of a young man standing on the left and a young girl sitting on the right

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a stencil that looks like a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, both characters are sitting on a tree branch, Hobbes is stretched out and sleeping, Calvin is sitting. THe words 'There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a large blue socket puppet with bulging eyes and a big black marker in its mouth.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - Two buildings in the picture. In the foreground is a one storey garage with a large totund stylized guitar player sitting on the ground with one knee up. Behind him you can see another painting of a guitar player but this one is a bit more realistic.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - A basquiat crown on a cartoonish face on a door

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a sylized blue woman from the waist up. Puffy curly hair. She's been scribbled on including a heart on her chest.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - Back wall of a store, large woman's face on part of the wall

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - the side of a concrete garage, small tree in front of it. To the left of the tree is a man's head and hand. In his hand is a lollipop but with it shaped like the symbol for Shell Oil. Beside it are the words Rich Kid Lollipop. To the right of the tree is a little blue figure with a pink basquiat type crown

a small collage by clowntearz, a sad face, rainbow, clouds,

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a collage like piece of street art on a garage door by clowntearz. Googley eys, cannabis leaves, happy faces, zigzags, green alien faces, red ooze

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a tag in browns and turquoise

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - on a wall at the bottom of the stairs, a mulitfaced person by elicser with a woman standing beside him with her arms stretched towards him. The words 'Kill'em with niceness' are written between the couple

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - blue lettering, G P C

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a very large chocolate sundae, complete with whipped cream and a cherry, on a blue garage door

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a woman's face in profile, seems to be looking at a large ice cream sundae.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - BRDL, Penguin looking worried, dollar bills are flying out of his pockets and into a (real) vent of the building. He's wearing a blue tophat. Word bubble says

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - A large white man's face on a garage door, with a pile of broken boards in front of it. The man is supposed to be Kim Jong of North Korea

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - the upper part of a topless woman with curly pink and turquoise hair. Running vertically beside her are the words 'I got out of bed for this' and below her is the words 'or leave'

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a lovebot of hearts playing card sticker on a metal pole beside a sticker of a woman's head with curly black hair and big earrings in the shape of a cross

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - brightly coloured painting in many colours and shapes

yipyaps sticker on a metal pole in an alley

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - angular shaped tag in blues

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - words scawled on a garage door,

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - an orange tag on rusty red background, painted across a wide doorway

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto -

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - Charlie Brown in the bottom right corner of a garage. In green are the words Be WHo You Are

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - on a wood fence, someone was scrawled the words

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - a colourful tag on a white garage door. The number 710 is above the door.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - two stickers on a pole. A small skull and cross bones and a large one that is a black and white creature with website liarliar.etsy.com on it.

graffiti and street art in Graffiti Alley in Toronto - five stickers on white, also a big orange X. One sticker is a knuts frog with its tongue stuck out.

from Portland to Spadina

Posted: July 4, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Another walk down Graffiti Alley between Portland and Spadina.
Some new and some not so new.

uber 5000 birdie in a little space ship with a beam of light eminating from the bottom, on a red brick wall

tags and letter graffiti in blues and purples on an alley wall, with a few people walking down the alley as well

tag in reds, oranges and yellows, on green, with dark blue background

close up of a street art painting that now looks abstract, black lines on green, pink and beige
  below: Catching a glimpse of what goes on in it’s head
double doors painted in a pink, orange and red face (large face), the doors are slightly open so there is now a gap down the middle of the nose and mouth

a black and white poser bunny on a wall at the corner, around the corner is a painted arrow that is part of a graffiti painting

graffiti in an alley - 4 stickers on a metal pole. Knuts on the top, a woman in profile with the word think next, black and white drawing third and on the bottom is a green on white line drawing of a man's face

below: Batman descends on the city

A young man is spray painting part of a batman mural. The figure of batman is completed and is about 4 meters tall. A city scene is being added in the bottom corner

below: This photo was taken about 2 weeks before. The graffiti KURST and the lettering below it have been painted over. Batman has taken its place.

tags in an alley

A large bird head street art painting covers the end of a building in a lane

A white graffiti skull with the words belleding heart written underneath

a wall of a building in an alley, including the door, is cover with a red tag, a small uber 5000 bird and the remains of a greenish coloured tag.

A stylized greenish brown bull with horns is smoking a cigarette, only the head is shown. It is on a wall and beside it is a door that had a woman's face painted on it. The face has been tagged over. Dis jnt is written across the top of the door. disjoint perhaps.

  below: Dazed and confused

tag in silver and black with pink and orange highlights on a grey metal door

tags on a black wall in an alley. Between them is the word doh

messy tags and scribbles on and around a door in an alley

small graffiti piece of a giraffe standing on the ground, on concrete, in an alley

below: Insane portrait of a woman

woman's face in profile painted on a wall in an alley

  below: Another portrait of a woman, this one by Kairo

Woman's face painted by Kairo in an alley, blue background

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  below: Making lemonade

graffiti picture of a lemon wearing sunglasses and a sun hat and holding a glass of lemonade

below: This takes the place of the mural that had “I love sandwiches” that was there for quite a while (a couple of years?).  The frame with the little figures cut into it remains.

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street art painting of a dog foaming at the mouth, mad dog

Woman taking picture on a smartphone, standing beside a street art piece of a man with earphones plugged into

pieboy graffiti, large green one eyed monster

below: Poser bunnies on a garage door

poser bunny street art on a garage door

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a fresh coat

Posted: March 31, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Repainting a wall in Graffiti Alley

begiinning to paint, starting with the red - new graffiti tag art in the alley, red with yellow polka dots on blue background

painting new graffiti, blue and yellow next, new graffiti tag art in the alley, red with yellow polka dots on blue background

new graffiti tag art in the alley, red with yellow polka dots on blue background

new graffiti tag art in the alley, red with yellow polka dots on blue background
new graffiti tag art in the alley, red with yellow polka dots on blue background
close up of a door and doorstep that is incorporated into new graffiti tag art in the alley, red with yellow polka dots on blue background

alley bunnies

Posted: March 23, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Back to Graffiti Alley for the first time this spring…  well, for the first time since the snow melted since I’m not sure you can call it spring yet!

Here are a few poser and abm crew bunnies that I saw.

large greenish brown poser bunny in Graffiti Alley on pinkish purple background. Bight yellow, pink and blue tag to the right and a door covered with small tags to the left

three black and white poser bunnies on red background with black and white tag in front in Graffiti Alley. They are beside a doorway on which a man has been painted - red hair, white T-shirt and blue pants. Stylized, shrugging his shoulders and holdin his hands at waist level.
light brown poser bunny in Graffiti Alley - about 30 cm wide and 75 cm high on a wall that is perpendicular to the alley, Graffiti Alley is in the background. Signed ambcrew 2014
black, grey and white poser bunny in Graffiti Alley on a wall that is perpendicular to the alley. Graffiti Alley is in the background.

small black and white poser bunny in Graffiti Alley on a wall beside a metal exterior staircase

eyes in the alley

Posted: March 23, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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I went back to Graffiti Alley the other day.
When I was just east of Niagara Street I noticed these eyes looking at me.

One very realistic eye in a partial circle, in a boarded up window above head level so it looks like it's looking down at you.

A small blue Stickman sneaks into the photo too!

 

A wall with a door in the middle of it. There is a street art piece of three heads. Two very stylized men and a more realistic looking woman. Bright colours.

Three faces painted on a garage door by Jon Todd.

Close up of a stylized and slightly abstacted man's face on a wall in an alley

close up of a street piece that is very red, with one whitish grey eye. Some faint swirly white lines demark the face, or at least the upper quadrant that is visible in the picture

A sticker on a pole with green in the background. The sticker is of a man's head. He has a beard and big brown moustache and he is wearing a red toque with a label on it that says 'checo'

slightly abstacted painting of a face in white orange, yellow and brown, in 3/4 profile

Some stickers or slaps on the side of an air conditioner. One is of a frog head with its tongue out and eyes closed. The other is of a green man's face, also with his tongue out.

A garage covered with a large abstract and very colourful painting, swirls and geometric shapes, along with at least three or four eyes. Signed @jchiale

by Jimmy Chiale

Close up, and a side angle shot, of colourful graffiti on a door, door frame and wall. Bright colours, geometric shapes such as white circle around brown, pink zig zags.

…and a mouth too!

Graffiti painting of a bright red pair of lips slightly parted to see shiney white teeth. On a garage door, in an alley.

 Links for more information

Jon Todd

Jimmy Chiale

new faces in the alley

Posted: November 18, 2014 in graffiti and street art
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New faces in the alley, or at least they are new to me.   Seen yesterday.

looking down the alley, graffiti on the walls on both sides including a large woman's head by the artist Kairo. She has curly hair and her face is about 7 feet tall.

face graffiti - a man's face on a piece of plywood. He is balding and there is stubble on his face. He seems to be sweating too.

sticker of eyes on a white and pink face. The sticker is on a pole and there is an orange wall that is out of focus behind the pole.

A bright and wild picture of a face with long long stylized hair in reds, oranges and pinks

A girl with long dark hair and with her eyes closed. From the shoulders up with one arm and hand included in the picture. Drawn on plywood and behind bars.

sticker of a man's head with an afro hairdo.

A stylized picture of a green, turquoise and red frog face with its tongue stuck out.

and a froggie face too.

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back to Graffiti Alley

Posted: November 12, 2014 in graffiti and street art
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Just a few pictures of some of the street art near Queen St. West and Augusta.

Street art in Graffiti Alley, a poser mural with 3 olive green bunnies. The words, The World is Dying for Bold Ideas are written around the bunnies. One bunny has a paint roller and another has a can of spray paint.
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Street art in Graffiti Alley, detail of a red and black piece on which someone has placed a sticker that says "May this day be yours. "
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Street art in Graffiti Alley, detail showing what looks like an eye between two sets of teeth. In the background, and to the right, are two bikes parked against the building that is covered with uber 5000's marine scene
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Street art in Graffiti Alley, Six Six Demigods black and white face of an old man with a flowing beard
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Street art in Graffiti Alley, a guy who has earphones on that are plugged into a phone or something similar. The wrods "Turn off your phone" are included in the graffiti
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Street art in Graffiti Alley, an orange stickman (stickman?) on a hydro pole.
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Street art in Graffiti Alley, picture of a man's face. He seems to be leering with his tongue (which is green) hanging out of his mouth. He is above another picture of a pair of anser eyes.

beside 530 Richmond West

Posted: September 18, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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There is a mural in the lane way that runs beside 530 Richmond Street West (and connects with Graffiti Alley).  It was completed earlier this summer.  It is a collaborative effort by Shalak Attack (woman’s face), Kevin Ledo (child’s face), Uber5000 (blue cat) and Bruno Smokey ( man).

A large mural on the side of a building in a lane. Three or 4 people are taking pictures of it.

A number of people were taking pictures when I was there.

part of a large mural on the side of a 2 storey building, a large multicoloured woman's face. She is wearing earrings that look like skeletons

death dangles from her ears

part of a large mural, a picture of a smiling small boy wearing a light blue cap. It is very large.

grimaces? smiles?

part of a large mural on the side of a 2 storey building

ghetto cat

part of a large mural showing the bottom part of a blue cat that is standing on two legs. Under his legs are 2 Uber chickens and one is saying Pizza. Another chicken is sitting on the cat's tail and he wants tacls. There is a clock on the cat's tummy.

I guess it’s dinner time…. pizza, tacos and beets!

part of a large mural, a very large wrinkly man's face with large eyeballs and large ears

eyes to the right

part of a large mural on the side of a 2 storey building, a small uber chicken is being held between two fingers of a very large pair of hands

chicken fingers

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paper people

Posted: October 25, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
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paper people of Graffiti Alley

a paper graffiti of Bill Gates, Bill Murray and Bill Clinton on a graffiti covered door

Three Bills
This is now a recurring theme in stencil/paper graffiti. Originally, the Bills were used in response to ‘post no bills’ signs on fences surrounding construction sites.
The Bills here, from left to right, are Bill Gates, Bill Murray and Bill Clinton

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paper graffiti of ROb Ford, from the shoulders up, giving the finger.

In the fall of 2011, many of these Rob Ford stencils appeared in Graffiti Alley, amongst other places. They were the work of Toronto street artist, Deadboy. This might be the only one that remains in this alley.

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a poster with a black and white line drawing of a man's head. He has a beard. Beside him are words.

Leonard Cohen: “only one thing made him happy and now that it was gone everything made him happy”

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a black and white paper poster/stencil of a woman throwing her arms in the air and walking away. It is on a grey door in a lane. There is a broom beside the door.

“I don’t do floors”
“Clean it up yourself”

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A green and white sticker of a woman's head, stylized..

a brown and black set of posters/stencils of three heads. Two are the same - they look like heads with big ears and they are wearing very big sunglasses. The third looks like a woman in a helmet like the kind an astronaut might wear.

big ears and the astronaut

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I have not included all the stencils in Graffiti Alley as some have appeared in prior posts.  See https://mcfcrandall.wordpress.com/2013/08/22/walking-graffiti-alley-again/

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a stencil of large headed, no armed, creature.

alien in the alley

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With thanks to:

Georgette for her help with the three Bills

and Sally who recognized Leonard Cohen.

walking Graffiti Alley again

Posted: August 22, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Behind the south side of Queen St. West, starting at Spadina and heading west.  At Bathurst there is a slight detour because someone built a Loblaws grocery store and a condo in the way.   But just turn south to Richmond and walk a short distance west.  On your right there is a small alley; follow this lane to almost Dufferin street – if there is no construction in the way!

I have walked this route many times.  Sometimes there are new things to see, or changes have occurred.  Sometimes I just notice things that I missed on previous visits.

Larger than life.

Larger than life.  The woman on red has been there since the first time I walked this way a couple of years ago.  The aquatic scenes on the building across the alley are a more recent addition.

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Tom and Jerry and their never ending chase scene.

Tom and Jerry and their never ending chase scene.

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The alley changes with the seasons. Even here there is greenery.

The alley changes with the seasons. Even here there is greenery.

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Sunshine and shadows in the lane.

Sunshine and shadows in the lane.

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Looking out over the alley.

Above the alley.  She now appears in a few places.

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Tag inserted between two windows

Tag, baker, inserted between two windows

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I just want people to like me. A sticker in McDougall Lane, a good use of US Priority Mail labels.

I just want people to like me. A sticker in McDougall Lane, a good use of US Priority Mail labels.

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I resurrect the destructed poster with a few tags added accompanied by a girl with a broken heart.

I resurrect the destructed poster with a few tags added accompanied by a girl with a broken heart.

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Black and white graffiti on a wall and door. There is life sized picture of a man on the door. He is holding a red heart in his hands.

He evolves. First his face was added – with googly eyes and his tongue stuck out. Now he seems to be anatomically correct as well!

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Graffiti of many caricature images of Rob Ford. Most are black and white but one is red and white. Some of the edges are beginning to rip.

Starting to fray at the edges

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back of a building on Queen St. that has a large red and blue tag on it. There is a large green skull-like picture on the door. Four blue recylcing bins are by the door.

Garbage bins guarding the door.

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Uber's yellow bird is laughing and drinking something from a can. Somone has added the words grain fed to his forehead.

I’m not sure what he’s drinking, but apparently he’s grain fed.  He looks a bit grubby because he’s sitting on the ground next to the dust and dirt in the lane.

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A smiling Cheshire Cat and a few other creatures.

A smiling Cheshire Cat and a few other creatures.

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fl_masked

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A concrete block wall that has been painted an orangish red colour. Someone has stenciled the word soul on it..

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