Posts Tagged ‘graffiti’

stuck in the alley

Posted: November 25, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art
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I wouldn’t have a staring contest with this guy if I were you.

When I walked down Graffiti Alley yesterday, I discovered quite a few new things that I hadn’t seen before.  There were too many for one blog post so I decided to concentrate on the little things this morning.

below: Little stickers stuck all over a piece of metal.  My favorite is the “All my friends are awesome” sticker.

stickers graffiti in an alley

below: The window on this wonderful orange door was covered with stickers and spray paint.  These three stickers were in the bottom corner.

stickers graffiti in an alley, on orange door

below: Pasteup collages with pictures of Campbells soup labels, and old camera, and a coca cola bottle.  A woman is yelling something in Russian while Lenin peaks out from behind her.  Meaning?  Maybe only Merz knows?

stickers graffiti in an alley

below: Soada.

stickers graffiti in an alley

below: “Do not attempt to think, or depression may occur.” Sticker by @stick_tags.

stickers graffiti in an alley

below: An octopus by Georgia and a @slole_slaps “It’s All Over” because they really are all over.

stickers graffiti in an alley

below: J isn’t here but another stick_tags wants to know if you’re living your dream.  Are you?  Maybe J is elsewhere, busy living their dream.

stickers graffiti in an alley

below: I told you that they were all over.

stickers graffiti in an alley

And now this blog post is all over too.

alley doors, back doors

Posted: November 23, 2017 in alleys, doors
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This post features some of the doors that caught my eye as I walked a few alleys this past week.

below: It was the colour of the plant outside the gate that I liked –  It’s almost a perfect match with the colour of the fence.

apotted plant, small tree with dark green leaves and teal leaves sits outside beside a teal blue fence and gate

below: These grey metal doors are a common sight as are metal staircases.  Were the boards an attempt at a wall?  A hiding place under the stairs?

back of a concrete block building in an alley, steel grey door, also small horizontal window with metal grille and air conditioner, metal stairs to upper story painted black, with some black pieces of wood making partial wall beside the stairs.

below: You can get your laundry done in this alley. There is even a bench to sit on while you wait.

lane entrance to a coin laundry, two grey doors, white bench outside the doors.

below: At first I thought that this was a strange place to put a door. Very awkward! Then I realized that it was probably just an old door that was being used to fill in the gap between the garage and the neighbouring building.

an old white wood door used as part of a fence

below: An interesting texture

brown wood door, beside chain link fence. textured wood panel beside the door.

below: And last, another common sight, scrawls on the wall.

pink brick building with grey metal door, lots of scrawl graffiti on the walls, one litle blue man roughly drawn by the door

It’s been a few months since I did a blog post about doors.  If you like doors, you might want to check out a couple of previous posts:

  1. Spadina Open Doors
  2. Late doors (of Mt Pleasant cemetery)

If you go to Norm 2.0’s blog feature Thursday Doors,  there are links to even more doors that other people have blogged about.   Check them out!

Ed’s deconstructed

Posted: November 22, 2017 in construction, landmarks
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Demolition of Honest Ed’s has begun.

sign on construction oardings that says warning: gentrification in progress

below: Sign of the times that says: “If you’re reading this it’s too late”.

part of exterior wall of Honest Eds with posters pasted on to it. One poster says If you are reading this

below:  Looking through the window to the rubble inside.   The staircases remain but the floors and walls are gone.

building being demolished, back wall gone, starting on the interior, looking through a window on side wall, to see the exposed insides, staircases, and rubble

below: Spray painted on the fence, “toujour dans mon coeur”.  Forever in my heart.

side of Honest Eds building, Markham street side, green fence around it, spray paint words on fence, toujours dans mon coeur

below: From behind. The section to the east of the alley is still intact and the alley is still accessible.

part of Honest Eds is still standing and part is demolished

below: The view from Markham street.

two front end loaders work to demolsh the back part of Honest Eds as well as sort and clear the rubble

sgn that says Sidewalk closed pedestrians use other sidewalk, beside Honest Eds on Bathurst street as they get the building ready to tear down

noticed

Posted: November 16, 2017 in general Toronto, graffiti and street art
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A small collection of a few of the things that I’ve noticed over the past while.
Pictures of little things that haven’t found a home yet.

 

a sign on a chainlink fence that says notice. otherwise it is blank

below: It’s not two people each riding an old fashioned bike even though that’s probably the first thing that you think of when you see it.  It’s one bike with two wheels and two riders going in different directions.  Going nowhere probably.  Seen in the front window of Tandem Coffee on King Street East.

a picture of two people riding old fashioned bicycles, in black, in a window.

below: Don’t just peer out the window, get outside and be a part of the world.  There’s so much to be seen!

the front of a grey car parked in front of a white wall in an alley where there is a line drawing graffiti of a man peering from behind the curtains of a window.

below: Love letter to a bike.

a little painting of a bike and a heart that makes it look like the wheels are eyes and the heart is a mouth

below: The mannequins on the balcony in Kensington are now gold!

two gold coloured mannequins with no clothes on are on a balcony of a blue building. one is sitting on the edge and one is standing

below: I’ve seen a couple of these images now. This one is a paste-up on a black metal box near Bloor & Borden. I’ve also seen another painted on hoardings around a construction site, possibly on Bathurst Street.  There was a similar image on the wall of Honest Ed’s but this one has a bit more detail in it, especially the hair.

 

pasteup in black and white of a man with open mouth, his eyes are attached to a black baseball cap that is blowing off his head, to the side and back from his head. he's wearing a black suit and tie.

below: A small sticker, slightly creepy, almost as if the poor girl is being stalked.

small sticker of a girl with long turquoise hair, staring straight ahead, wearing a low cut yellow dress. Behind her is pair of eyes

below: An old clock hiding under a newer sign, forgotten.  Stopped long ago.

a small round clock, old, attached to an outside wall, underneath a bright sign with red and yellow light bulbs around it.

below: It looks like Mary’s been discounted.

a statue of the VIrgin Mary wrapped in plastic, for sale at an outdoor sale, with a sign above her head that says 20% to 50 % off.

below: Always good advice!  Painted in pink on a window that catches the afternoon sun and makes interesting shadows on the blind behind.

the word breathe is painted in pink on a window, the sun makes a shadow of the wod on a blind behind the window.

below:  Take one ball, a stool, and paint and add some imagination – a unique garden ornament to brighten the day of passers by.

in a yard in a residential area, an artwork that is a large ball on a stool that has been painted in swirls of many colours with some black line drawing figures.

below: Decorative tiles on the front of a brick building on Yonge Street (two photos).

decorative tiles form a panel on the front of a brick building, red flowers, green lattice,

below: I wonder what the T stands for?

decorative tiles form a panel on the front of a brick building, red flowers, green lattice and an elaborately embellished letter t

below: Keep your eyes open and you’ll be surprised too!

two round red reflectors mounted on a wood fence, look like two eyes, a piece of green tape is also on the fence in such a way that it looks like the mouth

 Today I’m going to end with the photo below.   To me it encapsulates the idea that photographers can be a weird bunch. Somewhere out there someone has a close up photo of these pipes and dials.  It’s probably a great picture! …. because if they hadn’t been there, I may have taken the same picture.  Instead I took a picture of the photographer in action.   Never stop seeing.

the back of a person takeing a close up picture of a dial or part of a pipe system

Never stop noticing.

it’s all over, with others

Posted: October 25, 2017 in graffiti and street art
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black and white realistic drawing of a sneering woman with a hat on looking out of a window on the second storey of a brick building.

What did we see on Sunday was we walked along Roncesvalles?  There’s lots to look at here, it’s worth a stroll.  We decided to keep our eyes open for little details, the ones easily missed.  This blog post is a collection of some of the smaller graffiti we found.

below: Drooling is a sign of affection not of infection…. warning, I’ll probably not take this advice to heart if you start drooling in my face.

sticker on a black wall, black writing on white, drooling is a sign of affection not of infection, drawing of a man's head drooling

below: The Uber 5000 little yellow birdie has big dreams, perhaps even supreme dreams.

two stickers on the side of Bell telephone booth one just has the word supreme and the other is an uber 5000 yellow birdie holding two words in red letters,

below: Dreaming’s done, time to eat.   Even birds get hungry.

an uber 5000 yellow birdie sticker on the back of a street sign, he's holding a knife and fork

below: I can’t decipher the writing over the head – cracklyaid? cracklyard? crackbyard? So we have a mystery artist who drew a cute green alligator with something in his hand and something green on his head.

a sticker on the side of a grey metal box, a green alligator like character, walking on two legs, with a green head on top (two heads), drawn on white background that had words printed on it.

below: Look! Urban Ninja Squadron has put on a shirt and tie.  He’s looking almost respectable in those glasses but he can’t fool us, that pooh hat gives him away!

a large tbonez pasteup of an urban ninja squadron character, head and shoulders, but wearing a shirt and tie and blue rimmed glasses, also a brown pooh hat on his head.

below: Ah! Now this is more like the Urban Ninja Squadron that I know.   Here he is taking flight with the help of a drone (droning on?).  Beside him (and running away?) is a little guy from slole.

two pasteups on a plywood board on hoardings, one is an urban ninja squadron character holding onto a drone in flight and the other is a simplistic man with a frowny face, an its all over character, both are in black and whtie

below: Many stickers and paste-ups from slole (slole-slaps) have appeared around Roncesvalles.   Here is one on a bench.  The pumpkin head seems appropriate for the season.  “It’s all over” appears on most of his/her work.

sticker on a bench, it's all over, with pumpkin head

A few more from “it’s all over”.  (Does the title of this blog post) make a bit more sense now?

two it's all over stickers on a poster on a wall. one sitcker is a blue circle and the other is a girl with a green face and glasses looking towards the sky

stencil, black on white, pasteup, black man in silhouette with his arms out, with words that say Enimem believes it's all over, slole

a small pink square sticker with a stick drawing of a man's head and shoulders, with words that say It's all over

below: What? The Toronto Sun is all over?  

on the side of a red Toronto Sun newspaper box is a large paste up by slole of a person in grey hoodie with a pumpkin head, holding some papers,

And now this blog post is all over too.

walls of Honest Eds

Posted: September 23, 2017 in graffiti and street art, landmarks
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Now that Honest Ed’s stands empty, the walls and windows have become home to advertising posters and graffiti.  Here is a sample of what was there yesterday.

below: Love mix #2 says “Music is the best way for me to say I love you”.

graffiti man drawn with two cassette tapes, one as head and the other as body, love mix #2,

below: Hermes 24 Eau de Parfum at $1500 per ounce.  Not sure what “extrait” means!

advertising posters and graffiti on a wall, graffiti is a mock ad for perfume at $1500

below: Urban ninja squadron and planet_selfie get together!

urban ninja squadron man with planet_selfie character in red with red helmet, pasteup on a wall

below: Topsy turvy wall. The puzzle pieces weren’t put together correctly!

graffiti on a plywood covering

below: Another ‘Diversity is Hope’ pasteup

diversity is hope pasteup with picture of black woman with dreadlocks

below: There are a few of these “Why didn’t Drake save Honest Eds” posters on the walls.  This is the only one that has been added to with “He had $2.00 less then (sic) God” and “He made 1 billion”.

Why didn't Drake save Honest Eds poster that someone has written on

below: You are free!

you are free is written in black paint on an old glass case on the outside of Honest Eds

below: Pasteup of Heath Ledger as The Joker

Heath Ledger as the Joker, paper paste up of the head and shoulders

below: Red and glittery gold.

red paper paste up with gold glitter all around it.

two paste ups on a red wall

old glass case for posters, red frame around the glass, posters stuck on the front of the glass

advertising posters and graffiti on a wall, graffiti is a mock ad for ladies watch at $3150. ad is woman holding a pine cone

advertising posters and graffiti on a wall, graffiti is a mock ad for men's shirts at $389

Pedestrian Sunday, August 2017

Posted: August 29, 2017 in graffiti and street art, landmarks, people
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Once again, the last Sunday of the month was Pedestrian Sunday in Kensington Market.  There was a large turnout this past weekend!  Lots of people, music, food, sunshine, and good times.

below: Dancing in the steet

a small group of men are playing instruments and singing Spanish songs, a crowd of people have gathered to watch, outdoors, on a street, some of the people have started dancing on the street

Two men stand beside their bikes talking, a woman in a straw hat an dsunglasses sits behind a table with a yellow table cloth with items for sale on the table

a large number of people in an alley. A banner over the alley says Kensington Flea Market and Beer Garden

below: A song, a mandolin, and a Polish Boy Scout belt buckle?

two musicians, one is playing a mandolin and singing the other is just singing, they are both sharing the same microphone

below: She is showing lots of courage!

a mannequin sits on an upper balcony but only her legs and feet show in the picture, hanging from the balcony are some pieces of paper with the word courage written on them

a young man drills out the center of a pineapple while two women blend the chunks into juice. The juice is then poured back into the hollowed out pineapples and sold as a drink

a head mannequin in a store window, with an orange piece of fabric wrapped aroungd her head. Other fabric in the window. also two people reflected in the glass

two men with baseball caps are sitting on yellow Muskoka chairs on a sunny afternoon. One is facing the camer - he is holding a piece of paper in one hand, he is yawning.

below: A quiet corner for a good book

double entrance to semi-divided house, both doors are open, there are bookcases beside the doors. In one of the doorways, a boy in a green t-shirt sits and reads

looking into the window of a bakery/restaurant. Three people are sitting at a table that looks out the window. One is one his phone and the other two are looking out the window. The sign on window, in red lettering is Ricas tortas,

items for sale on a table outside, three shoes (no pairs), one gold, one red velvet and one patterned, on a purple table cloth. Also for sale, two round orange lamp shades

below: Numbers on the alley by #whatsvictorupto

an alley in Kensington with a painting by #whatsvictorupto on the ground - numbers

below: Drinks – the changing nature of Kensington market is reflected in the food and drink that is available.  There is now a large South American influence in the area so products like Inca Cola and Chicha can be bought.

sample of drinks for sale at a food stall at a street festival, nestea, coke, water, some soft drinks as well as south american products like chicha (purple) and

below: A poser bunny still lurks in an alley.  Everything around him as changed be he remains.

an old poser bunny on a wall in an alley

below: Sign on phone – Stop busting our phone!  Outside the Moonbean Coffee Shop

a small phone booth outside a coffee shop with a patio. Some people are sitting on the patio, Moonbean coffee. On the phone is a round white hand written sign that says Please stop busting our phone

a man looks at sunglasses at a table outside where they are for sale. The sign says Pedstrian Day Sale, sunglasses ten dollars, straw hats ten dollars

an old green and white pickup truck parked in a driveway in Kensington Market, beside a store with a very faded sign that barely says King of Kensington

below: Who you callin’ a pretty boy?

an ugly white dog, on a leash, is looking at the camera, outside, on the street, with the legs and feet of some people

items in the window of a store, as well as on a table set up outside the store

below: The Joker and a friend.

in an alley, two graffiti pieces. One is a pasteup, realistic and detailed drawing of Heath Ledger as the Joker and the other is a quick black line drawing of a man's face

I found love in an alley

Posted: August 15, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art
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“Cupid draw back your bow
And let your arrow go
Straight to my lover’s heart for me, for me”
(from ‘Cupid’ by Sam Cooke)

green background to a piece of graffiti that is black line drawing of cupid shooting an arrow. The target is a real tap in the wall that has been painted bright red

This has me thinking about taps and faucets as hearts.  Is there a metaphor to be found here?  “Pouring out your heart”, or maybe “Let your love flow”, or maybe just a little “love tap”?

below: Graffiti Alley has been love bombed.  Hearts and unicorns by @heart_bomb bring their colourful messages of love and togetherness to the lane.

graffiti on a door in an alley, pink and purple hearts with the words, you've got to let love rule, a piece by heart_bomb

graffiti on a laneway door, two unicorns, one yellow and one blue, looking at each other with a heart above them, words say: stronger together, a piece by heart_bomb

below: Nearby, elicser has a more philosophical take on love.

street art by elicser of a man holding (hugging) a child, in blacks and white, with words, sometimes it's like holding fire.

below: Keeping the message simple (even when love isn’t!).
I also love the three little monkeys at the bottom.

the word love in white block letters that are outlined in red, background is turquoise bubbles. below that are three brown pasteups of monkeys

And that’s why I love to keep going back to Graffiti Alley!

words painted on a sidewalk in blue, love all art

paper people

Posted: August 14, 2017 in graffiti and street art
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Over the past few weeks I’ve seen a number of new pasteups of people – or at least they are new to me.  The first three are ones that I spotted in Graffiti Alley yesterday.   I am not sure if they are portraits of actual people.  You can see more of her work here on instagram.

poster street art of a black woman's head and shoulders. She is wearing a head scarf that is striped fabric wound round her head. The words on the poster say Diversity is Hope

poster street art of a black woman's head and shoulders, 3/4 angle. She is wearing a head scarf that is patterned fabric wound round her head. The words on the poster say Diversity is Hope

poster street art of a black woman's head and shoulders, 3/4 angle. She is wearing dreadlocks. The words on the poster say Diversity is Hope

The other series of portraits that I have seen are of musicians.  I do not know who the artist is.

below: Woody Guthrie with his fascist killing guitar.  He is on Queen West near Graffiti Alley.

black and white paste up of Woody Guthrie standing, holding onto his guitar that has the words This machine kills fascists, written on it.

below: Gord Downie outside number 28.  He is near Ossington and Dundas.

a black and white image of Gord Downie from Barenaked Ladies group, wearing his hat, outside a blue door at number 28

below: Joni Mitchell is also on Queen West.

a black and white pasteup of Joni Mitchell playing her guitar and singing

below: A younger Leonard Cohen

a black and white pasteup of an image of a male guitar player, young man, on a grey wall

The last person is just someone weird pasted onto a door.  I don’t think that he’s anyone in particular.   He seems to have a beard and a high collar but I could be wrong!

street art paste up of a man's head and shoulders, ugly, long beard, high collar, striped shirt

The next time you’re walking around downtown you can try people watching too!

 

 

milky way revisited

Posted: July 21, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art
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a man walks away from the camera as he walks down an alley that has graffit and street art on the garages and buildings

Sometimes graffiti and street art have a short life span.  Many taggers don’t care about what they are tagging over.  Street art can also be “interactive” in that stickers and paste ups can get “added” to a piece.   Anyone with a marker can have their say.  On the bright side, new murals get painted and new paste -ups appear.  And that is why I go back to the my favorite alleys every once in a while.  This morning I walked the Milky Way again.

two stickers on a pole in an alley. one is a pink and purple striped tail of an animal disappearing down a hole. the other is a white face with angry expression and cigarette in mouth

below: The Parkdale mural by Race Williams is still looking good.

mural in magenta and turquoise that says greetings from parkdale, large magenta streetcar in the mural by Race Williams

below: The naked women are a bit more modestly dressed than they once were .

street art mural of three naked women. Someone has painted white over the private parts

The most noticeable change is the fact that many pieces are now at least partially covered by greenery – small shrubs and tall weeds have proliferated and are looking quite healthy.

below: This lion is looking more and more like the king of the jungle even as the words faded and peel.

tall weeds and small shrubs grow in front of a painting of a lion (from the Lion King) painted on an unused doorway in an alley

below: The small aliens at the top of the building are now in the shade of a fast growing tree.

small aliens painted along the top of a building are now partially covered by the branches and leaves of a small tree

below: And the larger aliens on the fence really need a hair cut now.

space alien mural painted on a corrugated metal fence are now partially covered with vines from the top and weeds from the bottom.

below: A large pink peony (at least that’s what it looks like)

street art painting of a large pink peony

below: The fence around the garden.

wooden fence around a backyard that has been painted with garden scenes, cabbages, flowers, sun, and a donkey

a line of black and green rubbish garbage bins along a wall that has street art on it, picture of a boy with a spray paint can in his hand along with some text , stairs leading up to the upper level of the building as well

text graffiti on two buildings in an alley

Previous Milky Way posts
Back to the Milky Way – Sept 2015
Walking the Milky Way – Oct 2014

metal gate that has rusted. large numeral 47 on it as well as some graffiti scrawls

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