Posts Tagged ‘head’

gumhead

Posted: February 4, 2015 in events
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Gumhead is a “gum-based, crowd-sourced, publicly interactive, social-sculpture self portrait” in the words of Douglas Coupland, the artist who conceived and developed this idea.

It sits inside the entrance of Holt Renfrew Men on Bloor St. West.

A large (about 6 foot tall) black head sits in the front of a menswear store. People have been encouraged to add chewed wads of gum to the head. It is about one third covered.

People are encouraged to add their own chewed gum with the intention that the head will become covered, obscured, and transformed.  And people have done so, some with imagination or whimsy.

He now has eyelashes on one eye.

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Gumhead is scheduled to remain until March 9th.
And yes, gum is provided…. as is the Purell!

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under Mt. Pleasant Road

Posted: October 17, 2014 in general Toronto
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Between Lawrence and Eglinton, Mt. Pleasant Road passes over Burke Brook and Blythwood Ravine Park.
This is the graffiti that I saw under that bridge.

graffiti under a bridge - black and white picture of a man in jacket and tie and a hat with a brim. The top part of his face is in shadow from the hat brim. He iis shown only from the shoulders up

eyes in shadow

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graffiti under a bridge - line drawing of a man's head with dotted lines dividing it into sections that are numbered

the numbers of a man

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graffiti under a bridge - black and white line drawings of leaves and other biological looking creatures or things. The words 'yellow ochre' and 'lylith lyl' also appear'

flora and fauna, lylith lyl

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graffiti under a bridge - yellowish gold frame with large line drawing of a smiling person.

crooked smile in frame

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graffiti under a bridge - Kat Will you Marry Me? was the original words on the wall. It is partially obscured by a tag.

Did Kat marry him?

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graffiti under a bridge - Crisis? Cress? In large red letters with green and black drawings above (under the beams that are supporting the bridge)

facing outward from the wall

Posted: July 18, 2014 in graffiti and street art
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Graffiti faces seen in alleys and lanes recently.

A street art painting of a bust of a woman, all white, looks like white marble Greek or Roman statue, very classical looking

White bust on a wall near Bathurst subway station. She has been here for quite some time now; it’s good to see that no one has tagged over her

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Large black & white & grey face of a famous black musician, probably jazz or blues but I'm not sure

musician – and my apologies because I am not sure who it is.

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A small black & white & grey face made on paper, surrounded by green , yellow, blue & oranges squiggly lines

colourful face

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A street art painting of a woman's face. Her eyes are closed and her head is tilted upwards

Closed eyes between the garages

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Graffiti, or street art, on a blue background, of a little black and white animal with a spray paint can in his hand. Beside him is a tag in yellows and olive greens.

Love Spraying Dude, a colourful little guy

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A few small trees are growing in front of an older building that has been painted white. Two brown figures have been stencilled onto the wall.

Hiding behind the trees

*****

Barbara Barrett lane

Posted: November 10, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Barbara Barrett lane is located in Harbord village.  It runs east-west and is immediately south of Bloor Street West between Borden Street and Brunswick Avenue.

The lane was recently named after Barbara Barrett who was the founder of the Toronto School of Art in 1969.  The school was originally located at Sussex and Brunswick.   Barbara died in 2005 in her 89th year.

Like many lanes and alleys in the area, there are a number of murals and interesting pieces of graffiti.

street art on a textured concrete wall showing stylized yellow birds sitting on a telephone wire. A boy is sitting with them.

birds on a wire

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mural showing a man's upper body and arm. The head and hand are oversized. The hand has been made to look like a head, with eyes on two of the fingers and a mouth with teeth on the palm of the hand. .

mural showing two large hands hold a Rubik's cube

solving Rubiks’s cube

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A wall that is covered with a mural. There is a one way sign on the wall. It is pointing towards a window.

one way to the window

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At the intersection of two alleys. Straight ahead is a building covered with a large mural with large hands and a Rubik's cube amongst other things. On the right is a one storey building with a poser tag in blues and maroons.

at the corner

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Street art picture of a girl with long black hair, brown shorts and a pink top, sitting on a large swing.

girl on a swing.  She is in the entranceway to the Green Room restaurant.

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A stencil in black of white of three stylized faces that have big smiling mouths. They are on a yellow door.

smiling, laughing stencil faces

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part of a mural on a wall. It is also a parking space for zip cars. The mural has a pale yellowish background. It has blue an dpink tags as well as a picture of a man.

zipping around

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part of a mural on a wall. There is a door in the middle. Part of the mural shows a large tree with a brown trunk and multicoloured leaves.

a door in the mural

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Croft Street

Posted: November 5, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Croft Street is not a street, but it’s more than a lane.

It runs between Harbord Street and College Street, just west of Bathurst Street.  Although there are many different interesting things to be seen when you walk along this street, I have chosen to focus on the street art for this blog post.   The following is a selection of what I saw.

large piece of street art on a couple of garage doors.

surveying the scene

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a large piece of street art on a garage door.

a closer look

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large piece of street art on a garage door, in purples and greys. Above the garage door is a rusted metal wall.

paint and rust

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Blue garage door with the words can't sleep so I write written on it. There is also a stick figure drawing of a girl with a can of spray paint in her handof a girl

can’t sleep so I write

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mural showing two red brick houses, a small grey apartment building and a green street sign that says Harbord St.

Harbord street sign

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Did you know our Monty the cat? King of Croft and all that (Ask your dog. Ask your cat) Did you give him a pet Once you had met? Or tickle his soft silken tum tum? Did he tell you his tale in articulate meow And share his affection with a rub of his brow? His loss here has left us really quite blue But remembering all of those of YOU Who knew how to share a sweet kindness true Who would pause on the way, In midst of each day, To offer wee beastie affectionate feastie In Memory of Monty Thank you!

Did you know our Monty the cat?
King of Croft and all that
(Ask your dog. Ask your cat)
Did you give him a pet
Once you had met?
Or tickle his soft silken tum tum?
Did he tell you his tale in articulate meow
And share his affection with a rub of his brow?
His loss here has left us really quite blue
But remembering all of those of YOU
Who knew how to share a sweet kindness true
Who would pause on the way,
In midst of each day,
To offer wee beastie
affectionate feastie
In Memory of Monty
Thank you!

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Mural painted on the side of a garage. It has been painted to look like a red brick wall. In the wall is a yellow window and a black cat is standing on the window sill.

painted cat on painted window sill on painted brick wall

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Mural on a garage door showing a large group of people of many different races. There is a TTC street car in the center of the crowd. Some people are waving flags - a Canadian flag, a German flag, and a Union Jack

on the streets of Toronto

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An old wood door and wall with faded graffiti on it.

hidden doorway

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Street art on a garage door showing large stylized fruit with faces on them. A yellow banana, an orangish pink pear and apple and two other pieces of yellow fruit.

tutti frutti

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A graffiti picture of a boy who is wearing a black and white striped sweater. Shown from the hips up. His hands are on his hips. It is on a white garage door.

with hands on hips and with added words

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brown garage door, brown front door and rusty brown mail box. On the garage door is a piece of street art with orange and blue blobs. The front door is decorated with a grid made of metal strips.

art at the front door

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Mural on a garage door showing a man like figure made of leaves and other greenery. He is surrounded by, of made up of, flowers and plants

greenery

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A stencil graffiti of a stylized face in black and white. It is on a very red wall.

black and white and red all over

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Here I stand in silence but the patter of the rain who I was, you'll never know; my triumph

Here I stand in silence
but the patter of the rain
who I was, you’ll never know;
my triumph

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A stencil graffiti of a woman's head. She has shoulder length hair and she is staring straight ahead with a stunned look on her face.

staring eyes

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graffiti of a man's face. The mouth is actually a mail slot in a door.

mail man

At the south end of the street, there is a large red, white and blue mural by posr.  I have not included it in this blog post because it warrants a post of its own.  It’s the next blog post, or the URL is https://mcfcrandall.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/posr-on-croft-street/

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