Posts Tagged ‘jumblefacefoto’

generally Dundas, from McCaul to Augusta

Posted: March 26, 2022 in alleys, graffiti and street art, intersections, locations
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Toronto is a city of surprises; a city of variety.  If you are bored with one street, just walk another block or turn at the next intersection and chances are you’ll encounter something different.  The scenery will change.  For instance, on Dundas West you leave the downtown core just after University Ave., walk past OCADU, the Art Gallery of Ontario and Grange Park… next, through a section of Chinatown at Spadina and then immediately into the Kensington Market area.   Just south of Kensington is the redevelopment of Alexandra Park….  and you’ve only walked a few blocks.

traffic signs and pedestrian crossing signs on Dundas with downtown highrise in the background and Ocadu banner on pole

below: The newly renovated OCADU annex building on the southeast corner of Dundas and McCaul is now called the Rosalie Sharp Pavilion.  The curve of the roof contrasts nicely with the sharp edges of the neighbouring buildings

Rosalie Sharp pavilion on the southeast corner of Dundas and McCaul, shiny metal facade on the building,

below: The northeast corner of Dundas and McCaul is yet another hole in the ground.  The Art Gallery of Ontario and Rosalie Sharp Pavilion are in the background.  I am beginning to feel like a broken record player when I mention yet another condo construction site (tangent – is there a 21st century equivalent to “broken record player”?).

construction site, orange plastic, hole in the ground, St. Patricks church on right, AGO in the background, at Dundas and McCaul, northeast corner

below: The demolition of the buildings on Dundas West opens up new views of St. Patricks RC Church.

on Dundas West, just east of McCaul, hoardings around a construction site with St. Patricks RC Church behind

below: Around the corner from St. Patricks, is Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and its bilingual signage and beautiful red door.

entrance doorway to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, red wood door, signs on right side in English, signs on left side in Chinese

below: Krispy Kreme (yes, they still exist!) and Jimmys Coffee on McCaul in almost identical buildings.  Like twins but with a dash of their own personality.

old buildings on McCaul street, two remaining rowhouses, three storeys, one is Krispy Kreme at street level, the other is a Jimmys Coffee. A larger squarer brick building on the right, also three storeys

below: Thing 1 and Thing 2 running down the alley

mural with Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Sr. Suess Cat in the Hat book

below: …but not this alley.   That’s a lot of stairs!

Toronto downtown alley backs of houses, exterior stairs up to third floor, fences, brick, concrete,

below: Each building has it’s own character from years of changes and modifications as people come and go.  They may not be good looking but they are often unique – someone’s little piece of the city.

back of houses in alley, tree, fence,

below: Front yard patio

loveseat and armshair outside on grey mat, door to building is double red door, storefront,

below: Critters in the window

three stuffie toys in the middle window of a bay window set in a beige stucco house, behind a wood fence, rusty metal roof on bay window

below:  An old TTC streetcar loses its load.  By the looks of it, this image will disappear once the ivy comes back to life in a few weeks.

painting on concrete wall of a TTC street car leaning over and people falling out

Super star written on the window of a hair salon in china town, large red Chinese letters too, reflection in the window

below: Put together by the ‘Long Time No See Photo Project’, “Chinatown, the Best” is a collection of portraits that highlights seniors in the Chinatown area along with their thoughts and opinions on what makes Chinatown great.

Chinatown poster series on residents, in windows and door on Dundas

below: The posters are on display over eight locations on Spadina and Dundas West.

Chinatown poster series on residents, in windows and door on Dundas

Left to right:
1. Come and work out in Chinatown.
2. Chinatown is my looking glass. Newcomers come thru finding support to enter Canada & I go back thru to understand where my ancestors and I come from. Keep Chinatown strong!
3. Chinatown is my ancestral village. In 1892 Great-Grandfather Charlie Yep laid down family roots in Montreal – but the early years of international racism gave way to self-loathing Kungfu? Chinesey food? Aiiyah!! Standing defiant in a martial arts pose is a testimony to overcoming my denial. I am Chinese-Quebecois Canadian. Au bout!
4. For making Chinatown the Best, Lily draws on her spiritual energy medicine knowledge to develop a healing relationship with the living landscape and its inhabitants to foster the restoration of the area’s sluggish energetic anatomy and amplify its vibrational health and wholeness.
5. deu say lin yeung im ah im duck!

below:  In another Chinatown window is this display – pictures of food with four old black and white pictures.

picture in window in Chinatown, collage of food photos and old black and white photos. One black and white is old Shanghai Bund

below: The picture on the far right depicts Shanghai Bund and river waterfront so it is possible that the other photos are also of Shanghai?  Or at least cities in China?

close up of a picture of sliced meat on a platter, as well as two old black and white photos. Photo on right is Shanghai Bund with boats docked along the river shore.

below: Another window with pictures – this time The Kensary, a cannabis store in Kensington.

window of the Kensary cannabis store in Kensington, full of Toronto landmarks

below: A close up of part of the window showing Casa Loma, Roy Thomson Hall, Hughs Room, the El Mocambo, the Silver Dollar, Massey Hall, and gabled Victorian era houses

close up of picture in window of The Kensary, Toronto landmarks, Casa Loma, Roy Thomson Hall,

below: Hoardings on Spadina where a skeleton reaches out for passers-by.

man on sidewalk on Spadina, walking past hoardings with graffiti and street art and adverts, one mural is a large skull with outreached bony arms,

below: Kensington view of the CN Tower

CN Tower in background, large hydro wood structure in foreground, view from Kensington

below: Facilities at Bellevue Park – more than just “all gender”

a blue and yellow porta potty covered in macabre street art, in bellevue park

in blues, mural by elicser of an older man with white beard, a hook for a hand, smoking a pipe, wearing a cap

a dead end in an alley where all the fences and gates are covered with murals, a large tree, the backs of two storey houses in different materials and colours, brick, wood,

below: Wanted poster for Putin the war criminal

two stencils on hoardings, one is a pink woman's head and the other is a wanted poster for putin, war criminal, Russian leader for his invasion of ukraine

street art on hoardings with word war, black hands and red flames, yellow building tower,

below: There’s at least one Maple Leafs fan left!

sticker on a pole, a stick figure person with a happy face and a realistic blue Maple leafs hockey jersey

bke parked at bicycle stand with graffiti slaps on it, across street from fruit and vegetable market with green walls and red and white striped awning, Kensington market area of Toronto

poster graffiti of a white skull on black background, large red border, on a pole, with alley street art in the background

a woman taking pictures of street art in an alley

below: Jumblefacefoto collages

two large jumblefacefoto collages on walls of empty storefront, open door, with large sign saying coming soon, someone has written in black marker, large letters, freedom in back

in an alley, a door painted black, part of a callligraphy mural with black writing on magenta and orange background

below: Alexandra Park redevelopment progresses. Dundas West is the northern edge of the 16 acre site owned by TCHC (Toronto Community Housing Corp). Most of the original units that were built in the 1960s are now gone.

orange digger working behind a fence, beside older brick apartment building, sign on fence that says you are not your mistakes.

on a pole, twp graffiti slaps, on top is an intricate line drawing of flowers and on the bottom is a bruha, intergalactic in many colours

below: Apparently it’s okay to be white. Actually it’s okay to be brown, or black, or any shade in between too.

on the back of street traffic signs, two slaps. On top is one with words It's okay to be white, and on the bottom a small face with a round surprised mouth

below: Anarchist piano lessons?

poster on hoardings that says Anarchist piano lessons

below: “They say death takes you to a better place but I doubt it”  Me?  I’m in no hurry to find out.

square slap graffiti, small, with text crammed into it that says They say death takes you to a better place but I doubt it

small black and white sticker of a screaming face, on a pole with street art, beside a wood utility pole with lots of orange paint

on a wooden fence, a sign that says warning CCTV cameras, surveillance, you are being watched

snowy morning on Queen West

Posted: March 20, 2022 in alleys, graffiti and street art, landmarks, stores
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… and Graffiti Alley

stencil graffiti, words that say met u in toronto written twice in a circle around a happy face, yellow on black, sprayed on a brick wall in Graffiti Alley

in Graffiti Alley, on a door, a big pink heart with love written in cursive through the middle of it

below: Northeast corner of Spadina and Queen West

northeast corner of Spadina and Queen in a snow flurry,

early morning, storefronts on Queen West, fruit market, empty store, lots of cardboard boxes on sidewalk waiting for trash pickup

below: Mannequins on orange

mannequins in Joe Fresh window, orange background, kids clothes

sidewalk scene on Queen West, bus shelter with Queen West advert, green P parking sign, some stores,

below: Queen Street westbound approaching Bathurst

TTC streetcar westbound on Queen West approaching Bathurst, snow falling, other cars waiting for red light,

below: It’s always nice to see that there’s at least one Lovebot still hanging out in Graffiti Alley.

in Graffiti Alley, a lovebot pasteup up hgh, love bot and a bunch of balloons

below: On the door, a jumblefacefoto collage

jumblefacefoto collage paper pasteup on door in graffiti alley in the middle of a text throw up street art

below: Reach out and touch someone

Bell phone booth covered with stickers, plus a fake bony hand holding onto the receiver, in Graffiti Alley

below: Open your eyes

brick wall with paper pasteup graffiti, open your eyes, a jumblefacefoto

below: Are you smiling?  Are you happy?

old KFC building, empty, with graffiti painted on wood leaning against the building, black letters on white that say In a passive society smiles are not the faces of happy people R "2022"

TTC streetcar at Queen and Spadina, in the snow

an older couple walking on sidewalk on Queen West waiting for greenlight at Bathurst by taccorito restaurant

below: Southeast corner, Queen & Niagara

early morning, yellow lights on in plant store on Queen West, a woman walking past,

below: Same intersection slightly later in the morning and from a slightly different angle

people on the sidewalk at queen west and niagara, traffic lights, woman pushing stroller, Japanese mural in the background, chive plant store in the foreground

two storefronts in old brick building, Queen West, Park Avenue Cleaners and Shanti Baba

photograph on exterior of store, group of people standing together, number 789 Queen West is next door

t bonez urban ninja squadron paste up of him in yoga pose

mural of a naked upper body with arms up and flowers around the head with words turn off your mind

below: Windigo Army piece

street art painting of an indigenous man with long black braid, wrapped in a white and black blanket, with yellow and red aura around him

below: A little orange character pasted to a pole; the work of kode_dipz aka Kyara Cabrera Fong

kode 905 slap graffiti little orange character with green face and tummy, on a pole

below: Because of the construction of a new condo at Richmond and Augusta there has been scaffolding in a section of Graffiti Alley. The other day some of it was being dismantled. This woman is more visible now but some of the bars remain.

mural of a woman with a cloth covering her head, behind scaffolding bar,

below: Life©️ one eyed red daisy supersized

black and orange traffic pylons beside the entrance to Graffiti Alley with a red one eyed daisy painting by life co beside it, then a row of paintings on hoardings

graffiti and street art on plywood hoardings that got switched around

4 faces found in different pieces of street art, all cartoonish, including a one eyed pink monster with oozing body,

below: Part of UBER5000’s Toronto mural.

large uber5000 Toronto mural in Graffiti alley, lower portion of it, behind chainlink fence

below: By luvs – a woman and her dog, with duplicate vision

part of a mural by luvs of a woman's head and a bulldog beside her, duplicate eyes and sunglasses that she's looking over, on a garage door in rush lane

two women walking their dogs in a snow storm on Spadina

from inside, a man walks past window of Le Gourmand bakery cafe on Spadina

below: A properly worn mask…..

window of flashback vintage, a mannequin in brown jacket and blue dress, mask needed sign on door

a collection of dolls in a store window with yellow metal grille in front

What is creepier?  Dolls or mannequins?

two images of mannequins in a window, one in pink and the other in red with red hair, both with large bows in their hair

below: Poetaia wants to know what you’re up to, wink, wink.

sticker graffiti on a wood utility pole that says What are your plans for the weekend?

below: Peeling paper makes the gold words difficult to read

grid of painted paper on top of street art, peeling at edges

below: There’s a yellow eye and possibly a blue one too?

paper collage face with yellow eye,slightly peeling at the edges

two mailboxes on a black door, 555 is salmon colour and 557 is black

two stickers on a metal pole on the topis a picture of a man's head with word think and on bottom is t bonez with finger over mouth as in saying shhh shush

small sticker graffiti on pole

small black and white sticker graffiti on pole, picture of man in a mask holding shoulders of a woman

Queen East Leslieville

Posted: March 13, 2022 in graffiti and street art, locations, public art, stores
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man with dog, people sitting inrestaurants, window reflections, man walking out of restaurant, street scene

below: Leslieville mural on the west wall of Dave’s Hot Chicken, Queen Street East location.

Leslieville mural on the west side of Dave's Hot Chicken restaurant

below: I spotted a very similar piece of paper downtown but with words about knowledge and ignorance (see previous blog post). I wonder how many of these are tacked up around the city?  These words can be attributed to American economist and social theorist, Thomas Sowell (b. 1930).

stapled to a notice board on the sidewalk is text graffiti with words about responsibility

“We seem to be getting closer and closer to a situation where nobody’s responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did.”

 

below: Beside Jimmy Simpson Park there are four stainless steel pennants, each with a word – coursing, disappearing, trembling, and returning.  These are part of a series of three installations called “Time and a Clock” by Eldon Garnet in the area.

people walking on sidewalk, walking past 4 metal poles holding up words in metal

below: Jumblefacefoto collage paste-ups.

large jumblefacefoto collage paste up on a wall on Queen Street East, 3 vertical panels

below: Boston Discount Store with it’s red and white KitKat advert

Boston Discount Store with its red and white kit kat advert on sign, on Queen Street East

below: posters and protests and one very muscular man three times.

posters on a metal utility pole

below: Queen and Jones Pawnbrokers

Pawkbrokers shop on Queen East, metal grille covering windows, people walking past,

below: Eddie’s Convenience with a range of tests available.  I first read it as though Eddie was also selling pregnancy tests!

signs in the window of a convenience store, covid test, pregnancy tests, in home self test,

below: It’s now been 2 years since COVID was declared a pandemic.

a window full of covid masks on sale on display at a convenience store

below: Queen East mishmash of rooflines. Newer boxy construction butting up against older original half gables with their gingerbread still intact.

a row of stores on the south side of Queen East, with different rooflines after various alterations over the years

below: In a lovely older brick building with little architectural details, Fortune Smoke & Gifts Store along with Butchers of Distinction

In a lovely older brick building, Fortune Smoke & Gifts Store along with Butchers of Distinction

below: Busy Street runs parallel to Queen, one block north. It was once a very busy street.

beside some large trees, a Toronto blue and white street sign for Busy Street

But now it is much quieter. Some of the buildings on the north side were once stables for the teams of draft horses that delivered the goods from the nearby Queen Street stores.

street scene, a woman by her car, some houses, Busy street is one block long,

below: The horses have long disappeared and the buildings have been repurposed.

entrance to thunder thighs costume ltd, with green awning over brown double doors.

intersection on Queen East with billboard, mural, traffic lights, sidewalk, pedestrians,

below: Another little upper storey addition above Cask Music and Samaira’s.

cask music store and samaira's on queen east, with a small recently added upper level, people on the sidewalk in front of the stores,

below: Moving up in an alley

prefab white metal structure as upper storeys on older brick building, with exterior stairs to the alley

below: Ubiquitous

construction fence leaning outward, posters, porta potty, construction site

below: Feelings boi graffiti paste-up

feelings boi sticker on the side of a parking meter

small graffiti on a white concrete wall, blue lips, dark blue sunglasses stencil,

paste platz revisited

Posted: December 1, 2021 in graffiti and street art
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I first posted pictures of the pasteups and posters at Charlotte and Adelaide back in September shortly after they first appeared.  I walked past them the other day.  There are a few that I forgot the first time and a few that are new.   Being street art, they have been subject to the sufferance and whims of others –  some comments are added, marks are made.

These are the photos that I took recently:

paper pasteups at Charlotte and Adelaide, large poster for las mujeres vampiros, a woman in a red dress holding a pig

words written over paper pasteups

paper pasteups, a grouping of ten or eleven photos including two large mouths, a woman with blond hair, a woman with blue hair, and others

jumbleface collage photos pasteups over white tag which covered previous paste ups

street art paper poster pasteups, photograph, also abstract faces

wall of paper poster pasteups, with a jumbleface foto collage of eyes

paper pasteups, large, one with woman in pink blouse and pink flowers tied into her hair. the other is a very abstract face in blues and reds and yellows

metal pole with graffiti stickers on them

stickers on metal pole, sketchrat, urban ninja squadron,

posters on a wall, urban ninja squadron, visual noise, and others

sticker soup life with red one eyed daisies, paper poster pasteups

two orange figures on a wall in front of other posters and written graffiti

blue and white city of toronto notice of development sign, on which someone has put a sticker with Mr. Monopoly and the words I have seen the future and I can't afford it

Kensington paper

Posted: November 11, 2021 in graffiti and street art, locations
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November 2021 edition

below: Jumbleface foto collage, slightly peeling.  Keep cold.

jeremy lynch jumbleface foto pasteup collage on a window in Kensington, eyes

below: Doesn’t he fit right into the poster?  Or are you busy looking at all the little creatures swarming around t-bonez head?

on the back of a bike rack, pasteups and stickers, urban ninja squadron in green,

below: It’s Life, it’s a one-eyed red daisy

red petal, blue eyed daisy, it's life sticker

below: Smugrat, Las Mujeres Vampiros, bentoghoul, and others.

stickers on plywood hoardings, outside, mujeres vampiros,

below: Wash your hands after It’s Life yellow daisy takes first prize

three stickers, bottom one is wash your hands

on plywood hoardings, coffee cup poster, with t-bonez and a large missile in the background

below: Miss You!  Nika loves Aura, and other messages around the coffee.

coffee cup poster

below: Crying real water

small sticker with water in eyes, crying tears

below: And you’re looking blue too.

small blue square sticker that says I'm feeling blue

below: Gas Phaseout? We CANDU It!  Part of the poster has been torn off ….

posters on a utility pole, top one is climate change action, rosie the riveter picture with words

below:  … but this Homer Simpson poster is probably related.  Climate Hero!  Eating donuts?  No… “In Ontario nuclear workers provided 90% of the electricity needed to phase out coal – North America’s greatest CO2 reduction.  Let’s phase out natural gas next”.
I can’t read all the handwriting but part of what someone has written on the poster says: “How did you turn off my portable Panosonic TV Karen? Did your boyfriend help you?”  Can you make any sense of that?

two posters on a metal pole, top one has Homer Simpson

paste platz

Posted: September 24, 2021 in graffiti and street art
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Covering the exterior walls of a small empty building on the corner of Charlotte and Adelaide West is a collection of images.  This project, Paste Platz, is the work of Jeremy Lynch.  He asked some instagram users (artists, graffiti artists, photographers, etc ) if they wanted to contribute images.  He then printed pictures the pictures and created the scene you see below.   I haven’t tried to identify which pieces were provided by which artist; instead, I have made a list of the contributors at the bottom of this post along with a link to their instagram pages.  If you have been following this blog, you will recognize some of the street art.  But a lot of it should be new!

paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall

paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall

paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall, photo of town of Hope BC sign that says Experience hope, with words As a person with mental illness, I find this ironic

paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall

paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall, monkeys with cans

paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall, monkeys with cans, jumbleface with blue eyes and blob face

paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall, woman with large buns of hair at ears, with pink roses there too, also colourful abstract faces

paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall

paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall, with blue and white city of Toronto development notice sign, black graffiti says luxury ghettoes

paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall, City Kitty design in skull

paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall, three large pictures in black and white of women

paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall

paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall, 2 steel poles in front covered with stickers, wall behind with large paper posters pasted on

old colour poster of a woman holding a little pig running away from a policeman who has left his car behind, text added that says I sent you that beautiful meme but you never replied (man is talking)

paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall, stickers on a beam in front of larger posters

visual noise and urban ninja squadron, paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall

peace and humpiness R I P in memory of shock G

Full disclosure – some of my pictures from my recent “Little Red Trike” series were included. I brought it with me for a little photoshoot.

llittle red trike in front of a series of photos that feature the trike, paste platz in downtown Toronto, a large paste up display

red trike at paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall, with words Don't let me fade away

red trike in front paste platz, wheatpaste papers on a wall

This site was revisited, and more photos taken, late in November: paste platz revisited

Contributors

Alan Williamson

Alina Chirila

Anna

Anne Milne (aka Colouring Book)

Baska

Bill_L47

Bruho

City Kitty

crkshnk

Eric Hoyles

Garth Dyke

Jeremy Lynch

Kendall

La Vie Sauvage

Luciano Costa

Merlin Boissonneault

Rako Duarte

rudy

sketchrat

tsmoke

Urban Ninja Squadron

and my instagram page too