As promised a few blog posts ago, I went back to take more photos of the now complete mural on the underpass on Lawrence Avenue just west of Caledonia. It was painted by Essencia Art Collective (Shalak Attack, Fiyabruxa and Brunosmoky).
Posts Tagged ‘mural’
return to Lawrence West
Posted: November 22, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations, public artTags: birds, brunosmoky, camel, CN Tower, dead, death, Earth, elephant, environment, essencia art collective, exploitation, fiya, gas mask, Lawrence West, lumber, mural, oil fields, pyramids, Shalak Attack, tiger, vulture
Love or Love
Posted: November 21, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations, public artTags: Allen Expressway, Art Start, community, empty, flower, heights, home, Lawrence Heights, limitless, love, love or love, mural, Ranee Ave., renewal, Sean Martindale, shoot for the stars, stars, streetARToronto, telephone poles, Toronto Community Housing, Yorkdale, Zachary Court
I drove the back streets to Yorkdale yesterday. It’s not something that I normally do; in fact I can’t remember the last time I drove those streets. But I’m glad I did because I found another mural painted on an underpass. Four sections of concrete wall, four words in bright colours – Love, Home, Limitless, Heights.
Home – just to the right of the word ‘home’ was a large heart that unfortunately I missed when I took the next photo. There was also a sign describing the story behind the mural.
This community mural was painted by youth from the neighbourhood, Rocco Ursino, Salim Yislam, Michelle Collin, Jaden Beckford, Tamika Smart, and Hassan Mohamed under the mentorship of Sean Martindale and Joshua Barndt. Apparently it was inspired by a popular local expression “Love or Love” and tries to convey compassion, hopefulness and determination. Needed sentiments as this neighbourhood undergoes major changes and revitalization.
This 2012 project was produced by Art Starts in partnership with Toronto Community Housing and office of councillor Josh Colle. Funding was provided by StreetARToronto and TCH.
The mural is on Ranee Avenue as it passes under the Allen Expressway. It is also right by the south entrance to Yorkdale subway station.
When I parked my car I saw this telephone pole – Shoot for the stars. Great advice!
And because one thing always leads to another, I was parked on Flemington Road beside this – the remains of Zachary Court.
The street is fenced off and the houses are empty. Some of the windows are missing but most are boarded up. This must be the neighbourhood redevelopment referred to in the description of the mural, or at least part of it.
There was another telephone pole with a happy picture painted on it but looking a little worn.
There are two development proposal signs posted on Ranee Avenue that pertain to this area. One of them is for a seven unit, three storey townhouse development on Ranee Avenue itself. The other is for the demolition and replacement of 233 social housing units as well as the construction of 824 market value units serviced by a new public street. The latter development involves a number of streets besides Zachary Court on both sides of the Allen Expressway (Zachary Court backs onto the west side of the Allen).
a little teaser
Posted: November 10, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locationsTags: animals, apocalyptic, brunosmoky, Caledonia, city scene, CN Tower, environment, essenciartcollective, faces, fiyabruxa, Lawrence Ave West, man, marine, mural, owl, painting, pyraminds, railway, shalakattack, sidewalk, street art, turtle, underpass, water, woman
There’s a new mural being painted. It’s not quite finished
but it is looking impressive!
It is the work of Essenciartcollective, namely brunosmoky, shalakattack and fiyabruxa.
It started to rain quite heavily while I was there so I didn’t linger.
I’ll return soon – and by then it should be finished! A few photos in the meantime:

Parts of the mural are very apocalyptic
Pictures of the completed mural are now available!
imagine design create
Posted: November 4, 2015 in graffiti and street artTags: alley, art, balloons, bobby, building, colin makes art, cool ethan, gameboy lovebot, garage, garage doors, gas mask, girl, houses, lane, lovebot, man, Monica on the moon, mural, police, spray paint, stencils, street art, streetcar, TTC
As I sort through the photos that I took this past summer, I keep finding pictures of street art that I have not yet posted. The following collection were taken in the Dupont and Ossington area back in July.
below: A very horizontal piece by Cool Ethan, obviously
below: A TTC streetcar passes by the Massey Harris building, a mural by Colin Turner Bloom. This office building, at 915 King St. West, was built in 1883 as the headquarters for the Massey Harris Co. It was declared a heritage building in 1973. Since then it has been developed as lofts/condos.
below: A city scene mural by Monica on the moon, just off Dupont Avenue.
below: Another garage door
below: Up, up and away with a bunch of red balloons.
below: Bobby with a gas mask, stencil on garage door in a lane.
below: Two lovebots on Dupont.
walking down McCaul Street
Posted: October 21, 2015 in graffiti and street art, public artTags: bottles, brinks building, fish, flower, flowers, Grange, lovebot hearts, McCaul St., moter, mural, Nunca, OCADU, slaps, Stephanie St., stickers, street art, swimmer, Toronto, uber5000, wheatpaste, woman
This post is the result of a search for street art while walking south of OCADU on McCaul Street past Grange Road and Stephanie Street on the way to Queen St West.
below: Part of a painting by Uber5000 on the ramp to Above Ground Art Supplies, OCADU on McCaul at Grange.
below: On the SW corner of Grange and McCaul is this woman. The building is 60 McCaul St., the Brinks Express Company of Canada building.
below: On the south wall of the Brinks building is a mural. It was painted in 2014 by Julia Dickens, Tara Dorey, Alexandra Mackenzie, Lido Pimienta, Peter Rahul and Diana Vander Meulen.
UPDATE: As of 4th Nov 2015 the lower right part of this mural has been tagged over unfortunately.
below: This building has a City of Toronto Development Proposal sign on it. This sign says: “40-60 McCaul Street and 10 Stephanie Street. An application has been filed to amend the Zoning By-law to permit a 14 storey residential building with 184 units and a below grade parking garage as well as a 3 storey building proposed to a private art gallery. Statutory Public Meeting: Information will be posted once meeting is scheduled.”
below: The next building south on McCaul Street is 52 McCaul. Dasic Fernandez and Uber5000 contributed this street art to the northwest corner of the building. It is across the parking lot from the mural pictured above.
below: On the back of 52 McCaul (west side) is:
below: There is a large mural on the south side of 52 McCaul. It was painted by Francisco Rodrigues da Silva, a Brazilian street artist who goes by the name Nunca, in 2009 as part of that year’s Manifesto Festival.
below: A few little things spotted along the way.
More info on the two large murals pictured above.
wildlife on St. Helens
Posted: October 19, 2015 in graffiti and street artTags: #spud1, animals, ape, beetle, Bloor West, braesoner, cbs, cruz, cruz1, EGR, female, graffiti, hunter, jungle, lion, monkey, mural, Nick Sweetman, serpent, snake head, spear, spud, St. Helens Ave., street art, tiger, tongue, toucan, wild, woman
Reggae Lane
Posted: September 22, 2015 in graffiti and street artTags: Adrian Hayles, alley, Eglinton West, lane, mural, music, parking lot, public art, reggae, street art, Toronto
Toronto’s newest street sign
Reggae Lane is a small lane on the south side of Eglinton West, between Marlee and Oakwood.
It is home to a new mural that celebrates the many reggae musicians from Toronto.
below: A Heritage Toronto plaque marks the spot. It tells the story of Jamaican immigration and the reggae music they brought to Canada with them. A transcription of the plaque appears at the bottom of this post.
The mural was painted over the course of three weeks by Adrian Hayles with the help of some young painters.
below: Appearing in the mural: Reggae musicians from Toronto – Pluggy Satchmo, Bernie Pitters, Leroy Sibbles, Lord Tanamo, Jay Douglas, Stranger Cole, Johnny Osbourne, Jojo Bennett, Nana McLean, Jackie Mittoo, Leroy Brown, Otis Gayle, Joe Isaacs, and Carol Brown. Bob Marley is also in the mural as are the Skatalites, one of the groups that started it all; they began recording ska music in the mid 1960s.
below: “Reggae, The King’s Music” is a reference to Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-1974) who was born Tafari Makonnen. Before becoming emperor, he was known as Ras Tafari where Ras means Duke or Prince (depending on the translation). Hence the name Rastafari. The Rastafari movement began in Jamaica after the coronation of Haile Selassie. To them, Selassie was not just a black king, he was the messiah.
Although it didn’t become a musical genre until the 1960s, reggae also has it’s roots in Jamaica. Reggae and Rasta have become closely linked. Reggae has spread the Rasta message and Rastafari musicians like Bob Marley have popularized reggae music.
below: The radio station CFRB once had a Sunday evening reggae program.
below: The Lion of Juda is a Rastafarian symbol. It comes from the fact that as Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Sealssie’s full title was “King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah”. The lion also appears in the middle of the Ethiopian flag.
plaque: “Toronto’s Reggae Roots
In the 1970s and 1980s, an estimated 100,000 Jamaicans immigrated to Canada. Many settled in Toronto on Eglinton Avenue West, between Oakwood Avenue and Allen Road, in “Little Jamaica”, which became the centre of one of the largest Jamaican expatriate communities in the world.
Among these immigrants were popular reggae artists who brought their music to Toronto. Reggae record stores and recording studios began opening up in this neighbourhood. Leroy Sibbles (the influential bass guitar player and lead vocalist of The Heptones), Jackie Mittoo, The Cougars, Ernie Smith, Johnny Osborne, and Stranger Cole all performed and recorded in Toronto during this period. Despite the rich talent in and around Little Jamaica, early Canadian reggae struggled to find mass appeal. However, later generations of Toronto reggae artists achieved mainstream success, including Juno Award winners Lillian Allen, Messenjah, and the Sattalites.”
The project was funded by the City of Toronto’s StreetARToronto program, with support from Metrolinx, Councillor Josh Colle’s office, the Macaulay Centre for Child and Youth Development, the Toronto Parking Authority and the York-Eglinton BIA. It was also supported by the STEPS Initiative.




















































































































































