Posts Tagged ‘paint’

a lap around the tracks

Posted: July 27, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
3

But not a running, or even a jogging, track!  No, yesterday’s walk was an oval-ish loop at walking pace from Dundas West station, up one side of the railway tracks and back down the other.

below: Just past the subway station I saw the mural on “The Friendly Trini’s” which is now closed.  If the mural is telling the truth, they once served butter chicken, curried goat roti, jerk chicken with rice and peas, as well as drinks in coconuts and pineapples.  Feeling hungry already, and I’ve only just begun my walk.

a mural on the side of the Friendly Trinis restaurant that is now closed. Two women are walking on the sidewalk by the restaurant, a sign for Jennys bar and restaurant is in the background. The mural has drinks in coconuts and pineapples as well as a list of some of the food they served

below: Also on Dundas West, the King’z Convenience and Dollar Store which sells Filipino products and delicacies is adjacent to the Slovenija meat & delicatessen.  Multicultural.  I regret not taking pictures of the window of the Slovenian store – juice and beer brands that were unfamiliar to me.

two storefronts on a street, one is a slovenian grocery store and the other is a convenience store

below: Detail, boy riding an old fashioned bike on a little hook above a door.

a decorative ornament hanging high on a brick wall, a hook that extends from the wall about 8 to 10 inches, on top is a flat rendition of a boy on an old fashioned bicycle

below: And someone has decorated their balcony.

a balcony railing has been decorated with different colours of fabric that has woven between the rails

below: Just before I reached the bridge over the railway tracks I saw these words on a wall.

graffiti on a wall, in white paint on grey wall, the words "I have a dream'

below:  The dream theme continues on the metal steps up to the bridge.  This one was small and I almost missed it.  I’m not sure if it was painted black to blend into the background, or if the painting was an attempt to “clean up” the graffiti when prying off the letters proved to be too difficult (the D is broken so maybe someone tried).  Insert words about killing other people’s dreams here.

a raised word, 'dream' in cursive that has been stuck on the side of a set of stairs and then painted black to match the steps

below: From the top of the steps looking south.  The minimalist new Bloor GO and UP (Union Pearson) station is finished, top left of the photo.  Don’t you think we should call it ‘Get UP and GO’?  The street is Dundas West and yes, that mural is new.

view from a bridge, a street, and a railway and some buildings in between. There is a mural at the bottom of the steps.

below: Helping to hold up the bridge, west side of the tracks.  He’s carrying the weight of the world, or maybe just the bridge, on his shoulders.

mural on the concrete base supporting metal struts bridge supports.

After crossing the bridge, I walked north along the West Toronto Railpath. The fencing along the path has all been upgraded.  There used to be some spots where you could get through the fence (non-railway side) but those are gone.  Between the tracks and the path there is a new clear (glass? plastic?) fence.  Of course it has already been ‘vandalized’ or ‘tagged’ – choose your verb.  Because I was there on a sunny afternoon, the sun was shining through the ‘artwork’ and making interesting designs.  A few thistles and other weeds added some compositional elements.

glass that has been spray painted yellow and orange, with some black that has run, weeds are growing in front of it, the sun is shining from behind it

a bright red heart has been sprayed painted onto a glass wall, weeds growing front, train tracks behind, the sun shining through the glass.

There were quite a few hearts on my route, especially around the Dupont exit of the Railpath.

below: Many hearts on the fence.

two street art pieces painted on a glass wall. the first is a red and black heart with a white banner across it on which the word love is written. the other is 8 little red hearts on white stems growing from the ground below.

below: A heart for Hex and Nish wherever, and whomever, they may be.

a bright red heart painted on a man made boulder, words hex and nish written on it

below: Three heart balloons on the Dupont sign.  You can get a good view of the fence here.

glass fence beside railway tracks, path, trees, also a metal sign on which three red hearts on white stems have been painted.

below: Part of the West Toronto Railpath runs alongside Planet Storage, an large old brick building.  There used to be a lot of street art along the side of the building but it’s all been painted over.   A few tattle tale remnants remain.

wall, part of an older brick building that has been painted a rust colour, with windows, some of which have metal grilles over them. Remnants of old graffiti on the metal grilles.

below: My favorite, little details like the bright yellow giraffe looking at the clouds.

looking into a window, toy yellow giraffe on the window sill as well as two toy trolls, one with yellow hair and the other with orange. Reflections of clouds in the window

below: There is one mural on the Railpath, the back of Osler’s Fish Market is covered with a fish and fishing themed mural.

back of Osler Fish Market covered with a fish and fishing mural

below: Fish heads in the weeds.  Queen Anne’s lace, that plant with the white flowers, was growing in abundance along the path.  You might know it by its other name, Wild Carrot.

detail of a mural, fish heads, on a wall with Queens Annes lace and other weeds growing in front.

mural with fisherman bringing in a load of fish to the shore, boat in the background, more fish in the foreground.

mural, man sitting, mending fishing nets, woman on the shore carrying a bundle towards some fishing boats.

below: A splash of red on a street just off the railpath.

the top part of an old Victorian brick 2 storey house, painted red with white trim

below: The sign on the table says: “Hi! La Witch Cat here.  Enjoy the space, but PLEASE do not litter.  I provided a garbage can. Use it!  This includes cigarette butts.  Put in trash once extinguished.  Thanks!  XXO”.  Marvellous!  I sooo agree with the part about cigarette butts.  Why do people who don’t litter still consider it okay to throw cigarette butts wherever they please?  I smiled but I didn’t stop to rest.

In a veryshady spot, against a metal fence, two old chairs with a white table between them, a sign on the table and a small garbage can to the left.

below: At one point I found myself at this intersection.  What is a pedestrian to do? It’s possible I walked where I shouldn’t have, or at least where foot traffic is rare.  All the roads in the photo are Dundas West; it’s where the street splits as it approaches Dupont and Annette.  There was a small park behind me, called Traffic Island park.  The name sums it up I think.

wide intersection where two roads meet in a V shape. not much else in the picture, only the nose of one car, no other traffic. hydro poles and wires in the picture

two old Toronto street signs, slightly rusted, on a hydro pole, one for Dundas St. WEst and one for Dupont street

below: A lament for the streetscape.  One more line in an elegy to public spaces.  The result of a half hearted attempt.  Massive hydro poles on the narrow sidewalk.  A large ad. A green space that needs attention.  If you look carefully, you can see  a plaque on a small stand.

sidewalk right beside a road, with hydro poles on the sidewalk, a small stretch of green space (about a metre) befoew a large fence that is concrete on the bottom and glass on the top. A couple of small trees that are dying are in the green space.

below: This is the plaque.  According to the words, this strip of land was replanted in 2001-2003 with a number of native species with the plan that they would spread and “create an oasis in the middle of the city”.   It mentions three plants – Nannyberry tree, Staghorn sumac, and Bottlebrush grass.   Disconnect alert.

plaque describing the railside garden with words about its history and some picture of the plants that grow there

below: On my way back to the subway station I spotted this 24 hour lovebot.

a lovebot sticker on a TTC bus stop pole, between the sign that says 24 hours and the symbol of a bus, older industrial building behind it.

…. that was where I walked yesterday but before I leave, a few small details.  Ciao!

graffiti on a grey metal door of a girl's head with lots of pink hair. A pink heart beneath her with the word love under that

red background, silhouette of sumac leaves

blue background, graffiti drawing of man's head, wearing large crown, sad eyes, heart in word bubble

a plate in a window that says Good Morning Sunshine, also two small ceramic figures of cats, and one ceramic dog

at the mouth of the Don

Posted: July 13, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2

street art painting of a blue fish on light blue background, stylized

Today I walked the southern part of the Lower Don River trail.  It’s not the most relaxing place to walk even though the path follows the river.  I have a habit of absentmindedly meandering and I didn’t want to meander right into a cyclist on the narrow shared path.   There was constant background noise from the cars and trucks on the nearby Don Valley Parkway but it was the GO trains that made the most noise as they rumbled right beside me.  Yes, you are correct, it’s not my favorite place to walk.  But I also knew that there was a reward near the end of the trail.

Near the ‘mouth of the Don River’ (in reality, where the Don River turns into the Keating Channel), there are some new murals on the bents supporting the ramps between the DVP and the Gardiner Expressway.  They are part of the Love Letter to the Great Lakes project.   A previous blog post, love letters in paint, concerned the murals from this project that were painted near Ossington and Queen West.

below: If you approach the area from the north, this is the first bent that you see.  All sides of it have been painted by Kirsten McCrea.  If you are driving south on the Don Valley Parkway and you exit to the Gardiner westbound, you drive right over this, and the next few, bents.  In case you haven’t guessed, a bent is that concrete support thingy holding up the road.

a bent supporting an offramp has been covered in a bright mural, grass and weeds grow in front, the river is behind, a small tree also in the picture

below: The other side of the McCrea mural is in the background, behind the bent that has been painted by PA System (Patrick Thompson and Alexa Hatanaka).  Amongst the swirly watery  shapes there is a face near the top.  Extra bit: The guy on the bike stopped to take a photo too.

A swirl of colours makes a mural of faces and hands and watery things, on a bent under the Don Valley Parkway

below: The other side of the PA System bent. A large fish fits perfectly in the upper portion while a hand reaches up from the vertical part.

A very large fish is painted across the top of a bent, and a hand is on the vertical part, with finger tips pointed upwards.

below: The work of MC Baldassari who is currently from Montreal.

concrete support, or bent, under a ramp has been painted with a mural based on a large dark blue triangle

below:  The other side of the above bent.  It looks like the woman has come through the pillar.

concrete support, or bent, under a ramp has been painted with a mural based on a woman's head coming through a large dark blue triangle

below: A woman with a mouse in her hand and a flower in her hair kneels beside the foxes,
a mural painted by EGR (Erica Balon).   In the background you can see a much taller bent that has been painted blue.   This bent is on a different ramp, the ramp that you would find yourself on if you were driving east on the Gardiner and then exiting to the DVP.  It has been painted by Jason Botkin and it includes the word Wonscotanach.  Apparently that was the First Nations name for the river before John Graves Simcoe came along in 1790 and decided to call it the Don River.

A mural on a bent in an underpass, a young woman is kneeling. She is holding a mouse in one hand. Two foxes stand beside her.

below: There are more animals on the other sides, along with a city lit up in the night in the background of the mural.   Raccoon, rabbit and a pink butterfly fluttering past.

2 bents covered with murals. In the foreground, the mural is dark blue, with a pink butterfly, a rabbit, a mouse and a raccoon.

woman holding a mouse in a mural on a bent in the foreground, with another bent in the background, a mural of water and topless red women walking or standing in the water

below: Rajni Perera‘s mural features red and yellow women walking or standing in the water.

part of a mural of water and topless red women either walking or standing in the water

below: Looking back

a cyclist rides past 4 bents under the Don Valley Parkway that have been painted with murals as part of the Love Letter to the Great Lakes project.

below: A collaborative effort by Jarus and Kwest beside the Don Valley trail, just north of the other murals.

large sea creature painted on a mural on a concrete wall.

below:  And one last photo before leaving the area… a quick note sprayed on a concrete support.

rough spray painted words 'Hi Love' on a concrete support on a railing by a river.

same, same, but different

Posted: July 8, 2016 in locations
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
3

A week or so ago I explored a lot of little alleys and lanes in Seaton village.  Once upon a time it was a village, named for John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton, who was Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada from 1828 to 1836.  The land here was originally settled and farmed by loyalists Colonel David Shank and Captain Samuel Smith.   Eventually, George Crookshank acquired the property and he laid out the plans for a village here in the 1850’s; it wasn’t developed until around 1888 when the area was annexed by the City of Toronto.

Today it is the rectangular section of Toronto north of Bloor street to the CNR train tracks by Dupont and between Bathurst and Christie streets.  It is part of The Annex.

When I started to write this blog post my plan was to focus on how all lanes are the same yet different.  Their characteristics usually reflect the neighbourhood around them and the way the lanes are used.  Every lane has a personality.

below: Vermouth Lane, one of the greenest lanes I’ve seen in Toronto.  Why?  Probably because there are no garages in the lane, except for the two that were beside me when I took this picture.  The backyards that are on this lane are not big.  There are one or two houses that have made room in their backyard for a car, but that takes up most of the space.  The lane itself is also rather narrow.

a lane with old wood fences and a lot of green, trees, weeds, ivy on the fences, shrubs beside the lane. narrow lane

below: In contrast,  Col David Shank Lane (there’s that name again!) ends at a wide alley behind the stores and services on Dupont.  It’s a working alley.

wide lane behind Dupont Street in Toronto, an old car is parked there, back of an auto repair shop, sturdy looking two storey brick buildings.

But that’s only stating the obvious, isn’t it?

On a brown metal door, a white line drawing of a grinning face with many teeth and semi circular eyes

Like the city around them, lanes are a mix of old and new, interesting and bland, plus well kept and neglected.

from a lane, two garages, a wood fence painted faded green between the garages, the tops of the houses can be seen behind.

They are the less public side of city life.

backyard, and back of an old building that has been boarded up. The ashphalt shingles on the back of the building are torn , there is a graffiti face painted on one wall

below: As I looked for things that make alleys different, I kept finding little details like the old blue plant pot with its contrasting orange wall.

A planter in blues and blacks with a partially dead and drooping plant sits beside an old wall that has been painted bright orange. The wall behind the plant is brown.

below: The textures and bright colours in the design made by aging paint on a garage door caught my eye.

part of red garage with paint starting to peel where blue lines have been sprayed on.

below: A vegetable garden dominates the backyard.

the back of a house and its backyard which has been planted with a vegetable garden.

below: A simple plant in a window in Tandy Murch Lane.  Walter Tandy Murch (1907-1967) was a painter who was born and raised in the area.  His mother, Louise Murch (nee Tandy), was a popular singing teacher

white door on white wall. Someone has drawn a window on the door with a plant in the window. Bottom of wall is red, three black horizontal stripes on the wall, one vertical blue pipe on the left side

below: Through a hole in the wood, a glimpse of what lies beyond.

an old wood fence, unpainted, rusty nails, with a hole in it. Looking through the hole is part of a window but it's out of focus

below:  Abandoned plumbing fixtures lead to all kinds of jokes – outdoor plumbing

a white toilet, with a lid, sitting beside a yellow painted brick wall with weeds growing up beside the toilet, in a lane

below: A once proud tree

a big dead tree with the tops of the branches cut off, in a backyard, view from the lane behind, including the three storey building on the property

below: A garage door that stands alone and not in a row with others.

an old garage at the end of a backyard of a small white house, lane view, chainlink fence, well kept lawn, no trespassing signs, signs saying pick up after your pet, five signs in all,

below: Possibly a Rorschach test?  A brown face is what I see.  Do you?

a brown stencil of a man's face on a wood fence but the paint was a bit heavily applied and there are some paint blobs

below: And another test – can you find the paintbrush?
Not sure how it got there!  Or how it’s staying there!

a used paintbrush is lying under the eaves of an old shed that is a mottled pale green and pale blue, branches of a tree and its leaves partially block the paint brush from view

below: This could become a game.  An “I Spy” kind of game.  I spy a face.

part of an old blue garage beside part of an old reddish and green garage, the shape of the faded paint on the blue, looks like a ghostly face

below: Or perhaps we could play peek-a-boo?

looking through the gap between two garages in a lane, into a backyard with a chair on the lawn, and a ladder and steps that look like a ladder up to a door at the second storey level

And this is where I am going to leave you…. until another day when I walk more lanes and find more little details, more differences, to make me smile.  And then we’ll play again!

The End

close up of a wood pole beside a white garage. Written in capital letters, black ink, is the word Amen

intersections – St. Clair and Vaughan

Posted: December 9, 2015 in graffiti and street art, history, intersections
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
3

This post is the result of a very wobbly and random circular walk around part of the Wychwood Heights neighbourhood last weekend.   A hodge podge of this and that.

below: The intersection of St. Clair West and Vaughan Road circa 1912

Historical black and white photo of a two sorey brick building at an intersection of two dirt roads.

below: I didn’t quite recreate the picture above but it is still obvious that the brick building is still standing after just over 100 years but that every thing around it has changed.

Two storey brick building, now Hakim Optical on the corner of an intersection.

below: Just to the north,  78 Vaughan Road…. didn’t this store used to be an ice cream place?

empty store front at 78 Vaughan Road, empty on one side a closed tattoo parlour on the other.

below:  Ah yes, there is still remnants of ice cream cones above the window so my memory is correct.
I wonder what happened to it?

side of a brick building that used to be an ice cream store. Painted red with some white parts, front has been removed from lighted signs, exterior decorations have been removed except a faint outline of ice cream shapes remain above the window.

There are a number of alleys to the north and west of the intersection of St. Clair and Vaughan Road.  Most of them are quite tidy and well looked after.   They were also full of surprises, bright little things that put on a smile on your face on a December afternoon.

below: Like little pictures painted on canvas….

A small canvas painted turquoise and the words say hello written in small red letters, attached to a fence in a lane

A small canvas painted red and a small yellow heart painted in the middle. The words say hello are painted on it too but they are harder to see. It is nailed to an old wood fence

A small landscape painted on canvas and attached to a telephone pole in an alley

below: and painted on wood

a two tone pink fish painted on wood, cut out, and nailed to a wood fence.

below: or painted directly on poles.

On a wood telephone pole, a small bird painted in white, black and blue.

below: There was a fence made of old wood doors

an old picket fence that is falling aoart, and a fence made of doors that is behind it.

close up of old picket fence that is falling aoart, and a fence made of doors that is behind it.

below:  There was a great creature with googly eyes and a rectangular orange nose.

Two big googly eyes attached to a telephone pole

below: And of course there were some painted garage doors.

street art on garage doors, musical instruments covering two garages, a guitar, a trombone, also the words sweet sweet music everywhere

below: These garage doors are a sample of the more than 40 doors that have been painted as part of the Kenwood Lanway Art Initiative.

painting on a garage door of a moose at sunset

painting on a bright blue garage door of the Toronto skyline with a large Canadian flag behind ithe skyline

While walking on the streets in the neighbourhood I saw a couple of little houses

little narrow white bungalow with a yellow front door set back from the road. There is a straight walkway from the sidewalk to the door, and there is a lot of shrubery in the front yard especially near the sidewalk.

as well as larger buildings with intricate architectural details.

below:  A checkerboard effect with the bricks on the La Salle Apartments.  As an aside, the small bush in front of the building was in the picture no matter what angle I tried.  It was a lilac bush and I am sure that there were buds on it.

Part of a low rise apartment building, over the door, no windows. Checkerboard pattern in the bricks. The words La Salle Apts in large white letters across the bottom of the picture.

below: A little fake balcony with a white post railing on a low rise apartment building.

A white framed window in a red brick building. Below the window are a few white pieces of wood that look like a balcony railing even though there is no balcony there.

below: A line of little arches across the roofline is echoed in the larger arch patterns over the windows.  There is a small relief sculpture near the top corner of the building (slightly behind the tree) but I can’t tell what’s on it.  A coat of arms maybe?

brick pattern across the top of a building. scalloped, or looking like little arches to match the larger arches over the windows.

below:  There were quite a few four storey brick apartment buildings that looked like they were built in the 1920’s and 1930’s.  Perhaps there was a  little ‘condo boom’ at the time?

4 storey apartment building on Vaughan Road, red brick with white upper storey, diamond shaped details, two little peaked roofs over windows.

four storey apartment on a corner

front door and front of building, four storey apartment building in red brick with stone window and door frames.

 

Two four storey apartment complexes and a single family home on Vaughan Road.

below:  Like the condos of today, many of the buildings had names such as Maple Villa

Stone door frame and entranceway to Maple Villa, a brick low rise apartment complex

and Maplewood

stonework over the door of the Maplewood apartments at 172 Vaughan road, and the art deco like decorations beside it.

below:   The backs of all those apartment complexes are nearly as interesting as the fronts.
This is one of the only construction sites I saw although….

vacant lot with a number of low rise brick apartment buildings in the background.

… this Presbyterian church looks like it is about to be redeveloped.  It is one of three churches at the corner of St. Clair and Wychwood.   The church was built in 1926.  There is a brief description of the property on the Stanton Renaissance website but very little information is given beyond a “transformation” of the church and the creation of “high end residential boutique”.

An old brick church at a corner. It is now empty. There is a large sign in front of it advertising Stanton developments.

below: Mural for Sea With Fish and Chips on St. Clair West

mural for Sea Witch FIsh and Chips restaurant, a large sea serpent

A little yellow sticker on a bank night deposit box, looks like a little smiling creature looking over the sign that says contains no cash or negotiables, except that the word no has been scratched out

below: As I circled back the intersection of Vaughan Road and St. Clair West, I spotted a large doubledecker strawberry and vanilla ice cream cone on the side of Dutch Dreams.  Hey!  The answer to my question.  The ice cream place from 78 Vaughan Road has moved a couple of blocks south, complete with it’s collection painted old fashioned milk cans.

A very large plastic icce cream cone, double scoop, strawberry on the bottom and vanilla on the top, decorating a brick building. The shutters on the windows of the building are green, red and white

bright yellow entranceway, a line of different coloured milk cans along the exterior wall, sign says Dutch Dreams, candy and ice cream.

below:  One last picture.  As I waited for the Bathurst bus, I found myself standing across the street from this building.   The curve of the roofline is interesting, but even more interesting is the the fact that there is an occult store in Toronto.  Candles, herbs, incense, jewelry, I’m now wishing that I had crossed the street to investigate further!   And, smile, the store next to it is Pandora’s salon.  Pandora, the one who in ancient times opened a box and unleashed all sorts of evil on the world.

 

store front, one is an Occult Store, in an old brick building with a curved roofline over the middle of it.

elicser people in Scarborough

Posted: December 1, 2015 in graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

If you are driving or walking west on Sheppard Avenue, just past Midland Avenue, you will notice a new mural on one corner of a railway underpass.   This mural was recently painted by street artist Elicser.

a mural by elicser showing different people, on an underpass on Sheppard Ave East. An older couple, a woman in a pink head scarf, some students, some men and women.

part of a mural by street artist elicser, an older couple. The man has a white beard and is bald.

part of a mural by elicser, a woman in a pink head scarf, with a younger woman walking down a road behind her

part of a mural by elicser, students with backpacks walking, a boy with a Blue Jays baseball cap.

part of a mural by elicser, a group of 4 people, 2 men and 2 women. One of the women is on the shoulders of one of the men.

Go Jays Go

Posted: October 10, 2015 in events
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

It would be fun to write a post about the winning ways of the Blue Jays and up until two days ago I could have.  After a great ending to the baseball season, the Blue Jays entered the playoffs with back to back afternoon games against the Texas Rangers here in Toronto.   Yesterday the Rangers beat us 5 to 3.  Again today, the Blue Jays lost by two runs but this time it took 14 innings, or close to 5 hours.

The Rogers Centre holds just over 49,000 people and it was filled to capacity both days.

Before a Blue Jays baseball game at the ROgers Centre - many people on the stairs to the east of the stadium, and many people waiting in the square below, trying to get into the stadium through gate 6.

Before a Blue Jays baseball game at the ROgers Centre - a woman gets the words Go Jays Go painted onto her cheek in blue and white paint

young man wearing Toronto Blue Jays light blue jersey, and he's wearing a blue jays flag as a cape that is billowing out from behind him. Other young men are around him, on their way to baseball game.

Before a Blue Jays baseball game at the ROgers Centre - a young man wearing a Jays grey T-shirt break dances in front of a5 man drum band who are all wearing blue Blue Jays T-shirts. There are many fans watching them play.

Before a Blue Jays baseball game at the ROgers Centre - a group of men buy baseball caps from a vendor outside the stadium.

Before a Blue Jays baseball game at the ROgers Centre - a man in Blue Jays shirt and cap is being interviewed by CHCH TV

Before a Blue Jays baseball game at the ROgers Centre - a young woman poses with a man dressed in a chicken costume and a Blue Jays T-shirt

Before a Blue Jays baseball game at the ROgers Centre - a sea of heads, people waiting in line to get into the stadium.

Before a Blue Jays baseball game at the ROgers Centre - a man watches over the crowd

A man wearing a white Blue Jays uniform plays the drums while an onlooker poses beside him for a picture.

Before a Blue Jays baseball game at the ROgers Centre - security guards checking the people entering through gates 10 and 11 at the Rogers Centre for a baseball game

Before a Blue Jays baseball game at the ROgers Centre - the crowd waits in line to get into the stadium, with a statue of Ted Rogers standing over the people

The next two games of the American League Division Series are scheduled to be played in Texas on Sunday and Monday.  If a fifth game is needed (it’s a best of five series), it will played in Toronto on the 14th of October, next Wednesday.
Keep your fingers crossed!

Life.Style.Fair

Posted: September 29, 2015 in events
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

King East Design District Life.Style.Fair is a festival celebrating contemporary design.
This year’s event was last Saturday and these are some of the things I saw as I walked King Street East that day:

A section of sidewalk. On it is painted the logo for King East Design District. There are also three lovebot stencil shapes spray painted in white on the sidewalk.

below: Frederick Street painting collaboration, organized by George Brown College School of Design students.

painting a large Mondrian-like painting on the street. A large mat is laid out along Frederick Street and students have marked off squares and rectangles with tape. People are painting the shapes in red, orange, yellow, green and purple.

painting a large Mondrian-like painting on the street. A large mat is laid out along Frederick Street and students have marked off squares and rectangles with tape. People are painting the shapes in red, orange, yellow, green and purple. A young girls is using a small roller to paint purple in this picture

painting a large Mondrian-like painting on the street. A large mat is laid out along Frederick Street and students have marked off squares and rectangles with tape. People are painting the shapes in red, orange, yellow, green and purple. A small boy watches while his mother and a girl paint

painting a large Mondrian-like painting on the street. A large mat is laid out along Frederick Street and students have marked off squares and rectangles with tape. People are painting the shapes in red, orange, yellow, green and purple. Looking down the length of the canvas as it nears completion

below: What do you like about Toronto? This man was writing “Rob Ford” as I took the picture.
In hindsight, maybe I should have written something like “is not the mayor” beside it?
Some of the other things people wrote include, coffee shops, bikes, freedom, trees, TTC and lovebot.

A man with spiky black hair is writing on a board covered with different coloured post it notes.

below: The Beauchamp Art Gallery had strips of dried acrylic paint hanging from the ceiling that you could walk through.

Curtains of long strips of dried acrylic paint in many bright colours hang from the ceiling of an art gallery.

below: Also at the Beauchamp Gallery, artist Mike Hammer was creating a colourful painting consisting of blobs of acrylic paint.  The blobs flattened as additional drops of paint were added on top.  The paint flowed over the edge and created stripes.

an artwork in progress, made of many blobs of acrylic paint. The blobs flatten as other blobs are placed on top of them. The artist Mike Hammer is making this piece (although only his hand is in the picture)

below: Cubeworks studio demo.  Yes, she really does hand twist each Rubiks Cube into the colour pattern needed for the artwork.  This particular picture, of a gnome face, requires 500 cubes.  The algorithms for solving the cube are online so you can teach yourself and become a Rubiks Cube artist!

A woman is getting a rubiks cube ready to add to a picture that she is making using 500 rubiks cubes. The picture, about half done, is on an easel in the window of a store.

below: Painting by Jessica Gorlicky.  The easel spins to make the painting easier.

 

In the immediate foreground, but a little out of focus, is the shoulder and arm of a man taking a picture. The subject of his picture, a woman with long blond hair, is painting a picture of a TTC street car and a Toronto street scene. She is in this picture too.

below: Lovebots to colour

A large lovebot on paper is on a table. Black lines on white paper. It is more than a meter high. There are shapes in the middle and it is designed to be coloured. A hand holding a black sharpie is also in the picture, colouring part of the lovebot

below: Pizza carpets outside and pizza making inside, at the corner of King and Parliament.

A man and a woman are crossing the street. They are close to the sidewalk on the other side of the street. On that sidewalk are a number of carpets that look like wedge shaped pepperoni pizza slices. Each carpet is just over a meter long. They are in front of a shop that sells appliances.

below: The store Relative Space displayed three pieces by Stan Olthuis made from flooring materials that they sell.  This one is called ‘Dance Like No One’s Watching’

Part of the store window for the store Relative Space. The word space is seen in this picture. In the window is a design of a woman's silhouette in light yellowish woods inlaid into grey flooring.

below:  Will Graham and the beginnings of his sidewalk dragon.

A man is creating a dragon drawing in chalk on a sidewalk.

below: And last but not least, we can’t forget   – neon signs by Gary Taxali.  This is one of two that were on display at DOM Interiors.

In sursive writing the words Unforget Me in neon tubing to make a sign that is hanging in a store window.

#kedd2015

What is Victor up to?

Posted: August 25, 2015 in graffiti and street art
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
2

Apparently Victor has been painting the alphabet, one letter at a time, on the sidewalk along Danforth Ave.  The letter A is near Eaton Ave (just east of Pape) and the letter Z is in front of De Serres art supply store (just west of Woodbine).   The letter O seems to be bigger than the others; it is in front of The Only Cafe near Donlands.

  Here is a sample:

The letter B is painted on a sidewalk in black, with blue, gree, yellow and swirls like ribbons wrapped loosely around the letter

The letter E is painted on a sidewalk in black, with blue, gree, yellow and swirls like ribbons wrapped loosely around the letter

The letters J and K are painted on a sidewalk in black, with blue, green, yellow and swirls like ribbons wrapped loosely around the letter

The letter O is painted on a sidewalk in black, with blue, green, yellow and swirls like ribbons wrapped loosely around the letter

The letter Z is painted on a sidewalk in black, with blue, green, yellow and swirls like ribbons wrapped loosely around the letter

Shortly after I took the above photos on Danforth Ave., I went downtown where I stumbled upon another of Victor’s creations.  I think it’s on Spadina Ave.

A painting on a sidewalk, A large rectangle has been made into the top part of a face, round nose at the bottom of the long side of the rectangle

below:  (added 28 Aug) I saw this hummingbird on the sidewalk on Queen West in Parkdale yesterday.

A painting on a sidewalk of a hummingbird done in Inuit style in blue and white, also some flowers, all enclosed in a green circle.

If you spent any time around Richmond and Spadina a few years ago, you might remember the yellow tape measure on the northwest corner of that intersection.  That was Victor’s work too.   Also on that corner is a “sculpture” of a thimble and a couple of buttons; the tape measure seem appropriate.  In fact, many of us thought that it was part of the art installation.  We learned otherwise when the paint was removed by the city, leaving only the shorter, unpainted tape measure that is etched into the concrete of the sidewalk.   Here is a link to a Toronto Star article written in November 2014 about the “cleaning up” of the tape measure.

Part of a yellow tape measure that has been painted on a sidewalk in Toronto

#whatisvictorupto

distress at Union Station

Posted: July 16, 2015 in locations, public art
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

A while back, I posted some photos of ‘Zones of Immersion’,  Stuart Reid’s art installation at Union Station.   Now that it is completed, I decided to revisit it.  There has been some talk about how depressing it is.
I’ll let you decide whether it is depressing or not.

If you are on the ‘northbound to Finch’ platform you get a clear view of all the panels.
If you are on the ‘northbound to Downsview’ platform you can only see some of the glass panels.

I’ve now been back a number of times and this is what I saw:
1) Of the figures with discernible gender, 12 or 13 were male.
2) The males are of different ages and shapes.
3) The number of females outnumber males by at least 2:1.
4) Almost all (or even all?) of the women are young.  They are all thin, if not gaunt.
5) There is one child…. with a finger up his/her nose.
6) Only two or three figures are smiling.

 

Part of an art installation at Union Station, paint on glass panels - a rough drawing, black outline with some grey shading of a couple

paintings on glass panels, Union Station art installation, two women. One on the left looks very sad, like she's been crying. The other woman is painted very dark grey with a few red highlights.

Looking along a subway platform at Union Station, the far wall is an art installation, paintings on glass panels of people

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels,

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a woman's head in dark blues and blacks, heavy paint around the eyes

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a large face in red
blog_union_art_thinking

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, three men sitting on a subway

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, on the left are white words on blue background, on the right are two women in profile

“the way we settle into a seat
the way we stretch when the train is empty
and retract as it fills
the way we deflect a glance and simultaneously present
language of the body claiming, relinquishing and balancing
personal space in the interstitial realm
halfway between the worlds of here and there”

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a woman in yellow on a green and blue background, a man is waiting for the subway and his reflection is in the photo

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, woman standining

The panels that can be seen on the ‘northbound to Downsview’ platform are seen as the reverse of those viewed from the other platform.

black and white painting on glass of a woman holding a mobile phone

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, upper part of a man sitting and reading, in profile, on the left is the reflection of a woman waiting for the subway
“slicing through the clay of the earth’s first skin
steel rails and electric lines
going from      going to
slicing through time and distance
darkness and light
station by station
releasing us into the city’s fabric
stop by stop
after a days labour
taking us home”

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, four women sitting on the subway

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a group of people standing. The word because is also visible in the picture

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a woman sitting on the subway with a child on her lap. The child has a finger up its nose

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, on the left side is a man on blue and on the right is a woman's head drawn in blue

painting on glass panels, two women, on the left is standing, on the right is pointing to the left.

(added in October) I got off the subway at Union Station today.  There were three guys in front of me.  One of them stopped and pointed to the nearest painting which happened to be the one above.  As he pointed he said “See what I mean, if that doesn’t make you want to jump… “.

 

I’m happy to be corrected if you can prove me wrong.

 

Older Entries
Newer Entries