Posts Tagged ‘painting’

P.K., a newcomer to the alley?

Posted: April 2, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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I took a short walk through the graffiti alleys behind Queen St. West yesterday.  I found four new face/skull paintings by artist P.K. (which is short for?) all close together on Rush Lane, and all near 530 Richmond St. West.

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - intricate black line drawing of skull and facial features on teal background

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - black outlines of top of skull, eyes, nose holes, and sort of teeth, on red background

below: A turtlecaps paste-up from last year is still on the wall.

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - black spray paint outlines of features on multicoloured background - on a brick wall between two windows, small turtlecaps paste up also in the picture

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - red and yellow drippy blobs on a black background

Monica, and others, on the Danforth

Posted: December 1, 2015 in graffiti and street art, public art
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A short walk earlier this month along the laneways  south of the Danforth near Woodbine Ave.

below: A mural by Monica on the Moon, styled after Katsushika Hokusai’s ‘Great Wave off Kanagawa’ picture.   This is only part of it – the mural wraps around the back of the building.

wave mural by Monica on the Moon in a laneway, the mural is styled after Katsushika Hokusai

below: Just throwing a little bit of fun into the mix.  The ‘Great Wave’ has inspired many other great works of art over the years including this Cookie Monster one:

picture of Great Wave off by K Hir, with Cookie Monster eyes photoshopped onto the largest wave, a cookie added under the crest of the wave to make it looki like cookie monster (from Sesame Street) is eating the cookie.

below: Leaving the Danforth area briefly, there is also this mural by skam near Bloor and Bathurst.  You can find it in Loretto Lane on the side wall of Kinka Restaurant.

mural based on a Japanese picture called the Great Wave. In it there is a fish jumping with the wave. Mural on the side of a restaurant in a lane.

below: A little path leads onto a mural on Amroth Ave just south of the Danforth that was painted by Airways Airbrushing and Sign Co.    It was funded by the City of Toronto and the Danforth Mosaic BIA.

mural of a park scene, grass, garden, trees in spring, mural on the side of brick building.

below: Historical mural on a Bell box, ‘Danforth’ 1912 by Emilia Jajus 2012.

mural painted on a metal box on a sidewalk. Historical picture of the Danforth in 1912 painted by Emilia Jajus. A horse drawn wagon is going down a dirt road, a couple of buildings in the background.

below: Another Monica on the Moon mural

panorama picture of mural by Monica on the Moon, white line drawings on brown background, across the back of a building in a laneway

part of a mural by Monica on the Moon, white line drawings on brown background, across the back of a building in a laneway - jumping fish, a tree

a mural on the back of a building in a laneway. Brown background, white line drawing of different animals and shapes, two geese or ducks flying to the right, a tree painted beside a doorway.

mural by Monica on the Moon, white line drawings on brown background, across the back of a building in a laneway - a deer behind a metal gate, spirals and swirls

below: Alley ratz and company

On a white wall, a black line graffiti drawing of a rat with a long tail.

black line drawing on white fence with a hole in it. A face, and a lot of spirals

black line drawing on white fence with a hole in it. On a plywood fence, a face, and a lot of spirals

  below: A red fish swimming in bright blue by an unknown artist.

bright red fish with it's mouth open painted on a bright blue wood fence

mural painting on a wall, bright blue background, a person in silhouette, a red flower, a yellow and green butterfly, and a red tulip

sticker on a pole. The sticker covers part of a metal sign that says Attention across the top

along the south wall

Posted: November 16, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Back in the spring I posted pictures of the murals that were painted on the north side of the railway underpass on Bloor Street just east of Dundas Street. Since then, the walls on the south side have also been painted.  Both walls were Wallnoize projects.

part of a larger mural painted on the side of an underpass - looking along the wall
mural of an eagle with wings spread and talons out. A red rose at the top of the mural too. Painted by moveslow (@moveslow)
part of a larger mural painted on the side of an underpass - a water serpent, or an eel, with big teeth is after a smaller black fish

looking across the street at a mural painted on the side wall of an underpass. Bright, multicoloured, curved lines and shapes. The entrance to the west toronto railpath is also in the picture

part of a larger mural painted on the side of an underpass - a hand in black and white passing a can of pink spray paint to another, similar to Michaelangelo's painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

part of a large collection of street art paintings on a wall of a railway underpass on Bloor St. West

part of a large collection of street art paintings on a wall of a railway underpass on Bloor St. West as seen from across the street, a man is walking past

part of a larger mural painted on the side of an underpass - also painted on the sides of the stairwell that access the path that crosses over the bridge

part of a larger mural painted on the side of an underpass - an octopus painted beside some stairs, made to look like it's climbing down the stairs.

street art painting on an underpass wall. Large geometrics in dark red and blue, with a gold inverted pyramid shape

orange metal railway bridge over bloor street west, with the words West Toronto Railpath written on it in white lettes. A sidewalk runs under the bridge as well as the street. Along the side of the underpass there is a lot of street art

street art along the side of an underpass as seen from across the road. bridge is visible

part of a large collection of street art paintings on a wall of a railway underpass on Bloor St. West

part of a larger painting on an underpass wall, eyes looking out, surrounded by many colours and shapes

part of a large collection of street art paintings on a wall of a railway underpass on Bloor St. West as seen from across the street,

street art on an underpass wall by kizmet32, pink and purple on blue

part of a large collection of street art paintings on a wall of a railway underpass on Bloor St. West

part of a large collection of street art paintings on a wall of a railway underpass on Bloor St. West as seen from across the street,

street art painting on a wall based around the letter t, lower case

wall of street art beside a sidewalk. Tall chain link fence above the wall and a brick school building behind the fence

a little teaser

Posted: November 10, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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There’s a new mural being painted.  It’s not quite finished

looking down a sidewalk. A wall on the left has been painted with gold orange and brown pyramids, a lift is in the middle of the sidewalk, a busy street, Lawrence Ave, is to the right.

but it is looking impressive!

view of a mural that runs beside a sidewalk, taken from across the street

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:

part of a larger mural on an underpass in Toronto, on Lawrence West, two woman's faces in green, eyes closed, heads slightly uplifted. long green grass around them, some orange and blue plants that look like water lily pads seen from below.

part of a larger mural on an underpass in Toronto, on Lawrence West, a large owl in purples and reds with a yellow eyes. He dominated the picture. There is also a warthog and an elk (reindeer?) behind him
Parts of the mural are very apocalyptic

part of a larger mural on an underpass in Toronto, on Lawrence West, an apocalyptic view of Toronto with the CN Tower and downtown skyscrapers crumbling in a lifeless city

part of a larger mural on an underpass in Toronto, on Lawrence West, a close up of an old bearded man's face.

Pictures of the completed mural are now available!

Craven Road gallery

Posted: November 6, 2015 in locations
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Craven is a narrow street that runs south from the railway tracks.  For most of its length, there are houses only on the east side of the street.  Between Gerrard and Dundas, a wooden fence runs along the west side right up next to the street.  This fence separates the backyards of the next street, Ashdale, from Craven Road.  As I drove up Craven this afternoon I noticed that someone has mounted a number of pictures onto the wall so of course I parked my car and took some photos.

There are paintings of cats of various sizes and colours

A canvas has been stapled to a wood fence, on the canvas someone has painted a large tan and white striped cat that is lounging on the ground but with its head up and alert. The canvas is wearing out a bit around the edges

The stars look like the glow in the dark stars that my kids used to have.

A small painting of a cat standing in a room with a light blue floor. It is mounted on a wood fence. Four glow in the dark stars are on a diagonal across the corner of the picture.

Most, but not all, of the paintings have an animal theme.  Seven Christmas sheep in the snow.

A painting of seven sheep in a line in the snow with more snow falling from the sky. The painting is on canvas and it is stapled to the fence.

They are painted on canvas and stapled to the fence.  Some are in better shape than others!  The pattern of the rips in this painting seems to complement the pattern of the boards in the fence although the cat doesn’t look too pleased about it!

A very weathered painting of a cat on canvas and stapled to a wood fence. The canvas has started to rip vertically in places. The pattern of the rips sort of matched the pattern of the boards in the fence.

There are a few dog pictures too including this reindeer dog.

Painting on canvas stapled to a wood fence. A large dog is sitting in the snow. Red fake reindeer antlers on its head. More snow is falling from the sky.

Two dogs sit on the front steps of a house. One of the dogs has a rope toy in its mouth.

You may have noticed by now that this gallery is a one woman show.  Christine Kowal is an artist and a  resident of the street.

Painting on canvas stapled to a wood fence. A long haired light brown cat resting on a striped carpet or blanket

And did I mention that there were pictures of cats?  🙂

Painting on canvas stapled to a wood fence. A small brown cat in amongst tall grass. A vine is growing on the fence beside the picture.

Painting on canvas stapled to a wood fence. A black silhouette of a cat that is surrounded by turquoise and farker blue swirls and smudges

Two paintings on a wood fence. One is a collection of animals in bright colours and the other is an abstract with a large amount of blue in it.

 

Life.Style.Fair

Posted: September 29, 2015 in events
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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

random pieces

Posted: September 26, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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This is a collection of things that I’ve seen recently that haven’t fit in with any other blog posts.

below: He hangs out on Queen St. West.

A partial painting of a red head man, life size or close to it, on a white wall that people have added stickers to. The stickers cover all of his torso

below: A legless stikman behind bars on Palmerston

Stickman behind a wrought iron fence. He is missing the lower half of his body

A lovebot sticker, lovebot is holding up a sign that says I am a toy. It is on a sign for a store that says Since 1914

below: Malibu rum and Corona beer exposed by demolition on Peter Street.

A construction site. A wall has been exposed that has two large wall paintings, one is an ad for Malibu rum and the other is an ad for Corona beer.

below: Argh.  He understands our frustration.  The Dufferin bus didn’t stop even though there were two of us waiting here!

On a TTC temporary bus stop sign, someone has put a sticker of a person on it, the sticker fits perfectly into the vertical part of the letter T in S T O P

below: Death is the conduit of rebirth.  Life, death and everything in between.

A street art painting of a large skull with the eyes painted as people's heads. Beside it are the words, Death is the conduit to rebirth

below: False can’t hide behind the pipes, Kensington

Behind two yellow pipes on the exterior of a building, a painting of a person's torso with a large heart painted on his shirt. In it's hands is a white sign with the word false written on it.

below: Love the hearts, especially now that blue crowns have started appearing with them.

a yellow happy face lovey heart on a telephone pole, with a blue crown on top of it as well as a stencilled sign that reads Honesty of the best poetry, Gregory Alan Elliott

below:  Panda with guns.  This image was originally a Banksy and it came with the words ‘Destroy Racism.  Be a panda. He’s black.  He’s white.  He’s Asian. ‘

A painting of a panda standing upright, painted on an old wood fence. The panda has a gun in each hand and they are pointed upwards

below:  Seen on hoardings on Eglinton Avenue near Bathurst.  My apologies to the artist, Alice Choi for accidentally cutting off her name from the bottom when I took the picture.

A painting of a person sitting on a chair with only a red cloth draped over their body. The head is a light bulb. A calculator, smartphone and computer monitor and some fish are floating around the person.

below: This stikman is embedded in the pavement.  He’s been run over many times.

A stikman painted onto the pavement of a street

below: Remnants of people and such

The remains of many black and white stickers or wheatpastes on a wall

A small sticker of a girl with a large head and big eyes

below: There will always be haters I guess.

A sticker with a red heart and the words Love Everyone that someone has scrawled on in black marker, shut up

ladies and gentlemen

Posted: August 28, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Some new people that I saw in a couple of alleys this week;
Ladies in the Milky Way and gentlemen behind College Street.

below: Six naked women can now be found in the Milky Way

mural street art painting of a naked woman, two pink women holding hands, drawn with purple outlines, on a pink background, with some green plants in the painting too

mural street art painting of a naked woman, three pink women standing together, drawn with purple outlines, on a pink background, with some green plants in the painting too
mural street art painting of a naked woman, pink woman with purple outlines, on a pink background, with some green plants in the painting too

below: And now for the men.  Back in April I posted a few photos from this location, at the end of Cyril Lane and running behind the north side of College Street just east of Borden.  The cartoon like mural on the wall of the Kaisar Guesthouse (to the right) was there then.  The other faces are newer additions.

Two walls covered with street art. One wall has a mural for the Kaisar guest house. The other wall has a man's head and hand that is pointing to an exterior staircase.

mural street art of three men from the waist up. All have short hair, one with green shirt, one with orange shirt and the third with a white shirt,

mural street art of two men's heads, each under a window and each with curly hair. They are bright pink on an orange background

 

constant evolution

Posted: August 26, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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It was busy in Graffiti Alley on Saturday afternoon.

Graffiti Alley - man on ladder spray painting a street art piece, other people in the alley, some taking pictures of each other, some in a group

Graffiti Alley - man on ladder spray painting a street art piece

…. the finished wall

Graffiti Alley -

below: This cat is new.  It replaces a painting of a woman’s face

Graffiti Alley - in a corner, a grey tones painting of a cat's head, blue recycling bins in front of it and partially obscuring one corner.
below: Another woman’s face is different but instead of being painted over, this one has been drawn on with black marker.   The little red and yellow guy is a recent addition too.

Graffiti Alley - people in the alley in the background. In the foreground is the painting of a woman's face by Insane that has been scribbled over in black marker.
below:  There are other drawings, probably by the same person that took a marker to the woman above.

Graffiti Alley - two black line drawings of faces that have been drawn on top of a pink and purple street art painting.
At Portland, a new larger than life raccoon.

blog_changes_graffiti_alley_raccoon

Plus other murals and street art that I saw this past weekend in the alley.  Some are more recent than others.

Graffiti Alley - uber5000 mural of a boating scene, yellow bird sterring a boat, black dog sitting on the bow, another yellow bird paddling a red canoe

Graffiti Alley - garge door painted in two shades of pink with the words Wanted Woman Gotham painted on the garage door as well

Graffiti Alley - part of a wall painted light blue with the word Yarka painted in purple and orange script

Graffiti Alley - on a light turquoise door, a stylized painting of a woman with yellow hair, red lips, blue dress, long black eye lashes

Graffiti Alley - a wall with a window on one side. Under the window is written the word Don in large pink and red letters. Beside the window is a painting of a man with a pointy top hat that covers his eyes, he has a big nose and a large white beard.

a woman sticks her head out of a window of a building in Graffiti Alley.

painting on a garage door - older man with orange jacket and orange bowler hat. Around the garage door are flowers on a blur background.

A garage door painted orange, then the word Yarka painted in blue letters

Mural of a large monkey sitting, holding a green book with his feet and smoking a pipe using one of his hands.

distress at Union Station

Posted: July 16, 2015 in locations, public art
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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
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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.

 

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