Posts Tagged ‘paste ups’

farther west on Gerrard

Posted: February 4, 2023 in alleys, construction, graffiti and street art, locations, old buildings, reflections
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mural, purple letters on black and orange background, word says broadview

traffic signal, red light, on pole with many street signs, plus 40 kmh sign, Broadview and Gerrard

A short while ago, I posted some pictures from Little India which is centered on Gerrard Street.  If you travel farther west on Gerrard you come to what has become known as Chinatown East (as you approach Broadview).

construction infill on Gerrard, building behind the stores,

below: Nappa, Chinese cabbage, and White radish,

on display outside, for sale, chinatown, veggies,

below: Scenic Aqualium Co., Exotic Fish and Bonsai (yes it has an ‘L’).

a woman walks down gerrard street, past scenic aquarium store with exotic fish and bonsai for sale

window of a chinese restaurant, orange walls inside, copies of the menu taped to the window, open sign is lit

sushi restaurant, a fruit and vegetable store, and other shops on Broadview

below: Shoes, boots, and umbrellas.

small shoe repair shop on gerrard, umbrellas for sale, red chinese lantern hanging from ceiling

piles of taro root and butternut squash for sale

below: Carrots and tomatoes

carrots and tomatoes for sale, chinatown

vegetables for sale in chinatown

below: Pomegranates in boxes and forks on the wall

interior of fruit and vegetable market in chinatown

outside display boxes painted green and full of citrus fruits for sale, chinatown store, awning overhead, people walking by

stores on gerrard, in chinatown east

under a blue awning, shelves of plastic wrapped fruits and vegetables for sale

hung hair salon on gerrard street

faded menu board on the sidewalk, chinese restuarant, also a van from orkin pest control parked there

xray and ultrasound sign in chinese, also law office, and other businesses

below: Aging price list

an old weathered sign outside a hair salon on Gerrard Street, red lettering on white but moldy grey

a woman walk spast mi mi restaurant on gerrard street

below: Old Lumberking ghost sign on the southwest corner of Logan and Gerrard

building at the southwest corner of Gerrard and Logan, has a yellow ghost sign for Lumberking

below: Broadview and Gerrard – looking east along Gerrard

looking east from Broadview, Scotiabank on the north side of Gerrard and A & W burger restaurant fast food on the south side, both in old brick buildings, rainy day, wet pavement

below: Streetcar stop on the southwest corner of Broadview and Gerrard

people getting on and off TTC streetcar at Broadview and Gerrard

an ad for boba boy bubble tea in an old window, surrounded by street art mural

bike rental stand in front of a vacant lot with a large mural to one side, mayan temple from central america

below: Square and orange on top.

row houses, square roofline, two storey, orange brick upper, bay windows, stores on ground level,

below: More stores  –  Jiahua Trading Company with its assortment of goods beside the Dai Kuang Wah Herb Market.

stores in Chinatown East, Jiahua Trqding Company and an herb store

late afternoon in the rain, a person waits with a black dog for the traffic light to turn green

below: One Plus One Hair Salon, Tung Hing Bakery, and Sing Sing BBQ House – all adding to the eclectic mix of store fronts in the area.

businesses and stores on Gerrard Street, Chinatown East,

below: House reflections

reflection of a house in a window surrounded by street art

below: No more ‘Epoch Times’ in front of this store.

window in front of a store in chinatown, western union ad, lotto 649 ad, empty newspaper box, other goods behind glass

below: A get together of paper characters – The Incredible Raffa, Las Mujeres Vampiro, Life (that’s the one-eyed daisy), T-bonez got knifed in the back.

pasteups in a group on a brick wall, urban ninja squadron, mask, daisy with one eye,

below: Peace, in red

red urban ninja squadron t bonez sticker on a grey metal utility pole, giving peace sign

below: White roses to heal with

large painting in white on black brick white roses, and text that says here to heal, a woman's face is partially hidden by the white roses

below: Homer Simpson with 64 slices of cheese!

painting by Chris Perez on the side of a cheese store, Homer Simpson in his underwear sitting at a table and eating cheese

a sign outside a store that says repair unlock and then words in mandarin

below: Santa Claus and a skeleton – covering more than one holiday at a time.

a skeleton halloween decoration is on the railing of a porch, in front of it, on the grass is a small santa claus in a red sleigh on a small pile of snow

alley behind Gerrard St., large old garage, leaning, covered with grey shingles, old tree‘

below: Old mural street art painting in the alley (from 2016)

part of a mural in an alley, on a wood fence, nose and open mouth of a furry animal with big teeth and fangs

close up of a monkey or ape face with bright red nose, mural in an alley

looking down an alley, with houses on the street at the end of the lane, garages, winter but no snow, fences, old trees,

below: Infill – new housing being constructed in the alley

plywood covers a new building, infill housing being constructed in an alley,

backyard on a laneway that is all mud and puddles
looking down a lane with an orange jeep parked by a green garage, a brick building at the end with blue doors

in a driveway or parking lot, with a white metal gate, along one side of a store, a mural of many flowers

part of a painting on the side of a store, a blue fish and some lotus leaves

Dundas Street runs parallel to Gerrard, just a bit to the south…. and that is where you’ll find this dog sitting outside in rain or shine.

a small dark brown brick house with a window, some stickers in the window, and a large paper paste up of a dog beside the window

below: The Dundas Street Public School class of 2022 left their mark on the fence with their messages of love and peace.

chainlink fence by a school has many little square paintings attached to it, each one was by a student from the class of 2022.

below: As did the the class of 2021

chainlink fence by a school has many little square paintings attached to it, each one was by a student from the class of 2021.

This blog post may be getting too long so I will start to end it here with a brief survey of the older residential architecture on Gerrard and Dundas and the streets in between (for those of you who are interested in such things).

below: A semi with a shared central peak.

red semi detached house on gerrard with pointy roof in the center, one side has built an enclosed porch by the front door

below: Little diamond windows

flat roofed seim detached house in fake brick, two small diamond shaped windows in the front, both sides with white porch

old brick two storey rowhouses with black mansour roof with upper windows in roof

bay and gable row houses on gerrard street, painted in different colours, grey, white, maroon, one with a bright red staircase and railing.

below: Details made with contrasting colours of bricks

a row of brick houses, most with yellow brick contrasting detail near the roofline

below: Another semi detached house with a shared central peak.

white two storey plain semi house with shared central peak

below: Flat roofed houses with blues and reds.

below: Shapes – rectangles on top, rounded windows,

square roofline brick building with green trim

below: Cameras on the corner…. and a megaphone too?

on the northeast corner of Gerrard and Logan is a pole with security cameras and a loud speaker, looking diagonally across to southwest corner, TTC streetcar stopped there

And lastly,  a shout out to Lamoon Thai Cafe where I stopped for a hot drink (great Thai tea!) and to get out of the rain for a few minutes.

side of a building, window, with interior lights on, illuminated sign of a cup of tea in the window, Lamoon Cafe, Thai drinks and food

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

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

Adelaide & Peter

Posted: July 9, 2021 in construction, locations, public art
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below: Southeast corner of Adelaide & Peter

Southeast corner of Adelaide and Peter, all tall buildings

below: West side of Peter at Adelaide

West side of Peter at Adelaide. New tall buildings except older beige building on the northwest corner.

below: Still standing – Second Empire style from the late 1850s, with a mansard roof that was added a little later. Just north of it, a 47 storey condo is being constructed.

old pale beige brick house from the late 1850s with brown mansard roof at the northwest corner of Peter and Adelaide. empty, boarded up, with some tags on it, metal exterior staircase from ground level to second story, Second Empire style

below: On the hoardings at this construction site on Peter, is “Toronto Makes Good” a photo exhibit hosted by JAYU and The STEPS Initiative that features the work of nine young people (ages 18 – 29).

hoardings at a construction site, large red and white sign on top that says made in Toronto, a parking meter machine on the sidewalk, two large photographs on the hoardings, part of an exhibit

below: “Swing Summer Away” by Johnny Wu. Taken at the CNE

Photograph on slightly reflective hoardings, black and white, CNE swings with people on the ride,

below: “Toronto Waterfront Silhouette” by April Beatson. Taken at one of the wave decks near Harbourfront.

hoardings on construction site, black and white photo of a skateboarder in the air above the wave deck on Toronto waterfront, reflections of the cars and buildings around in the black parts of the photo

below: “Members of a Nicaraguan Dance Troupe” by Tenzin Dorjé.  Taken at a performance at Mel Lastman Square.

photograph on hoardings, three women of Nicaraguan dance troupe in long colourful dresses, green, yellow, and orange, also with flowers in their hair

photograph on hoardings, three women of Nicaraguan dance troupe in long colourful dresses, red, yellow, and blue, also with flowers in their hair

below: “Game 6” by Stephen Attong. Raptors fans celebrating on the streets of Toronto after the team won their first NBA Championship.

black and white image of Raptors victory party on the streets of Toronto, on hoardings

parts of two photos that are exhibited adjacent to each other on construction hoardings. on left is people at street party after Raptors won the NBA series and on the right is a close up of a woman's face in profile

hoardings on Peter street, with covered walkway on sidewalk, photo exhibit on the hoardings

Other photographers with images on the hoardings: Holly Chang, Leilah Dhoré, Nawang Tsomo, Radha, and Sherry Yu.

below: Saving the old facade

yellow metal scaffolding to keep up the brick facade of an old building while the rest of it is demolished.

below: Some things can’t be saved.

old wood steps covered with a faded, well worn, carpet in greens and browns

windows of an empty building, one is broken. Words pastries written on one window and word lunch written on broken window

chainlink fence and gate at construction site, remnants of interior wall still show old walls that were once pale yellow

2 round paper paste up slaps on a pole. The upper one shows a map of the world with the Atlantic Ocean in the center, the lower one is the round part of an eye

love and little characters in Graffiti Alley

Posted: January 23, 2021 in graffiti and street art, locations
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a man walks down graffiti alley

below: Dynamic Duo so to speak, a T-bonez Robin to a Batman of a different sort.

black and white poster paste up in graffiti alley, urban ninja squadron with another character in a cape and super hero outfit

graffiti, 5 orange stencil figures on a white pole, one hand with two fingers up in a peace sign all with faces added in black sharpie

below: A collection of stickers and pastups – urban ninja squadron (TCF), spud, a blue Bentoghoul, and others

pasteups and stickers on a wall in graffiti alley

below: There is love in this lane

love sign on a pole, with a heart, street sign as well,

as well as broken hearts

graffiti, red broken heart on white circle

below: Playing games with Psiconauta on a pole while the little purple figure gives a peace sign.

urban ninja squadron sticker on a pole, little figure stencil in blue on wall beside it

below: T-bonez clad in pink and red with T-smoke on his back.

graffiti alley, urban ninja squadron paste up, t bonez in pink and red

below: Stay warm folks!

urban ninja squadron t bonez character with words stay warm

stickers and paste ups on a wall in graffiti alley

urban ninja squardon paste ups

black lives matter words on a wall with an urban ninja squadron t bonez in a pink suit and holding a red daisy with one eye in the center, graffiti alley

below: …. and a spudbomb too

pasteups and stickers on a wall in graffiti alley

below:  Flower Power. Many daisies by Life© popping up in Graffiti Alley (or at least they look like daisies).  “Consciousness watching the world”.

small sticker of a daisy with red petals and an eye in the center, on a wall already covered with painted street art

stickers and paste ups in graffit alley

small sticker of a daisy with yellow petals and an eye in the center, on a wall already covered with painted street art
orange daisy with an eye in the center and the word life written many times around it

below: Until next time… keep your eyes open!

pasteup of a photo of a man's face, with beard and moustache, other scribbles around the face

when the cat’s away

Posted: April 20, 2020 in construction, graffiti and street art
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orange and black traffic cones and a lane closed, orange sign with black arrow telling traffic to move to the right

There’s a video on the internet of a kangaroo hopping down the street in deserted downtown Adelaide Australia and there are photos of other animals that have taken to roaming urban streets now that many people are staying at home.   I thought of these things as I drove downtown today.  Not because I saw animals.  Not because the streets were quiet and empty.  No, instead I wanted to compare these animal sightings to the proliferation of orange and black traffic cones as well as dump trucks and other machinery.  It seems like the city has taken this time to block more lanes for construction than usual – I may be imagining things but I doubt it.

below: Driving east on Adelaide

looking east on Adelaide

below: Demolition on Jarvis

partial demolition of an old house on Jarvis street, facade is left standing, no glass in the windows, can see other high rise downtown buildings through the window holes

below: Maud Street

workman with stop sign directing traffic in front of a construction site

below: Lombard Street

street, downtown Toronto, with traffic cones

below: I think that they are looking at me but how can I be sure?

paper paste up graffiti of faces and eyes by Jeremy Lynch on metal boxes on the sidewalk, with construction workmen in the background

My destination this morning was Graffiti Alley.  There were no tourists there today but there were trucks blocking the alley.  More construction nonsense.

a large semi truck is parked in Graffiti Alley and is taking up the whole width of the lane

below: In fact there were two trucks

a large white truck is parked in the narrow Graffiti Alley totally blocking it

construction site on Richmond street backing onto Graffiti Alley with lots of walls covered with street art and murals

below: A new Nick Sweetman mural – a purple rhinoceros

Nick Sweetman mural of a rhinoceros

below: This mural is not new but it is the first time that I have seen it with no cars parked beside it.

large mural by globe, smoky, and done of a bird house on purple background with green tag text

below: Graffiti Alley now tests positive for the novel coronavirus, the green variety.

part of a mural in Graffiti Alley, a silver tag with a green corona virus with open mouth, white teeth and yellow eyes

chainlink fence in front of a backyard with a bit of green grass, white building with a bright blue door

a person waiting beside a bus shelter on Queen West, seen from the back including reflections in the glass of the shelter

below: KFC sits empty.   That’s not a coronavirus victim – it was empty before we all started staying home.

empty KFC Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant on Queen Street west

below: A message from 525 and 523, Stay Safe!  (actually it’s from T-bonez).

wall and doors to numbers 533 and 535 covered with street art including an urabn ninja squadron character with a face mask on with the words stay safe

Stay safe and
stay healthy!

slaps on walls and poles

Posted: December 2, 2019 in graffiti and street art
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I have accumulated a small collection of slaps, stickers, and small paste-ups, that I have seen around the city over the past couple of months.  This collection has grown large enough to warrant its own blog post.  So here they are….

below: He’s stepping out of the bunny suit in a little paper paste up by sketch nate (aka Nate Galbraith) 

on a blue metal box, a sticker slap graffiti of a man in yellow shirt coming out of a large blue rabbit suit

below: Looking a bit weathered on this piece of plywood is a paste up by sketchrat, (aka srats) Now Hiring Circus Rats.

old weathered pasteups on a piece of plywood

below: Two stickers on a pole, the top by drible_drible and the bottom by daughtcalm

two stickers on a pole with crumbling concrete or plaster behind, top sticker is by drible_drible and the bottom is by daughtcalm

two stickers on metal, the lower one is by drible drible

below: This old orange stikman has lost his head.  In its place is a sticker for eddaviel aka Edison Montero

on a wood utility pole in graffiti alley, on top is a sticker with word eddoviel and on the bottom is the bottom part of an old orange stikman

below: A solemn (depressed?) man with baby.

paste up in window of a man with depressed look on face, from waist up, holding a baby in his arms, in green tones

below: Wires, and more wires, on old wood utility pole.

sticker of a large wood utility pole with 3 horizontal pieces, lots of wires, top part of pole only

below: Covered.

many stickers on a metal sign on a wall covered in street art.

below: Contributions from Paranoid, Cherry Whine, and feelings boi. This is the oldest photo in this post; it dates back to TIFF in September.  The rabbit poster was a promotion for one of the TIFF movies, Resin.

paste ups and posters on a wall

below: A bunch of words.  Honest.  Question authority over and over again.  Wants to be healthy and happy? Money first. Capitalism.   Put them altogether and what do you have?

paste ups and stickers on a wood utility pole, all with words. one is honest, another is question authority written 5 times, and the third is about capitalism

below: Nice to see that there are still some Rob Ford faces around.  He shares this sign with many others including a lovebot, a deluxo xyz, and a blue skull.

many stickers on a traffic sign, including rob ford's face and a blue skull

below: Time may be a human construct but I’m still tired – sitting in the bottom corner with a head full of flowers, by Sketch Nate.

stickers and paste ups on a black box including a brown & red chicken head, a blue cat head

below: Fake Canada postage stamps as graffiti.  An interesting idea.  Each of the little red maple leaves on the stamps has a letter in it, P A W.  Is this the artist’s initials?

graffiti, or street art, in the shape of 4 Canada postage stamps, each one with a different nature scene

below: Many slaps here – On the bottom tight is one from Pestilencia Worldwide with two of their characters, Ratanic and Scumby.   Bottom left – an Urban Ninja Squadron tbonez turned barber.  Nixon, lines and shapes by The Forge Fury, and freewill are in the center, and a person hides behind a cute cat mask by Sketch Nate.

stickers and slaps on a grey metal box

below: Another Urban Ninja Squadron, this time with The Forge Fury (aka David Baron) and screaming ‘Your Mom’.  Also, Fascism shall be destroyed.

stickers on a pole, an urban ninja squadron and one that says fascism shall be destroyed

stickers and slaps on a pole

below: These faces, either with eyes missing, or eyes added on top, or some variation on that theme, have sprung up all over the place.  These are two of the small ones that I have seen.   You can see more of Jeremy’s work on instagram.

below: Lots of silly faces with Urban Ninja Squadron loser, and a cat on its 9th life by Sketch Nate.    As for the top poster, so much for Sketch Rat.

stickers and slaps on a pole

below: Urban Ninja Squadron with a playing card Lovebot, the lovebot of hearts.

stickers and slaps on a pole

below: Tbonez with dunzo on top -more of TCF, The Chosen Few.    The Forge Fury on the bottom.

stickers and slaps on a brown railing of an exterior staircase

below: And now Urban Ninja with Ratanic from Pestilencia Worldwide.  I am getting the sense that this a rather incestuous group in that they all know each other and cross pollinate each other’s work.

sticker, urban ninja squadron breaking out of jail with ratanic

below: And last but not least, a very small sticker on a pole, xmarks

small sticker graffiti on a metal pole, street art on the wall behind. Word on sticker is xmarks

Kensington paper

Posted: July 8, 2019 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Slaps, stickers and paste-ups in Kensington.

below: Stickers on a pole

slaps on a pole in Kensington, people on bikes in the background.

below: Ohhhh, Portland is burning

slaps stickers on a pole, top one is Portland is burning with man pasting sign to wall, another has a man with a fat chin and mouth open in O shape.

below: Feelings boi hanging out on a wall with a morose pot belly poop

feelings boi pasteup beside a pot belly pop pasteup on a wall

below: Riding zebras in pairs

two copies of a small pasteup of a yellow figure riding a zebra

below: The words flow. “She clasped my face in her bones and kissed silence into my mouth” a quote by Amiri Bakara

pasteup on a wall, of a skull looking down at a man's head, who is looking up at skull, Letters are between the two mouths. words written below the man

below: Four urban ninja squadrons and a couple arguing

5 black and white paste ups on a wall in Kensington, four are urban ninja squadron and the the fifth is of a couple arguing, him on the left and her on the right, in the middle between them dark angry figures come nose to nose

below:  Even aliens check their phones.

sticker on a grey box on sidewalk, little figure, martian alien like, with head mostly one eyeball, human shape,

below: An ad, a drawing, and some knowledge

parts of a few different posters and drawings on a wall, a man in a red shirt on blue background which is part of an ad is on the left, a drawing of three naked women is in the middle (but is faint and hard to see), and a drawing on yellow labelled knowledge

below:  Black and white photos of people’s faces with the eyes missing.

black and white photos of faces, cut and manipulated to remove the eyes, i.e. forehead lowered to cover eyes

below:  More missing eyes, but this time some of the faces have eyes.   For the latter, the faces are composites

black and white photos of peoples faces. Some have eyes from a different person inserted, others have eyes removed by lowering of forehead

below:  One is blind and one is the merging of three.  I’ll leave it to you to figure out if it’s three different people, or the same person photographed three times.

large black and white faces on grey metal box on sidewalk, one side has person with eyes missing and the other side is a face made of a composite of at least three different faces

below: Urban ninja with Grey Owl and its large (and very sharp looking) talons

urban ninja squadron sticker with hooded ninja character with arm up, and owl on forearm, owl has face of Donald Trump

below: Go vegan for her. A pig’s eye?

sticker on a pole that says go vegan for her, shows one eye of a pig, on pole near drawings of other eyes

Those are what I saw today.  You could probably walk Kensington and see others.   Many are hard to miss but keep your eyes open for the little things in unusual places!

paper people

Posted: August 14, 2017 in graffiti and street art
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Over the past few weeks I’ve seen a number of new pasteups of people – or at least they are new to me.  The first three are ones that I spotted in Graffiti Alley yesterday.   I am not sure if they are portraits of actual people.  You can see more of her work here on instagram.

poster street art of a black woman's head and shoulders. She is wearing a head scarf that is striped fabric wound round her head. The words on the poster say Diversity is Hope

poster street art of a black woman's head and shoulders, 3/4 angle. She is wearing a head scarf that is patterned fabric wound round her head. The words on the poster say Diversity is Hope

poster street art of a black woman's head and shoulders, 3/4 angle. She is wearing dreadlocks. The words on the poster say Diversity is Hope

The other series of portraits that I have seen are of musicians.  I do not know who the artist is.

below: Woody Guthrie with his fascist killing guitar.  He is on Queen West near Graffiti Alley.

black and white paste up of Woody Guthrie standing, holding onto his guitar that has the words This machine kills fascists, written on it.

below: Gord Downie outside number 28.  He is near Ossington and Dundas.

a black and white image of Gord Downie from Barenaked Ladies group, wearing his hat, outside a blue door at number 28

below: Joni Mitchell is also on Queen West.

a black and white pasteup of Joni Mitchell playing her guitar and singing

below: A younger Leonard Cohen

a black and white pasteup of an image of a male guitar player, young man, on a grey wall

The last person is just someone weird pasted onto a door.  I don’t think that he’s anyone in particular.   He seems to have a beard and a high collar but I could be wrong!

street art paste up of a man's head and shoulders, ugly, long beard, high collar, striped shirt

The next time you’re walking around downtown you can try people watching too!

 

 

sort of Queen West

Posted: January 15, 2017 in alleys, graffiti and street art, stores
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I started walking Graffiti Alley the other day but I didn’t stick to my plan.  I meandered and wandered through other alleys as well as I generally headed west.

below: A bright, vibrant, wonderful piece by birdo in an alley north of Queen Street West.

a birdo mural on a garage door of a woman in grey tones with a round red mouth in the shape of an O. she is holding her hand up near her face and a bird is sitting on it. The background of the mural is red and greenish triangles.

below: Another birdo nearby

birdo mural on the side of a building, a red high heel shoe, a brown circle, a grey head plus the colourful geometric shapes often found in a birdo mural, in reds and turquoise

below: Only remnants remain.  Was it a stikman?  Or was it something else?

a tiny bit of a stikman is left on a post that is covered with spray paint.

below: Auston Matthews already has his picture on T-shirts.
It can’t be easy having the hopes of all those Maple Leaf fans resting on your shoulders.

in front of a store that seels T-shirts, a blue T-shirt based on the famous Obama Hope poster, but this time the portrait is of a Maple Leaf player with the word hope below.

below: Of course normal is boring. What I need is a t-shirt that says “rather be walking”

Two t-shhirts in a store window, a grey woman's t-shirt with the words Normal is Boring on the front and a black t-shirt with the words rather be in bed.

below: This wall is not new but there is usually a car parked in front of it when I walk past.  King Reign and Son of S.O.U.L. were two Toronto hip hip artists who passed away in 2016.

a wall in Graffiti Alley, layers of different artist's work, some uber 5000, some elicser, plus a grey ton picture of two men wearing caps with the words son of soul king reign written underneath them.

below: Stickers on a box

stickers on a small metal box on a brightly coloured wall. almost the whole box is covered, a lovebot heart, a pink cat, a blue octopus, a shark, plus some stickers that are ads for music or records.

below: I love the juxtaposition of the car in the mural with the real cars parked in the alley. Also the alignment of the first two walls makes the painting look like one.

in an alley, a white car is parked between a blue car and a mural painting of a blue car. There is also a mural of three people with the words summertime in the city.

below: This is another painting that I saw in Graffiti Alley.
I think that it’s new, or at least I don’t remember seeing it before.

a street art painting on the back of a building in an alley, a surreal piece with a cube with one side as a face, two creatures are floating out of the top of the cube - they are tethered to each other. The bottom creature is half in the cube and the surface of the cube looks like liquid.

below: Your words of advice for today.

a street art piece in an alley that is purple background with with a dripping brownish circle with two eyes and the words don't forget to drink water. The alley is also in the picture with parts of a couple of other murals visible

below: Fake. as in Fake news. Fake people. Fake money.  Fake graffiti artist?

the man from the monopoly game is painted on a wall. Someone has sprayed a white x through his face and written the word fake on his top hat.

below: These grey paper paste-ups have appeared on top of a number of street art paintings in Graffiti Alley.
I’m not sure who did it or why.
a grid of grey paper paste ups has been put on top of a abstract street art painting on a wall in an alley.

below: Blowing bubbles. Looks irresistibly ready for someone to pop it!
It was painted by @wamurals aka WayneArt

on the corner of Queen West and a smaller side street, the Convenience Canada store with a small white picket fence outside of it. On the wall is a mural of a woman blowing a big pink bubble with gum and the words head candy written above her head.

below: Hidden houses. Being pushed out by the big boys.

three layers, in the background a high rise building, in the middle ground, the tops of three single family homes on Richmond Street, in the foreground, poster covered hoardings for construction on Queen Stree West.

below: Half of a lovebot in a doorway.

half of a large black lovebot painted in a doorway (one side of him). A black lovebot with yellow details and a red heart.

below: A whole lovebot mixing it up with another creature.  I think it’s by grominator but I’m not sure.
I like to think of it as lovebot fighting his demons.

a lovebot mural in an alley, he looks to be fighting a grominator monster

below: Look up, way up, to find the switch from love to fear.
Yikes!, it’s switched to fear now and it’s not going to be easy to change it.

high on a wall, a small 3D lovebot heart beside a light switch that is love on one side and fear on the other.

below: Lucy and trouble and a weird looking face in a messy dimly lit doorway that assaulted my nose.

in a dimly lit doorway, a lot of scribbles and graffiti including a roughly drawn face, the word Lucy and the word trouble

below: Many of the planters along Queen West have been painted including this tribute to Gord Downie.

a rectangular cement planter on Queen Street west with pine and cedar boughs in it. The sides have been painted. On the end is the head of a lion, on the side is the word courage and a picture of Gord Downie from the music group The Tragically Hip

a rectangular cement planter on Queen Street west with pine and cedar boughs in it. The sides have been painted. On the end is the roman numeral 4 and a red heart. On the side is a black cat walking on a red background.

below: A little astronaut floats away. But he’s not up in the air where you’d expect to find him. He’s way down low near the ground.  Perhaps he’s not floating away, perhaps he’s falling back to Earth?

a small paste up of an astronaut floating in space, on a black wall, close to the ground.

Don’t over think it though.  Just keep your eyes open and ready for the unexpected!