Posts Tagged ‘peru’

the Yorkville-ification of street art

Posted: September 13, 2019 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Over the span of just a few years I have watched as street art went from questionable legality to mainstream; now it’s jumped to very trendy.  From vilified to Yorkvillified?

man working at a table, with reflections of a mural in the window, looking through the window

below: This large mural was created by Kazakhstan born, Montreal-based, Ola Volo.

mural of a woman with long hair, stylized, in red, yellow and black and white

two murals on two different walls of a building

below: Close up of part of the mural by Whatisadam

close up of a mural, a man and a woman are leaning together for a kiss. Woman has bright red lipstick.

below: Mathieu Bories, also known as Mateo, works on the woman’s blue and yellow head scarf.

a man is on a ladder as he paints a mural of a woman with henna coloured stencils all over her face, and a blue and yellow head scarf,

a man, street artist Mateo, spray paints a mural as he stands on a ladder. He's wearing a respirator, painting with blue paint

shoes on a ladder with the eye of a mural looking at them

below: This OK is coming unstuck, peeling off the wall.  This mural was painted by Ben Johnston whose work often features text that looks 3D

on the side of outdoor steps, a blue mural with the word OK in black and white such that it looks like the letters are curling up at the ends, 3 D effect

below: This staircase, with artwork by Getso, is going to turn into a instagram hotspot.   Her shoes may be famous already!  Actually, I took a quick look through a few possible hastags while writing this post but so far there haven’t been too many images of people posing here.

a young woman sits on the railing of an outdoor staircase that has been painted with street art. A man is taking a pictrure with his phone of her feet against the artwork

below: Across the back wall, above the upper level, is a long mural by Mr. Brainwash that is supposed to look like a wall of graffiti

part of a mural made to look like a wall of graffiti including a mona lisa, a man with a camera in triplicate,

mural made to look like a wall of graffiti including a pink marily munroe, a woman in brown and white dress and bonnet, the word i love you written in red,

below: Up on the scaffolding working on Mickey Mouse and his orange ears, is Xray aka Brian Lanier.

a man in an orange vest is up on scaffolding as he paints a mural, two other men are looking at finished murals

a man sits on scaffolding as he paints a mural, LED spotlights are in the foreground

below: I think that it says love, a mural by Peru143

small mural by street artist peru that says love in very stylized and abstract letters

below: The streaks and splotches of colour are part of the wall that was painted by Risk.  It is also the space surrounding the entrance to the Taglialatella Gallery.  It was this gallery, along with INK Entertainment, that brought together the artists to paint the murals and many of them have pieces for sale in the gallery.   I appreciate that the gallery is supporting street art and that artists can make money from their work but there is a heavy presence of commercialism around this enclave of murals that makes me uncomfortable.

window of gallery with the exterior walls painted in pastel colours

a woman in an art gallery, is standing by two pieces that use neon lights. One is large red heart as part of a painting with an image of Charlie Chaplin meant to look like a wall of graffiti, with a yellow neon light in a heart shape

two pictures on a gallery wall, in red, black and white, on wallpaper that is red and beige intricate floral pattern

mural with a pink marilyn munroe, the words i love you in red, mural, Cumberland private wealth

Leaside has murals!

Posted: August 20, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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Today’s story begins back in 2007 when elicsr painted this mural behind a store that fronts on Eglinton East.

mural depicting the biblical story, Luke chapter 15, of the prodigal son

It depicts the bible story of the prodigal son.  A very brief summary of the story – A wealthy king had two sons.

mural of the prodigal son, the wealthy king with his two sons at the beginning of the story

The younger son took his half of his father’s money, left home, and squandered the money. He fell into hard times.  He realized that he would be better off as a servant in his father’s household than living in penury on his own.

mural, the younger son leaves his father the king where he goes and squanders his half of his father's inheritance

So he returned home to repent.  His father celebrated the return of the son and forgave him and his prodigal ways.

part of a mural, return of the prodigal son to his father, the king.

Fast forward to August 2016 when the alley became a canvas for 46 street artists and their Wall Expressions project, Go Big or Go Home.  I walked the alley on Thursday and this is what I saw.
[Warning: a lot of the street art is text or abstractions which may not be your cup of tea. ]

below: Girl power skull with pig tails by dudeman.

street art mural on the side of a garage in an alley, by #dudeman, blue stylized skull and cross bones with pig tails on the skull, the words, girl power as well

below: Under the weather vane, a newer garage door painted with a mural by Mediah IAH aka Evond Blake.

two garages in an alley, both covered in murals. On the right is a newer garage, with a weather vane on top, and a mural in blue and greys, geometric and abstract shapes. On the left is an older garage door with multicolured street art on it.

below: Black and white owl on a branch by mska

mural by mska of an owl sitting on the branch of a tree, the owl and tree are in black and white, there are concentric circles in many colours in the background.

below: SPUD bombs and swirls on the back of Eco Cleaners.

spud bombs and swirls on the back of eco dry cleaners

below: And another SPUD creation on the other side of the lane.
A few skulls seemed to have snuck into the painting!

spud bomb and swirls street art on a fence in an alley

below: ‘Mars Attacks’ by the ACK crew, wales, miles, noser, braes and tensoe.

large mural on a two storey brick building, mural is called Mars Attacks, shows a green robot like alien and lots of tags.

below: Garbage bins lined up in front of a horus/tuffytats rose in blue and red.

mural of blue and red roses, large and stylized on a wall, a line of small trash bins in grey , blue and green (garbage bins, recylcing bins and organic waste bins) is in front of the artwork by horus also known as tuffytats

below: A swirly wavy mix of colours brighten up a wooden fence.

a section of wooden fence covered with street art in pink and orange and turquoise and purple striped swirls

below: Red head (and shoulders) man

street art mural on a garage door, head and shoulders of a man in red tones,

below: The Men’s Salon Barber Shop now has a mska creature, complete with scissors in hand, by the back door.

back door of men's hairsylist and barbershop, 814 Eglinton East with a white skulled creature holding a pair of scissors by mska as well as a large yellow 814

below: Next to the barber shop is this mural, or at least this is part of it.  The next photo….

multicoloured mural on a wall with a car parked alongside it.

below: … is the end of the mural.  I’m not sure who painted it but the marks on this are: Mark One, BOB (or 13013) and xFLA,.

tag-like street art in yellow and orange on the side of Bonavista store, alley north of Eglinton East, back of car in the picture - it's parked in front of the rest of the mural

below: A mural for Loui by minus two (and others?)

mural, street art text and tags with words 'for loui'

below: More text and abstractions, this time by manic, roam and acuse.   Loui gets another mention too.

 

street art mural of text and colours across the back of a building in an alley

looking at a building so that the corner is in the front, can see two sides of the building, both of which are covered with murals. Wood railing across the top as there is a balcony up there

below: In the foreground, a Nick Sweetman shrimp swims across a mural with help from peru and ctr.

an alley with street art murals, a pickup truck and a car parked in front of one of the murals

below: A closer look at that shrimp

a street art painting of a colourful but realistic squid in yellow, turquoise, and blue, painted on a wall

below: Another large mural with more than one photo.  At one end there’s a zas possum hanging out, spray paint can in hand – possibly up to no good?

street art of a large possum standing on its hind legs, and standing beside an open door

below: And at the other end there’s another animal that is usually nocturnal, a raccoon.  An animal that is no stranger to Toronto!

large street art animal, raccoon, in a mural, with a white crown on his head

below: Look up, way up!  There’s a dog on the roof.

mural on the side of an upper storey, above the roof of the bulding beside it, a dag, some text, and the back of a man painting on the wall

below: Swimmer with a bathing cap looking at you, by sparr

mural on the side of a building, a woman's head and shoulders. She's in the water and wearing a bathing cap. Above her is a painting of a man spray painting on a wall.

 

below: Phil wrote his name on a garage door.

large blue letters P H I L in street art form on a garage door

below: Sofe in orange and green tiger stripes

large letters S O F E in orange and green tiger stripes with purple sky-like background

below: Two more garage doors.

two garages in a lane with street art spray painted on their doors.

below: Bright colours stand out on the side of this garage near the entrance to the lane.

mural on the side of a garage by cruz 1 art, a young girl in orange with many colours abstractions around her

below: Rozy, from the other side.

mural on the side of a garage by cruz 1 art, a young girl in orange with many colours abstractions around her

below: someone beginning with the letter m?  (m–?) and lerch.

mural in an alley, horizontal street art aerosol spray paint artwork of text graffiti, two different ones side by side

below: Big fat P in pink by bias? at number 153

a large fat P in pink on a white wood fence, with some other symbols as well, street art

below: And last, a little snail

a small painting of a large orange and blue snail on a fence beside a tree in an alley

This project had help and support from Toronto Police (53 division), Stephensons Rental, Dominos Pizza, and StreetARToronto.

video of the event on vimeo

in an alley, back of a store, old rusty metal stairs to the upper storey, small awning over the backdoor, laundry hanging by the door, weeds growing in front of the bottom of the stairs.

small metal box, part of doorbell system, covered with graffiti stickers, including purple horror face of man

 

 

love letters in paint

Posted: July 11, 2016 in events, graffiti and street art
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From June 20th to 25th, many street artists brought their talents to paint murals with the Great Lakes as their theme.  It was part of Pangeaseed Foundation’s Seawalls for Oceans.  Pangeaseed’s mission is to use science, art and creativity to “inspire positive change around pressing ocean environmental issues”.   This campaign originally focused on oceans but they have now branched out to increase awareness of the issues involving out fresh water lakes and rivers as well.  One of their methods is to support and encourage the painting of murals –  Seawalls have been painted in Miami, San Diego, Napier New Zealand, Cozumel Mexico and many other cities around the world… and now in Toronto too.

One of the locations chosen for the murals was around Ossington and Queen where they join a number of murals that were already there.

below: The S.S. One Love sails high above an alley, painted by Peru143

large mural by Peru on the back of a two storey building, a large red ship called the S.S. One Love in the water

part of a mural by Peru, lots of blue, looks like a stylized snake

below: Painted in mostly shades of grey, a mural by Caratoes (aka Cara To), a street artist based in Hong Kong.

a two storey vertical mural by caratoes in grey tones, fish and faces on the top and an object made of black and white triangles on the bottom

Close up of the top half of a mural by caratoes in grey tones, fish and faces

below: A large water bird swims along the surface and watches the people passing by.
Painted by Jon Todd.

large mural of a water fowl sitting on the water on the old white Queen West self-storage building.

viewed from the corner so you can see two sides of the building, large mural of a water fowl sitting on the water on the old white Queen West self-storage building and another mural on the other side of the building

As you can see from the above photo, there are three round images painted on the south wall of the old Self Storage building.

below: Closest to the street, a mural by Sermob

round mural painted by Sermob, car parked in front of it, stylized figures on water

below: In the middle and tying the three circles together is a mural of entwined fish by Miguel Valinas from Mexico.

large round mural of two large fish, intricate patterns on the fish, entwined head to tail to form a circle with their bodies

below: A sleepy baby otter in its parents’ arms, painted by Sens, also from Mexico

a large round mural of a family of otters. Baby otter is sleeping in his parents' arms. by Valinas

below: A mural on a bright yellow wall –  a shark and a dinosaur amongst geometric shapes that are characteristic of birdo’s work.  There is also another animal head beside it.  This was a collaboration between birdo, tens2, fuel, kostyn, phil and barney and it pre-dates the Love Letters to the Great Lakes murals.

large mural by birdo, street art, on a two storey bright yellow building, a shark, and an alligator (or crocdile) head

small mural of an animal head, street art, by Fuel, Kostyn, birdo

below: From bright colours, to black and white – birdo’s collaboration with En Masse.  A mural with the words “RIP Don Valley River”

black and white mural in an alley, turtle, geometric shapes, woman's face, leaves, RIP Don Valley River

below: It’s a rather dark lament about the state of the Don River.

detail of a black and white mural by birdo and en masse with sybols of death and decay.

below: Standing on an island, ‘Hello’ by Chicago-born  Hebru Brantley in 2015

a large mural of a boy standing on a small island, wearing sunglasses, and saying "Hello", painted by Hebru Brantley

below: Whales, lobsters, fish and other creatures swimming amongst the seaweed, painted by street artist lebonar (aka Olivier Bonnard)

two sides of a building with murals, one side is a large mural of a boy standing on a small island, wearing sunglasses, and saying "Hello", painted by Hebru Brantley and the other side (store front)

below: More marine life, but in an unfortunate spot. I’ve been to see this mural twice, and both times the fence was locked.  It looks like the fish has an arm that it’s using to reach for the unsuspecting crayfish – a metaphor for invasive species and their effects on marine life and their habitats.  It was painted by Cinzah Seekayem from New Zealand.  You can see better pictures of it on his instagram page.

a mural of marine animals on the side of a building, but behind a locked fence

fish mural on a white wood fence, muted tones of greens, blues and browns.

colourful mural by Peru with the letters K E S H

Other posts about this project:

  1. other murals at Queen and Ossington, seawalls and serpents
  2. murals by the Don River, at the mouth of the Don
  3.  murals at Queen, Spadina and Bulwer

 

#seawallsTO | #pangeaseed | #loveletterprojects

October edition

Posted: October 15, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Another month, another walk through Graffiti Alley.
As usual, there were some new things that I noticed and here is a sample. 

below: This big guy sits where Batman was just a few weeks ago.

Street art painting of a large rodent like creature sitting Brown, furry, little paws, small feature on face,

below:  Little town scene by Peru with a poser bunny beside.

Street art piece by Peru of the word Peru written in block letters but also used as the backbone of a city scene of stylized little houses with red roofs. The painting has a little truck in front of the houses with the word waistoid on it. Street art Poser bunny to the left.

below: The flu hating rapper

A character in a white lab coat and with spikey grey hair, street art painting. He's hold a microphone to his mouth. The words say Flu Hating Rapper

A street art painting of a man wearing a cap, he's painted standing between two windows with metal grilles over them.

below: Shanghai Toronto 2015

Bright red street art wavy and curly lines on blue and purple toned background.

below:  Lovebot is on the move

large wheatpaste lovebot on a wall that's been painted sky blue. 3D lovebot looks like he's running or jumping.

Street art, tag like painting in white with green and blue and black in the background. On a wall in an alley PHLS ATC

below: Stikman in green and grey

Stickman on a wall with green and grey spray paint on top of him and around him

The corner of a two storey building in Graffiti Alley, photo taken so that both sides of the building are visible. On one side is a group of poser bunnies in brown and white with red background on the lower flooor and a blck lovebot with red heart on the upper floor. On the other side of the corner is a Uber5000 bird above and something that's been tagged over on the bottom.

street art painting of a man with a fat cigar in his mouth, wearing a hat, carrying a briefcase, wearing a suit jacket and tie. Words written in cursive beside him say Love Smelling Daisies.

below:  Any idea what she might be holding in her hands?

Stencil graffiti, black paint on grey wall, of a seated woman holding something in her hands. At first I thought she was holding a camera close to her face but I'm not sure.

Narrow street art painting of a smoking gun sticking out of a hole in a wall.

Bloor GO fence

Posted: December 2, 2013 in graffiti and street art, locations
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The Bloor GO station  is undergoing a number of renovations as it will be the first stop on the updated Kitchener rail corridor running between Union Station and Kitchener.  Bloor will be a stop for the new Union Pearson  Express service to the airport.

A temporary wood fence has been erected between the tracks and the West Toronto Railpath for the duration of the construction.  This fence has become a canvas for some of the local graffiti artists.  I walked the length of the fence yesterday and I took a lot of photos!    I started at the north end of the fence and the following photos appear in the order that they were taken.

large graffiti picture of a close up of a mouth interior showing many orange teet, a blue tongue and purple gums.

open wide and say “ah”!

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graffiti of a witch's face. She has green eyes and green hair. She is wearing a purple hat. Her boney hand is in front of her mouth so you can see her long green finger nails.

Wickedly enchanting.

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Spud graffiti tag on a pink background. Rob Ford faces fill the letter U. The S P and D are different colours

Rob Ford and U in the middle of Spud.

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Street art picture of 2 male heads. One is wearing a brown baseball cap backwards. The word Toronto is written on it in orange letters.

Toronto on backwards.

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Three faces graffiti. Two men's heads on the left and a woman's head on the right. They are painted on a wood gate that is closed and locked with a chain.

Face to face across the chained gate.

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Looking along a temporary wood fence that has been covered with graffiti. The art that you can see in the foreground consists of a number of head. A dirt pathway runs along beside the fence.

Looking up and down the railpath.

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graffiti picture of the face, shoulders and arms of a fat man. The backs of his hands have tattos of a bicycle and a cupcake.

Eyes closed, with a cupcake and a bike and perhaps a prayer.

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graffiti picture of the upper bodies of 3 people, 2 men and a girl. The girl seems to have an orange halo around her head. The men have orange crowns on their heads.

Of kings and angels.

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graffiti tag in blues and oranges

tagged

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graffiti picture of the head and shoulders of two men. The one of the right is in shades of grey while the one on the left is a more natural colour.

Two

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close up of part of a graffiti tag. Multicoloured.

dotted eyes

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graffiti tag - stylized letters forming the word Peru in green, blue and red. Some grey bricks have been painted behind the letters.

Peruvian tag

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parts of a couple of pieces of graffiti. Multicoloured. Also in the picture is a black and white cat's head.

Danger cat.

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Part of an orange and beige graffiti tag. It surrounds a small sign that points to the entrance to the train station.

To the trains, orange and orange.

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green and orange graffiti tage on blue background

Unfortunately I cut off some of the words written in purple, Junction Joe , Kwest, Takefive, Other Sense, Honour?, Rhinowreck

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Graffiti of two women's heads. There is also a red and white danger sign in the middle of the picture.

Danger women and something black.

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part of two green tags. A sign pointing to the train station entrance is in the middle. Someone has written the word dark on the sign.

Dark and Jetone the lurker.

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Silver and black graffiti that consists of drawings many different things - skull, bottles, hearts, hats, moon, dice, etc. as well as some words, slayed, the truth is out there, and danger

The truth is out there, and many other things in black and silver.

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Graffiti of the words listen, study, develop

Listen, study, develop

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blog_fence_closed

The gate was boarded up too.

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blog_fence_bend.

blog_fence_feet.

blog_fence_sink

sink in

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blog_fence_red
.blog_fence_wand.

blog_fence_eat

blue man by elicser

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Between the 2nd of October and the end of November when my photos were taken, there were some additions to the street art pieces, especially at the north end of the fence.

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