Posts Tagged ‘posters’

November paper

Posted: December 7, 2021 in graffiti and street art
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below: It’s Okay to forgive yourself, today, tomorrow, and every day after that

poster graffiti that says It's okay to forgive yourself, a white cloud is giving a pink blob a big hug and they are both sitting on top of a globe of the earth

below: A greeting from a bright and cheerful Prideosaur

sticker of a blue dinosaur with rainbow horns, striped tail and rainbow spots on its back, prideosaur

below: Sign at 4422 says “Get Out of Here”

poster graffiti, black and white drawing

below: Hoardings on Dundas West with bruho, urban ninja, sketchrat, life in the streets, las mujeres vampiro, and looney spoons.

below:  Eyes in collages large size pasteups at Trinity Bellwoods Park

2 green sheds at Trinty Bellwoods Park, with graffiti on them, a man walking past pushing a stroller

below: Names on a pole, left behind in Graffiti Alley by Max, Lily, James, Keira, Leah, The Gamer, and others (a class project?)

stickers on a pole, different people's names

below: Look.  Look at my cat.

poster on a concrete pole - picture of a cat's head and face with words, look, look at my cat

below: So many questions weighing heavy.

graffiti alley stickers including urban ninja squadron, t bonez on one knee while carrying a large yellow cube on his back. cube has white question mark on each face

below: Found behind bars

sticker of an abstracted man's face on glass behind metal grille

below: Hello! Happy to see you

black line drawing graffiti on red and white hello sticker, on a pole beside a black marker on white paint happy face

below: Devilish skateboarder

sticker of a togo wearing, sandal wearing, many with devil horns, on a skateboard

below: A plethora of stickers

many stickers on the back of a Toronto street sign

below: Stay safe!

sticker that says stay safe on a panel for button for pedestrian crossing

below: A face only a mother could love… maybe… He’s got one smiley face ear and another not so happy ear.

a woman walks past a box with graffiti on it including two stickers, an ugly man's face and a t bonez tropical shirt

below: ring around the pole by the same artist, OzoHOH? 0zohok?

stickers on a metal ring around a wood utility pole

below: zonr and more visual noise

stickers on a pole, zonr, urban ninja squadron in red

below: words, maybe girl dutch with something intense and ending with half woman.

poster graffiti on a wood pole, cursive writing, many words, black on white

below: I love you says a pink monkey

stickers on poles in graffiti alley

below: Now you know what’s in the Ninth Circle of Hell. In Dante’s “Inferno” the Ninth Circle was a frozen lake, a place devoid of love and warmth where Satan resided. The Ninth was also the innermost circle, reserved for those who have committed the worst sins which in Dante’s view were treachery and betrayal. Souls are frozen in the lake. Those whose treachery wasn’t quite so bad were frozen with their heads above the ice. Others were buried deeper. Lucifer, the archangel who betrayed God, is trapped waist-deep in the ice.

poster on a utility pole, lots of words with first line being climate change is the ninth circle of hell

below: A twist on blue Grumpy Care Bear – is he thinking about Climate Change?!

city crew sticker on a pole, also a blue care bear sticker, painted wall behind the pole

below: You’re welcome!

pink bordered sticker with three cheering women, words say thanks

Kensington paper

Posted: November 11, 2021 in graffiti and street art, locations
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November 2021 edition

below: Jumbleface foto collage, slightly peeling.  Keep cold.

jeremy lynch jumbleface foto pasteup collage on a window in Kensington, eyes

below: Doesn’t he fit right into the poster?  Or are you busy looking at all the little creatures swarming around t-bonez head?

on the back of a bike rack, pasteups and stickers, urban ninja squadron in green,

below: It’s Life, it’s a one-eyed red daisy

red petal, blue eyed daisy, it's life sticker

below: Smugrat, Las Mujeres Vampiros, bentoghoul, and others.

stickers on plywood hoardings, outside, mujeres vampiros,

below: Wash your hands after It’s Life yellow daisy takes first prize

three stickers, bottom one is wash your hands

on plywood hoardings, coffee cup poster, with t-bonez and a large missile in the background

below: Miss You!  Nika loves Aura, and other messages around the coffee.

coffee cup poster

below: Crying real water

small sticker with water in eyes, crying tears

below: And you’re looking blue too.

small blue square sticker that says I'm feeling blue

below: Gas Phaseout? We CANDU It!  Part of the poster has been torn off ….

posters on a utility pole, top one is climate change action, rosie the riveter picture with words

below:  … but this Homer Simpson poster is probably related.  Climate Hero!  Eating donuts?  No… “In Ontario nuclear workers provided 90% of the electricity needed to phase out coal – North America’s greatest CO2 reduction.  Let’s phase out natural gas next”.
I can’t read all the handwriting but part of what someone has written on the poster says: “How did you turn off my portable Panosonic TV Karen? Did your boyfriend help you?”  Can you make any sense of that?

two posters on a metal pole, top one has Homer Simpson

more than a pile of skulls

Posted: October 14, 2021 in locations, public art
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There are two public art exhibits now on display at Harbourfront’s Ontario Square.  The first is “Built on Genocide” by by Jay Soule aka CHIPPEWAR which is part of this year’s Luminato Festival ….  “In the mid-19th century, an estimated 30 to 60 million buffalo roamed the prairies, by the late 1880s, fewer than 300 remained. As the buffalo were slaughtered and the prairie ecosystem decimated, Indigenous peoples were robbed of their foods, lands, and cultures. The buffalo genocide became a genocide of the people” (quote source: Luminato website)

below: The centerpiece is a pile of Buffalo skulls.

a large pile of buffalo skulls, art installation, with glass and steel condos rising behind,

below: Surrounding the skulls are posters that highlight and criticize government policies towards First Nations including (Prime Minister) Sir John A. Macdonald and his “Magic Eraser”, i.e. the Indian Act of 1876.

people looking at large posters, part of art installation, built on genocide

below: The poster on the left references the adoption of First Nations children by non-Native families often referred to as the Sixties Scoop because it reached its peak (most adoptions) in the 1960s.  The plight of Indigenous women is the subject of the other poster – the disproportionate number of whom have been murdered or went missing.

2 posters, adoption of mass destruction, and I am a mother sister auntie grandmother, protest signs on indigenous rights and past Canadian history of abuses

a man on a bike and a woman with a large backpack standing in front of posters by Jay Soule on display outside at Harbourfront, Indigenous Rights, history of abuse, protest,

There is also a display of large photographs by Meryl McMaster.

below: What Will I Say to the Sky and the Earth II.

large photograph by Meryl McMaster on display at Canada Square at Harbourfont - woman standing in the snow

below: On the Edge of This Immensity

woman holding a small boat on her shoulders, lake in the background, large photograph by Meryl McMaster on display at Canada Square at Harbourfont

below: As Immense as the Sky

woman with back to camera on a rock ledge overlooking a green landscape large photograph by Meryl McMaster on display at Canada Square at Harbourfont

College – Dundas – Lansdowne

Posted: September 20, 2021 in doors, graffiti and street art, locations
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Three streets, College, Dundas, and Lansdowne, form a small triangle in the west end. The following pictures were taken on a summer day a couple of weeks ago when I was walking in and around that triangle.

below: Mural – railway bridge. Just west of here, Dundas crosses a set of tracks – the same line the services Pearson airport and points beyond.

mural on the corner of a building

below: Eating Dominos in the doorway

street art painting of a blue dragon with mouth open wide, pink tongue and yellow teeth, dominos pizza box in mouth

below: Small part of a freaky display of dolls and similar toys along the wood rails surrounding a sidewalk patio

dolls attached to poles as part of decoration on outdoor patio

below: More dolls from the same place –  what does that do to one’s appetite?

old dolls attached to a wood 4 x 4 outside

below: Colourful umbrellas cover a makeshift patio on the street

man walking on sidewalk, away from the camera. patio on street beside sidewalk with many umbrellas over the tables, green, red, and yellow

below: New sidewalk on College Street with a large mural in the distance…..

sidewalk that is roped off with yellow caution tape because the concrete has just been repoured, College Street

below: Beanstalk mural on the side of the coin laundry on the northeast corner of College and St. Clarens.  Maybe that’s Jack at the bottom…   😀

northeast corner of College and St. Clarens, three storey beige brick building with coin laundry on ground floor, large beanstalk mural up the side of the building

below: Orange house, northwest corner of College and St. Clarens

below: …. and an orange car, an older Porsche convertible, in an alley around the corner.

backs of stores in a small alley where a blue Dodge Ram pickup truck is parked. Also parked is an orange car, an old porsche convertible. Graffiti on some of the buildings

below: Lost Time

poster on a wood utility pole with the headline Lost Time

below: Reflections, TTC streetcars and the pope

reflections of a TTC streetcar in a store window

below:  In a convenience store window – get your keys cut here, or buy a mask, but watch out for the five deadly terms used by a woman.  Fine? Go ahead!

signs in window of a convenience store. Keys cut here, covid items for sale - masks, hand sanitizer, also a poster of deadly things that women say

below: Faded signs in another store window

window of a convenience store, in the middle of a large mural on exterior of building, faded signs in the window

below: One of life’s little blue daisies watching you

graffiti sticker on a black brick wall, a little blue daisy

below: Is this dystopia?

stenciled red words on a sidewalk that say Is this dystopia?

below: College at Margueretta

College street near Lansdowne, brick buildings on north side of street

below: Canadian flags on old store windows

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below: A door with a frosty scene in duplicate.

below: Even birds might want to get mail!

a small white bird house is attached to the end of a black mailbox in a doorway

below: Happy mail

tagged mural, mural was an animal in blues on purple astro like background

below: Dundas Gas Bar

below: Outdoor displays

store, with items of clothing on display outside

below: An ad, blue and peeling

old poster peeling from an exterior wall, a blue advertisement for Cuevo alcohol

below: Vacant lot on Lansdowne between College and Dundas

small wood box mounted on chainlink fence around vacant lot , concrete wall behind it

billboard in vacant lot with chainlink fence around it

billboard in vacant lot with chainlink fence around it

below: Northeast corner of Dundas and Lansdowne – some architecture ages better than others.

And with that, I’ll leave you with a few pictures of some of the architecture in the area.

semi divided house, two storey

semi divided house with peaked roof, balconies on upper level

two blue houses, semis, one bright blue and greyish blue.

save the foundry

Posted: May 13, 2021 in graffiti and street art, history
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I read in the news this morning that the graffiti and artwork on the hoardings around the old foundry site in Corktown/Canary District are being painted over now. I had previously mentioned some of the stencils and posters that we here when I first saw them back in February. Unfortunately I am a bit behind on my posts so I haven’t uploaded the pictures that I took on a subsequent visit to the area…. here they are now. This is what is being painted over today:

below: “The history that is represented in this era of globalization is very important not to bulldoze”
“I want to save the Foundry because the buildings lend character to an area that is being made more and more bland every day.”
Meanwhile Doug Ford can’t keep his hands off Toronto City Hall.

red hearts stenciled on plywood hoardings along with a poster showing parody of Doug Ford with his hands meddling with a model of Toronto City Hall. Other posters with words describing why saving the old Dominion Wheel Foundry is important

below: “Municipal Destruction Minister Steve Clark screws up plans for A-Ford-A-Bull-Housing.”

below: Why Doug? Why?

below: “Dear Doug Ford: Let us fix this for you.”

Protests.  Advertisements. Words.

Posted: March 14, 2021 in graffiti and street art
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Good morning!
And welcome to another Toronto blog post!  This time, it’s all about reading material found on the street recently. In a lot of ways, it’s a snapshot of some of the issues and concerns that occupy us at this particular moment in time.

on black hoardings, large white letters that spell good morn

Papers on boxes, papers on poles, and papers on walls.  Protests.  Advertisements. Words.  Car caravan protest; Take back the night; call Jacki.  A potpourri of thoughts and causes.  An abundance of opinions and objectives.

many posters on a pole and a metal box on a sidewalk

below: 62nd Tibetans National Uprising Day, March 10th.  In March of 1959, there was an unsuccessful uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet in which about 87,000 people died; it was at this time that the Dalai Lama fled to India (in the Himalayas) where he has lived in exile ever since.

poster advertising the 62nd Tibetan National Uprising Day car caravan protest on MArch 10th

below: Khaleel Seivwright is a carpenter who has been constructing tiny shelters.  Some of the funds for the project come from a GoFundMe campaign.  These structures have been placed in encampments for the homeless in parks and on other city-owned land but back in February, the city filed an injunction to stop the shelters on city property.

a poster on a pole that wants Toronto city hall to save lives by not tearing down tiny shelters for the homeless that a man has been making

below: Another poster concerning the shortfalls of social housing in this city.  As the average cost of house in the GTA hovers around a million dollars, there is a growing lack of affordable housing.

build social housing now poster on a pole, city hall protest, want to expropriate 214 to 230 Sherbourne Stret to build social housing

below: Cops aren’t workers – no police unions

poster on a utility pole, yellow paper, orange words, Cops aren't workers,

below: Defund the police by 50% and invest in community supports and services – on top.  And on the bottom, Disco 3000, a weekly (Thursday nights) radio show on Parkdale Private Radio.

two posters on a pole, one is Gord PErks Defund the police by 50 percent and the other is Disco 3000

below: Covid lockdown protest

sign on a front lawn that says no more lockdowns

below: We got a problem – Because the ones who are causing the problem don’t want us to know what it is.”  The people named are all conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers.

ripped paper on wooden pole with lots of staples, we got a problem, a covid protest piece

self isol nation spray painted on a wall as part of a graffiti painting

below: A quote from Maya Angelou: “Nothing will work unless you do”

on an underpass wall, a black and white picture of a woman, Maya Angelou, and words in pink that say Nothing will work unless you do. This a quote from Maya Angelou

below: A few survive –  “Radical simply means ‘Grasping things at the root’ Angela Davis.  Plus, My body; my choice.

5 posters on a wall, most of the words have been blacked out. The poster that is still totally legible says Radical simply means

below:  In Parkdale a lot of the posters have been cut down leaving mysterious bits behind.  The words here are written in a different alphabet and I have no idea what the poster was advertising or promoting.

a poster on a wood utility pole has been torn but the four edges remain

below: Beside the stairs – Free Hong Hong; Free Tibet

on a white concrete wall beside hand railing by stairs, black marker words that say free Hong Kong free Tibet

random posters

Posted: November 11, 2020 in graffiti and street art
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What motivates someone to put up a poster in public space? Protest? Humour? Marketing? Just because?  The first three photos are from two concrete poles on the West Toronto Railpath; the other three photos were taken in nearby neighbourhoods.

below: The picture on the right is from New York City’s first Gay Pride March on 17th July 1969.

posters on a concrete utility pole

below:  The book in the poster on the left is “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, Maya Angelou’s autobiography of her early years.  The poster on the right looks like a copy of something from the 1950’s – a science fiction movie or a book?

paper posters on a concrete pole

below: “The Spirit Lives on, the Struggle is ours.
When life no longer has value and living still comes at a cost
Reset the clock of healing, never forgetting the loss.”

pink and white poster on a pole, along with a stencil graffiti of a cold coloured torso on blue background

below: No Police, No Prisons, No Pipelines

no police, no prisons, no pipeline, poster on a glass door

below: A collection of Black Lives Matter posters.  End Police Brutality; No Justice, No Peace;  Disarm, Defund, Diminish, Abolish.

construction hoardings with a door on it, posters have been glued onto the wood

below: Perhaps someone with a can of black spray paint is disgruntled?  Or just being a jerk?

posters on a wall, many have been spray painted over

the purple house and its neighbour

Posted: November 11, 2020 in old buildings
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It’s not as purple as it used to be. Over the years it’s faded a bit. It wasn’t in good shape when I first saw it years ago; now it’s in even rougher condition. The ground floor storefronts are boarded up but whether or not the upper floors are unoccupied is questionable.

pale purple brick building boarded up, plywood on windows, yard overgrown,

The whole block (1423 to 1437, Perth to Sterling) has now been acquired by a development company but so far there has been no proposal for the site.

below: There can be delightful lines and colours in old things.

old window with metal bars painted over but rusting, board over window,

below: A bit of a squeeze. Plywood over a window, a shovel ready for winter (or left behind?), and a doorway hidden on the right.

very narrow entranceway between two buildings

below: Pasteups by some familiar names, Feelings Boi, Urban Ninja Squadron, and Sketchrat

paper paste ups on a plywood board covering a window beside door on abandoned building, Closed sign still on door

peeling posters on plywood on window of old building

below: The back has been turned into a storage place for cars.

used cars parked behind two empty buildings

cars without licence plates parked behind an old building, alley,

what’s hit the wall

Posted: October 20, 2020 in graffiti and street art
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Just a small collection of some of the graffiti, and related, that I have seen lately.

part of a mural on a wall, words that say the walls won't know what hit them.

below: A on top and B below.  A = Alvin the Chipmunk as Aladdin.  B = Bugs Bunny as Bullwinkle eating a banana.

two coloured posters on a box on the street, both torn. On top, on red background is bugs bunny. on bottom on orange background is bugs bunny eating a banana

below: Street art by Mike Salisbury, “Out of Time” red emergency phone.

out of time, red emergency phone, street art, in old wall phone booth

below: Between the Madness Festival and the Hitler poster, a four line poem from “The Hawaiian healing program Ho’oponopono”.  It’s a real thing apparently and perhaps I’m forgiven, thanked and loved.

on a bulletin board, three 8 and one inch by 11 inch papers, posters in black ink,

below: Some friendly ghostly figures in time for Christmas.

ghostly white paper slaps on a met box, ghost faced bat, also bear in overalls,

below: Some black on white faces and a streetadventures sticker

stickers on a pole

below: Danger due to resisting.

red and white danger due to sign, altered to say Danger due to resisting

below: Life jackets required because of a water hazard danger.

red and white danger due to sign, altered to say danger due to water hazard, life jackets required

cat graffiti on cardboard, tied to Toronto circular bike stand

Parler23 is actually Parler Sneaker Company so this is probably part of an ad campaign.

happy cat waving sticker, holding gold coin that says get the money

happy cat sticker on a wall

President Fear

Posted: September 20, 2020 in graffiti and street art, locations
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….  fear and other vices.

posters on a wall in Graffiti Alley, of president trump, parody, president ego and president hate, on abstract America flag, caricatures of Trump just his face in each poster

Five posters on a wall in Graffiti Alley showing pictures of Donald Trump’s face along with five features of his character and presidency, blame, fear, hate, greed, and ego all on abstract rendition of the American flag.   Political street art.  Current and relevant.  I was going to call them caricatures but they’re not, they are the real thing.

posters on a wall in Graffiti Alley, of president trump, parody, president ego and president greed, blame, fear, on abstract America flag, caricatures of Trump just his face in each poster

There is a 6th which I seem to have missed.
They are the work of Mike Salisbury. Follow the link for a free download of the posters.

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