Posts Tagged ‘street art’

Graffiti and street art on walls and garage doors in the alleys surrounding Sorauren Park.

below: If you are walking eastward along Dundas West, this is the first mural that you see.

Uber5000 mural on the side of Tommys Gift and Variety store on Dundas WEst. Uber birdie with a white coffee cup, cat listening to a giant CD player

below:  A friendly fuzzy blackburn animal playing in the park

mural by blackburn of a raccoon, or similar creature, playing with a yellow toy truck, painted on the side of a building in a park

below: Dog (wolf?) by Aaron Li-Hill

very realistic painting of a wolf (or a dog) on a garage door in a lane.

below: The guy in the blue shorts is saying: “You don’t need a mirror to look good, you’re beautiful on the inside, like you’re brain and stuff.”

garage door in an alley painted with a mural, light blue backgrouns and some cartoon-like characters, a little green guy with a square head, a yellow dog-like creature on two legs, and a blue guy

garage door painted with a large red and white danger due to sign as street art. A hand is writing in black marker on the sign, rondor

CBS mediah geometric spray paint pience on a garage door.

creative monsters mural on the side of a white building beside Sorauren Park

close up of creative monsters mural on the side of a white building beside Sorauren Park

garage door with street art on it, half of a large man plus green and blue tag around the letter E

man-like shaped rocket on a wall, red wings outstretched, cat skull motif on the front

A blue motorcycle is parked in front of a street art painting of three spacemen creatures

line of garages in an alley. The garage door in the foreground has a bent tulip painted on it.

below: Spudbomb mural

spudbomb mural on a garage door.

D loe tag graffiti on a wood garage door, green letters on orange background

below: by elicser, I was on cloud nine for a long time.

part of an elicser piece on a garage door but a car and a truck are parked in front of the rest. A man in a brown hat is blowing against a door, streams of wind coming from his mouth and clouds are around him, words say I was on cloud nine for a long time.

black line drawing on a white garage door in an alley. Round moon shape witha face in the moon.

Garage door covered with a mural by traziv. Rabbit like creature standing on a grass mound eating a carrot. buildings around hime, blue sky and a fluffy cloud too.

Two sides of a small building, each side with a mural on it.  One side is a TTC subway with Kipling as its destination, the other is of two kids, one boy is flying on an open book and a girl is on a scooter and wearing a helmet.  The words between the two kids say Ready Let's Rock

old garage door painted light grey with triangles in blue, yellow and red
side of a small building covered with a mural of a green bird-like character, playground and houses in the background

street art on garage doors in a lane
street art painting on a laneway garage door, pink and grey swirls and blobs, plant-like shapes.

graffiti on a corrugated metal garage.

below: by elicser, It’s almost dark.  One more wave, then we go in.

woman in a red bikini sitting on a long board in the water, painted on a garage door, car parked in front partially obscuring it.

In the world of graffiti and street art, change is usually inevitable and sometimes interesting.  One exception seems to be the alley that you can see from subway between Keele and Dundas West stations.  The building on the corner of Bloor West and Indian Road is new, but otherwise little is changed.  Even though most of the street art is the same as before, I don’t think that I have posted it in the past.  Here is documentation of most of it.

below: King Midas still looks over the TTC parking lot at Keele station.  Well, I’ve always assumed that it was King Midas although he was the guy whose touch turned everything to gold, not grey.

mural of older man in grey tones, with open book on his lap, beside him is the Midas logo (auto repair).

below: And this monkey is still asking what the noise is all about.

mural on an exterior wall, a monkey in old fashioned aviator's helmet and pink scarf is shouting "What's all the noise about"

below: ‘Sink or Swim’ by elicser

graffiti street art in an alley - a mural by elicser called sink or swim. A large man with a red toque and a red plaid shirt.

below: A lovebot shares wall space with an Uber5000 birdie….

graffiti street art in an alley - a lovebot wheatpaste on a wll beside a Uber5000 yellow bird holding a Canadian flag

below: … because Everybody’s a Winner

graffiti street art in an alley - a mural by Uber5000 titled Everyone's a WInner. Yellow birdies sitting around a table. There is also a lovebot wheatpaste on the wall.

below: Laser, not loser.   Now with laser vision.

graffiti street art in an alley - a Uber5000 mural of a man with reg glasses and red flashes coming from his eyes. A little birdie is sitting on top of a ghetto blaster

graffiti street art in an alley - a large salt shaker with the words Salt o' the Earth written below it. A garbage bin is beside it.

  below:  Ghostbusters in a hard to reach place

A ghostbuster logo painted on the side of a building in an alley

below:  Zooks is still on her wall.

street art on a wall in a laneway. Blue background, naked woman with long brown hair, standing between two tags

below: This turtle has seen better days

A green turtle character painted on a wall in a lane. Wearing glasses, standing up. The paint in the lower part of the piece is peeling badly.

grey and light blue tag street art on a multi coloured background, two butterflies as well, one pink butterfly and one blue butterfly

mural on the side of building in an alley, TTC streetcar, buildings, people, subway, with another building in the foreground
mural on the side of building in an alley, TTC streetcar, buildings, people, subway,

below:  Guard dog at the bottom of the stairs

painting of a large black dog on a door at the bottom of an exterior stair case. Graffiti dog, street art dog. It looks like he is sitting in front of the door looking at people as they walk towards the door.

blog_train_street_art

below: She seems to turn when the door opens, a mural by EGR art

 

a large mural of a woman with wings that takes up the entire back of a two storey building in a laneway. There is also a metal staircase with a small porch. The door at the top is open so part of the woman in the mural opens up too. The mural is by EGR art.

large mural of a young man's face in grey tones. Small moustache, head only,

below:  He (she?) still keeps goal on the back porch.

painting of a hockey goalie in full pads and helmet painted on a blue door by a small porch in a laneway.

looking down a laneway towards a large brick apartment building. The side of a truck has some graffiti on it - the truck is backed into a parking spot in the lane. The buildings in the lane have graffiti on them.

part of a mural with a lot of heads, a man, a green character, amongst others, high on a wall

rabid raccoon in blues, street art

street art in an alley, a white skull with a black baseball cap. Cap says Big Dirt on it. Words above the skull are Mary Recka Pantilo (could be Mozy not Mary)

below:  This mural also has a painting of Marilyn Monroe in it along with Bruce Lee and Alfred Hitchcock.  There were too many cars parked in front of it when I walked past the other day.

part of a larger mural, Alfred Hitchcock holding a sign for the filming of Psycho, Bruce Lee is also in the picture, a car is parked in front of the wall, in an alley

below: King Kong dominates this wall.

Grey toned mural of King Kong holding a woman over a tall building as he walks through a large city, and towers over it.

street art painting of a grimacing big fat yellow male face with eyes closed and big white teeth showing

below: We Rise Up

large mural of upreached open hands releasing a red butterfly
below: War and Peace

mural of police in riot gear confronting a person with both hands giving a peace sign

A green four eyed blov with a peace sign shaped nostrils, and a necklace with a gold H on it.

Someone has scrawled Your life is a lie in black over a piece of street art. Someone else has changed lie to life by adding an f

graffiti street art in an alley - an angry bird bird with the words Rainy Days

graffiti street art in an alley - Two black and white hearts, one with a face drawn on it. The words cloud + glare = [heart]

There is so much to see in this city, big and small, mundane and interesting, bland and colourful, old and new; we’ve got it all.   It’s not uncommon to walk a route many times and still see something new each time.  The little details are easy to overlook.  Yesterday I walked parallel to Queen Street West from Roncesvalles eastward.  There are lots of little alleys in the area and the streets are interesting too.  I wasn’t alone.  Penny (from Walking Woman blog) provided a second set of eyes as we went looking for whatever there was to find.   Four eyes really can be better than two!  Although we saw many things (of course!) I’ve chosen to concentrate on the “little things” that we spied.

below: Happy. Faces at our feet. Happy to see you walk by.

A blue square shaped painted spot on the pavement. Two eyes and a smiling mouth have been drawn on top in darker blue

below: Faces above our heads. A one way sign as a canvas.

Two faces drawn on a one way sign

below: And faces at the end of the path.

garage door painted green with a white line drawing of an odd shaped face, as seen from looking down a path, fences on either side of the path

below: Yesterday’s lovebot sighting

black line drawing of a lovebot on a yellow section of a graffiti picture on a garage door in a laneway

below: It’s December, but this house is still ready for Halloween.

A small porch in front of a house that is still decorated for Halloween, a couple of fake arms and a fake tombstone with RIP on it.

below: A little leprechaun in a tree. Perhaps he’s been here since St. Patricks Day?  And how many leprechauns have crossed here?  We weren’t lucky enough to see any yesterday.

Up in a tree, a decoration with a leprechaun holding a broken sign that says leprechaun crossing.

below: One use for a bathtub!  Dirty, not clean.

An old fashioned white bathtub in a front yard. It's been filled with dirt and is now used as a planter.

below: A different approach to keeping the flowers blooming well into December… they’re looking a little faded, but they are still pink and growing in abundance.

a ring of pink plastic flowers around the base of an evergreen shrub in a front yard

below: But even a single flower adds to a picture.

An abstract painting with the words you need this written on it. below, tucked into the hinge of the door is a plastic red rose

below: Pictures on walls can delight, even ones as simple as this little pinwheel.

8 sided pinwheel in reds and blues fixed against the top corner of a shed or garage wall in a lane

below: Make art not war….

make art not war slogan painted on a garage door in a red line drawing face

below: … or make money.  The money shot.

graffiti with two dollar signs and three cent signs on a rust coloured brick wall

below: She was hiding in the back corner of a store.

head of an old mannequin with blond wig, one eye is missing, and the covering on her is wearing off.

below: Miniature eclairs for sale at The Tempered Room. We didn’t try them but they looked fabulous.

miniature eclairs for sale in a store

below: Dean’s pink ride was parked for the afternoon.

the back of a bright pink car with the license Neon Dean

below: A mystery message.  Google tells me that pav is a type of Indian bread but I don’t think that that’s what the writer was referring to here.  Belongins (belongings?) here probably means possessions but I like to play with words and so I wonder if it is the other meaning of belonging, i.e. as in “a sense of belonging”.   Or maybe, he be longing all his life to be under a palm tree?!

graffiti on a white door in an alley, the words All My life Belongins Pain with a small drawing of a palm tree

below: The sign for Cattlemens Meat Market is looking a little worn,
and not because it’s been here since 1538!

old sign on the back of a building that says Cattlemens meat market 1538

below: And last, three stencils that were close together in an alley, three animals, an old fashioned upright vacuum cleaner and an old video camera.

stencil of three small animals walking across the lower part of a grey garage door.

black stencil of an old fashioned upright vacuum cleaner

black stencil of an old fashioned video camera. Someone has written the word true under it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

There is a new collection of street art in Little India.  It can be found if you go behind the stores on the south side of Gerrard Street between Rhodes Avenue and Craven Road.  The art is easily seen because there is not only an alley behind the stores but also a parking lot.

back of a row of stores and restaurants viewed across an empty parking lot. The lower storey of the exterior walls are covered with street art and murals.

below: Udlaakut Alysia.  Udlaakut is Inuit for good morning.

A street art painting with the words udlaakut Alysia. Udlaakut is Inuit for good morning

The corner of a building with street art on it. Wispy people in blue

below: Above the stairs painted by timmydrift and below the stairs by thepasystem

The back of a store with street art on it. A metal staircase goes diagonally up across the building. Above the stairs is a multicoloured swirly piece while under the stairs the street art in is blue and purple A campfire burns yellow in the bottom left corner.

Detail of a flower from a largeer street art piece. It looks like a purple and red daisy

below: A marine creature (alligator) by Nick Sweetman and a woman’s face by Kairo.

An orange chair sits in front of a corner of a building that is covered with street art. There is a realistic woman's face by kairo and a creature by Nick Sweetman

below: The metal fittings on the back of the building were spray painted shiny gold and incorporated into the design of the mural.

Close up of part of a larger street art painting. The metal parts of the building have been spray painted shiny gold and incorporated into the mural.

Doorways covered with street art, something cutesy in pink and yellow, a furry head creature and a blue koala

below: behind 1465 Gerrard Street East

doorways behind 1465 Gerrard St. covered with street art, a white ghostly skull and a girl standing with her head back and arms upraised

below: Lean back!

A creature whose body is made of small circles and triangles, with skinny black arms and legs, wearing white shoes and white gloves

street art on the back of building. On the top is a starfish shape in blues. On the bottom is a grumpy little man with an oversized head done in teal colours. He is wearing an orange headband. GFC Cruz

The back of a few two storey shops where the bottom half is covered with street art and murals

below: behind Siddhartha vegetarian restaurant

garages and walls at the back of stores and restaurants covered with street art. Pink anf purple blob like creatures and an elephant

An elephant head and trunk street art painting by PUA (#PUA69) on a garage door.

below:  On the back of the Flying Pony cafe is this colourful mural painted by Tim Skynz, lead artist of the group Eskape Reality

Two murals, both brightly multicoloured featuring creatures, on walls in an alley

below: tropical paradise?!

street art mural of a blob creature in green with two faces, one with tongue sticking out and one with three eyes. It is beside a palm tree on a beach.

mural on a wall, with a window in the middle, many blob creatures with different number of eyes in blues, reds and purples, many with tongues sticking out, one giving a peace sign with white hand

below: Side of the Flying Pony cafe

the side of the Gallery Coffee Bakery with a red winged horse sign on the upper storey of the red brick bulding. The door and window frames of the shop are painted in primary colours.

Diagonally across the corner (of Gerrard and Rhodes) from the Flying Pony is another store that has been covered with street art recently.  This mural was painted by Runt.  1600 Gerrard East is the home of Lenswork, a photo and art studio gallery.

A store on the corner of Gerrard and Rhodes in Toronto where the front and side of the building are covered with multicoloured street art.

If you go back to Craven Road there are two murals.

the west part of the back of a building covered with street art. The street and another lower building with a mural on it is in the background.

First, there is the one by Monica on the Moon on a small building behind the Gujran Wala Tikka House restaurant.

A mural by Monica on the Moon on a dark blue or black background, a bright orange and blue flower on the right and a flower/face on the left. The words Gujran Wala Tikka house are written in the top right corner which is the name of the restaurant that this building is behind.

Beside it, on the side of the Gujran Wala Tikka House,  is a larger mural titled “The Rickshaw” by Monica Wickeler
(note: Monica Wickeler is Monica on the Moon)

mural in Little India of a decorated bicycle in front of a beige building with orange umbrellas on the left

below: And last, seen on a pole in the parking lot:

sticker on a grey metal pole. head with the words Blob Head written underneath. Purple hair, open mouth, pink lips, teeth showing, purple bushy eyebrows and three small eyes where each eye should be (six eyes in total)

 

The alley project was coordinated by Tammy Rogers
with assistance from Monica Wickeler and the Gerrard India Bazaar BIA.

As I sort through the photos that I took this past summer, I keep finding pictures of street art that I have not yet posted.  The following collection were taken in the Dupont and Ossington area back in July.

below: A very horizontal piece by Cool Ethan, obviously

a long horizontal street art painting

below: A TTC streetcar passes by the Massey Harris building, a mural by Colin Turner Bloom.  This office building, at 915 King St. West, was built in 1883 as the headquarters for the Massey Harris Co.  It was declared a heritage building in 1973.  Since then it has been developed as lofts/condos.

A mural on a garage door by colin makes art, showing a large brick building with a TTC streetcar passing in front of it.

below: A city scene mural by Monica on the moon,  just off Dupont Avenue.

long mural, black background, white line drawing of a city scene by Monica on the Moon

close up of part of mural, white line drawings of a city scene, lots of houses and other buildings, on a black background on the side of a house. Small window as well as three trash bins are in the picture.

below: Another garage door

garage door covered with a street art painting of squiggly shapes in oranges and reds with dark grey background

below:  Up, up and away with a bunch of red balloons.

two stencil graffitis on a white garage door in a lane. One is of a girl standing on her toes and holding onto a bunch of red balloons that are up in the air. The other stencil is of a man from the shoulders up

below: Bobby with a gas mask, stencil on garage door in a lane.

stencil graffiti in black on a white garage door. London bobby (policeman) wearing a gas mask, from the waist up

below:  Two lovebots on Dupont.

two lovebots on a blue metal structure on a brick wall. The top one is a gameboy lovebot. The bottom one is the usual robot lovebot.

sticker on a white wall. Sticker says ADORE: for all the golden moments captured indoors and out

behind Dupont, near Bartlett

below: This wall has been covered with graffiti for a number of years now.
photo taken July 2015

a wall covered with graffiti, a large bald man's head, a red and white elephant, a lovebot, a black line drawn bird saying I love air horns

below: The same wall in August 2012

a wall covered with graffiti, a large bald man's head, a red and white elephant, a man in purple, a black line drawn bird saying I love air horns

below: Close ups from this past summer

graffiti of a greenish man's face, closed eyes, laughing with mouth open, beside him is a greyish white elephant outlined in red with long tusks and trunk

a lovebot the robot wheatpaste on a door of a building that is covered with other graffiti and street art

below: Farther along the tracks.  Note the small bicycle on the rusted metal drum.
It too has been here for at least a couple of years.

A black and white tag on red background, with the words happy bday nektar written in the corner. In front of the wall is a rusted metal oil drum with some graffiti on it in white including a very meticulously drawn small white bicycle.

graffiti and tags on the back of a building made of concrete blocks, also on two metal storage tanks that are behind the same building.

I went to Las Vegas and hit the jackpot with some great street art and murals!

exterior wall of a two storey building that has been covered with street art by a number of different artists

I’ve started a new page for Las Vegas street art and as usual, over the next few days I’ll be adding to it!