Posts Tagged ‘street art’

Graffiti on a wall on Queen St. West
at the west side of Trinity Bellwoods park.

A graffiti face high on a grey wall, with a pine tree branch  partially obscuring it

Close up of graffiti painted fingers in many bright colours.  They are very large.  Each fingernail has an eye.

Close up a piece of street art featuring brightly coloured fingers, with eyes on the fingernails.  Partially hidden behind pine trees.  Snow on the ground.

Close up a piece of street art featuring brightly coloured fingers, with eyes on the fingernails.  Partially hidden behind pine trees.  Snow on the ground.

Unfortunately, there is now an ugly black tag on the lower left corner.

Graffiti painting of a man high up on a grey wall, partially hidden behind two trees.  Unfortunately someone has painted a black tag over the lower left corner of the painting

In the corner of a piece of graffiti with a blue background is a signature of the artists, in blovk letters, LEXR & EVOKE

A few guys that I encountered the other day.

black and white paper graffiti of a man in grey pants, white shirt, and tie.  He has two black and white faces instead of hands.  Someone has scrawled words on the hands.
A deflated inflatable Santa Claus is hanging from a hydro pole in an alley beside a garage door with a graffiti man on it.

A large pinkish man's face, with big blue eys, and large hands

close up of man's face painted on a garage door.  You can see one ear, the nose and the mouth.

Street art painting of two men's heads.  Both have beards.  One is wearing a black crown and the other has a red hat and a red & black plaid shirt on

 

I walked around the corner and down a small dead end lane and this is what I saw.

near St. Clair West

garages and gates in fences in a snow covered lane.   Two of the doors have been painted in geometric designs.

On a brownish grey wall, some white paint has been applied to provide a backgound for some black line drawings of faces.   There are four faces.

A mural on a wall of two polar bears - an adult and a young cub.  It looks like they are walking on the snow.

Close up of the mural of two polar bears.  in this picture, the whole cub is visible but only the nose of the adult bear is seen.  The picture is signed J. Mora 2010

 

Wile E. Coyote is still chasing the roadrunner…..
right out of Looney Tunes and onto a wall in a Toronto lane.

street art painting of Wile E. Coyote from the looney tunes cartoon.  He has a smug look on his face and he is holding a lit stick of dynamite.

street art painting of the Looney Tunes cartoon character the roadrunner.  He is running past a window on a brick building.

 

Street art seen in a small lane, on the side of 314 Adelaide East.

A dog and a face partially obscured by swirls.  There are also some chemical structures in this grey and blue painting.

above: painted by Aaron Li-Hill

IAH media graffiti in blues and greys on a black wall, very geometric.  Sidewalk in front has snow on it.

above: painted by IAH Media

HUG graffiti tag and drawing in blues, greys and purples on a black and white wall.

Graffiti picture of two people, a man and a woman,

people painted by Elicser

Mural of a group of people, one in a chef's outfit, one on a bike,
314 Adelaide East is the home of Artik, a custom T-shirt (and other things) printing company.

mural scene of two people working at a desk amongst paint cans

mural scene of two men working on a machine that is printing designs on t-shirts

 

Stand Together,
a mural on Richmond St. East between Church and Jarvis streets.

Stand Together mural on Richmond Street, it is the back of a building as well as the back wall of a parking lot.  Four cars are parked in front of the mural which is 4 large arms and hands.  Together the hands are holding a city that is under a rainbow.

Painted by Spud, 2014

Far right side of mural, behind a low fence, bright green background with a long arm reaching across the photo.  A small tree stands in the corner of the parking lot, on the far right of this picture.  An apartment building is behind.  Spud bomb logo in the bottom right,  Center part of mural showing a city in 3D under a rainbow, on an orange background, and being held up by four large hands. The center part of the mural is a little 3D Toronto under a rainbow.
The CN Tower is there as well as a few cranes.  Perhaps you recognize other buildings?
It even has a painting of the mural in it!

Part of a mural showing wrists of two arms.  The upper arm is tattooed in black ink and the tattoo includes the word SPUD..  The bottom wrist is wearing a large blue bracelet.  The background is bright green and orange.

The whole mural from a close up angle, looking along the mural from right to left.

The Ontario Bread Company is located near Dundas and Ossington.
It had an Ossington Ave address but it is surrounded by lanes.
In September of 2013 it went out of business.  The building is still there but it is empty.

A slightly snow covered parking lot between two low rise buildings, both of which have murals painted on them. .

street art on a wall.  In the middle is a brown loaf of bread with the words Ontario Bread Co written around it.  There is a black and white tag on either side.  two windows and a door of the building are also in the photo.

Lovebot is now on their mailbox!

a small black and white lovebot sticker, the one that looks like a king of hearts playing card, is on the mailbox

The bakery was founded in 1935 by Polish immigrants and they specialized in Polish, and other Eastern European, breads.  BlogTO did an interesting piece about the bakery in August 2013.

 There is a lumber yard adjacent to the bakery on the same lane.
What follows are some of the photos that I took as I walked the “block” of lanes around the bakery and the lumber yard.   Some of the graffiti has been there for a few years.

 

Lifelike painting of a beaver, but larger than life.  Very realistic looking, sharp front teeth, little arms and big flat tail.

Old graffiti taf in yellows and blues on a grey brick wall.  Two windows have been bricked over in red brick.  One window has a green wood covering.  It includes the words "RIP Ryan Dunn"

jumble of different scribbles and tags and old graffiti along a wall.

A view of the back wall.

looking down an alley with the side of a two storey building being the dominant part of the picture.  It has a large number of colourful graffiti tags painted on it.

The words on this one say “It’s a bittersweet symphony”

A large colourful tag and street art piece.  It's a bittersweet symphony is written into it.  The left side is dark with a black background, the right side is brighter with a yellow and orange background.

This pair stands under the shower in a quiet corner.

Wheatpaste paste up picture of a woman in a long black sleeveless dress who is pouring water from a jug over the back of her head.   The water is falling on a girl who is sitting behind the woman.  The girl is holding an umbrella.
Rob Ford may no longer be mayor, but his legacy lives on …. in the form of anti-Ford graffiti.

tags on a brick wall in black, orange and white.  Anti Rob Ford graffiti also there in the form of a crack pipe with Fords face on it.  "Spud doesn't condone crack"  I think are the words written beside the crack pipe.

colorful graffiti tags on a brick wall

colorful graffiti tags on a brick wall

colorful graffiti tags on a brick wall

colorful graffiti tags on a brick wall
graffiti tag in greens and purples on a wall on a snowy day.  Above the tag is a weathered sign that is peeling but it can still be read - No Dumping Along this wall.

This piece is on Rolyat Street, just north of the Ontario Bread Co.

A wheatpaste paper graffiti piece of a girl's head in duplicate, looks like she's reflected below.  Long black hair. Big black eyes.

The last two pieces of street art are in a neighbouring lane, just to the northwest.

large pink creature street art, a small pink heart with the words 'lost doggy' is beside the creature

graffiti buzzard and tag behind a house.

Irene Ave. is a short street that runs behind the north side of Bloor Street West between Carling and Shaw streets, just east of Ossington Avenue.  Irene Avenue Parkette takes up most of the south side of Irene Avenue.  There is an alley that runs between the park and the back of the stores on Bloor West.

The Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre, through the Graffiti Arts portion of their LOFT program, has sponsored a number of murals in this alley.

This is what it looked like on a cold afternoon last week.

laneway in winter, some snow and ice on the ground.  Three cars parked.  A mural on the side of a two storey building.  Reddish rust coloured background with two faces, one woman and one man.

blog_irene_africa

blog_irene_lion

blog_irene_mj

blog_irene_mos

blog_irene_trash

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The next picture was taken in June of 2012.
The mural is still there but I couldn’t take a proper photo of it last week as there was a car parked too close.

A mural of Teetnage mutant ninja turtles painted on a garage door.

When I walked around the block to check out the fronts of these buildings, this is what I found

Street art mural by elicser of three men on a bench.  One is smoking a cigarette, one is reading and one is holding a lunch box in his hands.

A mural by Elicser and to the right the LOFT Youth Centre for Social Enterprise and Innovation.

St. Clair Ave East passes over a ravine just east of Yonge St. 

a view of the bridge from a path in the ravine from a short distance away.  It is winter so there is some snow and ice on the path and the trees have no leaves.

Looking south towards St. Clair

The Yellow Creek flows through this ravine.
To the north, the creek is underground until the south side of Mount Pleasant cemetery. 

A view under the bridge, looking from one side to the other across a creek.  The curved metal supports under the bridge are visible.  There is snow on the ground but the creek is not frozen.

The ground was slippery and the water in the creek was flowing quickly. 
  In other words, I didn’t cross over to the other side of the bridge.

At some point in the past year the graffiti that was under this bridge must have been “cleaned up”.  Since then, new tags have appeared.
Whether they are an improvement over what was there previously is a matter of opinion.

looking up towards the top of a bridge from a path along the ravine below.  two concrete supports are visible as well as part of the road way across the top of the bridge.  There is a graffiti tag on one of the supports.

southwest corner of the bridge

Two colourful tags on a concrete bridge support, each one is on a different side of the support

SORT and BEGIN

Graffiti tags under a bridge

Graffiti tags under a bridge

Honest Eds, a Toronto icon, at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor since 1948

Standing on Bloor street looking south through the alley beside Honest Eds store.  There is a glass covered walkway between the buildings on either side of the alley.  On the side of the wwalkway is a sign that syas 'Honest Ed Alley'.  The alley leads to a parking lot.

Looking south from Bloor Street towards the parking lot behind Honest Eds.

There are a few murals on the buildings that back onto the parking lot.

mural on a two storey light grey brick building showing musicians.

Trumpet players on the back of the Victory Cafe at the corner of  Markham and Lennox Streets

large mural of a woman with boxing gloves on.   Beside her is a picture of a large dog's face.

Woman with boxing gloves has been on the back of Trainers Fitness for a few years.  The newer dog is painted on the back of A Leg Up Pet Services. 

The back of two buildings with a narrow passageway between the two.  Both are two storeys high.  The one on the left is painted light purple and has the words Southern Accent written in yellow letters.  The one on the right is a mural of a man paddling a canoe down a tropical river, with a monkey and a parrot also in the picture.

Purple behind Southern Accent restaurant and a mural painted by Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre through their LOFT program.