Monthly Archives: January 2025

First 2025 visit to Graffiti Alley, Toronto

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My previous post, skateboard portraits was from a walk down Graffiti Alley in Toronto the other day.   This post contains more photos that I took that snowy afternoon… so, let’s take a look!

below: Uber 5000’s yellow bird is still walking his dog and singing a song on this side of this red brick building.  It’s at least 10 years old?  The black and grey portrait on the right is much newer.

Graffiti Alley street art paintings, many, including uber 5000 walking dog and singing,

below: Profile portrait by TheHalfDecent

Graffiti Alley street art painting, profile portrait of woman in black and purple, car parked in front of it

below: “Let them drink beer”, a stencil from D. Terra featuring Ontario Premier Doug Ford whose biggest “win” in the province is bringing alcohol sales to convenience stores and gas stations…. at a massive cost.

below:  A 33wallflower33 pasteup in the foreground, with a corner of one of Nick Sweetman’s bird murals in the background.

pasteup by 33wallflower33, a black and white vintage photo of a woman, cut to oval shape, on a red surface. graffiti alley, a mural by nick sweetman is in the background, a blue bird in flight

below: A collaboration between Nick Sweetman and Shanehuss produced this drippy, melting jaw portrait.

street art mural, calligraphy in grey tones is the background, man's portrait with red skin, purple hat, metal frame glasses, the bottom part of the face is either washing away or melting.

below: The top portion of ” RIP King Reign & Son of Soul” remains.  This tribute mural was painted by Elicser Elliott and Omen514.  I am not sure who is responsible for the newer painting on the bottom, the one in yellows and blues.  That’s probably a ‘signature’ in the bottom left but I don’t recognize it.

Graffiti Alley street art painting, 2 men wearing caps, King Reign and Son of Soul tribute mural, also a uber5000 little yellow bird with a tea cup in his hand

part of King Reign and Son of Soul tribute mural by Elicser Elliott and Omen 514, with newer abstract mural covering the bottom part

below: Graffiti Alley in the snow.

graffiti alley in the snow

below: Sun of Aquarius (aka Andre Mandela Lopez) painted this naked figure with brown wings and bird mask

in an alley, exterior stairs to upper level balcony in alcove with two sides painted with murals, including one by sun of aquarius

below: A pole covered with knit squares while T-bonez is shushing you.

Graffiti Alley street art painting, on wall, pole in front of wall that is covered with knit squares, also a pasteup of urban ninja squadron, t bonez

below: A pointy nosed, long snouted dog by Mr. Myl, aka Luis Casas, who was originally from Havana Cuba.

mr myl street art painting in graffiti alley, on bright pink background, an orange and yellow dog with log snout and orange teeth, small ears, sitting position

below: Another Mr. Myl dog, this one with its blue eyes popping out.   I don’t think that it’s because of the woman next to him.  “Para mi Tita” is Spanish for “For my aunt”.

mr myl street art painting in graffiti alley, on bright pink background, an orange and yellow dog with log snout and orange teeth, small ears, sitting position, beside a portrait of a woman holding a large calla lily, with text

below: Blue haired woman by April Showers

below: And another blue haired woman…..

below: … and a third.  I think that I see a trend.  Methinks April Showers likes blue hair.

grey car parked in parking lot at end of alley, murals painted on the walls, stickers cover the signs

below: An anti-camera, anti-photographer image, “Gimmy a break, clik, clik, clik” featuring uber 5000’s yellow bird and blue cat, with the Pink Panther is a supporting role.   Love the red specs!

street art on a wall by stairs, pink panther, uber 5000 yellow bird, tags, also uber 5000 complaints about photographers

below:  Poser bunny in red

street art, red poser bunny

below: He (she?) seems puzzled by the snow?!

a young person with short dark hair, and a yellow t shirt, mural in graffiti alley

below: Is it a man or is it a chicken?  A red headed cigarette smoking, spray painting character by Tuffytats

street art painting by tuffytats

below: This one looks more like a chicken should look, so fowl.

below: An environmental message – “Got mercury?” from a non-profit group trying to raise awareness of the impact of mercury poisoning on indigenous communities.

graffiti on a wall, yellow bird from uber5000, red and turquoise character with devil horns and furry hair

graffiti alley in the winter, snowing, some snow on the ground

below: Good Luck!

street art painting, green background, a red apple sitting on 2 books, an arrow runs through the apple

graffiti alley mural, guitar player, red guitar, also an elicser elliott piece of a person wearing a rabbit hat

below: Another 33wallflower33 vintage woman.

graffiti on a wall including woman in bikini by 33 wallflower 33.

below: Chubby purple cheeks gives a thumbs up

street art painting of a large purple monster face

below: Still reaching out and trying to touch someone…..

old telephone booth in graffiti alley

street art mural, asian woman with purple hair tied up on top of her head with glowing lantern

graffiti on a wall including a red heart with J + J written in the middle

Photos taken January 2025

skateboard portraits

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Toronto’s Graffiti Alley is still an interesting place to explore.  Unlike some street art locations that have succumbed to the scrawls and tags of the less well-intentioned, good art and ideas can still be found here.  At present, adding to the eclectic nature of the graffiti in Graffiti Alley are a few interesting portraits done on half skateboards (or at least on wood in the shape of a skateboard).  All are screwed onto wooden utility poles.

below: One on natural wood colour and the other in vibrant red.  The sticker says Positive Creations.

two men's portraits painted each on half of a skateboard, attached to a pole in graffiti alley. one is black line drawing on natural wood colour, and the other is very red

two women's portraits on a skateboard. Top one is turquoise and the bottom one is pink

below: A man with a mustache

man's portrait painted on half of a skateboard, attached to a pole in graffiti alley

below: Three on the same pole in Graffiti Alley – A red person with shaggy hair and light blue glasses as well someone with very long orange hair.

portraits painted on half skateboards, 3 different men, one in red, one in orange, and one in pink, all on the same pole in graffiti alley, work of positive creations

man's portrait painted on half of a skateboard, in red, shaggy hair, and wearing light blue glasses, attached to a pole in graffiti alley

below: At the bottom, a quizzical look on a pink face.

pink man's portrait painted on half of a skateboard, attached to a pole in graffiti alleyPhotos taken January 2025

infamy and instagram

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While we were in Montreal, a number of these posters, or paste ups, appeared.  They were part of MuralFest, a street art and mural festival that was happening at the time.  Although I recognized some of the people who were pictured, there are a couple that I wasn’t sure of.   Here are six that I saw (none of which had any ‘instagram likes’):

larger than life black and white picture with the instagram heart symbol on orange background for number of likes for that picture

Kim Jong-Il of North Korea on a graffiti wall

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larger than life black and white picture with the instagram heart symbol on orange background for number of likes for that picture

Joseph Stalin on the side of an old wood building

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larger than life black and white picture with the instagram heart symbol on orange background for number of likes for that picture and

someone in a helmet…. any ideas? Mussolini?

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larger than life black and white picture with the instagram heart symbol on orange background for number of likes for that picture

Adolf Hitler high up on a brick wall

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larger than life black and white picture with the instagram heart symbol on orange background for number of likes for that picture

Japanese? guy on a poster covered wall

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larger than life black and white picture with the instagram heart symbol on orange background for number of likes for that picture

another person who I think I should know, but I don’t

******

Photos taken in the summer of 2014

Link

Looking back 10 years ago …..

Aires Libres and Outdoor Street Sales along Rue Sainte- Catherine, Montreal, on a sunny Sunday afternoon.  There were many booths with different styles of art for sale.  I stopped at a few of them.

Zepol Art, Marie-Pier Lopes (instagram page)

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Denial Art (instagram page)

save the planet kill yourself, poster for sale, image from denial art graffiti

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person holding two posters, one with green sign that says go do something, and one with red stop sign that says start

macaroni and cheese poster, denial art graffiti
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denial art graffiti based poster, green soup label, corporate sludge. Another poster with Jim Morrison crucified on cross with MoJo written on the cross, denial art graffiti

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blog_village_turtle
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blog_village_bodies
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blog_village_face_man

blog_village_kids

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 and things that weren’t art!

blog_village_kinkyPhotos taken in the summer of 2014.  I am in the process of removing the street art pages that were on my Toronto blog.

abandoned site, Baldwin & Spadina

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There once was a building on the southwest corner of Spadina Ave and Baldwin (Toronto).  That building is long gone but the hoardings around the vacant lot have become a home for graffiti.  Although advertising posters sometimes take over some of the space, there is often new graffiti too.

This is what was there in January 2025.

below: The Last Laugh by Nigel Smith.

graffiti on old hoardings at baldwin and spadina, a sign that says the last laugh, words written in red capital letters on black background

below: Paste-ups on plywood.   On the left – a City Kitty character in big pink frame glasses (and what’s that on his head?!).   Small black and white pasteups include Visual Noise with Urban Ninja Squadron.

pasteups on plywood hoardingsbelow: WOW! He is not dead yet.  Live!  Let Live!

three drawings on a fence, one red, one white, one blue, lines, face, and words, he is not dead yeat, ugly, beauty

below: Two pieces by Bao aka (Bao Pham) who seems to like to mix cultural icons that aren’t usually associated with each other.

graffiti by Bao Pham, Trans Quebec, Beatles as storm troopers in a shield shape

below: “Fab Four Troopers” Quebec highway sign

graffiti by Bao Pham, Trans Quebec, Beatles as storm troopers in a shield shape

below: “Return of the Boom Bap Trooper”

graffiti street art by Bao Pham, storm trooper from Star Wars movies holding a ghetto blaster on his shoulder, wearing rapper jewellery

below: A woman’s portrait among the advertisements.

posters on hoardings, some advertising television programs, some HIV education website and in the middle is a graffiti street art picture of a woman with flowers in her hair

below: “Frida Moss”, A Frida Kahlo and Kate Moss mash-up, also by Bao

graffiti picture of a woman (photograph) with flowers in her hair and a cigarette in her hand

below: A green catchoo looking atch youcatchoo green rectangular face paste up

below: Ouch!  Another Urban Ninja Squadron paste-up, this one in collaboration with Dio Tha Dog.
\Photos taken January 2025

visual noise, and urban ninja squadron black and white paste up on a pole

Photos taken January 2025
This post also appears in As I Walk Toronto blog

walking around Bari

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….. looking for (and finding!) graffiti and interesting bits of street art.

There were a few pieces by artist Blub who has used well known faces of famous figures or images from art history and placed them underwater wearing a diving mask. These are part of his series, “L’Arte Sa Nuotare” (underwater art)

below: Little angel

street art by blub, his underwater series, famous little angel with arms crossed in front of him, now blue and wearing diving mask

below: The Madonna. In some versions she is with baby Jesus who has been cut out of this image (as you can see the bubbles floating upward from his mask even though he is not in this picture)

street art by blub, his underwater series, famous woman's face now blue and wearing diving mask, virgin mary, or the madonna

blub graffiti that was a portrait wearing a diving mask, but has been torn so face is gone

Taken from Gustav Klimt’s, “The Kiss”, the kissing couple are now underwater too.

Another artist with a presence in Bari is LeDieSis and her/their Superwomen series

below: Barbie’s been shopping. She’s winking at you.

street art by LeDieSis, image of Barbie wearing blue dress with superman symbol

below: Pink and purple and another wink. Does she realize that someone is looking over her shoulder?

in pink and purple tones, street art by LeDieSis, woman with hair tied back, and superman symbol on front of t shirt

below: Another winking superwoman. I suspect that the official looking notice has been taped over her Superman symbol.

graffiti by LeDieSis, blond woman, other graffiti around her

below: The Virgin Mary is also in Bari, also winking, as she carries her baby daughter

street art by LeDieSis, Virgin Mary in white robes with blue scarf or coat over shoulders, wearing baby carrier on her front, with baby, superman symbol on baby's back

two pieces of graffiti on a wall, one is frida kahlo with superman t shirt and others is gals are strong as hell sticker

below: Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo superwoman graffiti by LeDieSis

below: “Gals are as strong as hell” by unknown artist.

sticker that says gals are strong as hell

Mopsi, by so schoen immer wieder, can be seen in many European cities including Bari. He (she?) usually has something to say.

below: Equality has no gender. The black scrawl covers the word “no” which can totally change the message if you’re not looking closely.

below: Rizek (aka Kris Rizek)

street art by Kris Rizek

I saw two small female figues by Miss Quark

below: One woman bares it all

graffiti sticker of a naked woman with back turned and arms covering breasts, bare bum,

below: And the other has flowing red hair and colourful wings.

small graffiti by Miss Quark of a fairy like female figure, nude, long red flowing hair, multi coloured wings, investigating some large flowers

There were also Gu Tang Clan posters on the walls in Bari.

gu tang gang graffti

Zooming in to highlight some of the stickers – a blue shark in pink waters, a flaming sandal, and Ind–? Jam?.

And last, a selection of work by “Unknown Artists”

There are two large paste up figures in black and white which may or may not be by the same artist. The top one is Mona Lisa is a man’s suit. She’s been leaning on this wall since at least 2019 so although she’s looking a little rough, she’s doing well for her age.

life size black and white paste up of Mona Lisa's head on a man's body wearing a suit, on a stone wall, graffiti
large paste up of a man in blue trousers, on a box on sidewalk, in front a womans clothing store
graffiti street art portrait of a woman
sticker graffiti, little blue ghost

sticker graffiti, one with 2 motorcycles and one with man in wolf mask

Photos taken February 2024

The world is changing….

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The previous post, Utopia and smiley faces, showed a mural on Via Regina Margherita in Stornara. It is not the only mural on that wall. This is the next chapter in the story.

below: “The world is changing” are the first few words written on this mural. It was painted in 2022 as part of Comix Street Stornara, by Alaniz, and Wanda Hutira,

street art mural on a wall in Stornara Italy,

below: Princess Mononoke and she-wolf Moro come from an animated Japanese film. The story is about “Mononoke” (a “wolf-girl”), a foundling raised by the Goddess – Lupa Moro, protector of the forest. The plot is too and complicated for this blog post, but it involves a the war between the forest gods and the people of Irontown.

street art mural on a wall in Stornara Italy,

below: “The world is changing. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth and I smell it in the air.” A white wolf with many sharp pointy teeth snarls at the fox beside him.

street art mural on a wall in Stornara Italy, white wolf face and head in profile, open mouth, large pointy teeth

below: Flowery and colourful, a painting by Margay Art (aka Margot) , “Coyote Mediterraneo”,

street art mural on a wall in Stornara Italy,

below: Human figures walking on leaves caught in barbed wire beside the leaves and plants flowing from the fox’s face. In the caption to this photo I have cut and pasted the artist’s description of the painting that I found on her Instagram page. The translation is from Google Translate so tread with caution!

“El zorro es el coyote del mediterraneo. Se mete a traves de la “macchia”, de las praderas. Su pelaje toma el olor de las plantas salvajes y sus ojos se llenan de la sed de libertad. El zorro no se detiene ni en las barreras, ni en los alambrados como muchas almas en equilibrio sobre las fronteras.
Represente a la marguerita que es la flor nacional de Italia. Al olivo y al laurel, emblematicos del mediterraneo, al roble por su fuerza, a la avena sativa por su particular modo de dispersion de semillas ( ella tambien se agarra del zorro para plantarse al otro lado del campo evitando el empobrecimiento genetico de la especie) y al opio por tener una flor que pierde sus petalos cuando la cortas ya que solo se admira su belleza cuando esta viva y libre.”
TRANSLATION: The fox is the coyote of the Mediterranean. It slips through the “macchia” (grassland). Its fur takes on the scent of wild plants and its eyes are filled with the thirst for freedom. The fox does not stop at barriers or fences, like many souls balanced on borders.
It represents the daisy, which is Italy’s national flower. The olive and the laurel, emblematic of the Mediterranean, the oak for its strength, the sativa oat for its particular way of dispersing seeds (it also grabs onto the fox to plant itself on the other side of the field, avoiding the genetic impoverishment of the species) and the opium for having a flower that loses its petals when you cut it, since its beauty can only be admired when it is alive and free.
street art mural on a wall in Stornara Italy,

below: At the far end of the wall, there is a mural by Eloi Angel (aka TMX) and Roseta Fuster Serquera, titled “Freedom” When we were young, we had to work. When we are older we are free from work but we have not the strength to do everything we want.

street art mural on a wall in Stornara Italy, sorting apples and putting some in a bag

Other ComixStreet murals in Stornara that I have written about

Photos taken February 2024

Utopia and smiling faces

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trees on sidewalk beside mural on a wall, by Toni Espinar titled the big lie, triptych of consciousness

On Via Regina Margherit in Stornara there is a large mural by Toni Espinar. It’s title is: “La gran mentira” (Triptico de la Consciencia) which translates to “The Big Lie (Triptych of Consciousness). Triptych refers to the fact that the mural is in three sections/scenes, each under its own arch. The arches resemble stonework found in church architecture.

The first frame is dominated by large purple creatures with big white teeth and shiny red eyes. Green biohazard symbols are in their mouths. A gargoyle-like human head with eyes closed is at the top of the arch.

part of toni espinar mural, man's head at top, looking down at mass of purple hairy, or furry, things with big black mouths

Under the word “Utopia” is a very pregnant man with a tattoo that says “Respect” on his tummy. On his shoulder is another tattoo that combines the symbols for male and female. He is looking skyward, or perhaps heavenward. Is there a comparison to Christ that can be made here? Is there a resemblance to how the face of Jesus is often portrayed?

part of mural, La gran mentira (Triptico de la Consciencia), the word utopia on top, a naked pregnant man covers his breast with one arm. he has a tattoo on his stomach that is flames with the word respect

hairy gremlins with big ears and impish grins, and happy faces, in a mural

Tiger mom seems to push little tiger son into the boxing ring. The white words above the gremlins say “La grande bugia” which can also translate to “the big lie”. Across the top of the arch it says “cambiare mondo, non follia ma giustizia”, or “change the world, not madness but justice”

part of mural, La gran mentira (Triptico de la Consciencia)

The chest tattoo is a winged red heart with the equation e=mc2, Einstein’s theory of relativity. There is also a series of keyholes on his chest.

boy tiger with boxing gloves, red heart tattoo on his chest with equation e=mc2, Einsteins theory of relativity

On the far right of the mural, a school of green fish swim together.

Photos taken February 2024