Author Archives: Mary C

Denver street art

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Like a number of cities have done, Denver has a district where large murals and other street art is encouraged.  In Denver’s case it is the River North (RiNo) Art District and the most street art is found along Larimer Street although I also found some at the top of Blake Street.  Here is the first batch of murals and paintings that I saw.

below: Love This City mural.  It is one of three ‘love’ murals, one in each of three neighbourhoods, by Pat Milbery.

horizontal mural in Denver with cursive writing that says Love this city.

below: A colourful head by Detour303

Denver street art mural of a woman's face on a large door. bright blue hair, background is pink and purple, skin in oranges, yellows and blues, by Detour303

 

below: by Chris Spade.  Haven’t you always wanted an octopus on your head?

Denver street art mural of a woman, from the waist up, naked, black x's over her nipples, large purple octopus on her head as well as large headphones over the ears. eye of the octopus shows. by Chris Spade

 

below: Snarling at people on the street.   Or maybe he’s screaming.

on a fence, street art, text and stylized throw up in greens on either side of a large black face with mouth open showing white teeth,

below:  A purplish woman in profile, with red and reddish circles.

mural of woman's profile in purplish tones, green hair, also her hand is in the painting. a red circle on her left and her right.

below: What one can do with a wall that isn’t flat.  From one side you see a boy, walk in the other direction and you see a girl.  Stand across the street and look straight at the building, the people disappear.  This is “Larimar Boy and Girl” by Jeremy Burns.

large mural of an oval face in white with black feature on a blue and brown background. wall is 3D so the mural changes depending on which angle you look at it. Straight on, only the blue and brown background shows. from one side, a boy's face, from the other side, a girl's face

 

below: Peaking out from behind the porch

on a wall on Blake St in Denver, a face in oranges and purples partially behind an overhang porch over a door a

below: by Gamma Gallery

Denver street art mural of a woman with long hair that is actually butterflies, by Gamma Gallery. She has her face in hands, like a mask, revealing her skull below. Very large, two storeys high

below: I am not sure if this mural, painted by Max Sansing (MAX) means anything.  The orange melting over the blue makes it look very creepy.  I like the little purple girl on the tire swing though.

Denver street art mural of a woman's head, top part is orange and bottom is blue, the orange part is melting into the blue. eyes closed. From the cheek, in purple, a small tire swing with a small girl playing on it.

 

below: Another colourful head on a door.  This one is by illson.

colourful mural on a garage door by illson in denver of a woman looking upward, with one of her hands raised up a bit

 

below: A grid pattern of stylized flowers on Blake Street.

older street art on a concrete block wall in Denver, stylized four petal flowers in a grid pattern, blues on the tops and yellows and oranges on the bottom. some weeds growing up beside the wall.

 

below: Keep an open mind.

Denver street art on a small, low concrete wall of a green figure with the words keep an open mind. a graffiti covered garbage skip is beside it.

 

below: It’s an ad for Botanicare but it’s roots are in street art.

part mural and part ad for botanicare products, a woman in many colours with long flowing hair, two large hibiscus flowers in front of her, on the side of a building in Denver

pesimo DMJC crew and saile_one in Wynwood

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There is a large mural in Wynwood that is a collaboration between Peruvian street artist pesimo DMJC crew and saile_one.   Four very large figures cover the side of a building.   The car helps to give a sense of just how big the mural is.

large mural by pesimo93, dmjc crew and saile_one

below: There are a lot of details in the mural….  the spray paint can on the left, the vehicle crashed over the shoulder, an 8 ball,  and a USB stick.   Is it a snake or a wreath of living plants around the neck?  Is it strangling him?  The mask worn by the person on the right has a zipper, a padlock and crossed chopsticks.

large mural by pesimo93, dmjc crew and saile_one - part of the mural with a red car parked in front of it.

below: More details.  The dog is wearing a chain that says “trust no human”, and there are eyeballs on one of the heads.   The man on the left is wearing a badge that says #NoDAPL which is the hashtag associated with the anti Dakota Access Pipeline protest including the resistance at Standing Rock.

large mural, upper part of two people, one has face painted

below: Their “signature” includes their “portraits”.

two stylized heads painted on a door, one is in blue tones and the other in olive green tones, the left is dmjc crew and the right is saile_one. both have cigarettes and baseball caps on backwards. also wearing glasses.

two faces, reefa and leticia

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There are many murals that feature images of faces, both male and female, in Wynwood (Miami).  Two of them are featured here.

The first is a large blue young woman with flowing grey hair, painted by Leticia Mandragora.   Her eyes contrast sharply with the rest of her face.  Mandragora is an Italian/Spanish street artist and tattooist.   Her blue faced woman have been painted in a number of places in the USA.  They all seem to have grey hair too.

mural by Leticia Mandragora of a girl with a blue face and a long head scarf in grey that trails to the left, along with three flowers

close up a large girl's face painted blue in a large mural, greenish eyes, head scarf on her head

The second mural is a memorial to street artist Israel Hernandez (aka Reefa) who died after being tasered by police in August 2013.   The portrait in the center portion was painted by Axel Void while a number of other artists contributed to the edges.

long horizontal mural by Axel Void with a young man's head inside a white circle in the middle, the edges are faces in pastel colours, stylized

center of mural, a young man's head and face, a portrait of Israel Hernandez, aka Reefa, by Axel Void

below: Justice for Reefa

stylized faces in pastel colours, at the edges of a tribute mural to reefa, painted by a number of different artists

 

 

Wynwood’s movie gangstas

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original gangsta mural

The gangsta wall in Wynwood is along the side of the Toe Jam Backlot, a private studio/event space that is available to rent.   The mural on the north wall has nothing to do with ‘gangsters’ but it still looks wonderful – an amazing amount of detail.  My apologies for not knowing the artist’s name.

mural on a wall

The wall on the west side of the building is where the gangsta wall is.  It’s a wall that features the images of “bad guy” actors in famous movies, starting with Jack Nicholson in “The Shining”.

entrance to building, Toe Jam Backot, on the corner, whole building is covered in street art murals

Marlon Brando in The Godfather and Al Pacino from “Scarface”

Marlon Brando as the Godfather, in a mural with other actors

… Al Pacino in “Scarface” (again), Robert DeNiro in “Cape Fear”,  and John Travolta in “Pulp Fiction” …

mural with images of famous actors in movie roles, Al Pacino in Scarfacce, a man in a tophat, a man with a machine gun

   ….Arnie in “Terminator”,   Malcolm McDowell in “Clockwork Orange”, a masked Anthony Hopkins in “Silence of the Lambs”,  and Heath Ledger as “The Joker” …

Clockwork Orange, masked Anthony Hopkins and Heath Ledger as the Joker, faces in a mural on a wall, black background, Wynwood

…. and at the very end is the only woman, Uma Thurman in Kill Bill

Uma Thurman wielding a sword, image from Kill Bill movie

As you have probably noticed, I haven’t named all the faces – still doing the research to find out who they are!  If you can help, please let me know!

a young man poses in front a mural with images of actor's faces, original gangsta is the title of the mural, gangstawall

artist’s signature, 2009

artist signature on gangsta wall mural, 2009

Tati’s mermaids – a mural in Hollywood

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Hollywood Florida that is.

One of the murals found in downtown Hollywood Florida is one by Tati Suarez (aka tati and @tatunga) that features mermaids with long flowing hair and purple tails.   Because it is very wide, I’ve taken pictures of it in sections.  From left to right here it is:

below: Greenish hair and yellow hair

two mermaids with yellow hair in a mural by tati in downtown hollywood florida, tatunga, mermaids are with a large blue fish

below: Moving to pale orange hair

light orange coloured hair on a mermaid with purple tail

below: And then pink hair

part of a larger mural by Tati Suarez, @tatunga, of mermaids - long pink hair, purple scales on fin,

pink haired mermaid resting on top of a blue fish, mural

below:  Almost the whole mural!  A long mural in a tight spot makes for angled photos.

part of a larger mural by Tati Suarez, @tatunga, of mermaids -

below: The north end of the mural

part of a larger mural by Tati Suarez, @tatunga, of mermaids - mermaids with long pink hair and purple fins swimming in blue water

#downtownhollywoodmuralproject

Wynwood – at NW21st Ave and NW1st Pl

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The street names in Miami are confusing!  As I typed the title I felt like I was typing some sort of code.    As I stood at the intersection of NW 21st Avenue and NW 1st Place, this is the street art and murals that I saw:

below:  On one corner, lines cover a couple of walls and a mural by ROA covers another.  On the white wall there are words that say, “Made in the Shade”

a building on a corner, a large mural by ROA on one side, lines in different colours on the other, and one wall with the words Made in the Shade

below: Across the street is another building that is covered with murals.   The green wall looks like stylized leaves and plants – it was painted by Ian Ross.

a building on a corner with murals on all sides

below: A mural by @boxheadarts – people head first into square tubes.

a white COmcast van is parked in front of a building that has been painted with a mural by boxheadarts, of white figures with their heads in various square tubes in different colours running in different directions

boxheadarts mural with white figures, heads in square tubes

below: Geometry, circles, and shapes by Max Ehrman and Ian Ross, 2015

mandela like mural, geometric shapes in a circle

 

below: Wynwood Samurai by @asquidcalledsebastien

a mural by a squid called sebastien, flaming helmet on his head, dog like face, red robes

below: A skull on hoardings

yellow decorated skull on pink horadings.

quick draws, pasteups, and stencils in Bucharest

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The following pictures are a few little stencils that I saw in Bucharest along with some line drawings/paintings, mostly of faces….

mostly faces…. and one pig.  At least I think it’s a pig!

graffiti painting, a pig outlined in blue, on an angle between a door and a window

on the side of a building, a blue outline of a man's face, cars parked on the street, trees,

below: The top pasteup is a little creature by creaturi dragute and the woman on the  bottom is by ortaku

two pasteups, a woman in green and yellow and a creature by creaturi dragute

black stencil of Jesus, with halo around his head, a book in one hand, the other hand is pointing the book

 

below: A man throwing and two running.  The man is throwing a bouquet of flowers and it is a small copy of a Banksy, “Flower Thrower” Jerusalem 2003.  In the original, the flowers are in colour.

three stencils in a row, on the left a man throwing something, the next two are men running away

below: Another ortaku woman’s head, this time on Strada Ing. Traian Vuia, and she has company – a fish, a book and a man’s head stenciled along with some words. .. “Transparenta tine de foame” which translates to “transparency is hungry” .  I suspect that this is political but I don’t know enough about Romania to know who the man is.

small pieces of graffiti on a wall, a paste up woman, a paste up fsh, a stencil head with words, also a poster for a Bruno Mars concert

black and white head painted on a wall, large, with a beak in place of a mouth. bird or human?

two line drawn graffiti faces on a concrete wall

stencil, black, seated person with red block capital letters above the head that say on sale

 

below: I wish I knew what the signature was.  Anyone?

cartoonish character with angular green hair, three eyes, then a red layer, a yellow layer and on the bottom a blue layer, it seems to be looking at a little paste up of a head

two red stencils of men's heads, one is a king wearing a crown and one is a man wearing a tie. the latter is dirty, looks like it has mud in his eye

black outline drawing of a person's wearing a hoodie and black hole where face should be and low rise pants with a belt. also the words I didn't do anything

below: And the last one is more like a mural… I suspect that it’s on a library wall.
large mural of a grey face reading a book. One of the eyes is actually a window

on Tallinn walls

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Tallinn is the capital city of the small Baltic country Estonia.  I was only there for a short time but I did find some street art in the old town and in Kalamaja.

below: The young person on the right is the work of @minaJaLydia.  I you look closely, there are two tiny faces to the right of the knees.

street art by MinaJaLydia on a concrete wall, two pieces, a pasteup of an elaborate abstract drawing of a face and hands as well as mushrooms and other plant life. the other is a young person sitting on a chair, with 4 legs hanging from the chair.

below: I am calling this one, The Warrior and his Social Media Hedgehog.  They are the work of Edward von Longus

a large muscular partially clad man with a weapon over his shoulder, on a grey brick wall, a small hedgehog is working on a laptop beside him. graffiti

below: Close up of the hedgehog. It needs time in the limelight too.

graffiti, a small grey and white hedgehog is working on a laptop

below: Whatever he was writing on the wall is long gone. This is another work by Edward von Longus.

painting of a blond boy with a red T shirt and blue jeans is facing a wall and drawing on it.

below: A green and blue planet Earth between two animals (a cat and a ?), by multistab

street art by multistab. A blue and green small plaet earth in between two large black and white creatures. One looks like a grinning cat, the other might be a cat but migh be something else

below: A couple of couples by Linna Sokk but with the theme of domestic violence.

two poster pasteups by #koos Both are of a couple, in one they are kissing

below: Something’s stuck to his forehead… looks like a sheep to me.

a large sticker with a realistic picture of a skull on it, on a small electrical box beside a building

below: Not your average Easter Bunny!

painting of a large agressive stylized rabbit in grey top and white shirts, a carrot in its mouth, running on two legs, one arm upraised.

below: A multi talented, multi handed,  multi tasking elephant!

an elephant with 4 arms and two legs, bare feet, spray paint cans in its hands,

below: This wall is difficult to see because of the fence – it is part of the old fortress/prison that is no longer open to visitors.

street art on a wall that is hard to see because it is behind a fence

below: The next two are by the same artist, Lume, of LDK crew who is from Naples Italy.

stylized flowers and leaves in pastel colours, line drawings, on a pale yellow wall

stylized flowers and leaves in pastel colours, line drawings, on a salmon coloured wall

below: In case you can’t read it, the sign that Darth Vader is holding says: “Help me.  I need $$$ to build a death star.”

a few small piece of graffiti, a yellow face, a black stencil of a man's head and shoulders, a stencil of Darth Vader, and some scribbles,

on a wall beside w window, two line drawings of animal creatures, on dinosaur like and the other a small round thing

a big bee on a yellow wall, street sign that says Salme

two drawings, one is Jerry the cartoon mouse and the other is

three stencils on a wall, an orange womans face, a blue diamond and a purple man with sunglasses on

a paste up of a person's head wrapped in an old fashioned bandage that ties under the chin

doorway shaped and sized line drawing graffiti in purple with turquoise highlights, a man's head and neck