Category Archives: Canada

In the alley after dark

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A walk down Graffiti Alley on a rainy night.

below: Unfortunately, one of Uber5000’s large Toronto/Canada themed murals has been defaced (the one on the north side of the alley).

Graffiti Alley night time, light from headlights of car, walls covered with street art and graffiti

below: Doug Ford running away with the money, stencil graffiti by D. Terra. Our Premier seems rather happy with his haul. Accurate?

black and white stencil art by d terra, of doug ford in a ablack suit, white shirt, black tie, holding bags of money and smiling

below: A dope piece that bears some resemblance to Homer Simpson.

graffiti alley, homer simpson with word dope

below: A  yellow one-eyed daisy standing tall.

yellow one eyed daisy on green stem

below: This portrait has hair!

black and white portrait of a young man with glasses and headphones,

night time, graffiti alley, street art and graffiti on walls

below: For some reason, a section of one of the side lanes (McDougall Lane? or Rush Lane?) was lit by a red light.   Here there was a collection of pasteups and stickers including one with an abundance of flowers in her hair, a skater figure by drecks. She is joined by a bare breasted woman with even more flowers on her head as well as a Snoopy look alike and a cat on the telly.

slaps on a wall, graffiti alley, night time, red light

below: On the same wall as the above – Tweetie bird, from Australia, along with some friends.  Because of the red light, this photo is very low contrast and difficult to see.  Best to see this wall in the daytime!  Second best, would be to check out the instagram page of tweet_streetart

pasteups in an alley, red light, nighttime

with red lights, at night, slaps, paste ups and other graffiti

below: Another selection of slaps, mostly birds this time.

slaps on a wall, mostly birds, plus a fish

slaps on a wall, mostly birds

below: A little raccoon

raccoon graffiti in black and white, also a bird and a fish sticker

below: Mortus figure – his hands are almost big enough to hold all those skulls.

blob like figure with bald head and big hands, holding a lot of skulls, mural in graffiti alley by mortus

below: On the pavement

text graffiti on the pavement that says get off the internet

below: FP Monkey (aka Julia H), Skamoney, Monster Fan Club, and PP Spray

mural in graffiti alley, collaboration of three artists, FP monkey, aka Julia H.

below: Poser bunny

poser bunny on a column, door beside is covered with scrawls

below:  Making a rap music video

people making a hip hop or rap music video in graffiti alley

graffiti on a wall in graffiti alley

below: The east end of Graffiti Alley, the part closest to Spadina, was very dark.

view down graffiti alley at night, rainy, wet pavement, reflecting light

below: As it turns out, the buildings at this end (north side) are now behind a metal construction fence. Darkness equals empty I suspect.

back of buildings on Queen West, now dark, with construction fence, view from graffiti alley, large orek tag on building, dark, no lights,

below: Yes they matter but was there no where else to paint this?  There’s so much junk in the alley that no one would miss.

graffiti alley uber 5000 mural with a painting with the text every child matters covering the bottom part of it

below: I am going to end this post with a bit of a rant.  Yes, to some extent the art in this alley has come somewhat commercialized especially with the newer buildings on Richmond that back onto the alley.  Uber5000 has benefited from some of this as he has painted a few large (and very good) murals here.  Also, I understand that street art by its nature is prone to “disappearing” behind the work of others but I reject the notion that one person’s tag is as good as another person’s mural.  Anyone can destroy.  Anyone can paint their “name” but if you are proud of writing it over someone else’s more talented work then you haven’t progressed beyond the preschooler phase of life.

street art and graffiti on a wall in graffiti alley

Photos taken October 2023

This post also appears in mcfcrandall.blog

Catchoo and friends

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A group of stickers seen on a pole on Queen Street East recently

has an image from Catchoo combined with a perplexed Sailor dude from Ty Pro in the top place – what a cute balloon! At the bottom are three heads that you might recognize from previous posts.  In pink is T-bonez from urban ninja squadron and the chosen few; on the right is a luchadore mask from bruho.

three stickers on a pole, catchoo, and others

Here catchoo collaborates with  c_priority (a k a Christopher Piccinich )  Even within the blacks of his suit there are little catchoo symbols and characters.  I was hoping that there were secret messages written on the pieces of paper on the desk but there are just squiggly lines.

sticker on a pole, catchoo along with at priority, man on red inflatable on top of desk, pointing to picture of heart framed and hanging on a wall

Last, feelings boi joins the fun.  Is it a sword? or an umbrella?  Whatever it is, there are smiles all round.

visual noise tbonez urban ninja squadron sticker with umbrella, joined by feelings boi character with long curly hair

Photos taken Sept 2023

This blog post also appears in As I Walk Toronto

wheat paste anti gallery

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Take a few abandoned downtown Hamilton buildings and add large size artworks by a diverse group of artists and you have the makings of the Wheat Paste Anti Gallery. No artist’s statements, no words on the wall. This is the project has been brought to life by jumblefacefoto, aka Jeremy Lynch (including the producing, printing, and pasting of all the images in the installation).

In this blog post I want to show you the artists whose work now on display “in” Hamilton’s first Anti Gallery (in no particular order). First, Invasive Animal has taken over the front of the Oakwood Place building at 1067 Barton Street East where a sign says “Hop Canadian”. Once upon a time it said, “Save our jobs, shop Canadian”. Also once upon a time, this was a restaurant/bar. Now the animals have taken over.

front of an empty and boarded up grey two storey building in downtown Hamilton that now has many wheat paste images of animals

Some of the animals:

wheatpaste images of animals printed on paper, on exterior of grey abandoned building, a parrot, a beaver, and a bear

image of a bear, wheatpaste street art

wheatpaste images of four animals printed on paper, on exterior of grey abandoned building, rhino, mountain goat, ram, and another sheep like one

Next door to the Oakwood was a Shoe King store. The “king” is gone and plywood covers its windows and doors; now it is a gallery wall for crkshnk (pronounced crookshank), an artist from New York City. All the images across the storefront are his work.

exterior of old shoe king store in Hamilton, large sign is broken, store front covered with plywood, now many wheat paste paper street art artworks on the exterior walls

black and white paper wheatpaste on exterior wall, by crookshank, baby crawling, covered with flowers with lots of large petals, many bees flying around and some landing on the flowers, flower power baby

black and white paper wheatpaste on exterior wall, by crookshank, female form made of car parts including hot wheels logo

black and white paper wheatpaste on exterior wall, by crookshank, female form made of car parts

colored, in orange tones, paper wheatpaste on exterior wall, by crookshank crkshnk

Another artist on display here is 33wallflower33. Her (and I am assuming that!) women and children evoke a previous age and often have a message to deliver.

wheatpaste paper street art image by 33wallflower33, two people

My body, my choice.

wheatpaste paper street art image by 33wallflower33, two women with text that says my body my choice

wheatpaste paper street art image by 33wallflower33, two children on a horse, plus a women dressed in 1920s clothing

wheatpaste paper street art image by 33wallflower33, woman in vintage clothing

wheatpaste paper street art image by 33wallflower33, woman in long black dress

Next, Brazilian artist antype (aka Luciano Costa) and Stephen Conner (from London England) share space on a building at John and Main.

below: A sample of antype’s black and white distorted portrait-like images.

Circles…..

black and white paper wheatpaste on wall, by antype a ka a Luciano Costa, faces and partial faces

… floppy circles, planetary circles, and planetary hats.

black and white paper wheatpaste on wall, by artist who goes by name of antype

Stephen Conner’s images are also portrait-like but they are darker.

Installed in May 2023, gone by September 2023….. Urban Ninja Squadron’s T-bonez character livened up a stretch of blank wall at James and Wilson.

old abandoned building, with ground floor level covered with images by urban ninja squadron, hamilton ontario, james and wilson
Urbannija squadron, visual noise, street art images

two urban ninja squadron images, one is t-bonez in pinkish red with fingers in ears

Last, but definitely not least, a series of images, or firegrams, by Danielle Goshay pasted onto the facade of the old Colonial Hotel building.

exterior of old abandoned Colonial building in hamilton, with wheat paste street art images on it by_danielle_goshay

exterior of old abandoned Colonial building in hamilton, with wheat paste street art images on it

firegram by Danielle Goshay displayed on plywood
two posters, both firegrams in browns and blacks, by Danielle Goshay, on plywood that is covering doors and windows of Colonial

As mentioned above, all works were produced, printed, and pasted by jumblefacefoto

hanging wheat paste artwork outside, wheat paste anti gallery installation

wheat paste anti gallery installation, may 2023, t-bonez character and urban ninja squadron
pasting up wheat paste images of animals on a wall in Hamilton

shadow play, while pasting firegrams by Danielle Goshay on the exterior of an abandoned and boarded up building

For more pictures and information, see the Wheat Paste Anti Gallery website

Photos taken between April and September 2023 by Danielle Goshay (Many Thanks for sharing them !!!)

installing wheat paste posters on outside walls

wheatpaste paper street art image by 33wallflower33, woman in a window holding a cat

black and white image, wheatpaste, paper, design by crkshnk

close up view of part of black and white image, wheatpaste, paper, design by crkshnk, showing a shoe with word bye on it

Breaking Walls in Montreal

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Breaking Walls was an Urban Arts and Culture event in Montreal that was held back in June of this year. It was supported by Kolors Worldwide (“Let’s kolor the world”) and MOS Canada – Meeting of Styles Canada. The event was held in a space between rue Moreau and the railway tracks, close to rue Rouen, in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood. In hindsight, I realize that I missed a couple of the murals the day that I was there. Additionally, a couple of the smaller pieces that I have included may be graffiti that pre-dates the Breaking Walls event.

below: A Nick Sweetman and Mr. Tensoe2 collaboration

large street art mural with two blue owls
close up view of blue owl painted by nick sweetman, mural in Montreal, on brick wall

below: Vuducat aka Christina Mazzulla

mural by Christina Mazzulla, in reds and pinks mostly, woman's face

below: Jijón painted red and pink figure

mural by mexican artist jijon, pink character

below: I am going to call it a blue traffic circle because it’s blue and it has traffic related items in it such as an orange cone, the front of a car, street signs, and traffic lights yellow. It was painted by Sergio MB. Unfortunately, the red and white tag has already defaced the work.

blue circle shape with traffic related items like orange cone, traffic light,

To the left of this purple dog (by Hank) was a painting of a woman’s portrait in turquoise that unfortunately has already been tagged over. It was painted by Polographe and can be seen on his Instagram page.

below: Arlick Enigma ( Arlick PaXman Team), originally from Mexico, painted this wonderful portrait of a child wearing a parka with a fur lined hood.

with leaves from small trees framing it, a street art portrait of a child's face

below: Monk.E and Luvs (Moise) collaboration

below: Emmanuel Jarus – A blue woman with long braids down her back walks away.

in blue, jarus street art painting of the back of a person with a long braid down their back

below: The portrait on the back of the truck is the work of Pearl

truck with graffiti on it as well as portrait of a woman on the back, parked beside jarus mural in parking lot

below: “Westbound” by Megan Oldhues.

below: Dodo_ose

below: Keep Going

below: Bryan Beyung

below: by Retro and Raquel Hernandez, both part of 𝑨𝖗𝖙 𝕯𝖊𝖆𝖑𝖊𝖗𝖘 𝕿𝖊𝖕𝖔𝖟𝖙𝖑𝖆𝖓 

blog_retro_raque_masks

below: A Mos Geez face

on a wall in a parking lot, a green skinned face with purple eye sockets and green lips, a graffiti piece by mos geez

below: That’s one nasty can of spray paint! Nemo, or n3mo1er on Instagram.

painting in black on a chunk of grey concrete, a face with a very large nose

below: A map of Montreal like a patchwork sock

painting on a double door, exterior, map of Montreal made using different colours of text, text gives name of that area of Montreal

below: Resister

graffiti, all text, largest word is resister in black, lots of words in red too

Breaking Walls was supported by NBQ Canada (makers of NBQ Pro Spray Paint).

Photos taken in July 2023.

animals on rue Ontario

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On Montreal’s rue Ontario, close to rue Moreau and the railway tracks, there is a long brick building close to the sidewalk. At one end there is a painting of a squirrel with an object in his little front paws. This nut shaped object has a label that says Courrier Plus which turns out to be a trucking/transportation company and the owner of the building on which the mural is painted.

on rue Ontario, a painting of a squirrel with a bushy tail and holding a small package in his paws

The rest of the mural features a red fire hydrant, a pigeon and a toucan with a beak in rainbow colours.

part of a long horizontal mural on the side of a building, calligraphy and a red fire hydrant and a bluish pigeon sitting on a fence
part of a mural street art in montreal with a pigeon and a toucan
close up of the toucan in a mural with a rainbow coloured beak.

Prescott’s people

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As part of the town’s Bicenntenial (200 years!) celebration, a large mural was created for the side of a building in downtown Prescott Ontario.

mural made of 3000 photographs, that looks like an image of two old buildings, on an outdoor wall in Prescott Ontario
closer look at town hall featured in mural made of 3000 photographs, that looks like an image of two old buildings, on an outdoor wall in Prescott Ontario
some of the 3000 photographs of people from Prescott Ontario that were included in a large mural
some of the 3000 photographs of people from Prescott Ontario that were included in a large mural
plaque in front of a mural describing the history of the town hall and clock tower in Prescott that is pictured in a mural composed of 3000 photographs.

The Prescott People’s Place
Commissioned by the Prescott Bicentennial Committee and dedicated
December 18th, 2010
The Prescott People’s Place is composed of over 3000 pictures from Prescott people. This mural was created by Chuck Street and made in Prescott at MD Signs.
Made possible by federal Canadian Heritage funding and the generous Prescott People.
Victoria Hall and St. John’s Market
The cornerstone for the Old Town Hall was laid on August 13th 1874 and the Market Building built in 1876. Both were demolished in 1960. The clock tower was added to the Town Hall in 1927. The orginal clock works were restored in 1980 and housed in the Rotary Clock Tower which still marks time today on the same corner. The building pictured on the left of the Town Hall is still standing and is home to the Forwarders Museum and Visitor Centre.

Rouen graffiti tunnel

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graffiti close up, wall, including scribbles and a green four leaf clover

below: Railway bridge over rue Rouen. One side is being repainted.

looking down rue Rouen in Montreal towards railway bridge, people painting the walls under the bridge

below: Diamond shine bright in my all consuming light. Let every goal glow. Very recently painted by Indiana Brierly.

street art painting under a railway bridge in blues and greens

below: One side of the bridge was being repainted this morning.

a man is using a roller brush to paint over graffiti on a wall

below: He’s ready to paint…. by Sino ( or Sino Duc)

below: A white happy three eyed fish swimming among the scribbles.

graffiti on a wall including a funny looking three eyed fish

below: A curly haired woman, or an old lady with a cane, and a monkey face. It looks like someone has a roller ready to paint over this section of wall…

graffiti on a wall

below: Hummingbird and calla lily, by Judith Boily Valois.

street art mural of a blue hummingbird feeding at a calla lily plant

below: Too cool dragon wearing blue shades and a jacket with the Montreal Expos logo on it. It’s been almost 20 years since the Expos played in Montreal.

dragon character

the triangluar end piece of a concrete railway bridge covered with graffiti

Photos taken 23 July 2023

bits of paper in Graffiti Alley

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Another visit to Graffiti Alley to see what’s changed…..

below: Collage on the back of a sign with contributions by many.

many stickers on the back of a traffic sign

below: An orange dragon graces a utility pole.

an intricate painting of an orange dragon on whitepaper, stapled to pole in graffiti alley, with portrait of a woman in the background

below: Sentient Cookie with “The words you’ve said to me a decade ago still echo in my brain”.

below: Another section of wall covered with the remains of stickers and slaps.

many stickers and small wheatpaste on a wall, many colourful pieces

below: Truth, It’s that simple.  Consume daily.  “Free through an earnest volition. Side effects include decreased stress and increased mental clarity….  ”  Dorian’s House.

a poster pasted on top of graffiti covered wall, picture of a bottle with yellow pills and label that says truth. words beside bottle say it's that simple

below: Who do you love?  Apparently someone loves his/her girlfriend while someone else loves, and misses,  Stephanie Ann.

graffit, red background with a little white bird, with text who do you love?

below: More ink additions, this time on a bird.  Someone has written, “no phone no wife” – either he thinks that without a phone he can’t find/attract a wife (no tindr?) or he has neither a phone nor a wife (lucky man?).  Interpret as you want.   Also, there is Kone x Roc on his wing as well as Sari D. declaring her love forever.

sticker with text glass bird, small sticker with drawing of a fat bird, some people have written in ink on the bird

below: Someone left their shoe behind… and that’s quite the reaction from Tips

a brown shoe on the ground, stickers on a metal pipe, some say postering, another is a black drawing of a face

below: 33wallflower33 wheatpaste – My body my choice

wheatpaste by 33 wallflower 33 of two women and words my body my choice

below: … and another

wheatpaste by 33 wallflower 33 of two women and words my body my choice

below: Urban Ninja Squadron running away with an angry bird…. and Adopt by Praxis in bright pink

urban ninja squadron graffiti, also an adopt poster in bright pink

below: An angry white cloud seems to hover hover a drawing by catchoo

stickers on pole, including one that looks like an angry white cloud, a drawing in a circle shape by catchoo

below: More catchoo

a sticker by cathcoo of a face on shiny silver background

drawing by catchoo of many small different coloured faces mostly in shades of orange and green

below: What’s this chef serving up?

black drawing on white, man in chef hat holding a platter with what looks like a shark fin or a sailboat

below: L S and Z

below: A skull and Noah forever.

stickers on a pole, one says Noah forever, a small drawing of a skull

Photos taken June 2023

murals in another Athens

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Athens Ontario that is. This Ontario town has decorated its walls with murals for many years now. Some of the older ones have been painted over and some have been refurbished. Most tell stories about the history and people of the community.

below: Main Street in Athens, June 2023

view of Main Street in Athens Ontario with a small mural on the side of a white building in the foreground

below: A tribute to Joshua Bates and his founding of the community of Farmersville. Bates was a surveyor and an architect. He donated land and built schools, churches, and stores. The town was renamed Athens in 1888.

below: On the wall of the fire station is a mural titled ‘The Great Fire/Athens 1894’ –  “Dawn, May 19, fire broke out on Victoria Street but quickly spread to Main Street.  The new fire engine could not be used because its short hose brought it too close to the flames.”

mural on the side of the fire station in Athens, great fire of 1894, people with buckets of water putting out the fire

“In an act of great heroism, Mr. J. Rosenbarker braved the flames to climb down into an unused well close behind the burning buildings to hand up water to a bucket brigade. 
Mr. Rosenbarker stayed at his post until the fire was finally conquered.”

part of mural, people putting out a fire
people with buckets putting out a fire, in a mural

below: The day that I was in Athens there were two large trucks parked alongside this mural so I couldn’t get any proper photos of it. It is a series of medallions showing local landmarks such as the House of Industry, Dr. Giles House, Quaker Meeting House, the mill, and the First Nations Market.

below: ‘The Gathering’ 2020 by Dave Sheridan. This replaces an earlier 1987 mural by Pierre Hardy which in turn replaced a small painting on canvas by Crawford Slack in 1927. The portrait in the oval frame, top right, is Crawford C. Slack. Crawford Chelson Slack was born in nearby Wiltsetown in 1855. He was a painter (and a poet and a musician).

“Needn’t talk ter me ‘bout livin’ in the city with its show,
Druther live ‘mong these surroundin’s where the folks are rather slow…
Where the golden summer sunset gilds the village church’s dome —
There among the slantin’ shadows, I would druther have my home.”
by Crawford Slack

blog_mural_man_ladder

below: A lazy afternoon by the lake, “Charleston Lake Picnic” by Noreen Mallory. Granite outcroppings, pine trees, and water, all very Ontario cottage country scenery.

below: Mallory’s family had a cottage nearby and summers spent there helped inspire this mural. Another inspiration was “Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe”, a painting by French Impressionist Édouard Manet (except there are no nudes in Mallory’s version).

below: Manet’s picnic painting of 1893
a copy of Edward Manet's painting,

below: At the corner of Victoria and Main streets.

below: A pair of work horses busy on the farm, another mural by Dave Sheridan.

below: Paint cans – the mural was not quite finished the day that I was there. I’m sorry that I missed seeing it painted.

below: Brockville and Westport Railway. No signature. Former Athens railway station. The first train ran on B&W railroad in 1888 pulled by engines built at the Kingston Locomotive Works. The line was 45 miles long and had 16 stops.

It replaces an earlier 1987 mural by Lorrie Maruscak

below: Inside the Main Street Cafe is yet another mural, ‘Step into the Past’. It was painted by Sheila Ballantyne and Sergio Lopes.

below: A copy of an older mural that no longer exists is displayed on a fence. “This mural originally graced the hardware store on this site and was created in 1990 by Cathy McGuire. The border features alternating patterns of quilt squares and historic farm scenes. The center of the mural depicts farmers and a steam engine threshing the grain that separated the grain from the stem.”

below: Two large weathered photographs on display.

below: “Dedicated to the Canadian troops who trained in the Athens area and who served in the First World Ward (circa 1915).

below: Main Street, Athens, 1920.

below: Main Street is also represented by a mural that features some of the businesses that were established here.

below: The flag that the boy is holding is the version of the Canadian Red Ensign that was in use between 1922 and 1957.

part of a mural about Main street stores and events, boy holding a Canadian red ensign flag with a man standing behind him

below: Main Street 1910 (found on Wikipedia, original source Special Collections, Toronto Public Library. Photographer: H.R. Knowlton). The large brick building with the three awnings in front is home to three businesses, Thompson, Lamb, and Arnold like those in the mural.

below: A bit of whimsy, a faded rose bush

white frame house with a faded painting of a rose bush with red roses on it, fence with peeling paint