Category Archives: Italy

faces near Roma Termini

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There is a cluster of murals featuring people’s faces near Roma Termini, the central train station.  More specifically, at the intersection of Via Giovanni Giolitti and Via Alfredo Cappellini.   Many of these are the work of Mauro Sgabri.

below: “Divine Welcome” by Sgarbi – Dante on the right and an immigrant woman on the left, face to face.

motorcycle parked in front of a wall with a mural by Mauro Sgarbi, green background, called Divine Welcome, Dante on one side, an immigrant woman on the other

below: On the left is “Gaetano” repainted in 2019 (by Sgarbi).  On the right is a portrait by beet root, aka  Riccardo Beetroot, of Trilussa, an Italian poet whose name was actually Carlo Alberto Saulstri (1871-1950).  He is shown here surrounded by some of the words from “Felicita”, one of his more famous poems.

motorcycle parked in front of two mural of men's faces. one on the left is a just face, man with mustache called Gaetano. The other is an older man with Italian words written around him

C’è un’ape che se posa
su un bottone de rosa:
lo succhia e se ne va…
Tutto sommato, la felicità
è una piccola cosa.

.

below: Another portrait by Sgarbi, this time ‘Manzi the teacher”.  Alberto Manzi was an Italian teacher who gave Italian lessons on TV in the 1960s and 1970s.

below:  … with the body of a man but with the head of a goat

a mural of a person shoulders up except that there is a goat's head instead of a human head, arms and hands are human, wearing a red shirt,

below: The last two paintings in this area, by unknown artists

paper paste up, poster, ghosts, in black and white, on a concrete wall

Keeping Mary Company

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Like many corners in Rome, this one in Trastevere has a religious picture on the wall.   Here you can see  Mary, Jesus, and a couple of angels as well as ‘Ave Maria’ above the picture in what looks to be neon lights.  This Mary is accompanied by the words  Ricordo Delle Missioni Imperali Borromeo, Marzo MCMXLIX (i.e. 1949).  Ricordo delle meaning “I remember”, or more loosely, In memory of”

Mary now has a lot of company.

wall in trastevere rome with graffiti on it as well as a picture of the virgin mary .

below: Crying but still punk Eiknarf sticker as well as a “Volti Spenti” soulless man on his phone, or no face no ego, by Luther Posca

two slaps on a wall, one is a frog standing upright with a bottle in one hand and the words crying punk, by artist eiknarf. the other is a black stencil of a man with blank face taking a selfie on his phone. Instead of facial features he has the words volti spenti which are Italian

below: A black stencil of a woman with long hair and a red Thauma at the tip of what looks like a long green tail with little suction cups on the bottom.

a long green lizard tail graffiti with a picture of a woman thauma beside

below: A Jesus face, tifa toro on his cheek, and a cat by Guaro

black and white cat poster paste up by guaro and a jesus head with the words tifa toro

below: Paste-ups and wheatpastes don’t last forever.  1. In the top right corner are two drawings by LUS57 of women doing things.  One of them is vacuuming the universe – Saturn and the stars should be quite clean.  2.  Little Qwerty pieces fun to find – this one with the yellow hoodie doesn’t seem like much but I think the bottom half is missing.  3. Last, the little red balloon is the top of a tiny Exitenter painting.

some old faded and partially torn wheatpaste paste ups on a grey wall

below: These are in better shape.  1. A papaya by Per Dispetto whose art centers around that fruit.  2. A large red and white cat mouth open wide and eating an origami cat whole by Krems.  3. The tree with its light green flowers was created by stelleconfuse.  4. Zeta’s little man in gold and black has a post-it note on this torso.. it’s bent so it’s not easy to read by the words ‘sempre’ and ‘indefinable’ are there and it was signed by someone called Jenny (I think!).  Zeta’s instagram shows many variations on this man theme. 5. The little cat is “signed” but I can’t read the writing very well; it looks like BZQueen? and Confused Cat.  6. The two animals in the top right corner are a mystery.

many slaps on a grey wall

below: 1. Mr. Minimal, superhero in his blue underpants and flowing cape.  2.  A character out of science fiction or just outer space…?, by Winston Smith. 3. And last, Lovers by K2M.

a black and white picture of a spaceman as well as a lovers paste up by K 2 M.

below: Two more ladies hard at work by LUS57.  Above them, God wants to undo his creation work in a play on Michelangelo’s famous painting on the the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

graffiti on a wall. one is a poster of Michelangelo's sistine chapel creation where god points finger at man, but this time, ctrl + z is written on top, the computer shortcut for undo. There are also two little drawings by L J S 57, women working, women in old fashioned clothing, one is sorting straw and the other is sweeping

old fashioned like poster of a woman in an orange top with words zoom and vroom

The next few are small pieces that I saw nearby but not on the corner with the above.

black and white stencil on a wall looks sort of like a face made of rounded shapes, with word namea or nanea

a red stencil on a concrete wall of a man with goatee

below: A dog stamp.  A play on the Romulus and Remus symbol/statue that you see around Rome.  Is there significance to the XXX?  This is the work of Gu Tang Clan

motorcycles parked in front of 2 poster street art pieces. one is a play on Romulus and Remus wolf statue and it is by Gu Tang clan. it is made to look like a postage stamp

looking across traffic to a curved wall on a corner with graffiti on it

The previous blog post was also about graffiti in Trastevere.  You should be able to find it by scrolling down.   If not, this is the link: Trastevere slaps

Trastevere slaps

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On Christmas morning, while walking around Rome, we discovered a wall in the Trastevere neighbourhood that was covered with paste-ups, stickers, and other small graffiti.  Some of it was made by well known street artists, others by those who remain anonymous.  If you know the name of the artist who created any of these, I’d love to hear from you.  This is what we saw:

many slaps, stickers, etc, on a wall

below: Red nose boxer with black eyes by MIMI the clowN as well as hands vainly reaching for green dollars by levodopa_046_.  A very small pair of very high heeled shoes sneak into the left side.

red nose graffiti by Mimi the clown

below: Fishes Invasion stickers and paste ups can be seen in many places around Rome. They all feature Invader Fish, a two legged walking fish with big lips. The fish actually started in New York City in 2015 and has spread around the world since then.

fishes invasion graffiti

a wall covered with stickers and pasteups

slaps on a wall including a red and white poster of two people kissing

below: ‘Volti spenti’ translates to ‘dull faces’ which is a comment on the poor guy taking a selfie with his phone. The cat is probably the work of Guaro and there is a yellow chick that wants you to know that it’s not a nugget.

volti spenti graffiti as well as a babushka doll and a dinosaur

black and white slaps and stencils

below: The woman on top is by C-ska

slaps on a wall, poster

many slaps

below: To Live and Let Live – Street art against hate.

black and white paste ups

below: Bottom right is an elaborate black and white drawing by Lus57 of a woman who  appears to be wearing a long dress but on closer look it’s actually a man’s torso and a tiger skin.   She is holding a rifle in her hand.  In contrast, there is a woman with bright copper hair and wild sunglasses – the work of stickermaidberlin.

posters and stencils on a wall

below: The bottom half of a Smilin’ Croc above a black and white portrait of a woman by Y-Tong and a big-nosed K2M man with an orange heart.

smilin croc graffiti as well as a big nose by K 2 M, also a black and white pasteup of a woman

 

below: Even Santa Claus helps spread the word about the Fishes Invasion although the pink and blue tiger seems to have an opinion about that.

fishes invasion graffiti with Santa Claus

below: The Fonz says plant a tree because it’s cool.

thauma red stencil graffiti

below: A purplish blue snake-like fish bites itself.  There is also a small C-ska sticker of a woman with a heart in the place of one eye.

long purple fish biting itself

below: My Dog Sighs, a crying eye on page 120 of an old book – with the photographer (selfie?) reflected in the eye.  Also, another C-ska piece – a woman with a bird cage for a head… meaning?

eye and red streak painted on a page of a book, now is graffiti, beside a pasteup of a woman with a birdcage for a head

Black & White Power

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In Rome there is a long line of murals by Italian artists Sten and Lex that line both sides of the same street, Via dei Magazzini Generali. On one side, on an orange wall, are portraits of famous people.

long orange wall with large portraits by sten and lex, Italian street arts, in a mural on two sides of the street, of famous people and common people,

On the opposite side of the street is a shorter blue wall with pictures of common people.

large portraits by sten and lex, Italian street arts, in a mural on two sides of the street, of famous people and common people,

below: A Pope

pope and others, large portraits by sten and lex, Italian street arts, in a mural on two sides of the street, of famous people and common people,

The portraits were made with a combination of stencils and painting.

girl, middle aged man, woman, large portraits by sten and lex, Italian street arts, in a mural on two sides of the street, of famous people and common people,

three people, large portraits by sten and lex, Italian street arts, in a mural on two sides of the street, of famous people and common people,

woman in hard hat giving peace symbol with hand, large portraits by sten and lex, Italian street arts, in a mural on two sides of the street, of famous people and common people,

below: Barak Obama

Barak Obama, large portraits by sten and lex, Italian street arts, in a mural on two sides of the street, of famous people and common people,

elderly woman with glasses and yellow sweater, large portraits by sten and lex, Italian street arts, in a mural on two sides of the street, of famous people and common people,

below: Elvis & others

Elvis Presley and a rapper, large portraits by sten and lex, Italian street arts, in a mural on two sides of the street, of famous people and common people,

The one different picture is the panther, a symbol of power, with a woman’s face superimposed on it.

a large panther head in profile, with mouth wide open and teeth showing, a woman superimposed onto the side of the face of the panther, mural by sten and lex called black and white power

 

at Borgo Pio and Vicolo Del Campanile

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Near the Vatican is saw a small collection of pasteups:

below: Game Over on the Cash Machine by Luther Posca

paste up graffiti on a wall in Rome, a picture of a cash machine as video game, monitor says game over

paper paste up of Jesus, white robes, halo, and arms reaching up

close up of Jesus's upper body and the picture and words on his chest

below: The remains of a big nosed character by K2M with a red heart along with a black and white version of Edvard Munch’s “Scream” but with a man in a white shirt and black tie instead.  Modern man’s turn to scream.

3 paper paste ups on a yellow concrete wall, all three slightly faded and peeling at the edges, one is a K2M charaacter with a red heart, another is a black and white drawing similar to Edvard Munsch's Scream painting, and the last is a drawing of a young boy with ray gun and old fashioned idea of a space uniform

below: Similar to above but in better condition.  K2M’s iconic character now has a pink heart and a version of “American Gothic” by Grant Wood has appeared beside the screaming man. Again, the man is dressed in a white shirt and black tie.   Almost lost at the bottom are two stickers from Flat Heart.

paste ups on a metal box in the street in Rome

Roman faces and clown fish

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 “The Fall of the Gods” can seen on Via Ostiense.  It is a 40 metre mural painted in 2015 by Carlos Atoche and Mexican artist Luis Alberto Alvarez.  In it, images of ancient Roman statues have fallen and are now underwater.

faces and fish on blue background, painted mural on wall with barbed wire above it, another mural on the wall beyond as well

bearded man face, lying on his back, with a flying fish passing beside him

old mural of clown fish and faces on a wall

clown fish in mural

in a mural, a clown fish swims beside a swordfish

corner of wall, painted face, mural on both sides of the corner, rental bike, jump, parked in front

a man seated, with one foot on the other knee, bending over with hand on foot that's resting on knee

face of grey bearded man with curly hair, eyes closed, painted in a mural

wall with old mural, pieces of wall, breaking off, tree beside woth motorcyle

bike parked against a post in front of mural with a whale

below: This was above the mural

an old Barbie doll caught in a barbed wire fence above a mural

Pictures of the mural back when it was freshly painted can be seen on Carlos Atoches’ website.

Hunting Pollution

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In the Ostiense district in Rome there is a large mural of a heron titled “Hunting Pollution”.   It covers seven storeys of a residential building and took 21 days to paint in 2018.

Lower part of a large mural called Hunting Pollution by Federico Massa also known as Iena Cruz, of a heron, over seven storeys of a building in Rome, background in marine blues and greens

The artist, Federico Massa (aka Iena Cruz) has used Airlite paint.  This paint has been engineered to clean the air around it by neutralizing some pollutants.

Upper part of a large mural called Hunting Pollution by Federico Massa also known as Iena Cruz, of a heron with a fish in its beak

The mural was commissioned by Yourban2030, a female non-profit group that strives to bring awareness to environmental issues.

Lower part of a large mural called Hunting Pollution by Federico Massa also known as Iena Cruz, of a heron

pink seaweed or trees in a mural with a heron

altered street signs, Florence

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As you walk around Florence Italy, you can spot street signs that have been altered with witty additions of shapes and figures.  Similar signs have been spotted in Madrid, London, and Paris. Most of them are the work of Clet Abraham but there are a few that were created by Yipi Yipi Yeah, or YYY for short.   Here are a few that I saw in Florence early in January.

below: A policeman’s love

altered red and white no entry sign, graffiti by Clet Abraham, of a policeman bending down and kissing the white bar

below: A goalie defending his net

altered red and white no entry sign, graffiti by Clet Abraham, of a football goalie defending his net

below: Scrunching

altered red and white no entry sign, graffiti by Clet Abraham, of a large black hand scrunching the white bar

below: Chiseling away the white bar.

altered red and white no entry sign, graffiti by Clet Abraham, of a man chiseling away the white bar

below: Only two eyes seen because of a veil

altered red and white no entry sign, graffiti by Clet Abraham, of a woman in a veil covering all but her eyes

below: A game of cat and mouse

altered red and white no entry sign, graffiti by Clet Abraham, of a mouse beside a mouse hole, with a cat in the background

below: Using a pair of scissors

altered red and white no entry sign, graffiti by Clet Abraham, of a pair of scissors cuttig the white bar

below: A hanging brought to you by Yipi Yipi Yeah

dead end sign altered by yipi yipi yeah, three holes in the red bar and a creature hanging by the neck

below: Cupid’s arrow right on target

altered blue and white one way sign, the arrow is now piercing a red heart

below: Smashing ice

altered red and white no entry sign, graffiti by Clet Abraham, of a person breaking ice with a large ice pick

exitenter in Florence

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exitenter is a prolific graffiti artist whose art is usually centered around red hearts, love, and equality.  The pieces with their stick figures are simple and direct.

below: Reaching for love

simple graffiti of a black stick figure with white filled in, reaching up to a red heart, with the word exit written above it

below: Black equals white.  Equality

two stick figues, one with black body and the other with white body, holding hands, with a red equals sign above their hands

below: Swinging on a heart, in love.

on a blue one way street sign, a sticker with a stick figure swinging on a red heart

below: Apart and fighting, but come together in love.  Another way of saying “All you need is love”.

below: Together, hand in hand looking for love.

two stick figure people holding hands and reaching for a red heart

below: Juxtaposition of the Nativity scene with the idea of refugees.

street art paste up of a nativity scene, Mary and Joseph standing together with Mary holding the baby Jesus, under night sky with moon and stars. The word refugees is written below the picture. All contained in a grey arch shape

For more pictures and information, ExitEnter instagram page and website

big Blu faces

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On the corner of Via Della Conce and via del Porto Fluviale in Rome, there is a large mural that Italian street artist Blu painted in 2014.  Many large whimsical faces using most of the 48 windows in the building as eyes now cover the building.

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings,

This building was once a military warehouse, Caserma dell’Aeronautica

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings, brown face in middle

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings,

below: At the corner,  a yellow monkey-like face on the bottom and a white man’s face looking outward from both sides of the building.

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings, at corner with via della conce

below: Spaghetti-like pink hair that almost covers the eyes with a laughing yellow circular face over the door. mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings,

below: Pigeons on a ledge on a small side of the building, sitting under a tree.

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings, end of building has a large tree with greenery below, real pigeons sitting on ledge of building

below: A yellow face of bananas and a green face of leaves with pink tea cups in between.

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings, small tree growing in front, green face and yellow face made of bananas

below: A reddish face made of puzzle pieces.

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings, close up of red face made up of puzzle pieces

below: A white faced covered with stubble in the middle of other faces.

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings, red face and white face,

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The whole mural:
Photo credit for the above picture – found online at the Colossal, Nov 23, 2014.  You can see more pictures there as well as more links re Blu’s work.  You can also see how much the mural has faded in five years.