Category Archives: Italy

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,

***

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.

little things in Bologna

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Bologna Italy, March 2016

pasteup on a salmon coloured door with a green wall on one side and a grey metal shutter on the other. The pasteup is of two women, one is upside down.

below: Sneakers by K2m

street art paste up of white high top rinning shoes with K2m written on the side in large red letters. The shoes are covered with what looks like drawings of yarn and balls of yarn

bluish grey graffiti paingint on a wall of a child (head and shoulders) wearing a leopard costume, but with the mask lifted up so child's face shows, on a door

graffiti on an old stone building with burgundy coloured window shades, blue tag, other words written on the wall include

black stencil of Robin Williams on a wall, graffiti

paste up of yellow crown on a young man's head. The graffiti has been placed above a metal feature on a concrete wall so the eyes look like they are peering over it. Someone has written the words Casa Lucio with an arrow pointing upwards above the crown.

black stencil of a woman's head in profile, long hair, wearing a hat, words coming out of her mouth, shape of words is a megaphone. Words say " Chi si loda s'imbroda"

black stencil of the pope's head and shoulders on a brown wood wall. The words "dici a me" are stenciled on too.

paste-up of a man's head and neck, with a red outline painted around his head. glasses and a beard.

stencil in black on a concrete wall that is not in good shape, a man, from the waist up wearing a black jacket and a necklace. One hand is raised to shoulder level, showing palm. Over one shoulder are two red lip marks

a grey tone graffiti on a pinkish wall, a small furry animal with a fez on its head and eyes that resemble nuclear symbols, sits atop a man's head. he has two sets of eyes and a large mouth with teeth

a paste up of a person with short black hair, a blue hat and blue eyes, holding a black cat. On the person's arm, written in blue are the words "Pieces were stolen from me"

a paste up with slightly curled edges, graffiti on a concrete wall, a black picture of a man like creature with stylized features is pointing a large knife at its chest.
black drawing on white, paper paste up street art, man's head and neck in profile, no skin, shows the muscles of the face and neck. with part of the skull removed to reveal the brain. By SNEM
A silhouette shape of a rabbit's head and ears made of paper that has fern leaves on it. Pasted on a metal piece on a wall.

below: Two pieces by kocore

a street art piece in orange by kocore of the head of a Soviet cosmonaut with his helmet on.

street art piece of a skull made up of lots of grey lines The word Kocore is beside the skull

stencil of a woman sticking out the top of a long limo, black on concrete.

below: Make peace or dead, by exitenter

Small painting of a stick figure with its hands on its hips. Its face is a flower, looks like a red daisy with 6 petals. The words " make peace or dead are written above

graffiti on a beige wall, a stick drawing of a person stands on the upper right part of a red heart. The word exit is written above the left side of the heart

below: The fox and the grapes, by exitenter, probably a reference to Aesops fable. When the fox couldn’t reach the grapes, it pretended that the grapes were sour.  The “lesson” from the fable being that there are many people who pretend to despise and belittle things that are beyond their reach.graffiti on a concrete wall, an orange fox reaches for a bunch of yellow grapes that are higher on the wall

black stencil on grey concrete wall, man reaching out from inside a TV to turn the TV off, by Skene Two small stencils on a wall, a green hand grenade and a black handgun,

white stencil on black of leaf from marijuana plant with the words my lucky star23 written aroud it. On black background

boxes on the street

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Those ugly metal boxes that sit on the sidewalks are needed to house traffic light controls or to provide access points to telephone and internet cable networks.  The trend these days is to have artists paint them and Milan is no exception.   There weren’t too many painted boxes but here are some that I saw.   I am not sure if all of them were sanctioned by the city.

metal box on a sidewalk outside of a restaurant in Milan, painted brown with a picture of two black people, a man and boy, both with curly afro hair styles painted in rainbow colours. They are facing each other, nose to nose. 4 wine bottles are on top of the box.

 

2 metal boxes on the sidewalks in Milan, both with street art. One is brown, a man's face with a scared look and he's wearing a red tie. The other is a stylized woman in blue overalls

below: Sugo o vino (sauce or wine) by La Pupazza

Street art on a metal box on a sidewalk. The words say 'sugo o vino' which is Italian for 'sauce or wine'. The illustration is a picture of a bowl of pasta with red liquid being poured over it from a wine glass.

A pink elephant like animal painted on a grey metal box on a sidewalk. There are tags on it as well. The walls in the background also have tags on them, tomcat is one of them.