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’):
Kim Jong-Il of North Korea on a graffiti wall
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Joseph Stalin on the side of an old wood building
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someone in a helmet…. any ideas? Mussolini?
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Adolf Hitler high up on a brick wall
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Japanese? guy on a poster covered wall
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another person who I think I should know, but I don’t
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.
below: “Siamoises” – What looks like twin cats in red dresses is actually a row of identical kitties, but the spotlight is on those two. A mural by Mono Sourcil, aka Maxlie Martel.
below: Designed by ANYO – squirrels with different coloured hats. I have only shown two, red and turquoise, but there are many more out there….. how many have you seen?!
below: Giraffes
below: A wish for peace and love, amor et paix, for Ukraine.
below: A small portion of a large mural by Pantonio showing two of the many birds in the mural – a large bluish black bird and a cute little purple and white bird.
below: “Mechanic Bird” by Dede Bandaid & Nitzan Mintz, with text: “Of my dozens of keys, the smallest one opens home”
below: This rendition of Daffy Duck is the work of Simon Beaulieu – throwup “text” says Simple.
below: Dog (wolf?) with laser eyes.
below: It’s an animal, right? The blue creature on the left. It was painted by Cryote and the whole panel was a collaboration with Labrona and Waxhead.
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: 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.
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.
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.
The rest of the mural features a red fire hydrant, a pigeon and a toucan with a beak in rainbow colours.
below: A white happy three eyed fish swimming among the scribbles.
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…
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.
The previous blog post was about a large Montreal mural by Kevin Ledo that was a portrait of a woman called Mary Socktish. There are a number of other murals in the city that have a woman, or women, as the main feature. These are some of them – the following photos were taken on four visits to Montreal between 2015 and 2021 and some of these murals may no longer exist.
below: One of the older murals in Montreal, a graffiti granny, old woman by ASHOP Productions
below: A mural by five8art, a young woman looking skyward.
below: By a Depanneur at Pins and Hotel de Ville, a large mural of two seated women and their scarf by Australian artist Fintan Magee.
below: A mural by Rone, another Australian artist.
below: Sorry is Not Enough, a mural by Denial (or Enjoy Denial) with a shout out to Black Lives Matter
below: From 2018, this mural by Drew Merritt and Sainte Famille and Milton (photo taken in 2018 as well)
below: A tribute to Lea Roback (1903-2000), by Carlos Oliva (aka Hsix) in 2014. Roback was a textile worker who became a trade union activist, feminist and pacifist (among other things). She fought for woman’s suffrage in Quebec (1936), she played a role in helping to organize 5,000 garment workers who had been on a three-week strike in 1937, and that is only a small fraction of what she accomplished.
below: by Sandra Chevrier, pop culture references to Superman and Batman
below: A collaboration between Cyrielle Tremblay and Poni (aka Hilda Palafox, painted in 2018. Working in an imaginary garden maybe?
below: A whimsical black and white of women astronauts, guitar players, skate boarders, astronomers, and others. It is the work of Le Monstr, aka Benjamin Tran.
below: A mural from 2014 putting a spotlight on the call for justice for missing and murdered indigenous women.
Another large mural in Montreal painted by Kevin Ledo is this portrait of Mary Socktish of the Hupa tribe in Northern California . This 2014 work is based on an old photograph from a series on the Hupa people, taken by Edward Curtis in 1923.
Eyes on the Streets 