Category Archives: USA

Nicholai Khan – Think Vegas

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Back in 2015 I saw these three murals by Nicholai Khan in Las Vegas.  Khan was born in Trinidad but moved to Manhattan (New York City) in the 1980’s.

three murals in a row by Nicholai Khan, with #thinkvegas written by them, a woman's face, Charlie Chaplin, and Mickey Mouse

a small tree grows in front of a murl of a large woman's face, the leaves of the tree match the position of woman' hair, by Nicholai Khan, think vegas

below: Charlie Chaplin & his dog, surrounded by laughter.

very colourful painting of man done with dots, sitting down, bowler hat on, sort of like Charlie Chaplin, with hundreds of ha ha ha written around him

below: Mickey Mouse doesn’t look very happy.

a sad and forlorn MickeyMouse sits with his head resting on his arms, mural

Wabash street and vicinity, Chicago

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The Wabash Arts Corridor, founded in 2013, is a portion of Wabash Street in downtown Chicago. It is now the home of many large murals in a wide variety of styles.  I know that I didn’t find them all, but here is a large selection of them.  I’ve also included some smaller pieces that aren’t necessarily part of this project.

two murals on a wall on Wabash street in Chicago, on the wall Columbia college, beside a parking lot with a little bright orange car as well as other cars

below: A peacock painted in black and white by thedailydrizz aka Andrea Dunn

mural of a peacock done in black and white paint and made to look like it was done on 4 pieces of paper, on an old brick wall, by Andrea Dunn, a k a the daily drizz

below: Slime Mountain by Heidi Unkefer

mural in pastels tones, a reddish triangle, point down, and a light blue triangle, point up, meet in the middle, face on blue one, hands and little creatures too,

below: by Jordan Nickel, aka POSE

a bright collage-like mural

below: Many faces on the walls at this corner.  On one side are colourful abstract faces by Kashink,

two level parking structure on a street corner in Chicago, the short walls are painted with street art faces. On one side are colourful abstract faces by Kashink and on the other side are black and white faces from the project called Stop Telling Women to Smile.

below: “Stop Telling Women to Smile” is the title of the series on the other walls of the parking structure, a series of women’s faces in grey tones by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh

on the walls of a parking structure, a line of realistic faces in grey tones, a man sits on a bench beside it

on the walls of a parking structure, a line of realistic faces in grey tones, two rows high

below: A mural by Darryll Schiff, “Descending into Heaven”

mural on a wall, black people in silhouette walking towards numbers in LED lights that look digital

below: By Lady Lucx and Sarah Stewart, an untitled piece on a parking structure wall.

walls of an elevated parking structure painted in an octopus mural

close up of the eye of an orange octopus in a mural by a parking structure

2 murals on Balbao street in Chicago, a blue one by a parking lot and one by asup on the side of a restaurant,

below: Mural  called “Make Your Own Luck” a group of cyclists by asvp on the side of the South Loop Club Bar & Grill
mural by asup on the side of a bar and grill on Balboa street in Chicago, in red, white and pale blue

below: “High Tide” by Amuse126

a large watery blue mural

below: Sticker, Lucky Gnome proclaiming happy changes in his life.
a sticker made with a USA postal sticker, picture of a gnome with words,

below: A paste up on a post, Andy Warhol
paste up of Andy Warhol on a post

below: “X Marks the Milky Way” by Renee Robbins, 2016

X Marks the Milky Way, a mural in a Chicago alley by Renee Robbins, abstract colours and shapes on a teal background

below: “Gift to the Class of 2016” by Don’t Fret

mural on wall above mollys Cupcakes in Chicago, a man with hands by mouth

below: On “The El” where orange & green line trains pass by

large murals on walls surrounding a parking lot that has an elevated train passing over it

below: Just the “Y” at the end of the word “Harmony” in a mural by Ben Eine beside a silver and grey mural by Marquis Lewis aka Retna

part of two murals, the letter Y and one in silver and grey

below: “Moose Bubblegum Bubble” by Jacob Watts

large mural of a moose blowing a big pink bubble with bubble gum

below: “We Own the Future” by Shepard Fairey in the same style as his “Obey” series

mural by obey in red, black, and gold, on upper storey of a brick building in Chicago

below: Watching over black horses on grey, a mural by Ricky Lee Gordon called “I am You, You are Me”.

horizontal mural of a woman's head in profile and horses, in black on grey

below: by Hera, “Imagine if we could Tolerate Each Other’s Differences”

on the upper storeys of a brick building in Chicago, a mural by Hera of a woman holding some birds in her hand, a small white figure stands beside her

below: A redheaded woodpecker. This is only a part of a larger mural that has been covered over by a large ad.  It was “From Boom to Doom” by Collin van der Slujis.   Seems like doom has won.

part of a mural, a large red head woodpecker, but rest of mural has been covered over by a large ad

below: “Impossible Meeting” by Marina Zumi
a mural by Marina Zumt of a doe and a buck, two deers, meeting nose to nose, painted in blues and purples

below: On the far right, by antckone aka Anthony Lewellen

four vertical panels close together, the two on the left are portraits, then an elephant and then a cartoon character by antckone

below: Butterflies on the corner.  There are many butterflies in this mural by Hector Duarte.  It is a representation of Mexican immigration.

a butterfly painted on the corner of a building

below: Within the confines of a small dog run, Melanie Vazquez‘s “Contra Todo Siendo Resistendo”

a mural behind a fence, pink, with yellow sun and green cactii

below: A large mural in a small space. “Standing Wave” by Justus Roe

large abstract mural beside a parking lot, small area, also in a fenced in space

below: Part of “Listen to Learn” by Hello Kirsten aka Kirsten McCrea.   Using an old telephone receiver to shed light on life.  The fence was a barrier.

car parked beside a mural, large hand holding an old fashioned telephone receiver but using is as a flashlight

below: The other side of the fence and the other side of the mural

mural by Hello Kirsten on the side of a brick building with a blue exterior metal staircase

below: A second rate photo I’m afraid.  It’s taken through the window of a moving train… and I forgot to go back and find the mural after I got off the train.  It is 8100-square-foot mural painted by Italian street artist Never 2501 in 2015.

seen through the window of a train, a large mural in Chicago

below: Ruben Aguirre, “Drowning City”

orange shapes on black, mural

below: Sun bum is winning.   J.C. Rivera’s “The Bear Champ vs Sonny”two cartoon-like characters wrestling of boxing, one has shirt on that says sun bum

mural in bright oranges and reds, sharp edges, linear, and across the street are portraits of musicians done in tile shaped pieces

on the corner of a building, on both sides, a mural in bright oranges and reds, sharp edges, linear, with a realistic hand as well,

mural in bright oranges and reds, sharp edges, linear, with a realistic hand as well, people walking past it, one man with hand out pointing at something

carol taking a picture of a row of murals of black musicians done in little squares on a brick wall in Chicago

mural of a black man singer made in tiles in blacks and white with shades of blue

photo (or photo like picture on a wall of a man looking at a tornado made of objects

Downtown Hollywood Mural Project

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The Downtown Hollywood Mural Project (DHMP) is a collection of more than 25 murals scattered around downtown Hollywood Florida.

close up detail of the colours and shapes in a turtle shell, mural

below: A sea turtle by Ernesto Maranje swimming on a wall.

sea turtle mural on a wall

below: Mural by Logan Hicks

mural of a person suspended in midair

below: A woman’s head in blue tones by rone

rone mural of a woman's head in blue tones - whole horizontal mural in parking lot with cars parked in front

rone mural of a woman's head in blue tones

below: A watery scene, ‘Off the Deep End’ by Nice ‘N Easy (aka Allison Matherly and Jeffrey Noble).  This is only a small section of the mural; it covers the whole wall and there is another pink life ring floating in the water.

aquamarine coloured water in a mural with pink tile edges on the pool and pink life ring floating in the water

below: A few zany and lovable characters by Kenny Scharf

abstract cartoon like characters in a mural, palm trees

below: Blue lattice, or pulsating waves, or something like that, by Hoxxoh

mural by hoxxoh of blue circles or pulsating waves on a wall

below: A large Mona Lisa over the entrance by 2alas (aka Andrew Antonaccio)

large face in grey tones made by vertical lines of differing darkness, over the entrance to a building, also shards of colour, triangles on white background

below: Pentagon-like shapes and a few squiggles, by Molly Rose Freeman

below: Palm trees and other plants on a pale pink wall, by Nicole Salcedo

mural by Nicole Salcedo, a pale pink wall with black outline drawing of trees and plants

below: Vertical rectangles of colour, part of a mural by Henning Haupt.

vertical bars of colour in a mural, mostly red and pinks with some blue and yellow

below: The Concrete Daydream by Rob Robi

mural on awall, blue, pentagon shape within a circle, blue squiggles

The last few pictures are from the same mural, by evoca1 (aka Elio Mercado)

below: A gorgeous vulture (if you can consider a vulture to be gorgeous)

a realistic mural painting of a vulture in shades of grey, in flight, beside two parked cars in a parking lot a man riding on the back of a verylarge vulture, he has a bow in his hand and is shooting arrows

part of a mural, a white dove is flying towards an open bird cage but it has been shot by an arrow

below: The woman holds open the door of a bird cage for the white dove but the dove was shot by an arrow. a woman holds open a bird cage for a wounded dove, mural, by evoca1 paint peeling on mural, woman in blue head scarf is holding open the door of a bird cage

There are a few other blog posts already written about the Hollywood murals.  They are:

  1. emo and remote collaboration
  2. The London Police
  3. Tati mermaid murals

London Police in Hollywood

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As part of the Downtown Hollywood Mural Project (in Florida) there is a playful mural by The London Police, painted in 2014.

full mural by The London Police on a wall beside a parking lot in Hollywood Florida

The main character is one large smiley face astronaut and the supporting cast consists of numerous miniature astronauts.

close up of big smiling astronaut face looking at a tiny astronaut, in a mural by The London Police

in a mural in Hollywood Florida, five small astronaut characters with ropes as they try to climb up

a pipe comes out of a wall, painted on a mural, small astronaut characters are coming out of the pipe

in a mural, a large black wrench that syas adjust on it T L P signature on mural, 2014, Hollywood FLorida

The above photos were taken in July 2017 .

new murals on West 15th Street,

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A couple of stretches of concrete wall in Pilsen have recently been opened up to street artists in Chicago.  This post documents the murals that have just been completed on West 15th Street along the railway tracks.

below: Some party animals by Blake Jones

party animals mural by Blake Jones of a large pink rabbit and a green crocodile

below: by Natalia Virafuentes

street art painting by Vira Feuntes of a red face within a brown oval, turquois emouth and three eyes

below: Burger flowers by kozmo (aka Brenda Lopez)

burger flowers mural by Branda Lopez in Chicago, two large flowers, one with pink petals and the other with purple petals, the centers are hamburgers with cheese, they also have faces and tongues that stick out

below: Sup! A large green skull by @eee.matador_x (aka The Paint Reaper)

a large green skull in a mural

below: A close up of the last letter, Y, in the word Unity painted by Antonio Beniquez.

the letter Y written large as part of a mural that spells the word unity. Black and gold on top, white in the mddle and red along the bottom

row of murals on 15th street, along railway wall, Chicago

below: On the right, a blue crazy creature by @the_red_door (aka Reddor Santiago)

a mural with two creatures, a black cartoon cat head and shoulders, skinny arm with white gloved hand, long red nose. The other is a light blue, skull on top, smiley face with big teeth on the bottom

street art painting of a blue man with big square head with a red heart in it

below: A close up of a pink and blue creature by (sub) Urban Warrior. (aka Natalie)

pink nose, pink horns, green hair, blue face and eyes, mural

below: JoeyD finishing his mural of white creatures and rainbows.  On his right is a blue bird, by Fedz

two murals, on the right is a large blue bird sitting on a white branch with a red background by fedz and on the left joey d is finishing his mural

There is also a row of murals on South Wood Street that have just been painted and if you scroll down to the next post you will find the murals on Wood.  Those of you who know Pilsen, or have visited these walls, will know that the two projects (this one and the next) intersect at the corner of 15th and Wood.

new murals on South Wood Street, Chicago

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A couple of stretches of concrete wall in Pilsen have recently been opened up to street artists in Chicago.  One of these is on South Wood Street immediately north of the railway tracks (by West 15th Street).   This past week, August 2019, a group of artists painted the wall.  This is a selection of the murals that now adorn that wall.

below: Some of the new murals

a person walks past a wall covered with many murals beside a street, South Wood Street

below: As you emerge from under the bridge, this is the first mural that you see on the west side of Wood Street.

a mural that is partially under a railway bridge, metal supports for the bridge in the picture,

a mural on South Wood Street, a person with a wide brimmed hat carrying a ghetto blaster on her shoulder

below: Peace mural by @sob_e (aka Eliza Riley Delgado)

two murals on a wall beside a street, one has the word peace

below: Warrior City Tribe by Mero

warrior city tribe mural on a wall on Wood street in Pilsen

two murals on a wall, both with birds

below: Breaking down walls and letting the rats and vermin out.

two murals on a wall, painted like hole in the wall with rats, cat, and skunk

below: Two alligators (Crocodiles?), one break dancing and one stepping out in a hoodie and bling.

mural on a concrete wall in Pilsen, two alligators or crocodiles, one in a hoodie and one standing on one front leg and smiling

two murals on a wall, one is mostly red and has a wizard cap with a star on it and the other is mostly yellow

below: Sponge Bob Square Pants tries his hand at singing while Bart Simpson spins.

mural on South Wood street in pilsen illinois, a dance scene with an angry sponge bob square pants singing while Bart Simpson is the D J with two turn tables, a man is trying to dance

a small tree in front of two murals on a wall

below: On the left is a mural by Yo Loco

two murals on a wall

below: by @All_CITY_COWBOY, helicopter, music, and mayhem in the city.

a mural by @all_city_cowboy, helicopter, shadow silhouette figures

below: With the green lizard character standing by

two murals on a wall, one with green lizard character

en masse on West 16th Street, Chicago

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In September 2013, part of the mile long mural on the West 16th Street railway wall was painted by en masse, a Montreal based collaborative. Like most of their work, it is painted in black and white.   It is too big for one photo so I hope that this small collection of images give you a sense of what the whole looks like.

men and women beside the bridge

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On West 16th in Pilsen, there is a bridge where S. Blue Island Avenue goes under the railway tracks.  On the west is a mural featuring five women that was painted in 2016 by Sam Kirk and Sandra Antongiorgi to balance the “Galeria del Barrio” across the street.     “Galeria del Barrio” consists of a long row of different coloured men’s faces that portray different emotions.  This is the oldest mural in the area and was originally created by Aurelio Diaz with the help of 20 children from St. Procopius Church in 1976.   It was restored in 2016 by Sam Kirk.  The men’s heads at the west end are 10 feet tall.

On the west side:

part of a mural by Sam Kirk and Sandra Antongiorgi of five large women's heads

part of a mural by Sam Kirk and Sandra Antongiorgi of large women's heads, some trees in the way mural by Sam Kirk and Sandra Antongiorgi of three large women's heads

On the east side:

mens faces in profiles in different colours, large, about 10 feet tall, mural on a wall beside the railway tracks in Pilsen Chicago, Galeria del Barrio. One face is green and has a red tongue that is sticking out

mens faces in profiles in different colours, large, about 10 feet tall, mural on a wall beside the railway tracks in Pilsen Chicago, Galeria del Barrio

mens faces in profiles in different colours, large, about 10 feet tall, mural on a wall beside the railway tracks in Pilsen Chicago, Galeria del Barrio

Galeria des barios, a mural of men's faces in profile, different colours, different emotions,

More information about the mural

J-DEF Peace Project, mosaic, Pilsen

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Near the 18th Street CTA stop on the pink line, and in the Pilsen area of Chicago, is a mosaic mural by the J-DEF Peace Project.

purple background, mosaic mural, words that say J DEF peace project

mosaic mural outside on a wall at 18th and Paulina in Pilsen area of Chicago, an arm raised with a fist along with the words paz, talk to your neighbors

part of a mural at 18th and Paulina in Pilsen area of Chicago, by J-DEF peace project, a portrait of Jeff Maldonado Jr. for whom the project is named after, as well as a picture with the theme of create safe places away from gun violence

The J-DEF Peace Project by the parents of Jeff Maldonado who was shot a day after his 19th birthday.  It is a program that works towards ending gun violence among Chicago’s youth.  They have made a safe place for young people to come together to participate in art projects and other programs.

moasaic mural of tiles with words create safe places. A picture of a body outline on the ground with three red hearts, also shadows of two people with long hair on swings. A man plays a drum with the words Rudy Avina

below: A tribute to Ana Mateo, Francisco Mendoza, and Javier Merino.
Pilsen wall of honor part of mosaic mural, pictures and names of three people, young girl Ana Mateo, and two men, Francisco Mendoza and Javier Merino.

below: Police officer Brian Strouse is also on the Wall of Honor.

mosaic tribute to policeman, Brian Strouse, along with the words we need to work hard to make the world better

The words under the four portraits say:
“We need to work hard to make the world better
Stop killin’ each other, start comin’ together
But the things you want in life like the cars and the bling
Got you blinded by the fact that its only a dream.”

below: The end of the mural, “make smart choices”.

part of a mosaic mural, J DEF peace project, back of a car, with words make smart choices