crossing the Williamsburg Bridge

between Manhattan and Williamsburg, over the East River

crossing the Williamsburg bridge, with pinkish red metal railings and girders, pedestrian walkway is beside and slightly above road and subway lines.

graffiti on the williamsburg bridge pavement

A little yellow dinosaur trying to look fierce as he growls at your feet.

graffiti on pavement, line drawing in yellow of a dinosaur, on hind feet, open mouth,

I’m happy you’re here, keep going!

text graffiti on the williamsburg bridge pavement that says I'm happy you're here keep going

I crave you

text graffiti on the williamsburg bridge pavement that says I crave you, written inside a large white heart

Shy white cat says meow

blog_cat_white_chalk

Homesick and Lucky Star writ large on a grey wall. The American flag image below them is made using painted car doors.

view from williamsburg bridge, buildings, one with graffiti street art on it

It’s just love in a rainbow of colours.

stencil on williamsburg bridge pavement that says its just love in a rainbow of colours

… and love is gold

blog_love_is_gold

Pacman wears a gold crown, king of the streets

large white pacman character from the video game, with open mouth, with a gold three pointed crown on his head

Looking down at Williamsburg streets including a mural with two faces and two flowers.

view from williamsburg bridge in new york city, buildings, including one with a mural on it

Blackface pink walker

graffiti on the pavement, a pink person walking

Reaching out in peace and love

graffiti on the sidewalk, two white people, one with sign reaching out for the other

Stencil by go4tart aka GOAT, rat on a scooter; a rat loves NYC

blog_rat_scooter_stencil

Seek Discomfort

blog_seek_discomfort_pink

Sold out art show yellow face with three pairs of eyes.

blog_sold_out_artshow graffiti on sidewalk, turquoise hair, yellow face, blue eyes, 3 pairs of eyes

I wonder what Jane’s reaction was?

stencil graffiti with text that says Jane will you marry me

….. Maybe this is Jane ?!

graffiti on pavement, white face with large red exclamation marks on it, dots of exclamation marks make the eyes

on the railing – mask? and master?

slaps, sticker graffiti on a pole on railings of a bridge

Kiss me

graffiti on pavement

More words on love

graffiti on pavement

… but in the end, the virus gets you.

graffiti on pavementPhotos taken August 2023

Casa Blanca, California style

The historic Casa Blanca Citrus Fruit Crate Label is the center focus of this mural recently painted by Juan Navarro in Riverside California. It is located on Madison Street by the small “Welcome to Casa Blanca” sign that marks the start of this neighborhood (see bottom right in photo).

Images of three old Casa Blanca landmarks were provided by the local historical group – the original adobe Saint Anthony’s Church (1923-1975), the old elementary school, and the railway depot. The depot was built in 1897 and serviced the Santa Fe railway that ran between San Bernardino and Los Angeles; the building was demolished in the late 1960s.

The soldier in the mural represents Medal of Honor (WWII) recipient Ysmael Villegas who was from the neighborhood. There is also a park named in his honor.

Photo credit: Esther Valdez, September 2023

from ceramics to a wall

When St. Michaels church in Riverside California built new apartments for low income and homeless people, they decided to include a mural on one of the facades in the complex. This mural was painted in the fall of 2022 by Rowan Harrison of Two Tribes Pottery.

20 by 30 foot mural on the ide of a 2 storey building, with small trees in front, semi circles in blue, swirls in red, and black dots make up most of the design, incorporates two windows of the building

Support for the mural was provided by Art From the Ashes, a non-profit group based in southern California

More information about the mural, as well as pictures taken during the painting process, can be found on the Two Tribes Pottery website

Photo taken by Esther Valdez, September 2023

Ybor City murals

Ybor City is an historic neighbourhood close to downtown Tampa Florida. It was founded in the 1880s and was home to a large immigrant population, many of whom were employed in cigar making factories. The cigar industry, and the city, flourished from the 1890s to the Great Depression of the 1930s when demand for cigars dropped.

below: Viva Ybor! Painted by Chico Garcia in 2012. It features a portrait of Vincente Martinez Ybor who brought the cigar making industry to this part of Florida.

Viva Ybor mural with Cuban flags, a rooster, I love Ybor, a portrait of Vincente Ybor for whom the city is named after

below: Faded paintings of Ybor City scenes

Faded mural, paintings in panels, cars, buildings,

below: The 1920s – with old cars

faded painting of 1920s street scene with old cars on the street

below: Historic buildings

faded paintings of 2 historic buildings in Ybor City

below: The far righthand side of the mural

below: Rolling cigars

women sitting around a table rolling cigars, in history mural in Ybor City Florida

Photos taken in April 2022

La Cocollona

A large mural in Girona Spain painted by Erica Il Cane (ericailcane) oof a crocdile with wings on its back.

mural of a large crocodile with butterfly wings on its back, standing on its hind legs, reaching for flying insects to eat, on the side of an apartment building
straight frontal view of ericailcane mural, mural of a large crocodile with butterfly wings on its back, standing on its hind legs, reaching for flying insects to eat, on the side of an apartment building

Over the years her scaly skin has lost its greenish blue colour but otherwise she is aging well.

reaching for flying insects, mural of la cocollona, river monster or crocodile in Girona Spain

From Wikipedia: “According to legend, she was once a nun who, due to her lack of faith, was punished and imprisoned in the dungeon of the city’s monastery, and could only leave to go to the river that runs through the city (Onyar River). After many years, due to her undernourishment and isolation, she grew scales until she fully metamorphosed into a crocodile-like creature. In spite of this punishment, she was still somewhat saintly, which manifested as a pair of butterfly wings.

ground floor level of mural, some cars parked in front of it,

Photos taken March 2023

standing upright in Girona

A long stretch of railway is elevated as it passes through the city of Girona, Spain. A bicycle and pedestrian path runs underneath. Some of the pillars supporting the railroad have been decorated by street artists.

below: Birds in flight

street art of black and white birds in flight on a concrete pillar

below: Cyop & Kaf have painted a few of the pillars with their black silhouette-like people such as this stolen kiss.

silhouette black people in street art, on a concrete pillar, top is man hanging upside down holding the feet of another man who is also upside down and kissing woman standing on the street, motorcycle parked in front

or this very tall man – He’s all tied up with his feet in the mud? in concrete?

street art on a concrete pillar - black silhouette man with his feet buried in the ground

street art on a pillar by Cyop and kaf

street art of a man, black silhouette, wedged between two blocks of concrete, and trying to pry space wider with a stick
people walking under an elevated railway, on a bike path, with street art on the concrete pillars supporting the railway

below: KRAM is responsible for two pillars including this blue character on a swing.

street art on a large concrete support, a blue character with human body but different head, sits on a swing, wearing purple running shoes with orange laces untied, orange shorts and brown t shirt, tongue stuck out, by kram

below: The other KRAM pillar is this one – quite different from the first.

street art painting by kram on a concrete post, cars parked behind, painting is sliced stacks of patterns

below: Two pandas

street art, 2 pandas, small one above is a paste up, lower one is painted and is more stylized

below: A brush to clean the toilet bowl. Not your average painting subject matter.

street art painting of a toilet bowl cleaning brush

realistic street art painting of a man in a white shirt

below: A few pillars are decorated with these red and blue guys – stylized yet anatomically correct – painted by Boris Hoppek

pineapple and face, street art

Photos taken in early March 2023

wheat paste anti gallery

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

Bushwick bears, bees, and other animals

below: Bees with pink and blue translucent wings on a brick wall with a bear keeping a watchful eye on them.

part of a mural, two bees around a real light on a brick wall

mural on a wall beside a closed door, a bear is sitting on the ground, leaning on door, with a bee buzzing above his body

below: Honeybee

below: A mural by Hiraku with cats

…. or perhaps humans in cat costumes.  Love and peace and a frilly tutu.

mural by hiraku of human-like cats, or people in cat costumes,

below: More cats, cats climbing up the wall, signed by eunice.music (aka Eunice Brito) and kosuke_james

narrow vertical mural on exterior wall, white cats climbing up a cat climbing frame

below: A concerned looking cat – maybe the ball and chain around his leg is going to be a problem?

below: The yellow and red background pattern was painted by 7 Line Art Studio (aka Duel Ris) and I suspect that the dog was added later by someone else.

below: A second dog, this one in bold shapes and bright primary colours.

large mural of a stylized dog with red body and blue head, and big white floppy ears with yellow and blue diamond shapes, yellow and white spots all over body, red tongue sticking out, yellow button nose

Photos taken August 2023