below: A portion of the wall was painted by Diego Tiradentes. Eyeballs
below: A red and white monkey playing with the sands of time
below: Blue, blue, my world is blue. Even the happy face mask is blue. Mural on the right by RossellaRZ. On the left is #dogood #begood woman with closed eyes by Osiris Rain.
The Cronos Project initiative involved painting murals on the walls of three large abandoned old building on Av Fontes Pereira Melo close to the Picoas metro station. They were painted by several international artists including the Brazilian Os Gémeos, the Italians Blu and Erica Il Cane, and the Spaniard SAM3. Since the murals were painted in 2010, smaller graffiti – both paint and paper – has been layered over the lower portions.
below: She seems to have a ball of string in her hand and that string goes all the way to the next mural on the corner of the building (out of view in this photo)
below: She appears to be keeping an eye on that kraken, octopus that has appeared. Note the string across the picture.
below: View of two sides of the building
below: He holds the end of the strings in both hands.
below: A closer look at the man with the gold crown and the bendy straw. Whatever he was drinking has been painted over.
below: A large silhouette in the darkening sky.
below: Painted windows make a starry sky while wrought iron railings speak to a past elegance.
below: A silly yellow cat on the balcony
below: A large green crocodile (alligator?) clumsily crashing through the building.
below: A cute little couple, paste-up by Costan with a wolf (fox?) prowling in the background.
below: Wakeup! to a bright green alarm clock.
below: seeing triples, stencil featuring Elton John by A.L. Tony
below: Rui Veloso, Portuguese singer, another stencil by A.L. Tony
below: The Costan couple again, still with their hands forming a heart, along with some black stencils by Dalaiama – black birds in flight and two euros.
below: Another Costan, this time a cat with a hat.
In Jaunary 2018 a large section of the old historic part of Cuenca was a construction site. The plywood hoardings around the site were painted with street art murals. I have credited the artist whenever possible but unfortunately most of the work was unsigned.
below: Wide eyed face with many teeth and an angular nose
below: Cuenca street scene
below: San Pancho re-arranged
below: passing the peacock feather from top to bottom
below: Shopping with diegumberrto aka Diego Molina,
below: She’s kneeling in the garden wearing mis-matched earrings and a pink sun hat; she is surrounded by a book, dolls, watermelon, lots of flowers and even a skull.
below: The walls along the stairway were painted with a mural (2015 or before?) with a series of characters or pictures connected by pipes and branches.
below: Since then, many pieces of graffiti have been added to the wall including these two ink drawn paper pasteups.
below: Ears that look like those of a certain famous mouse. … el medio ambiente y qu…. but just out of reach of a wide open mouth
below: Pencil marks on paste-ups. Cual prefieres tu?
below: A handful of feathers beside blue bubbles. A small paste-up of a cute little dog beside a not so cute creature in black and white, Juanito La Guerra.
below: I don’t think that chicken’s very happy… and is it best to eat the accordion?
below: Faces gathered around the windows
below: Fish in the pipes, running shoes, birds, and a black cat. And what is that little guy all dressed in black really up to?
Nahual, Mexican graffiti artist – “nante de ojos abiertos reforestacion crece en las paredes” is approximately the same as: [nante] wide-eyed reforestation grows on the walls
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.
The song “Hallelujah” is probably Leonard Cohen’s (1934-2016) most recognized work … or at least that’s what I think whenever I hear Leonard Cohen’s name, or see a picture of him. In Montreal, Cohen’s hometown, there is now a large mural of him that was painted by Kevin Ledo, also of Montreal.
Hallelujah Lyrics:
Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord But you dont really care for music, do you? It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth The minor falls, the major lifts The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Your faith was strong but you needed proof You saw her bathing on the roof Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew her She tied you to a kitchen chair She broke your throne, and she cut your hair And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Well, maybe there’s a God above As for me all I’ve ever learned from love Is how to shoot somebody who outdrew you But it’s not a crime that you’re hear tonight It’s not some pilgrim who claims to have seen the Light No, it’s a cold and it’s a very broken Hallelujah
Well people I’ve been here before I know this room and I’ve walked this floor You see I used to live alone before I knew ya And I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch But listen love, love is not some kind of victory march, no It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
There was a time you let me know What’s really going on below But now you never show it to me, do you? And I remember when I moved in you And the holy dove she was moving too And every single breath we drew was Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Now I’ve done my best, I know it wasn’t much I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch I’ve told the truth, I didnt come here to London just to fool you And even though it all went wrong I’ll stand right here before the Lord of song With nothing, nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
Rock star status lightning bolt – a now iconic symbol painted on David Bowie’s face for the “Aladdin Sane” album cover in 1973. Here, Banksy Incwel applies the lightning bolt to a younger Queen Elizabeth in a piece titled “Still Sane”- bestowing her with rock star status? It was painted in 2012, the year of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee (i.e. her 60th year as monarch).