Lucas Antics, Bristol England

Posted on February 23, 2022 by Mary C

Alex Lucas & Paul Fearnside are the two artists that are Lucas Antics. Among their many talents is mural painting; this blog post features some of the murals that they have painted in their home town of Bristol. The photos are from the spring of 2017.

below: Pineapples and bunnies on The Little Shop, Cheltenham Road.

below: The whole mural.

large mural by Lucas Antics on The Little Shop on Cheltenham Road in Bristol. A woman is looking in the window of the store. The mural is bunny rabbits and pineapples, 6 rabbits and 7 pineapples

below: More rabbits at the Stokes Croft Vintage Market

below: A red fox, comfortably sitting on the new moon.

“We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars.” A quote from Oscar Wilde’s play “Lady Windemere’s Fan”

below: A dashing dandy lion in the doorway with his sidekick, a little white mouse. The fable of the lion and the mouse has been told in many variations over the centuries. In it, a lion spares the life of a mouse. A short time later the mouse saves the lion by chewing through the ropes of a net that has ensnared the lion.

below: Welcome to Montpelier (a neighbourhood in Bristol)

The next three images are from the same mural, Uncertain World, painted on the exterior of the Cabot Institute at Bristol University.

Bristol Bearpit

Posted on February 22, 2022 by Mary C

The Bearpit is a park in Bristol, circular in shape and with roads surrounding it; It’s like being in the middle of a large roundabout and in fact it is the St. James Barton Roundabout. All entrances are by underground passage.

It is in an area that is the historical center of the city. After being badly damaged by aerial bombing raids during WW2 , not much was done with it until the late 1960s when new roads and office blocks were built. The bearpit was designed as a pedestrian friendly area, a city park but soon became a place where no one felt safe. In 2011 it was voted the worst place in Bristol . Over the years a number of groups tried to clean up the park and make it a welcoming place for people – with mixed success.

In May of 2017 when I was there it was a place to hang out. It was also a place for political protest.

tables and planters at Bristol bearpit, park, with a mural of flowers. In the background a sign, political poster, and in he background, Debenhams store — VOTE – “It ain’t much, but it’s all we have against the Greedheads” Hunter S. Thomson

May 2017 was in the midst of campaigning for the the UK General Election of 8 June 2017. Theresa May (Conservative) was Prime Minister. May had became PM after David Cameron resigned because of the Brexit vote. Jeremy Corbyn was leader of the Labour Party. The Conservatives won the election with 317 seats although Labour was close behind. Like most elections, this one can’t be summarized in a few sentences but if you are interested in more details, there are lots of places to look on the internet.

below: A large Corbyn rat poster by political art John D’Oh with the slogan/phrase “Make June the end of May”.

large poster by John D'Oh political humour for the 2017 UK election

political poster save the NHS vote Labour, picture of a woman on the phone, by John D'oh

In paradoy of newspaper Daily Mail, text on graffiti says Daily Fail, with three stencil faces

below: Mural by SP_ZERO aka Keith Hopewell

graffiti of face of young girl with braids tied with ribbons, and wearing a red bandana mask over her nose and mouth, on a green tile wall beside stairs

government is theft graffiti

street art by a tree in the bearpit area of Bristol, a person in a grey hoodie is spray painting a black line, beside a stencil of a man with long beard and mustache that says beard envy

graffiti on a tile wall beside stairs, an electrical two pronged plug with little legs, running, with broken electrical cord as a tail

A group of young men sitting on benches in a park, with a street art wall behind them, space aliens and creatures

street art wall with imaginative and creative space aliens and creatures

below: Mural by LAIC217

Where’s the toilet paper? Is there any significance to the Adidas clothing and shoes?

Mural with orange headed devil with horns, yellow eyes, and skull like face, with bony hnads on shoulder of graffiti artist, caption says For using stencils you will go to hell — For using stencils U will go to Hell.

below: While we’re on the subject of Hell, a poster playing on the word exposure by Georgie aka georgieartist. I love the fact that someone has written “Story of my fucking life” on it.

below: A broom with heart by qwert art

whimsical graffiti by qwert art of a broom with a white skirt and long skinny arms holding up a red heart where a face would be

below: Mural by Kid Crayon of Eat Crew. Just above the mural you can see part of the black and white bear sculpture/statue that used to stand in the park.

In 2019 the Bearpit was “cleaned up” i.e. all the graffiti and street art was removed as were the squatters. A quick check of the area on Google Street View shows that as of March 2021 the park was still graffiti free.

Maika

Posted on February 19, 2022 by Mary C

Maika is another Montreal street artist. So far, these are the paste-ups of hers that I’ve seen as I’ve walked around the city.

Red, white, and blue, melting into a puddle.

on a black door, a white piece of paper paste-up with a drawing, head and shouders, of a person. Line drawing. There could be one face or two depending on which way you look at it — One face or two?

a man walks past a wall that has a poster graffiti on it, unfortunately there is a rip in the paper so image is difficult to see but there is a had and a cow's head, image by Maika — The hand of David as a wing but with the head of a cow.

graffiti pasteup colourful image of a hand and open cigarette lighter but instead of a flame there is a small bouquet of flowers — You can’t start a fire with flowers can you? Lit.

faces in pinks and blues

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Mary C

A mural full of odd and somewhat disturbing faces can be found in a narrow alley near the corner of Prince Arthur St. and Saint Laurent Blvd. It was painted by Mono Sourcil, (aka Maxilie Martel) a Montreal street artist. It dates from Mural Festival 2017 and has survived well.

Some of the people look rather ordinary and are doing ordinary things…. others, not so much.

mural by Maxilie Martel in an alley in Montreal, faces in pinks and blues,

part of a mural by Monosourcil, of faces, some odd faces, including a greyish blue face with one pink eye,

part of a mural in a Montreal alley by Mono Sourcil, faces of people, including man with very pink face and dark pink hair, blue lips, another man with a face that looks more like a walrus

chair behind an empty hut in a parking lot, part of a mural sticking out on the wall of the alley behind the chair

Madame Gilles

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Mary C

As you walk around the city of Montreal, you can probably spot quite a few paper paste-ups featuring collage images of people that were created by an artist that signs her pieces as Madame Gilles.

poster sized graffiti on a wall in Montreal, collage of different pictures to form abstract womans face, by Madame Gilles

below: Similar image as above but this time on a door with another, including “One Day You Will Come” by @_doverin

below: A little less abstract and a lot less colour

black and white paper pasteup graffiti by Madame Gilles, womans face is predominant feature

paper pasteup graffiti by Madame Gilles, black and white image of a female guitar player, Joan,

The next two pictures show the same doorway. First the top section where once again the same image appears.

pasteups by Madame Gilles on a door in Montreal

Lower portion of the door.

pasteups on a door in Montreal

pasteup that was a collage but has been tagged over in blue paint

Photos taken September 2021

La Fresque des Québécois

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Mary C

La Fresque des Québécois is the title of a 420 m² mural found on the side of Maison Soumande on rue Notre-Dame in Old Quebec City. It depicts figures from 400 years of Quebec City history. Twelve painters from France and Quebec contributed to the mural.

New France was the name of the French colony in North America beginning in 1593 with the arrival of Jacques Cartier. The French relinquished the colony to the British and the Spanish in 1763, at the end of the Seven Years War

a small group of people with their backs to the camera are looking at a large mural in Quebec City that depicts people from all parts of their 400 year history — Looking out of the upper windows are (on the left) Jean Talon (1626-1694) who was steward of New France; in this position he was in control of the civil administration of the colony. The other man is Louis de Baude Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau (1622-1698) was Governor General of New France for many years.

part of the Fresque de Quebecois showing buildings in the old part of Quebec City with two men standing on a balcony

In 1763 what is now Quebec became the Province of Quebec, a British colony. In 1791 this colony was divided into two, Upper Canada along the upper parts of the St. Lawrence River, and Lower Canada, along the lower section of the river. Upper Canada is approximately what is now Ontario while Quebec has grown from Lower Canada. Quebec City was in Lower Canada.

François-Xavier Garneau (1809-1866), national historian of French Canada stands on a balcony with (on the right) Louis-Joseph Papineau (1786-1871), Member of Parliament in Lower Canada.

Playing his guitar is Félix Leclerc (1914-1988). Just behind him is Frederick Temple Blackwood, Marquis de Dufferin and d’Ava (1826-1902), Governor General of Canada from 1872-1878; He’s probably best remembered as Lord Dufferin. During his time as Governor General, Quebec City officials began the demolition of the old city walls. Blackwood persuaded them to stop and rebuild the parts that they had damaged. In 1985 Old Quebec was recognized as an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

a woman and three young kids looking at Fresque des Quebecois in Quebec City, figures from history, Leclerc the guitar player and musician, Lord Dufferin, Samuel Champlain, also kids playing road hockey in the mural — Samuel Champlain (1570-1635) poses in his green jacket while holding onto his hat with the large white feather. He founded Quebec in 1608. Just behind him is Alphonse Desjardins (1854-1920) founder of the Desjardins Cooperative Movement.

people posing for pictures in front of the Fresque des Quebecois, with Samuel Champlain and Aphonse Desjardins, also a girl holding balloons, — Coming down the stairs is Louis Jolliet (1645 -1700), along with Jesuit priest Father Jacques Marquette, was the first non-Native to explore the upper parts of the Mississippi River. Jolliet was born near Quebec City.

Carleton Village murals, Toronto 2021

Posted on January 22, 2022 by Mary C

Even when I walk in Toronto, sometimes I find myself in unfamiliar territory and so it was back in December when I went to investigate some alleys where I’d heard that new murals had been painted.

below: Around Toronto there are quite a few raccoons in murals by Emily May Rose. Here, these “trash pandas” are being watched over by a big white rat. Quite the dumpster fire!

mural in an alley by Emily May Rose of raccoons and a big white rat. One raccoon is setting fire to a dumpster

below: A large mural by BirdO (aka Jerry Rugg) beside Charles Sauriol school

below: Near the birdO mural (you can just see it on the left side here) is a house with street art covering the whole side of it.

the side of a house is covered with street art, 2 or 3 murals on both upper and lower storeys by Phillips Saunders and June Kim, in the background on the left side is a birdo mural

below: A man reaching out a multicoloured hand to a woman by Phillip Saunders covers the back part of the house

murals on the side of a house, a man and a woman with black curly hair

below: A brown octopus and bright coloured tiger playing together – a collaboration between Luvs and June Kim.

mural of a June Kim brightly colored tiger on the side of a house along with a brown octopus by Luvs

below: Baby birds with beaks uplifted in a mural by Bruno Smoky and Clandestinos

mural by Bruno Smoky and Clandestinos on a wood fence in an alley, baby birds in a nest with their beaks open waiting for parents to feed them

below: Blue jay and tomato face, rowdyradrat and Chris Perez

street art on a wood fence in a lane

below: Taking cover under umbrellas on a rainy day in a mural by Elicser Elliott

below: Mural in another lane with a signature says June, Bacon, and Erika.

below: A Nick Sweetman painting of a large Cuckoo wasp feeding on a yellow flower

mural by Nick Sweetman on a garage door in an alley, a large blue green Cuckoo wasp, on a yellow flower

below: A multi-lingual thank you to essential workers on Davenport – obrigado, gracias, merci, and grazie!

below: More of Emily May Roses’s mischievous raccoons and their cans of orange spray paint.

an emily may rose mural on the side of a dark grey building, showing raccoons playing around a white cube van, vandalism with orange spray paint

below: Mediah blues on the right and a Que Rock mural with indigenous themes and symbols on the left.

looking across a park in late December, two garages in an alley painted with murals, on the right is one in blues by mediah. On the left is mural mural by Que Rock, indigenous themes, loons on the water, mother earth

below: Planta Muisca mural with an orange snake under a purple night sky.

a mural by muisca on a garage door in a lane, an orange snake in the purple night with moon and plant with large leaves

below: Anya Mielniczek’s woman’s face looks down the lane.

mural by Anya Mielniczek of a girls's head in pinks and oranges down a lane, rest of mural blocked by fence

below: A closer look of the mural reveals another woman’s head on the far side along with people mixing together in the central portion painted by Raoul

orange and pink woman's head by Anya Mielniczek along with a picture of a group of people, mostly men, by Raoul

below: Suri in grey tones while drinking, mural by haenahhh

mural on a garage door in an alley by haenahh of a woman sitting with a cup of coffee

below: HeldbyHuda mural

geometrics and shapes, abstract street art mural on a garage door by artist with instagram handle heldbyhuda

below: by Victoria Day

garage door mural by Victoria Day, stylized yellow and green flowers on a blue green gradient background

below: Sections of citrus fruit in glass bowls, real? reflections? by Steam

Steam, the artist, painted a mural on a garage door of citrus fruit sections in glass bowls

below: Fantasy creatures playing in a mural by Kisong Koh

mural by Kisong Koh on the door of a garage in a laneway of three nonsensical fantasy creatures, a purple animal with fins for legs is upside down, a grey creature is wearing blue boxer shorts with pink polka dots and the third has a long yellow beak, one human hand and foot, and long orange hair

below: Mural by Kseniya Tsoy on a garage door.

bright and colourful mural in an alley of a woman with long purplish black hair, very white skin, and a blue low necked top. She's holding a pomegranate and two branches with green leaves and red flower

Support for the alley murals was provided by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

I have included most of the paintings but not all. For a complete set of photos, please take a look on Erika James’s Instagram page as she was one of the organizers of the project and she has documented it well.

These murals also appear on my Walking Toronto blog in two separate posts:
1. Around Wadsworth Park and
2. South of Davenport

mr.besk in Instanbul (2018)

Posted on January 22, 2022 by Mary C

Because COVID is still slowing everyone down, I continue to search through old travel pictures because I know that there are still lots of photos of street art that I haven’t shared. Today I found four murals by mr.besk that I saw the last time that I was in Instanbul. They feature yellow outlines and little Basquiat-type three pointed crowns.

street art mural by Turkish artist mr besk of a person playing a traditional musical instrument, either a saz or a baglama, while wearing a white star wars type mask — Traditional clothing and a pearl necklace with a very untraditional mask

street art mural by Turkish artist mr besk of a young man singing into a hand held microphone

street art mural by Turkish artist mr besk of an official looking Turkish man wearing a fez

street art mural by Turkish artist mr besk of Albert Einstein on a red wall. Yellow outline of Einstein's head plus a small yellow crown with three points above his head. — Albert Einsten making faces on Turkgucu

other Artist Lane murals and graffiti, Windsor, 2018

Posted on August 2, 2021 by Mary C

Artist Lane runs parallel to Chapel Street between Green and Union streets, just north of Windsor railway station. Most of the lane is covered with street art of some sort.

street art painting of a man's head, a woman's head and a bird's head, all above a text piece

street art painting in Artist Lane of a man with two merged heads. He has one set of hair, four eyes, two noses, one mouth. below: Four hairy dudes by AEON aka Tom Gerrard
stencils of four people's heads with bright orange hair

Artist Lane, Windsor, Melbourne with street art on garages and walls

street art in Artist Lane, two faces, one man in orange hat, also a fish

a blue mural at the end of Artist Lane, a blue creature

below: “I ain’t afraid of no ghost”, says the cat the skull and the devil.

black drawings on white of a cat head, and a skull. cat has word balloon that says I am not afraid of ghosts

graffiti of a cat in egyptian goddess outfit
below: Fresh presto phats diva!
a text abstract street art with the words fresh presto phats written in the top corner

section of a large series of murals along Artist Lane

below: A tropical scene by Skr3am (aka Skream III)

a mural by skr3am of a tropical beach sunset with palm trees

mural of a dog's head in blue with a large nose

Artist Lane, Windsor, Melbourne with street art on garages and walls
realistic street art painting of a man's portrait in grey tones, black and white

street art, a cartoon painting man with a hat with rabbit ears, he is eating a carrot

mural thati includes a large spray paint can with arms, legs, a mouth and a very big red tongue

a paper paste up of a brass faucet that is peeling away, on a pole in Artist Lane

an eye ball in the middle of a palm of a hand, graffiti

street art in an alcove, up under air conditioning units and plumbing, looks like a sea creature with a big mouth and teeth

Chapel St. tiger, Fitzroy

Posted on August 1, 2021 by Mary C

On the corner of Chapel and Johnston in Fitzroy there was once a tiger mural painted by Lauren YS (seen in December 2018). It was a tiger with sharp teeth and a long red tongue. Its tail curled around two tattooed faceless women dressed in red.

mural by Lauren YS of a large black and white tiger with its tail curled around two women dressed in Asian red dresses and with tattoos on arms and legs

part of a mural by Lauren YS squid licker of a black and white tiger's head

part of a mural by Lauren YS, two women in Asian red dresses with hair in two buns

Eyes on the Streets

and feets on the ground. Graffiti, street art and murals seen while wandering the streets and alleys of our colourful world.

Lucas Antics, Bristol England

Bristol Bearpit

Maika

faces in pinks and blues

Madame Gilles

La Fresque des Québécois

Carleton Village murals, Toronto 2021

mr.besk in Instanbul (2018)

other Artist Lane murals and graffiti, Windsor, 2018

Chapel St. tiger, Fitzroy