big Blu faces

On the corner of Via Della Conce and via del Porto Fluviale in Rome, there is a large mural that Italian street artist Blu painted in 2014.  Many large whimsical faces using most of the 48 windows in the building as eyes now cover the building.

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings,

This building was once a military warehouse, Caserma dell’Aeronautica

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings, brown face in middle

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings,

below: At the corner,  a yellow monkey-like face on the bottom and a white man’s face looking outward from both sides of the building.

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings, at corner with via della conce

below: Spaghetti-like pink hair that almost covers the eyes with a laughing yellow circular face over the door. mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings,

below: Pigeons on a ledge on a small side of the building, sitting under a tree.

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings, end of building has a large tree with greenery below, real pigeons sitting on ledge of building

below: A yellow face of bananas and a green face of leaves with pink tea cups in between.

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings, small tree growing in front, green face and yellow face made of bananas

below: A reddish face made of puzzle pieces.

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings, close up of red face made up of puzzle pieces

below: A white faced covered with stubble in the middle of other faces.

mural in Rome by Blu, on del porto fluviale, of large faces, where the eyes are windows in the buildings, red face and white face,

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The whole mural:
Photo credit for the above picture – found online at the Colossal, Nov 23, 2014.  You can see more pictures there as well as more links re Blu’s work.  You can also see how much the mural has faded in five years.

four Batmans and an old man’s bird

Close to the intersection of Dhirar Bin Al-Azwar street and Moh’d Al-Shurayqi street are two pieces of street art.  They have nothing in common except their proximity to each other.

First is a bright mural called “Odin” by Suhaib Attar of a bird  on top of an old man’s head.  The feathers on the bird meld into the hair of the man’s beard and moustache.  Is the bird dead or alive?

mural by Suhaib Attar of a bird with grey and black wing feathers, on red circle background

Odin is the bearded one-eyed Norse god of is the god of wisdom, poetry, death, divination, and magic.  He was often accompanied by two wolves and two ravens.

close up of head of bird in mural by Suhaib Attar in grey tones on red background

The other wall features a more modern character, Batman.

on a wall, 4 stencils of Batman, two have him dancing and two have him playing castonettes

Batman stencil, with mustache, upper body

Someone has written “quarter life crisis” on the wall.  I suspect that it has nothing to do with Batman but I rather like the juxtaposition.

Batman stencils on a wall along with words that someone has written, quarterly life crisis

2 green street signs at an intersection in Amman Jordan along with a red and white do not enter sign

faces on Nemr Al-Edwan street

There are several faces on two murals on different walls, one older and one newer.  First is a series of faces starting with this singing woman in a turban.

a woman in a colourful striped turban, singing with her eyes closed, mural pn a concrete wall, with green tree behind

below: Several of the face were painted by Batool Edris

realistic painting of a woman's face in colur, short hair, light brown eyes, lips are slightly crooked, on a concrete wall, by Batool Edris

below: He has the whole city in his head – or overflowing from his head! (another  two portraits by Batool Edris)

Black and white, grey tones, painting of a man's face in partial profile, on a wall. Can see the city beyond over the top of his forehead

below: Speaking in Arabic

black and white mural of two faces, one at each end, with arabic letters between them

below: On the right is Edris’s portrait of Salvador Dali.  On the other side of the orange gate is a cactus-headed person

an orange metal gate in between two murals, on the left is face with a cactus instead of hair, and on the other side is a back and white picture of Salvator Dali

The second mural is “Unity in Diversity” painted late in 2018 by @mahahindi_,  Afnan Barqawi, and the Orenda Tribe (with support from the US Embassy).

mural of a line of large faces of different ethnic backgrounds, and colours,

mural of large faces by the Orenda Tribe

mural of large faces of different colours,

three large facecs in a mural, one with orange sunglasses and purple hair, one Asian looking with large black glasses

400ml on two walls

In the Gueliz part of Marrakech I saw two walls that were painted by 400ml (aka Hicham Bellaghzal).  The first three pictures show the first wall presented from left to right.

“love love love”

mural by 400 ml, right habd side of mural, bly sitting, large red heart beside him, and rays of light coming from his eyes

“When we haven’t what we like we must like what we have.”

middle section of a mural by 400 ml in Marrakech, a boy in black and grey, back turned, against wall of bright reds and blues with words, love, love, love as well as

“Yesterday I really wanted pizza. Today I’m eating pizza.  Follow your dreams.”

mural with Bart Simpson holding a piece of pizza with words, yesterday I really wanted pizza today I am eating pizza follow your dreams

Nearby is another mural.  If I remember correctly, it’s just off Av Hassan II close to the train station.  Again, from left to right.

a small black horse and a face in profile in a mural

Rocco Morocco and a boy chasing a butterfly.   The love equation.

in a mural, an old man with a can and long orange coat with hood walks away, 1 plus one equals a heart

Urgent eyes

mural in sections, one section has two eyes in black and white surrounded by hearts in red and blue

in a mural, an old man with a can and long grey coat with hood walks away, plus large orange and yellow letters that spell Rocco

Berber man in Marrakech

Across the street from the train station in Marrakech is this large mural of Aziz the mason, a Berber man in a wool hat. It was painted by German artist Hendrik Beikirch in 2015. Beikirch first worked with spray paint 30 years ago.

traffic passing by including a horse drawn carriage, a gas station on the corner across the street and a large mural of a berber man on a wall. Mural by Heinrich

In 2014 Beirkirch spent some time as an artist in resident at Jardin Rouge, a program sponsored by the Montresso Art Foundation in Marrakech.  The work that he did here became the Tracing Morocco project.   For this project, Beikirch painted 22 portraits of Moroccans he had met; it is meant as a tribute to those whose traditional ways are disappearing.  Not only were portraits printed in a book of the same name, but also they were painted as large murals in different places around the world including the Netherlands and New York City.

face of berber man in mural in Marrakech, part smile, wearing hat, mustache, wrinkled face

Nicholai Khan – Think Vegas

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

Casablanca seawall

There is a path that runs along the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, leading to the new Hassan 2 mosque.  Beside the path is a wall that has been painted with street art.  When I walked here in October 2019, these are the murals that I saw.   I have only been able to identify some of the artists.

women leaning against railing on path beside the ocean in Casablanca, with Hassan 2 mosque and Atlantic Ocean in the background

below: “Oxymoron” by iramo aka Iramo Samir

woman's head and shoulders, mural by Iramo Samir called Oxymoron, most of her face is covered with flowers, lower part of face and shoulders is blue water with a person who seems to be drowning

below: Like all the murals on this wall, this one is looking out to sea

stylized painting of a black face with yellow mouth, blue around one eye, red hair,

mural on a wall in Casablanca, blue woman's face with black cloth around top of head

below: A man in a purple camo hat, by Majid aka Majid El Bahar

man's head, mural, wearing a purple camo hat and a black top with lots of white squiggles on it. A rope winds its way through the image

below: Casablanca plus text (artist’s tag) by TRUST

text graffiti by trust also with word casablanca and some scenes from that city

below: By  Moka 187

mural by vida moka of a topless man with orange pants, mask over face, teapot in one hand, running,

sea wall, with path below, beside the Atlantic Ocean in Casablanca, with Hassan 2 mosque in the background

below: Would you kiss a shark?  Even one that claims to love his mom?mural of a shark with toothy grin, words that say I want a kiss. Shark is holding a broom, has smd written on chest, as well as a red heart with word mom on it black line drawing mural on a wall, with faces

below: Close up of a man’s eyes and nose, signed as Senzoclouds aka Senzo or Mr. Clouds.

mural, close up of man's eyes and nose by Senzoclouds, senzo, mr clouds mural with woman in purple shirt and turquoise hat, holding arm in front of her face, mural two men sitting in front of a mural with woman in pink shirt and turquoise hat, holding arm in front of her face

a breown animal in profile, mouth open wide as it roars. a bear maybe

a dog-like creature wearing a baseball cap is spray painting a tag on a wall, mural