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.

Hallelujah

Posted on February 26, 2022 by Mary C

Reply

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.

very large mural in Montreal of Leonard Cohen, head and shoulders, wearing a fedora, in purple tones, by Kevin Ledo

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

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Instrumental

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, 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

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Lucas Antics, Bristol England

Posted on February 23, 2022 by Mary C

Reply

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.

faces in pinks and blues

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Mary C

Reply

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

Chapel St. tiger, Fitzroy

Posted on August 1, 2021 by Mary C

Reply

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

brotha y otha

Posted on November 2, 2020 by Mary C

Reply

The largest throw-up on this wall in Cuenca Ecuador was easily read as ‘brotha’. The other (or otha) throw-ups are not as legible although one might be ‘llama’. The murals are where calle Jose Alvear meets Av Fray Vincente Solano

large brotha throw-up in orange and yellow

a grey elephant with a baseball cap that says Cuenca on it, also letters, possibly L and L, mural on a wall,

mural on a wall with a large tiger head as well as the head of a bird, also two throw-ups, text,

street art, upright green crocdile with black sunglasses and holding a baseball bat text throw-up in purple and green mural, picture of a yelling man with mouth wide open showing crooked teeth, balding, overweight,

Pictures taken in January 2018

at Milton and Saint-Famille

Posted on March 23, 2020 by Mary C

Reply

In an residential section of Montreal,

street in Montreal with stairs leading to front doors of houses, some snow, a mural on the side of building that you can see part of

a large mural of a woman on the side of a row of old stone houses

below: A boy with a slingshot by mateo

mural of a boy with a slongshot by mateo on the side of cash and grocery store on Milton St in Montreal

below: Large mural of woman by Drew Merritt
large mural of a woman from shoulders up, wearing blue jacket over olive and pink tops, long brown hair, a tree with no leaves is in front, two people walking past on the sidewalk

Eros & Psyche

Posted on March 14, 2020 by Mary C

Reply

‘Eros & Psyche’ is a large mural painted by Greek artist insane51 as part of Montreal’s 2019 Mural Festival. It is designed to be viewed with 3D glasses. Painted in blues is the ‘exterior’ of a woman while the skeleton and brain are shown in reds.

large mural, red and blue, of a woman showing skeleton and brain, as well as body pierced by two red arrows, designed to be viewed with 3 D galsses, painted in Montreal by insane51

In Greek mythology Psyche was the goddess of the soul and the wife of Eros, the god of love. Eros, also known as Cupid (in Latin, or Roman mythology), was the son of Aphrodite and he was always throwing arrows to people in order to hit their heart and make them fall in love. Psyche was the youngest daughter of a king; she was more beautiful than any goddess. The story of Eros and Psyche is long and a bit convoluted. It involves prophesies, happiness followed by betrayal and heart ache but of course it has a fairy tale ending, Psyche becomes immortal, and the couple live happily ever after.

Librairie Henri-Julien

Posted on March 13, 2020 by Mary C

Reply

Librairie Henri-Julien, on the corner of Villeneuve and Henri-Julien, has three walls of colourful murals. On the east side of the building is this waxhead and cryote (aka Sebastian Millar) painting – Protector of the sacred texts in the citadel of yellow pencils.

bookstore on a corner in Montreal, white window frame with bars on window, a mural by waxhead beside the window

below: Carrying a lot of books on her head! under a window with white metal bars on it, a face in yellows and blues

below: A five-eyed cat, parrot….

a light purple cat with 5 eyes, mural on a wall, on a corner, with more cats and cats faces on the adjacent wall

below: blue cats, pink cats, and a puppy blossom by cryote.

pink and blue cats mural on a wall beside a window, with a pink and blue cat faces under the window

Hamra murals

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Mary C

1

Most of the graffiti and street art that I saw recently in Beirut was political (protest) in nature but there were also some large murals covering the sides of multi-storey buildings in the Hamra district of the city.

below: Picture of Emily Nasrallah and Huguette Caland by Roula Abdo and Mary Shammas for Art of Change and

a mural on the side of a building of two older women, Emily Nasrallah and Huguette Caland, with arms linked with extra arms, coloured ribbons winding between and around them

below: A mural of a woman, Sabah, by Yazan Halwani surrounded by Arabic calligraphy

high on a wall, a large mural by Yazan Halwani of a woman's head and shoulders, surrounded by Arabic letters and words. she is seen in profile, smiling as she looks away

below: From a distance it just looks like black squiggles covering the mural. In fact it is interlocking characters and animals, especially faces with big lips. It was painted by Potato Nose aka Jad El Khoury. Have you noticed the little man standing on the roof?

multi storey residential buildings, one has a large mural on the side of it, blue with a lighter blue semi-circle, with black squiggles all over it

below: This mural, titled “Pagano” is the work of South American artist Inti. It was painted in 2012 as part of the White Wall Beirut project that year.

tall Inti mural in Hamras Beirut, of a boy holding onto a goat, boy wearing hooded jacket and a necklace

head of boy in mural

holding onto a goat in a mural, other little men

below: Unfortunately I don’t know who painted this or what the words say

large mural on the side of a building in Hamras Beirut, purple background with white Arabic writing on it below: One wall of the Mayflower Hotel is covered with this mural by apocaleps

tall narrow mural of part of a man's face, with blue hair and blue mustache, by apocaleps

Mig the robot

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Mary C

1

Mig the robot stars in this Amman mural

cars parked in front of a blue mural on parking lot wall, a woman's face with text chaso, mig the robot, and a figure in pink mig the robot mural white car and black car parked in front of mural with a woman's face, purple hair, and text that says chaos