creatures and faces, Thessaloniki

below: A large mural in Thessaloniki by DAL and Faith47.

large mural on the side of a building, a woman in profile with her hair tied up, a feathery black bird above her

below: The unspeakable truth

graffiti on a grey wall, a tree growing in front of it, a man in armour and old fashioned aviation goggles on his forehead, holding a creature with human like face and arms trying to break out from behind bars

below: Large owl in purple and white with pink eyes staring at you.

below: A mad dog (wolf?) with teeth showing, chasing a man in green.

mural of a very large wolf, or dog, head with open mouth and large sharp teeth showing, chasing a man dressed in green, looks like the man is almost in the dogs mouth, small enough to fit whole man in the mouth

below: All you see are the blue eyes… veil by vales?

motorbike parked in front of a mural of a person with head covering and veil

below: It reminded me of the story of the Trojan horse.   Or you can think of it as two modes of transportation, then and now.

drawing of a horse with its back covered with a blanket, on a wall covered with small green horizontal lines, a motorbike is parked in front of it.

below: Encircled in purple

small street art painting, purple, circle shape with woman's profile in it, in light blues and oranges

below: How is your Greek? I haven’t a clue but I hope it’s not too profane. When I tried a google image search, it came up with maps of Thessaloniki – is that a clue? I thought the image was more like a bird.

Green wall. Topless woman street art. Grey feathery object beside her. Also words written in Greek.

below: Making music. Once again the words are written in Greek so I don’t understand them.

street art painting in black and white on a red wall of a musician, signature is buz 2012

below: White tigers on a wall. Mama and her two little ones along with some paste-up faces.

three white tigers on a red wall, a parent tiger with two cubs (kitts?), some other pasteups on the wall too

below: Death sneaks up from behind. Colourful.

graffiti and street art on a low wall in Thessaloniki, with leaves of trees above the wall

below: Oh no! Another picture with a motorbike!

two large white ovals with faces drawn in black lines, one continuous line for each face. A motorbike is also in the picture

below: A skeleton between the windows.

below: A fence to keep the cows in, even if it’s a wind up cow. You probably can’t see it, but someone has written “go vegan” by the cow’s tail. The signature seems to be shogun1.de

below: This octopus seems quite happy with his ride!

below: #ironik in English,

Street art and graffiti on a wall including a blue skull. Two white posters have been pasted on top, both by ironik. Words in English. One says

below: oink, oink, grunt, grunt. A wonderfully real looking pig albeit a purple one.

Mural on a wall that includes a realistic looking purple pig. Also words (signature?) Bepia Me Xdona

below: Be yourself even if you’re blue.

below: Skull and head.

below: Not even skin and bones, just bones but bones with wonderful detail.

small street art piece, black background, white skeleton of small animal such as a cat or dog, very realistic skeleton

below: His sunglasses match his tongue.

a large face painted on a garage door, yellow skin, purple sunglasses and purple tongue

below: Skane, sorc and zombie with a tongue

three ugly creatures drawn and painted on a metal door

below: Little blue man and a signature that I’m not sure about.

street art, short little purple man with oversized head, fabric mask over his nose and mouth, one arm up raised. on the other side of the mural is a creature with large eye and three monstrous teeth

below: Two faces in white and orange.

two street art faces, one white and one orange, both with lines drawn in black

black line drawing of a man on a graffiti covered door, top painted orange and bottom of man painted green

To find out where we’ve taken picture of street art, check our “Locations” page!

Calle de San Cayetano, Madrid

below: The intersection of San Cayetano and Calle de Embajadores.  A wall encloses a playing field of some kind.

a woman pushes a stroller past a wall with street art murals painted on them, she's head down the hill at Calle San Cayetano

below: Looking down San Cayetano

looking down a street that goes downhill, a brick fence with murals on it on the right, also street art on the building at the end of the street, 3 and 4 storey buildings on either side.

below:

mural of a large flower on a brick wall

mural of a spaceman's head in a helmet

below: Street art on the wall signed by @elreydelaruina (Ruina R64)

low wall with murals in front of a larger mural on the side of a 3 storey building

a man walks down a street in Madrid, beside a low brick wall that has been covered with street art murals

 

below: Parts of letters on the wall.  Tuuulibreria is a bookstore where you (the buyer) decide how much the book is worth.

below: And above the bookstore, a table ready for dinner.  The words above the wine bottle are an ode to Embajadores, “mi barrio” i.e. my neighbourhood.

in a Madrid park

The following photos were taken in a walled park (or community garden) in Madrid in March 2018.

below: Face and fishes by Lazaro Totem

large realistic painting of a man's face on white brick wall, with some fish swimming above his head, signed as

below: El Indio

El Indio street art painting of a yellow man, skinny arms and legs, arms raised above his head and spear in his hands, red mask over eyes, loin cloth of red, yellow and green

below: Por Favor is a street artist whose work can be seen around Madrid.

poster by Por Favor of a woman's face in pink and purple

below: Ianah

painting on a wall of a girl's head and shoulders, in water, with fish covering her head, and fish swimming in the water,

below: The front of a large ROA animal

front part of a large mural of an animal by ROA

below: And the back part of the animal, and the left part of the mural

back part of a large mural by ROA, pigs,

below: Another El Indio.  He’s wanted for something!

El Indio street art painting on brick wall, large Wanted sign on the top, picture of a yellow man with red mask and blue skimpy underpants

below: A long drawn mural with lots of detail.

wall separating park from high rise apartment building with balconies, on wall is a mural

below: A close up of part of the mural above

close up detail of mural on white brick, trees and plants in front

below: The Madrid coat of arms is the blue shield shape with a bear and a tree in the middle, similar to what is painted here.  The man chopping down the tree is definitely not on the coat of arms!

mural of someone working on the Madrid coat of arms

below: Vegan bunnies

vegan bunnies street art

Quito Ecuador

There is a lot of street art in Quito.   It covers a lot of concrete walls that are part of the city’s infrastructure (supports for elevated roads, walls around buildings, etc).   Here is some that I saw in February 2018.

below: Two people, one inside sitting pretty in pink and one outside.

grey and white painted stencil of a man including head, upper body and one arm. on a yellow wall beside a window with a pink window frame. There is a sticker or pasteup of another face in the window looking out. Quito Ecuador

below: A bird in flight.  One wing looks like flames while the other wing resembles water.   Signed by yo-ho-ho.

street art in Quito Ecuador, a bird in flight, one wing looks like flames and the other wing looks like water, painted by yo_ho_ho. mural in Quito Ecuador

 

below: Many, many faces in pink.

on a wall with ivy growing over the top of it, many faces in shades of pink , overlapping each other. mural in Quito Ecuador

 

below: Part dragon and part fish?

on a yellow wall, behind a small tree, a colourful painting of a dragon

 

below: A painting by BEGO

on a house beyond a white fence, a painting on the upper storey of a woman with red hair and red flower

 

The next few paintings were on a wall surrounding an house that was falling down.

on an old stone wall, two animal heads, a dog and a cat maybe.

painted in blue, a pig with sunglasses and crossed arms, words say smoky pig

on a crumbling stone wall is a large green face with many pink eyes, and pink liquid spewing from his mouth

 

below: This is the last of the photos from the ruined building – note the broken bottles across the top of the wall.  That’s very common in Quito… although electric fences seem to be replacing broken glass as a means of keeping trespassers out.

mural of a boy's head in profile, short hair, wearing goggles, all in blue shades

 

below: Crab (lobster?) hands

stylized painting of a man upper body with large crab hands, lack hair and blue writing (illegible) on both sides of his head.

below: Laughing and pointing

large man's face with laughing open mouth, moustache and short hair, pink shirt collar, hand with index finger pointing , mural in Quito Ecuador , Hecho salsa

 

below: Someone stole an orange cone.

graffiti on a wall

 

below: Covering his mouth and I don’t think that it’s because he’s coughing.

mural in Quito Ecuador , large red face with a blue hand covering its mouth

 

below: Me

wall painted part red and part blue. on the blue part is a large ME in white with black border. Quito Ecuador graffiti

 

below: Pasteup over his face, a mouse and a mousetrap

part of a larger mural with soldier, wearing helmet with three gold stars on it, someone has put a red dot in the middle of his forehead, also a pasteup now covers his face, with a rat on it, mural in Quito Ecuador

 

below: Another gorgeous bird.  Signed by Pagach? (Pagache?)

mural in Quito Ecuador , realistic painting of a bird with a black and yellow head.

below: Painted on a rusty metal gate.  Reaching for the skull.  I am not sure of the words but if it’s “ponte y las alas” that translates to ‘stand and the wings’ but there are more letters.  Any ideas anyone?  Painted by Aster in 2017.

on a rusted metal gate that is locked closed, graffiti of a person with outstretched arm, as well as a skull

 

below: Resiste

small paste up of a face and star with green and red parts

below: Graffiti behind the fence

graffiti on a wall beside an outdoor stairwell, behind a chainlink fence in Quito Ecuador

 

below: Supay Corpus in a residential area.

 

below: Someone likes to paint underwear, men’s brief to be more specific.

large black and white painting of a pair of men's briefs, underpants in Quito

 

below: A very realistic portrait of an old man with one green eye open.

realistic, and large, painting of a wrinkly man's face, one eye open and one closed. The open eye is green.

 

 

faded red concrete steps leading to a black door with a metal grille covering it,also some graffiti tags. Two bottle brush trees are in front with their red flowers

 

circular pattern painted in black and white with a cat's face ferocious in the center circle, painted mural

 

And last, there were some word stencils….

below: #2mayo and “ecuador ama la vida” which is ‘ecuador, love life’ is now someone’s love note to Mina.

two black stencils, the first is a raised fist with the words #2mayo and the other says ecuador

below: “Sigue to corazon & disfruta el viaje” which means “follow your heart and enjoy the trip”.

black stencil on grey concrete, sigue tu corazon a disfruta la viaje, written twice

 

below: Natura Insurrecta?  and “Mineria responsable cuento miserable”.  The direct translation for the latter is “mining responsible, tale miserable”.

green stencil on top and black on the bottom that says mineria responsable cuentu miserable

 

people on Bristol streets

People in murals and other street art seen in Bristol earlier in 2017. 

below:  A mural in shades of yellow by tattoo and street artist Sepr (instagram) .  These aren’t blackbirds baked in a pie, instead they are blackbirds in a cup and saucer.  Let’s have tea!

mural, yellow and grey on black background, car parked in front. Mural is a man holding a tea cup in one hand and a small plate in the other. Two blackbirds in the cup and one on the plate.

below: Jesus Break Dance by Cosmo Sarson

large mural of a man upside down on one hand, only a loincloth on, no other clothes

below: A large mural of a woman’s face in yellow and black, by Stinkfish, Stokes Croft, 2012

large mural of a yellow woman's face, long black hair, on the side of a building, blue and red text graffiti along the bottom

below: The Coat of Arms by Nick Walker

mural on a wall, figure with many arms, wrds that say the coat of arms

below: On the left is ‘Afrika en la casa’ by Feo Flip (Basura Visual) and on the right is a cracked face by LAIC.

two large faces, one man , one woman, with a door covered with posters between them

below: Another piece by LAIC.  Most of his street art involves distorted faces,

below: Street art by Dr. Love from Tbilisi Georgia, love holds you up. Girl on swing. Red balloons.

street art piece of s girl sitting on a swing that is being held up by two red balloons

below: Welcome to St. Pauls mural

mural on a wall, city scene

street art, 3 pieces,painting of woman's head in grey and purple, graffiti in pink and green shapes, plus drawing on a door in the middle

below: Alice in Wasteland.

stencil graffiti

below: A little line drawing wonderfully placed around the chain.

small drawing on a wall, man with scowling face, large head and small body,

below: Boxing dog-faced men with bright red gloves.

mural of naked men with red boxing gloves

below: DENX ’09

street art painting of a man with blue face, black hat and jacket and green pants

mural of a witch with wizard hat on blue with yellow stars

under a barred window, a painting of two faces on blue background

resist graffiti words

parking meter man as a monkey, sneering, and pointing, beside a sign that says no parking, words on street art say put the oney in the meter

words that say think local boycott tesco, picture of a man holding a protest sign and a megaphone

Jamaica at Hillgrove, Bristol

below: A panda finds a quiet corner under the street sign.

small street art piece of a panda with bamboo in its mouth, under a street sign for Hillgrove Street

 

Hillgrove is a short street, two blocks long.  It is dissected by Jamaica Street.   On one corner is a large mural by Phlegm.  A man looks through a telescope while sitting on the shoulders of a man who in turn is standing on stilts.  One hand is holding the telescope while a bird on a rope is held by the other.   A large red and white wave reminiscent of ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ by Katsushika Hokusai is the eye catching focus of the painting.  It’s as if he’s looking to the future while standing on the shoulders of giants (masters). 

 

buildings on a street in Bristol, including one with a large mural by phlegm,large red and white wave with a person on a ladder besideit looking through a telescope

large mural by phlegm,large red and white wave with a person on a ladder besideit looking through a telescope

 

below: A stenciled cat walks on the sidewalk….  the  work of Beastie.

small stencil of a realistic looking cat, on a concrete wall, at sidewalk level so itloks like it's walking on the pavement

below: A natural woman of sorts – with plants, vines and roots and the bugs and butterflies that depend on them.

tall narrowmura of a woman with flowers and vines and chinese character tattoo on her shoulder

Cleveland – Waterloo Road

Waterloo Road runs parallel to the Lakeland Freeway (I-90) in Collinwood which is east of downtown Cleveland.   It is an older neighbourhood in need of revitalization and, like more and more cities, it is an area in which street art is encouraged – now the Waterloo Arts and Entertainment District  The following are the murals that I saw along Waterloo Road last month.

very large mural in black on a boarded up goldish coloured building, windows painted same colour as building, two storeys, man in a gas mask, at the corner of 156th Street and Waterloo in Cleveland

below: This large mural dominates the intersection of East 156th and Waterloo.

continuation of mural of man in gas mask, building is on a corner and the mural exte4nds around the corner, there is a large bird in his hand,

below: Hundreds of faces linked together

four panels in a a mural of people with large multicoloured faces, blue and red bodies, all holding hands,

close up of a mural with face in many colours, all drawn with lines, long red arm reaches in one direction, background is black and white faces

below: Pop Life building

upper part of a building that has been painted in stripes and rectangles of colours including black and white sections

below: The front of the building was painted by Lynnea Holand-Weiss as part of Waterloo Arts Zoetic Walls project, June 2015.  The building is owned by Judy Wolfe, a weaver, and some her designs were used as inspiration for the mural.

street art murals on two sides of a two storey building, on side is a black person dancing and on the front are two older people that are facing each other, takes up whole front of the building, there is a blue shadow for each that represents their younger selves.

below: Treasure has left his/her mark

Cleveland street art, exterior, on the upper level of a building, face in many colours, with text that says treasure

below: A hammer and a pair of pliers and a line of little people below.  Do the blue lines emanating from his eyes have any significance?  It looks rather creepy.  But maybe he’s just a visionary or is looking to rebuild the community.

a woman walks past a building with a large mural painted on it, a man holds a hammer in one hand and a pair of pliers in the other, blue lines loop from his eyes to the tools, old store front is empty, Cleveland,

below: A barber with bling in the city.

mural on side of red brick building on Waterloo Road in Cleveland, a large hand with rings and bracelets is reaching towards a cityscape in black with pink yellow and orange sky

below: All Ways, by Lynnea Holland-Weiss

double car garage with a face painted on each, one with black background and the other with blue background, big multi coloured faces that are looking at each other, beside the garage is a fence and gate with two more figures painted on them, one red with a yellow head and the other is blue with a red head

 

below: A messy pile of opened foldaway chairs. on the side of building in CLeveland, a mural of a stack of foldable chairs, open, disorderly pile, not neatly piled,

below: Abstract lines and shapes form an archway.abstract geometric shapes in a mural, pink background, shapes in blues and greys along with some blue and white lines

below: Part of mural by Nick Mann, 2013 (2 photos)

part of a mural by Nick Mann in Cleveland

part of a mural by Nick Mann in Cleveland

below: Joined by an infinite rainbow.  The wire fence prevented me from getting closer (trespassing in foreign countries is not as easy as it is at home!) so I didn’t get a good look at some of the detail in this mural.

mural on the side of a building, two people facing each other with rainbow coloured lines joining them

below: The Waterloo Arts building.

the front of the Waterloo Arts building in Cleveland, painted in light green with other designs, such as a long snake. three windows, two are closed and one is open

below: The mural on the side of the Waterloo Arts building…

a mural that is a collage of faces of many people, simply painted, each within a square or rectangle, Cleveland street art

below: … and the words that go with it.

words painted on a wall beside a mural in Cleveland that thanks the people who made the mural

“Inspired by the artwork and concepts of ArtsCollinwood’s portfolio project students, this mural represents our vibrant community and shows what can occur when established artists collaborate with students.

the following students participated in this inaugural year of portfolio project.  Not only did they exhibit tremendous talent, they continue to amaze us with their energy, ideas, and fortitude, Imane Blaine, Arrielle Like, Marcel Mason, Miracle Smothers, Lorenzo Thomas, Siera Thomas, Destiny Ware, Derek Witcher.  Mural by J. Kelly (with A. Merritt and C. [illegible]  ) June 14th – June 24th, 2010″

Denver street art

Like a number of cities have done, Denver has a district where large murals and other street art is encouraged.  In Denver’s case it is the River North (RiNo) Art District and the most street art is found along Larimer Street although I also found some at the top of Blake Street.  Here is the first batch of murals and paintings that I saw.

below: Love This City mural.  It is one of three ‘love’ murals, one in each of three neighbourhoods, by Pat Milbery.

horizontal mural in Denver with cursive writing that says Love this city.

below: A colourful head by Detour303

Denver street art mural of a woman's face on a large door. bright blue hair, background is pink and purple, skin in oranges, yellows and blues, by Detour303

 

below: by Chris Spade.  Haven’t you always wanted an octopus on your head?

Denver street art mural of a woman, from the waist up, naked, black x's over her nipples, large purple octopus on her head as well as large headphones over the ears. eye of the octopus shows. by Chris Spade

 

below: Snarling at people on the street.   Or maybe he’s screaming.

on a fence, street art, text and stylized throw up in greens on either side of a large black face with mouth open showing white teeth,

below:  A purplish woman in profile, with red and reddish circles.

mural of woman's profile in purplish tones, green hair, also her hand is in the painting. a red circle on her left and her right.

below: What one can do with a wall that isn’t flat.  From one side you see a boy, walk in the other direction and you see a girl.  Stand across the street and look straight at the building, the people disappear.  This is “Larimar Boy and Girl” by Jeremy Burns.

large mural of an oval face in white with black feature on a blue and brown background. wall is 3D so the mural changes depending on which angle you look at it. Straight on, only the blue and brown background shows. from one side, a boy's face, from the other side, a girl's face

 

below: Peaking out from behind the porch

on a wall on Blake St in Denver, a face in oranges and purples partially behind an overhang porch over a door a

below: by Gamma Gallery

Denver street art mural of a woman with long hair that is actually butterflies, by Gamma Gallery. She has her face in hands, like a mask, revealing her skull below. Very large, two storeys high

below: I am not sure if this mural, painted by Max Sansing (MAX) means anything.  The orange melting over the blue makes it look very creepy.  I like the little purple girl on the tire swing though.

Denver street art mural of a woman's head, top part is orange and bottom is blue, the orange part is melting into the blue. eyes closed. From the cheek, in purple, a small tire swing with a small girl playing on it.

 

below: Another colourful head on a door.  This one is by illson.

colourful mural on a garage door by illson in denver of a woman looking upward, with one of her hands raised up a bit

 

below: A grid pattern of stylized flowers on Blake Street.

older street art on a concrete block wall in Denver, stylized four petal flowers in a grid pattern, blues on the tops and yellows and oranges on the bottom. some weeds growing up beside the wall.

 

below: Keep an open mind.

Denver street art on a small, low concrete wall of a green figure with the words keep an open mind. a graffiti covered garbage skip is beside it.

 

below: It’s an ad for Botanicare but it’s roots are in street art.

part mural and part ad for botanicare products, a woman in many colours with long flowing hair, two large hibiscus flowers in front of her, on the side of a building in Denver

pesimo DMJC crew and saile_one in Wynwood

There is a large mural in Wynwood that is a collaboration between Peruvian street artist pesimo DMJC crew and saile_one.   Four very large figures cover the side of a building.   The car helps to give a sense of just how big the mural is.

large mural by pesimo93, dmjc crew and saile_one

below: There are a lot of details in the mural….  the spray paint can on the left, the vehicle crashed over the shoulder, an 8 ball,  and a USB stick.   Is it a snake or a wreath of living plants around the neck?  Is it strangling him?  The mask worn by the person on the right has a zipper, a padlock and crossed chopsticks.

large mural by pesimo93, dmjc crew and saile_one - part of the mural with a red car parked in front of it.

below: More details.  The dog is wearing a chain that says “trust no human”, and there are eyeballs on one of the heads.   The man on the left is wearing a badge that says #NoDAPL which is the hashtag associated with the anti Dakota Access Pipeline protest including the resistance at Standing Rock.

large mural, upper part of two people, one has face painted

below: Their “signature” includes their “portraits”.

two stylized heads painted on a door, one is in blue tones and the other in olive green tones, the left is dmjc crew and the right is saile_one. both have cigarettes and baseball caps on backwards. also wearing glasses.