Tag Archives: bananas

Keep going … and Live a great story

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There is not a lot of graffiti in Seoul of the sticker and paste up variety. I think that there is a connection between graffiti and tattoo artists in many places. There may be a few places to get a tattoo in Seoul but it is not common. You can find graffiti but you have to be looking for it.

below: Korean poet, Kim Soo-Young, The bottom text is a line from his poem Grass (풀), asking “Why do I get enraged over such small things?”

graffiti stencil of Korean poet Kim Soo-Young, young man leaning on arm, with Korean text that is a line from his poem titled Grass.

below: The Korean text written in the top left translates to “Come to your senses” or “Get a grip”. Seen in the Insadong neighbourhood of Seoul.

Korean warrior pointing, with Korean text written in the top left translates to Come to your senses or Get a grip

below: “WDF” stands for the Welcome Daehakro Festival. Daehak-ro is a famous performing arts and theater district in Seoul, South Korea. Not really graffiti?

Little orange character on a bright blue wall

below: The wall mural of a vintage red locomotive is a signature feature of Cheolgil Wang Galbisal, a popular restaurant in the Sinchon area. The restaurant is located near the Gyeongui Line Forest Park, a linear park built along an old railway line. You can argue that the engine isn’t really graffiti – but the cat probably is?

wall mural of a vintage red locomotive outside a restaurant

below: Another cat, but this time its looking up to the cherry blossoms that are always in bloom.

cherry blossom with a mural with a black cat at the bottom

below: A black stenciled woman in a red skirt with the text “Scattering of Sprites”.

below: Nancy (Nancy Ritz) is a comic strip character created by Ernie Bushmiller in the 1930s. Here she is smoking a cigarette, something that she probably never did in Bushmiller’s day especially since she was drawn as an 8 year old girl.

graffiti stickers on a pole

below: Lucky fox banana virus – choose 4 random words to describe your group! What words would you choose?!

graffiti stickers on a pole, one with words Lucky fox banana virus

below: A sticker bombed electrical utility box with “Keep Going” in the center where the letters appear to be painted on tin cans wrapped with black paper or tape.

below: Chimps and Burgers – this is actually the name of a burger restaurant in Seoul and the mural, obviously, is associated with it. Not really street art?

chimps and burgers wall painting, outdoors, on side of restaurant

below: Bananas!

yellow bananas painted on a green pole

below: “Live a Great Story” and “Push it a Stop”.

graffiti stickers
korean writing on a red brick wall

below: A tiger smoking a very long pipe in the presence of two white rabbits – this is a common Korean folk tale image. Tigers are powerful but are often gullible and, therefore, targets of rabbits who are clever tricksters.

painting of a tiger with clouds and two white rabbits

below: One small wall with tags – a rare sight in Seoul.

tags on a building in Seoul

below: Stickers on a pole. Paper tiger jumping through a flaming hoop.

graffiti Stickers on a pole including a Paper tiger jumping through a flaming hoop
graffiti sticker of a butterfly

Photos taken September 2024

another Hertel Alley building

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with walls covered with street art murals

below: Bugs and balls – Ladybugs and spiders, billiard balls and eye balls, all on a bright green background, mural by Markenzy Cesar

below: A sweet mural with donuts and cupcakes, by Sakygrinu, aka Teouria Morris

below: The next three go together, a long mural by Jordan Weaver (aka Coconut Curry) with red dots, faces, a dragon, and many pink flowers

part of a mural by coconut curry, a woman's face in profile with large red circle on her cheek

part of a mural by coconut curry, a blue Chinese style gragon with open mouth and teeth, on clouds,

part of a large mural by coconut curry, pink flowers on grey background

below: Jumping for joy and leaping towards the sun on a bright blue sky day, in a mural by Courtney Haeick

below: These walls are bananas!

street art on a white door in an alley, stencil of a black chimp or chimpanzee wearing a sign that says these walls are bananas, also 4 bananas above his head

below: Keshanta Cleveland painted these colourful fish with the wonderful fins and tails.

mural in an alley, on brick building, two fish with fluffy long flowing fins and tail, a bit like angel fish, one is peach coloured and the othr is pink and maroon

Photos taken April 2025

Link to prior Hertel Alley post – the answer is love

For more information on all things Hertel Walls, check out their website!

big Blu faces

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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.