Tag Archives: calligraphy

quatre murs peints – no hiding here!

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There is a spot at 169 bd Vincent Auriol where you can see four large murals at once. Boulevard Vincent Auriol, presqu’au croisement avec la rue du Château-des-Rentiers.

looking up at a couple of high rise apartment blocks where you can see 4 murals painted on exterior walls

On the far left is a mural by Wen2 and Pakone called “Les Perdrix ” . I’m not sure what “Partridges” have to do with it, but below is a clearer view.

mural painted by wen 2 and paxone on the outside of a multistorey residential building, features a large black and white lighthouse, a jetty, wood buildings on the dock, a girl sitting on the dock, a small boat in the water, a water tower structure with crazy p written on it

Sitting on the dock.  Watching the world?  What thoughts could be going through her head? From this angle, the calligraphy on the black and grey mural is also in focus.  It is a poem,  ‘The Time of Your Life’ by William Saroyan, written in the artist’s own very stylized English script and it covers the entire side of the building.  The artist is Cryptik, a Korean-American.  I’m sorry that I don’t have a more complete picture of the mural.

les perdrix, a mural by wen 2 and paxone, showing old wood buildings or shacks, on a dock, one is cafe du port, some sea gulls flying around

The dominant mural in the top picture, the mural with the brightly colored sun is ‘Sun-Daze’ painted in painted April 2019 by Hownosm. How and Nosm (Raoul and Davide Perré) are identical twin brothers. The lower part of the mural is best seen from street level.

lower part of a hownosm mural with bright pink and orange flowers, with grey tone imagery on top, including a fish, painted on bd Vincent Auriol in Paris

At the very top there is an image of man who has turned his head towards the setting sun.

a bright round sun at the top of a mural, a man on the left corner,

And last, there is the pensive looking Asian woman (Japanese?) who was painted by British artist Hush (with some more of Cryptik’s calligraphy).

mural by hush portrait of a Japanese woman with bright red lipstick, eyes looking town, clothing made of strips of Japanese print fabric, dark black hair,

”In the time of your life, live –
so that in that good time there shall be no ugliness or death for yourself
or for any life your life touches.
Seek goodness everywhere,
and when it is found, bring it out of it’s hiding place
and let it be free and unashamed”
…. opening lines from “The Time of Your Life”, William Saroyan,

by the Chinatown gate

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below: “May an Old Song Open an Old Door” is a bright mural that catches your attention as you approach the entrance to Montreal’s Chinatown at Rene Levesque Blvd and  St. Laurent.   A woman holding a yellow lily stands between two red masks, one represents optimism for the future and the other represents nostalgia for a past left behind.

large Chinatown mural of a Chinese woman in flowered costume, with red and white masks on either side of her, one side happy and one side sad. mural is beside a large gate as entrance to Chinatown. Other side of mural is a traditional Chinese paiting with calligraphy and some pink blossoms

below: A close up of the opera singer in the center of the mural that was produced by MU and  painted by Gene Pendon and Bryan Beyung in 2015.  MU is an organization whose “mission is to beautify the city of Montreal by creating murals that are anchored in local communities.”

Chinese woman in mural, pink bow at her neck, flowers in her bonnet

below: A more traditional Chinese painting based on calligraphy

mural on a wall by a sidewalk and small tree, Chinese calligraphy in black and grey, some small pale pink flowers

below: “Salut Gilles” by Benny Wilding, a tribute to F1 driver Gilles Villeneuve. Unfortunately, a lot of it has been tagged over including the painting of the racing car.

looking across snow covered park to a mural that has been tagged over except for eyes on a green face behind a mask and a black and white figure in a cockpit as well as black and white checkered flag in upper right corner, Montreal buildings behind the mural

a mural that has been tagged over except for eyes on a green face behind a mask and a black and white figure in a cockpit

car parked in front of a on the end of a brown brick building, a mural of people walking on large noodles that are coming out of a very large ladle

below: Serving up noodles with a giant ladle.

on the end of a brown brick building, a mural of people walking on large noodles that are coming out of a very large ladle

walls of Terra Sancta College, Baladk 2016

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Two of the walls that enclose the grounds of Terra Sancta College in Amman are covered with street art.  Most of it was painted as part of Baladk 2016 (art festival).  One of the walls features the red and white “name tags”, you know the ones that say “Hello, my name is….”.   The first one though has “city” instead of “name” because the general theme of Baladk 2016 was ‘Our City – The influence of the City upon yourself as an artist’.

below: Hello my city is Aman by aster.93

hello my city is - part of a series of hello my name is name tag based street art

end of wall as it turns corner, rounded corner

below: Black letters on the left by Kels aka Ali Amir and the red text (and DHAP Fam) are the mark of Deyaa Rambo

part of a series of hello my name is name tag based street art

part of a series of hello my name is name tag based street art

below: Yo! My name is Yaratun aka Yara Hindawi

yo my name is yaratun,

below: A name tag painted by DeevGraf aka Abdelrahman Hasan

part of a series of hello my name is name tag based street art

school grounds wall with street art on it, Amman Jordan,

Our friendship is magic – Wedad and Eslam

below: Bully Bully Bully  (more of theirs below)  Mike V. Derderian

on a brown wall, three comical white characters, male, with exaggerated features drawn in black, each has an orange stripe through their face with the word Bully written on it

below: A long necked bird (duck? goose?)

mural with a yellow duck with its white beak open and white paper boats all around

below: A small green stenciled duck

small green stencil of a duck on a blue metal gate

blue gate on the left, cars parked in front of, wall with street art, houses and other buildings in the background

below: The City is so Empty is the work of Hamza Al Salhi

street art painting of a young woman with long black hair with a head band tied around her head, black face, no facial features, instead a red heart on her forehead and the words The city is so empty

below: The octopus was painted by Ibrahim Tonnerieux

street art white octopus with black dots, blue eyes, on a blue and green background

below: A portrait of a young woman by Suhaib Attar, 2019

portrait of a young woman on a blue circle background, long brown hair, brown eyes, by Suhaib Attar

below: “Our City” graffiti by Ammar Sinan (siner) and Wize One aka Wesam Shadid

black car parked in front of a brown wall with street art on it, Amman

street art of a blue hair woman sitting on white paper boats below: On the left, the pink design is by Yazan Hija, aka arthudz.  On the right, piano keys over her head, Metallica Load in her ear, and leaves for hair, by Suha Sultan

two white cars parked in front of a wall of Terra Sancta college with two murals on it, one by Suha Sultan with a woman with a Metallica Load vinyl record on the side of her head, and the other a pink shape

below: …With an addition by Joanna Anwar Madanat

mural by Suha Sultan of a woman with a vinyl record on the side of her head, piano keys covering the top of the mural, a young boy sitting beside a cityscape behind the woman,

street art on a wall including a large grey circle made of Arabic calligraphy, a purple mass partially hidden by a car, and a yellow star with an eye

When the silence gets old, make your own noise.

street art on a wall in Amman, a yellow star with an open mouth with big teeth and one eye, looking to the left, Arabic writing and a phone number tag, remnants of a drawing street art

street art on a wall in Amman,- two blue stylized characters with arms curved towards each other and holding hands

below: another Wize One contribution

street art on a wall in Amman, a woman with big afro hair by many white paper boats and a character in pink and white, curved arms stylized face

red monster face painted on a wall

below: He’s thinking… or just resting his head? Street art by Miramar Al Nayyar

large mural in shades of grey, a man's head, chin on fist and trhe other hand resting on the other side of his head, on a wall, covering some older street art

below: His hand and wrist obscure older street art.

part of a large mural of a grey man covers an older street art painting of a blue robot on background made with red Arabic calligraphy

below:  On the left, an Arabic verse by Dina Fawakhiri

two graffiti pieces, on the left an Arabic verse written vertically and on the right, a red monter head and shoulders,

below: by Hind Al Far

mural on pink background of a young woman with long purple hair, flower crown on her head, and blue butterflies flying nearby, head and shoulders

More information on Baladk 2016

***

As an aside, I saw one other Bully mural elsewhere in the city.  This knight in armor seemed to be on its own.

street art painting of a knight in armour holding a crown in his hand, bully written on shoulder of man and on crown

street art drawing of a caricature of a man, long pointy chin with beard, long hair in back, flat hat with large brim

Hamra murals

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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

folklore on a mannequin

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There is a large mural by Lebanese artist Yazan Halwani covering the side of a building on Nadeem Al Mallah street in Amman.  It was painted in 2016 from a mannequin wearing a folklore type costume.

large black and white and grey mural of a woman in a traditional costume, on the side of bulding, beside a window with pink curtains and a broken pane of glass

Like a lot of Halwani’s work, the design relies on calligraphy & Arabic writing.  It is meant as a statement about the mix of Jordanian and Lebanese cultures.

close up of face in mural of woman by Yazan halwani,