Okudart in Ronda

There are now two large murals by the bus staton Ronda and both were painted by Okudart (aka Okuda San Miguel). They are titled, “The New Flamenco” and featured brightly coloured dancers with flowing dresses, fans, and flowers in their hair.

Photos taken February 2023

Kobra on 10th Avenue

in Manhattan NY

There are two large colourful murals on 10th Avenue that were painted by Eduardo Kobra. Both are visible from the High Line, Manhattan’s elevated park.

below: Mother Teresa and Gandhi as seen from the High Line

view of 10th Avenue in Manhattan from the High Line park, including a Kobra mural of Mother Teresa and Gandhi

and then closer up, face to face, respectful, hopeful

a digger is parked on the street in front of a building with a mural on the upper level, a painting of Mother Teresa and Gandhi face to face, in many colours, by Kobra

below: A hint of a second mural – Andy Warhol can be spotted between two buildings.

glimpse of a mural with portrait of Andy Warhol in the background, seen in a gap between two taller brick buildings

below: Above the Empire Diner in West Chelsea is this mural inspired by the carvings on Mount Rushmore, a re-imagining of it if you will. Instead of four American presidents there are four famous artists – Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Mt Rushmore theme mural by Kobra with multi coloured portraits of four famous people, Andy Warhol, Frida Kahlo, Keith Haring and another famous artist, Jean Michel Basquiat

Photos taken October 2022

Artur Rubenstein and a butterfly

These two murals are close to the train station in Lodz. In the foreground is a large portrait of pianist Artur Rubenstein. Just in the picture on the right hand side, is a wall with a faded butterfly mural.

The colourful portrait was painted in 2014 by Brazilian artist Kobra (aka Eduardo Kobra). Like many of the murals in the city, it was painted as part of an Urban Forms Foundation project/festival and now is part of the Urban Forms Gallery.

small green space in front of  large colourful mural by Kobra featuring a portrait of pianist Artur Rubenstein

Rubenstein was born in Lodz in January 1887. He was a child prodigy – giving his first piano performance when he was 7 years old. At 13 he played with the Berlin Philharmonic and at 19 he played Carnegie Hall in New York City. He career spanned eight decades. He died in 1982 at age 95.

close up of face of Artur Rubenstein in a mural by Kobra in Lodz Poland
a wall in Lodz Poland with some faded text as well as a large painting of a butterfly.

Tanini’s colours and shapes

As I walked around Tirana I saw several examples of murals by Albanian artist Eljan Tanini. This blog post features three – a whole building covered by his shapes and colours, a tall vertical mural, and last, a wall with four panels.

below: All sides of the building are covered with whimsical playful shapes in Blloku.

a our storey building with stores at ground level, covered with mural of shapes and colours, lower floors have grey background, upper level has yellow background, painted by Eljan Tanini
close up of some of the windows of a building with the mural that is painted around them

below: Street scene on Rruga Myslym Shyri with the bottom part of Tanini mural showing. This mural was painted as part of MurAL Fest 2018.
street view, pedestrians on sidewalk, umbrellas over fruit stand, shops, bottom part of mural by Eljan Tanini

tall mural by Eljan Tanini

below: Four panels in a concrete wall have abstract paintings by Tanini (one on the left, with a blue background, is not shown).
yellow building in the background, concrete fence with recessed panels that have been painted with bright coloured abstract paintings
a panel from exterior wall painted byEljan Tanini, abstract shapes and colors on orange background

stripes, and others, near the corner

On the southeast corner of the intersection of Bajram Curri Blvd and Rruga Sulejman Delvina in Tirana there is an apartment complex that has been painted in bright coloured stripes.

low rise apartment building painted in vertical stripes, with Mon Cheri coffee shop on the ground floor

The stripes change to shapes on the other side.

lowrise apartment building with coloured shapes painted on it

lowrise apartment building with coloured shapes painted on it

below: In the middle of the complex is a small structure with one wall painted as part of MurAL fest one year. The title is “Visual Diary” and it the work of Albanian artist Mariola Mocka.

small building structure with one wall covered with a painting, bright blue background with stylized items painted on it like

below: Another side of the structure is this abstract painting by noreason.

part of a mural in black and white shapes

And here, either the stripes fade away or else they have been partially repainted.

murals and mosaics on the stairs

More street art from Guayaquil Ecuador starting with two murals at the top of the stairs.

below: A queen bee by the flowers

mural, a large bee with a crown above its head

below: A soldier is being thrown from his horse, a mural by Einer, 2017

mural by einer, a man is being thrown from a horse

The walls along the sides of the stairs are lined with other murals such as this astronaut in his rocket.

street art painting of an astronaut with a helmet on inside the round window of a rocket

There are also lots of mosaics

staircase outside, wall is covered with mosaics, with city beyond a wrought iron fence

mosaics on a wall beside the stairs, a skull, wavy lines,

mosaic of a person with bridght yellow wings

mosaics, 3 scenes, one is people under an umbrella, 2 houses one red and one yellow, and a fish swimming in a creek

mosaics on a wall beside the stairs, white star, blue star, church, and a black insect

city houses on a hill with stairs below, mosaics on the wall

potted plants and umbrellas

The other day I blogged about street art on a set of stairs in Amman.  Today I have a few photos that I took on a different  set of stairs.  They too were popular with locals and tourists, with small shops and a restaurant.  The difference is that this one had umbrellas.

below: Standing near the top of the stairs, high above reet.  Open umbrellas in shades of blue and purple are strung overhead to provide some shade and some colour.   On the right is a tall metal structure – that is an elevator for those who don’t feel like taking the stairs.

man blue, teal, and purple umbrellas, open, up high to provide shade over a set of stairs in Amman

below: There were a lot of little flower pots attached to the walls.  Some were painted in bright colours and some were terra cotta brown.

on a black wall, a profile silhouette in white of a man with headphones on, plants in terra cotta planters line the stairs that run beside the wall

 below: A line of flower pots on a white wall where people have written numbers, dates, names, and messages, especially proclamations of love with little hearts.

a group of terra cotta planters with small green plants in them, attached to a white wall on which people have written their names and other woards

below: Listen to the sound of your heart. It seems like Dalal loves Eyad.

anatomical looking picture of a human herat, coloured red, with an old fashioned gramaphone speaker coming out of the top of it, street art

below: A row of “books” under the window – they don’t seem to have titles.

on a wall, under a window with a blue frame, a line of flat pieces of wood painted in bright colours, that look like a row of books

colourful flower pots attached to a wall with plants in them

painting of a woman in a blue top on a black wall, that people have written their names on

below: Looking back up the stairs

looking up a staircase that is lined with flower pots and covered by many open umbrellas in Amman Jordan

colours and people on the stairs.

On Ahmad Bin Hanbal Street, close to where it connects to Prince Muhammad, there is a set of stairs leading upward.  Because Amman is built on a number of hills, stairs like this are many (although not all of them are painted).

brightly coloured stairs that end with a a white wall with paintings of people made from circles and ovals with stick arms and legs, all doing something

below: A busy group of people, climbing ladders, filming, talking to the cameraman, constructing, walking, etc.

a white wall with paintings of people made from circles and ovals with stick arms and legs, all doing something, climbing ladder,

rainow and flowers painted on a set of stairs

below: A long ribbon of colours flow from her backpack.

black silhouette of a girl with a backpack on, reading a book, colours flow from ther backpack in a long wave down the stairs

below: Leaves made of multicoloured spirals

beside a railing and a staircase, a mural of a tree with spirals in the place of leaves, many colours

part of a mural of stick figures with oval bodies, a hand on a hip

below: A question mark on his forehead.  Also, a view of one of the hillsides in central Amman.

a blue line drawing of a man's face with a question mark on his forehead, painted on a short wall, view of Amman in the background

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,

***

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.

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″