Treeftsteeg

There are a number of lanes and passageways that connect the canals/roads Singel and Herengracht in central Amsterdam. One of the narrowest of them is Treeftsteeg.

below: Entrance to the alley, from Herengracht.

entrance to Treeftsteeg, a narrow alley, with graffiti painted on the walls

Various messages and symbols of peace – “I Love Kherson”, a girl waving a large Ukranian flag, “Love no War” (Love not war?), a white dove with wings of blue and gold, “Love makes a house a home”. In addition (under the word Kherson) there is a portrait of George Yurri Shevelov (1908-2002). His CV is long but in general he is most known for his research proving that the Ukrainian language has a separate history from Russian.

words and portraits painted in an alley

below: The portrait of the man in the top left corner is of Taras Shevchenko (1814 – 1861), a famous Ukrainian poet. Moving right, the woman at the top with the orange background is the former Queen of the Netherlands, Queen Beatrix. Third from the left is Ukrainian writer and feminist Lesya Ukrainka whose work spanned the late 1800s and early 1900s. On the right side there is an image of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy although it is not the clearest picture.

anti war, pro Ukraine graffiti in an alley

below: Commemorating the sinking of the Moskva, a Russian ship in the Black Sea near the beginning of the war.

painted graffiti in an alley

below: arrow showing the way to Kharkiv

graffiti in an alley, a red arrow pointing left with word Kherson written in it

below: caricatures

graffiti, faces, portraits

below: The narrowness of Treeftsteeg. Along with the pro-Ukraine messages, there are a few black and white portraits.

bicycles parked and leaning against walls in a very narrow alley

a black and white portrait of a man, pasted on wall that is blue and yellow

below: These portraits are part of “A Paper Monument to the Paperless” is an ongoing project headed by Dutch artist Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries.

portraits, posters on an alley wall, part of A Paper Monument to the Paperless, a project by Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries

a painting of a person wearing long red pants sitting under a tree

Eastside Gallery, Berlin

On 12 August 1961, the Soviets began building a wall around West Berlin to separate it from East Berlin and East Germany.  By the next morning, the wall was complete.  More than 90 miles of wall made an island out of West Germany.

people and parked bikes in front of part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

Eastside Gallery – This outdoor “gallery” is a section of the Berlin Wall that has been left standing along Muhlenstrasse.   It is just over 1300 metres long and has been covered with 105 paintings and murals on the side that faced East Berlin.  It was first painted in 1990 just after the wall fell.  Some sections were repainted in 2009.

below: “Diagonale Lösung des Problems” by Michail Serebrjakow 1990. Diagonal solutions.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery, thumbs up sign, with a string tied to the thumb pulling it backwards and holding it up

below: A Trabant (the only East German make of car) comes through the wall, painted by Birgit Kinder, 2009. The date on the licence plate, 9 November 1989, is when the wall was opened and East and West Germans were allowed to cross freely.  Demolition of the wall began in June of 1990.

 a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: The orange bridge in the picture is Oberbaumbrucke (Oberbaum Bridge) that crosses the River Spree near this wall section. This wall runs parallel to the River Spree as the river was part of the ‘border’ here.

a woman walks her bike past part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: Part of “Doin it cool for the East Side” by Jim Avignon, Miriam Butterfly, and Tomas Fey (similar to above).

below:  actors Jean Reno and Juliette Binoche

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery - faces of two people,

below: Jumping over the wall (He looks a bit too relaxed?)

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery, a man in a red jacket jumps over the Berlin wall

below: ‘Tolerance’ by Mary Mackey of Denver

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery, Tolerance by Mary Mackey of Denver Colorado

below: A small part of ‘Joint Venture’ by Margaret Hunter.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery - lots of graffiti, a pasteup of a couple kissing under an umbrella

 

below: Es gilt viele mauren abzu bauen = There are many walls to build.  There are lots of walls we need to break down.  Painted by Ines Bayer and Raik Hönemann

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery - es gilt viele mauern

below: By Schamil Gimajev (or Gamil Gimajew), a very large mural with the words Freedom and Perestroika incorporated into it.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: A gate in the wall, now with locks on it.

people hanging out in front of part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: Some of the locks

Some locks attached the bars of a metal gate in the old Berlin Wall on Muhlenstrasse, Eastside gallery

below: by Christine Fuchs

writeen words, brown on white, large letters, How's God she's black

below: Batman and The Joker.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery - Batman and Joker

a young man playing a guitar in front of part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: No mans land barbed wire. “Niemandsland” by Carmen Leidner.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery - barbed wire

below: Theodor Cheslav Tezhik – The Big Kremlins Wind.  The winds of change.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

a young muslim woman in a head scarf walks past part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

 below: I painted over the wall of shame so freedom is ashamed no more.  Inferno ruled too many years until the people chose the light.  I put my faith in you, Berlin, and give to you my colours bright.” Fulvio Pinma.  The text is also written in Italian (larger letters above) and in German (at the bottom).

words in a mural by Fulvio Pinma, in Italian, German, and English, on part of the Berlin wall, Eastside Gallery

below: Not in the picture, the other end of the chain is in the mouth of a white dove.  This mural is by Andrej Smolák

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery with a lot of pink and black graffiti scrawled on top of it

below:  A comment on censorship in art by Willi Berger –  “Der Maler Hans Meissel (1888-1969) sowohl im Dritten Reich als auch in der DDR mit Ausstellungsverbot belegt wegen seiner expressiven Malweise setzte mit ‘GOTT ALLEIN DIE EHRE’, J.S. Bachs letzter Komposition der Kunst der Fuge ein Denkmal. [blue] Mit der Kopie des nun erstverottenthaten Bildes mochte ich meinem Lehrer Donk abstatten.”   It’s a copy of a painting by (and tribute to) Hans Meissel whose artwork was banned by the Third Reich.  The title of the painting is “Soli Deo Gloria” and was a tribute to the last composition by J.S. Bach, ‘The Art of the Fugue’.

a man stops to look at part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery, tribute to painter Hans Meissel by Willi Berger

below: Thierry Noir

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery, large faces by Thierry Noir

below: Mikhail Gorbachev drives a car with a hammer and sickle steering wheel.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery, picture of Mikhail Gorbechev driving a car with a hammer and sickle shaped steering wheel.

below: Selling black and white portraits in front of an untitled work by Ana Leonor Madeira Rodrigues.  Floating ghostly figures in black and white.

a man sells black and white drawn portraits in front of part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: Spacemagik, by Gabor Simon

people in front of part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

below: A line of wanted posters.  Bloody Vladimir.  Putin of course.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery - posters with the face of Putin, Russin leader, with words, Bloody Vladimir, wanted poster

below: A painting of Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing as painted by Dmitri Vrubel.  It was first painted in 1990 and re painted in 2009.  Honecker was the East German leader in 1989 whose rise to power was aided by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.  By 1989, Brezhnev was dead and the more liberal Mikhail Gorbachev was the Soviet leader.

two women stand in front of part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

people reaching up high to write things on the wall, part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

people walking past part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

A full list of the original artists can be found on Wikipedia.

part of a mural on Berlin Wall, Eastside gallery

sprayed on the sidewalks of LA

As you walk around the Arts District in Los Angeles, watch where your feet are going.
You’ll see many stencils that have been spray painted underfoot.

This first one, women in head scarves, is obviously a political statement.
It was also the only stencil that was in two colours.

Stencils on the sidewalk, spray paint, in red and turquoise, the heads of 6 women in head scarves, shown in profile, One is in a scarf that is turquoise with red polka dots and one has red and turquoise striped pattern on her scarf.

below: Dangerous insects, with scoped rifles for wings.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, a beetle with folded wings that are automatic rifles

below: … and a dragonfly too.  Weaponized terrorist bugs.
No wait, they’re Homeland Security agents in disguise.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, a dragonfly with wings made of automatic rifles.

below: No money, No honey.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, outline drawing of a man with long hair and a cowboy hat, with words written inside the drawing that say No money no honey.

below: Social media is selling your shit.  Apparently there is a third one that says “Seeking your applause, your digital mirage” but I didn’t see it.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, outline drawing of a man with long hair and a cowboy hat, with words written inside the drawing that say Social media is selling your shit. Facebook and instagram symbol are also there

below: A red extremist.  Love extremists.

red stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, outline of a heart with the word extremist written inside it.

below: A dove with a rose in its beak, La Rosa

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, a dove in flight with a small rose in its mouth, words written underneath are La Rosa

below: I am fairly certain that the word says iagily but I haven’t been able to find any info online.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, shoulders and head of a young woman with her hands up to her face

below: Got love?

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, of a small milk box with a heart on the side. Words written underneath are got love?

below: I have always seen you.   That’s the chorus/refrain from the song ‘Harriet’ by American Appetites.  There may be other references?

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, words I have always seen you

below: Campbells soup made of vegans? or for vegans?

green stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, campbell soup can, vegan soup

below: The last one is not actually a stencil but I couldn’t resist including it here.

words written in black that say love me anyways.

Photos taken February 7, 2017

Belfast street art

Belfast is home to more than 250 murals.  Most of them are political or historical in nature and concern the recent “Troubles” in Northern Ireland’s past.  But there are other murals in this city, and other street art.  This post features some of the apolitical murals that I saw late in September of 2016.

below: A large mural by Smug One on High Court Street  (One of his murals previously seen in Melbourne – Smug on Wood Street)

very marge mural of a man with moustache and small beard and wearing a chef's shirt is holding a large lobster

below: Keep Her Lit, keep the furnace in your heart burning, keep the fire alive.

a mural of an anatomical painting of a heart with the center being a furnace, steam puffs coming out of the vessels at the top, words at the top of the mural are Keep Her Lit

below:  These fingers are pointing at you in a mural by EMIC.  3D glasses are available in Sunflower, which is a store across the street.  It’s difficult to take a photo in 3D!

Mural of two hands with fingers pointing outwards, The mural is painted to look 3D if you have the right glasses on. Words at the top of the mural say 3D glasses available at Sunflower (which is store across the street)

below: This blue woman looms over one of the smaller streets in downtown Belfast.

very large mural of a woman's upper body and head, done is shades of blue, shoulder length hair, looking at the viewer

below: Fighting with swords while a dead (or injured) dog lies on the floor.   Surreal?

Grey tones, black and white, monochrome, painting of a fencing scene, indoors, in historical clothing, chandelier on the table, black man watching the fencing, dead dog on the floor

below: The vertical painting in browns is done by KVLR

two murals on a building, one is a very realistic painting of an old man and the other is a vertical painting in brown tones by KVLR

two murals on two sides of a corner. One is a realistic painting of an old man and the other is also a man's head but it is done in red, white and black shapes.

below: A mural by Kashink  who is an artist  from Paris.  She has painted in many cities around the world and some of her work can be seen in Montreal.

mural by Kashink of person with green face, four eyes and long bushy reddish orange hair. Words say and fun--damental rights. Person is smoking (green hands)

on the side of a two storey building, a large woman in profile, head and shoulders, in a multicoloured cloud, with her hands together in prayer, eyes open and looking slightly upwards

below: A colourful dog by Verz, a local artist.

mural on black wall of a dog's head and neck in oranges, red, and pinks,

below: A mural showing streets at night, lights and reflections, by Dan Kitchener

large mural of streets and car traffic at night with lights shining on wet streets, two white cars parked in front.

below: One of the hazards of taking pictures of street art is the usual presence of parked cars.  They get in the way.  A lot.  Sometimes you just have to make them part of the composition.

two red cars are parked against a wall on which a mural of a young woman's face is painted. white skin, black hair, grey eyes,

below: And then there are the times when the cars are just in the way and there’s no way around it.  This black bird was painted by Spanish artist Sabek.   It would be nice to think that the arrow is aimed right at the car roof and that it missed the bird.

mural by sabek of a black bird caught up in a white ribbon as it tries to fly

below: Continuing the bird and arrow theme is this mural titled “The son of Protagoras” by MTO (French born, now Berlin based).  The mural is located in the yard of Northern Ireland War Memorial.  Note the markings on the arrows.   Protagoras (about 490 – 420 BC) was a Greek philosopher; he was either an agnostic or an atheist.

mural of a red headed young man squatting and holding a dead bird in his hands. The bird has two arrows through it, with red ends on the arrows. The mural looks to be on top of a fence and there are cars parked in front of the fence

below: This snake and arrow mural was painted in 2015 as part of  the ‘Hit the North’ event when 30 murals were painted in Belfast.   Some of the other murals in this blog post were painted then.  If you watch this video on youtube you might recognize them!

a rusty red fence and a green hedge is in front of a mural of a large black and yellow snake wrapped loosely around a long red arrow.

below: A fantastical dragon creature in purple and orange walks along the pavement.

horizontal mural of a long purple and orange dragon

horizontal mural of a long purple and orange dragon

below: A cockatoo by Dan Leo sits high on a wall, brightening up the side of a building.

simple mural of a grey toned cockatoo with a pink patch on its face, on a turquise background

below: On the fence beneath the cockatoo is this mural.  It seems to be a deer hunt?  The woman and her dog are chasing the deer?  Or running with the deer?

a blue dog is on a leash held by a woman, pink deer silhouettes jumping in the forest in the background

below: A Faigy mural, The owl doll Millies

owl doll millies mural

below:  A wonderful portrait of a man by DREPH.  I saw a few slices of bread with feet… The signature on the side of the bread seems to say Artista.  The himbad signature on the left goes with the cat in the picture below
a street art painting of a slice of bread with green feet is above a street art painting by deph of a black man with a beard and a brown cap

below: Himbad cat, wide open mouth and many sharp teeth!

large cat face with sharp teeth, street art by himbad

a happy face stick figure person made with paint that has dripped from a piece of street art, on a sidewalk (pavement)

below: Now it’s Puinsai Hawaii at any time.

altered sign, now says puinsai Hawaii anytime. yellow sign on a post with barbed sire on either side. Also An 'I love you" sticker on the pole beneath the sign.

below: On the Restore Charity Shop, a woman by Emic.

mural by emic, head and face of a young woman looking to the right, in grey tones (black and white) on a bright red background.

storefronts on a streeet in Belfast, brick building, but metal awnings/screens covering the shops because they are closed. Young Savage vintage clothing and Arts Lab, both have street art paintings on the screens. One is a young woman with long blue hair that forms a circle around her.

below: ‘LOST’, a man with harp antlers and a pink nose, two lonely whiskers and a grille over his mouth.  My apologies for the fact that the quality of the photo is such that the smaller words are illegible.  I think that what is lost is dip-py but could be dup-py.

three posters on a black wall. One is a skull with a spring for a neck and two antenae coming out of the top, one is labeled 1 and the other is 2 . The other posters are the two the same, withthe word lost written above a man's head, with harps for ears and a small muzzle over the mouth, words in the bottom corner,

below: More pasteups.  A Citizen Nobody poster is surrounded by other pasteups in various states. “The will to consume terrorises you.”

a few paste ups in black and white. In the middle is a poster by citizen nobdy that is only words that read The will to consume terrorises you.

below: Ireland is not full of leprechauns.  There is one on this wall but I didn’t see too many others, real or otherwise!  There were no pots of gold either.   I saw a few nuns though including this one by David Creative.

two murals on a corner of a building. One one sideis a head and shoulders of a nun in a yellow habit with black head wear. On the other corner is a leprechaun and some sunflowers.

The front of a house, upper storeys, covered with a painting that looks a bit like an imaginative version of the stars at night. The universe and beyond.

a collection of street art pieces on the side of a greybuilding, painted in purple, yellow and turquoise mostly. Abstract shapes

below: Pull up a mattress and make yourself comfortable.

a mattress is rolled up and lying against a wall that has a mural on it.

below: A mural or an ad?

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day trip to Bendigo

There isn’t much street art in the town of Bendigo – or I was wasn’t in the right part of town.  The five pictures below is all that I saw.

below: You’ve just been given the bird.  Peace.

a white stencil on a blue wall, a dove in flight with an olive branch in its mouth. A hand and arm is made of the words "You have just been given the bird"

below: A supercalifragilistic stencil

black stencil on a light brown wall, Mary Poppins floating upwards with her open umbrella. Her trail is the word supercalifragiliciousexpialidocius.

below: Three women on walls.

black stencil on a stone wall of a woman's head, very large Afro hair style, smiling,

small paper wheatpaste of a blond woman on the door of a small metal box, with a padlock. The paper is peeling a bit and the rust from the box is also on the graffiti

Paper wheatpaste of a woman that is badly faded and peeled off. She is beside some purple spray paint.