A collection of faces that I saw as I walked around Collingwood one summer day.
below: She looks down on the parking lot.
below: Artist LING painted this image of Patrick Coyle on the side of the Albion Hotel. Coyle was the original owner of that hotel.
below: mmm
below: An older portrait by Adnate graces a small brick wall.
below: There is another, much larger, Adnate mural nearby. This apartment building on Wellington Street was painted in 2018. I wrote a blog post about it a few years ago – Four Adnate Faces, Dec 2018
below: On the left, is a portrait by Vince Moloney. Three little yellow characters by dscreet are on the door to the right.
below: Another portrait by LING, this time it’s Alf Stewart who stars in ‘Home and Away’, an Australian soap opera.
below: Michelangelo on a wood fence.
below: It almost looks like someone is playing “Peek a Boo” although I am sure that the two faces were not painted at the same time, or by the same person.
below: Drew in bright colours
below: One of the uglier faces that you will see today…
below: With visions of palm trees in front of his face – a blue skull by Callum Preston
A previous post, ‘stencils on a blue fence‘ featured art in San Francisco’s Balmy Alley. This post contains a lot more street art from the same location! Although the alley is only one block long, there is a lot to look at! Most of the art depicts Mexican or Hispanic history and culture; there is a strong reoccurring theme of social justice as well.
below: Street art paintings have been a part of Balmy Alley since the early 1970s. it is now home to numerous brightly colored murals.
below: Part of “Five Sacred Colors of Corn” at the entrance to Balmy Alley. Prior to 2021 these panels were at Mercy Housing.
below: A Day of the Dead image – a holiday to remember and honor those who have died.
below: Max from “Where the Wild Things Are”
below: This photo, and the following two, are from an older mural by Hector Escarraman. It was painted on a wood fence in the alley back in 1995. The colours have faded and the vines have started to encroach on the top of some of the heads but enough of the image remains that you can get a good idea of what the original painting looked like. All of the people in the mural are icons of Mexican art.
below: A lonely red heart has been added.
below: One of the figures in blue is Frida Kahlo.
below: Three generations of women working in Nepal are depicted in this mural by Martin Travers. “Naya Bhinana” (A New Dawn) was painted in 2002.
below: These stairs were decorated by Precita Eyes Muralists with a mural titled “Dragon Eyes”. It was painted way back in 1998. For more than forty years Precita Eyes has used murals to enrich communities in San Francisco – murals that focus on positive images about such topics as culture, nature, unity, and history
below: Zigzags and triangles in bright colours with a couple of hummingbirds flying around.
below: There’s a lot of religious and cultural symbolism in this mural and it shows how much the two are entwined.
below: On the left, Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti with a few origami birds added to the scene.
below: Mother and child
below: At 50A
below: Women of the Resistance, 38 women’s portraits in a group, painted in 2018 by Lucía González Ippolito aka Cia Lu Art
below: Ruby throated hummingbird resting on a very blue finger.
below: There is a dragon here too!
below: The other half of the mural… It as painted by Carla Wojczuk in 2011 and is titled “56 Lu the Wanderer”.
below: “The Mission District is for Everyone” is the text on the sign that the little blue bear is holding. The mural is “Victorion” by Sirron Norris
below: A tribute to Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who gave his life fighting for social and economic and ecological justice. He was murdered by the CIA (or at least by CIA-backed assassins) on 24th March 1980, the day after he he urged Salvadoran soldiers to disobey their superiors. A few days later, more than 30 people were killed at his funeral. In all, at least 75,000 people lost their lives during the 12 years that the civil war lasted in El Salvador.
below: Un Pasado Que Aún Vive (A Past That Still Lives Here) by Joel Bergner, from 2004
below: Standing in a barrel is El Chavo from a Mexican television sitcom from the 1970s and 1980s. He is standing beside a mural from 2001 of a butterfly and a palm tree in “Memorias Primas” by Marta Ayala. The butterfly has been covered up for some reason.
below: Happy singing tree? Scared yelling tree? Enchanted and magical forest? Haunted and creepy forest?
below: Another tree/human mix. This time there is a contrast to the hot colours of the desert on one side and the cooler colours of the city on the other. It is titled “Love and Compassion” and it is in memory of Father Richard Purcell (1938-2011), a Franciscan friar who ran a homeless shelter nearby for men with AIDS. The mural was painted by Laura Campos, a Precita Eyes member.
below: Parrots and toucans and other details, mural by Dallas Hyatt
below: “Tu doy una Cancion como un Disparo como un libro, una Palabra, una Guerrilla, Como Doy el Amor. I give you a Song Like a Tribute, like a Book, a Word, a Freedom fighter, like a I give Love.” Silvio Rodriguez.
below: Day and night. The man in the moon reflects on the water below. The sun shines in a blue sky.
Beaney Lane is a small lane in downtown Melbourne. Once it was nondescript, now it has colour. Along one wall there is a large street art painting with a portrait of a blue lady at one end. The words “Inner Dream” are written beside her head. Her hair is covered with a net-like cap; a waterdrop shaped jewel rests between her eyes. She was painted by Mongolian born artist, Heesco.
Australian artist Matt Adnate was also involved in the making of this mural. A pair of green eyes peers out from behind a head covering.
Central Ave (and the streets running parallel to it) in downtown St. Petersburg Florida has become home to numerous murals thanks to the SHINE Mural Festival held every October. 2024 will be its 10th year.
First, two kids in a boat on triangular sea, by Zulu (or Zulu Painter). The girl is at the helm with her paddle. Both are watching intently, eyes ahead. What do they see?
And second, there is a long horizontal mural by Daniel R. Barojas with a pattern of hexagons for a background. A woman is on one side. She seems focused on something.
… peeking out in the middle (caught in the middle?, or just curious?)
… and a man with feathers in his ear at the other end
A mural by Joel Artista, aka Joel Bergner in the East Village neighbourhood of New York City. Painted in 2019. Joel is a co-founder of Artolution, a non-profit organization supporting local artists and arts programs with vulnerable children around the world.
For this mural, Artolution partnered with KIND (Kids in Need of Defense), We Are Royale, Key Food Supermarket, and Education Alliance.
Photos taken August 2023
More Manhattan murals were featured previously in this blog – Kobra on 10th Ave (from 2022)
A long stretch of railway is elevated as it passes through the city of Girona, Spain. A bicycle and pedestrian path runs underneath. Some of the pillars supporting the railroad have been decorated by street artists.
below: Birds in flight
below: Cyop & Kaf have painted a few of the pillars with their black silhouette-like people such as this stolen kiss.
or this very tall man – He’s all tied up with his feet in the mud? in concrete?
below: KRAM is responsible for two pillars including this blue character on a swing.
below: The other KRAM pillar is this one – quite different from the first.
below: Two pandas
below: A brush to clean the toilet bowl. Not your average painting subject matter.
below: A few pillars are decorated with these red and blue guys – stylized yet anatomically correct – painted by Boris Hoppek
This is a post about collecting pictures of all the stickers and pasteups by the artist who goes by the name Sold Out Art Show. We found many as we walked around Brooklyn, the Lower East Side, and other parts of New York City. Sold Out’s characters all have multiple pairs of eyes, often six or seven eyes in total. They also all have a little red broken heart and the word OH! in a corner.
below: Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”
Last year, canvases with paintings of these ‘portraits’ (and many others) were hung around the city and each was free to take. They are long gone now!
below: Multiple personalities in one place
below: Very recognizable as Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Mona Lisa” even with the extra eyes and the pink hair.
below: This fellow ended up with 14 eyes and bright green hair.
below: And this shocked fellow still has the green hair, but his mustache is half green and half white.
.
below: Collaboration with The Clay Universe aka Christopher G. Villano as well as Robots Will Kill – very blue and very hairy.
Or maybe, “they do it with mirrors”. Her face was complete not too long ago but now she is missing a nose and part of her lower face. Pieces of mirror put together to create a portrait, the work of OSIR (OSIR_DES’p’EJO)
She is located near Lisbon Cathedral. Photo taken mid February 2023
below: Daor and Dano, painted these two partial faces
below: Above the coffee shop this statuesque woman, seemingly carved from stone, reaches towards the birds.
below: čo nás ľudí robí krásnymi [loosely: what makes us people beautiful] by Sasha Chagina and Jano Wajcko Vajsabel. It is a promotion by DM, i.e. an advertisement. But it looks so much like a street art mural! You might not agree with it’s inclusion on this page but you’ll have to admit that it has blurred the line between “commerical” and “artwork”.
Eyes on the Streets 