out of the jungle

Posted on May 21, 2022 by Mary C

Brazilian artist Nunca, aka Francisco Silva has painted a large mural in Lodz Poland.

large vertical mural by Brazilian artist Nunca showing men with faces painted peering out from behind green bushes

upper part of mural by window of building, Brazilian native man with tin can phone in hand, wearing blue beaded necklace

two men's faces peering out from behind greenery, one has painted black and white mask on his face, the other has yellow hair and a pink beaded necklace

bottom face in mural by Nunca in Lodz Poland, a man in pink face paint

BASK in black and white

Posted on April 22, 2022 by Mary C

and… on central avenue in St. Petersburg

This large mural was painted by BASK, aka Alex Hostomsky, in the spring of 2014.

The mural continues on a nearby box but with orange.

Murals on Hoardings, Cuenca Ecuador

Posted on March 27, 2022 by Mary C

In Jaunary 2018 a large section of the old historic part of Cuenca was a construction site. The plywood hoardings around the site were painted with street art murals. I have credited the artist whenever possible but unfortunately most of the work was unsigned.

below: A Chicho rat

street art of a rat holding a yellow object, by Chicho

street art on hoardings around a construction site

below: Hambre translates to hunger.

mural on hoardings with historic church in the background, word hambre with 4 objects, a clown head, armchair, watermelon piece, and a red balloon on a string

below: Fourteen candles

mural with 14 lit candles in a row, with their reflection across the bottom. Candles are purple on the bottom, yellow in the middle and white on top.

below: White clothes; red heads

below: Wide eyed face with many teeth and an angular nose

mural on hoardings, a large rectangular horizontal black face with white features,

below: Cuenca street scene

a man walking down a street in Cuenca Ecuador with hoardings surrounding a construction site on one side of the street, the hoardings have murals painted on them

below: San Pancho re-arranged

blue background mural with crowd of white faces

hoardings, a mural that has been re-arranged incorrectly, hoarding panels are in wrong order

below: passing the peacock feather from top to bottom

mural on hoardings, peacock feather being passed from top half of person to bottom half of person
a young man in a hoodie is walking past murals on hoardings, picture on mural is of a person wearing purple shoes, Cuenca Ecuador

below: Shopping with diegumberrto aka Diego Molina,

detailed mural in mostly yellow of objects on shelves, a man appears to be shopping, has word extra on front of his baseball cap

below: She’s kneeling in the garden wearing mis-matched earrings and a pink sun hat; she is surrounded by a book, dolls, watermelon, lots of flowers and even a skull.

mural of a young girl in a pink hat and with mis matched ear rings, kneeling outside with dolls, plants, and other small objects like a piece of watermelon, a small white skull with an arrow through it,

below: Pieces of clothing flying everywhere

below: Honeybee and gummi bears

below:Flores en el camino, signed Anuska?

below: ideas, thoughts, and dreams

below: At the corner

below: More hoardings

below: Rearranged where workmen are busy.

Madame Gilles

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Mary C

As you walk around the city of Montreal, you can probably spot quite a few paper paste-ups featuring collage images of people that were created by an artist that signs her pieces as Madame Gilles.

poster sized graffiti on a wall in Montreal, collage of different pictures to form abstract womans face, by Madame Gilles

below: Similar image as above but this time on a door with another, including “One Day You Will Come” by @_doverin

below: A little less abstract and a lot less colour

black and white paper pasteup graffiti by Madame Gilles, womans face is predominant feature

paper pasteup graffiti by Madame Gilles, black and white image of a female guitar player, Joan,

The next two pictures show the same doorway. First the top section where once again the same image appears.

pasteups by Madame Gilles on a door in Montreal

Lower portion of the door.

pasteups on a door in Montreal

pasteup that was a collage but has been tagged over in blue paint

Photos taken September 2021

Carleton Village murals, Toronto 2021

Posted on January 22, 2022 by Mary C

Even when I walk in Toronto, sometimes I find myself in unfamiliar territory and so it was back in December when I went to investigate some alleys where I’d heard that new murals had been painted.

below: Around Toronto there are quite a few raccoons in murals by Emily May Rose. Here, these “trash pandas” are being watched over by a big white rat. Quite the dumpster fire!

mural in an alley by Emily May Rose of raccoons and a big white rat. One raccoon is setting fire to a dumpster

below: A large mural by BirdO (aka Jerry Rugg) beside Charles Sauriol school

below: Near the birdO mural (you can just see it on the left side here) is a house with street art covering the whole side of it.

the side of a house is covered with street art, 2 or 3 murals on both upper and lower storeys by Phillips Saunders and June Kim, in the background on the left side is a birdo mural

below: A man reaching out a multicoloured hand to a woman by Phillip Saunders covers the back part of the house

murals on the side of a house, a man and a woman with black curly hair

below: A brown octopus and bright coloured tiger playing together – a collaboration between Luvs and June Kim.

mural of a June Kim brightly colored tiger on the side of a house along with a brown octopus by Luvs

below: Baby birds with beaks uplifted in a mural by Bruno Smoky and Clandestinos

mural by Bruno Smoky and Clandestinos on a wood fence in an alley, baby birds in a nest with their beaks open waiting for parents to feed them

below: Blue jay and tomato face, rowdyradrat and Chris Perez

street art on a wood fence in a lane

below: Taking cover under umbrellas on a rainy day in a mural by Elicser Elliott

below: Mural in another lane with a signature says June, Bacon, and Erika.

below: A Nick Sweetman painting of a large Cuckoo wasp feeding on a yellow flower

mural by Nick Sweetman on a garage door in an alley, a large blue green Cuckoo wasp, on a yellow flower

below: A multi-lingual thank you to essential workers on Davenport – obrigado, gracias, merci, and grazie!

below: More of Emily May Roses’s mischievous raccoons and their cans of orange spray paint.

an emily may rose mural on the side of a dark grey building, showing raccoons playing around a white cube van, vandalism with orange spray paint

below: Mediah blues on the right and a Que Rock mural with indigenous themes and symbols on the left.

looking across a park in late December, two garages in an alley painted with murals, on the right is one in blues by mediah. On the left is mural mural by Que Rock, indigenous themes, loons on the water, mother earth

below: Planta Muisca mural with an orange snake under a purple night sky.

a mural by muisca on a garage door in a lane, an orange snake in the purple night with moon and plant with large leaves

below: Anya Mielniczek’s woman’s face looks down the lane.

mural by Anya Mielniczek of a girls's head in pinks and oranges down a lane, rest of mural blocked by fence

below: A closer look of the mural reveals another woman’s head on the far side along with people mixing together in the central portion painted by Raoul

orange and pink woman's head by Anya Mielniczek along with a picture of a group of people, mostly men, by Raoul

below: Suri in grey tones while drinking, mural by haenahhh

mural on a garage door in an alley by haenahh of a woman sitting with a cup of coffee

below: HeldbyHuda mural

geometrics and shapes, abstract street art mural on a garage door by artist with instagram handle heldbyhuda

below: by Victoria Day

garage door mural by Victoria Day, stylized yellow and green flowers on a blue green gradient background

below: Sections of citrus fruit in glass bowls, real? reflections? by Steam

Steam, the artist, painted a mural on a garage door of citrus fruit sections in glass bowls

below: Fantasy creatures playing in a mural by Kisong Koh

mural by Kisong Koh on the door of a garage in a laneway of three nonsensical fantasy creatures, a purple animal with fins for legs is upside down, a grey creature is wearing blue boxer shorts with pink polka dots and the third has a long yellow beak, one human hand and foot, and long orange hair

below: Mural by Kseniya Tsoy on a garage door.

bright and colourful mural in an alley of a woman with long purplish black hair, very white skin, and a blue low necked top. She's holding a pomegranate and two branches with green leaves and red flower

Support for the alley murals was provided by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

I have included most of the paintings but not all. For a complete set of photos, please take a look on Erika James’s Instagram page as she was one of the organizers of the project and she has documented it well.

These murals also appear on my Walking Toronto blog in two separate posts:
1. Around Wadsworth Park and
2. South of Davenport

other Artist Lane murals and graffiti, Windsor, 2018

Posted on August 2, 2021 by Mary C

Artist Lane runs parallel to Chapel Street between Green and Union streets, just north of Windsor railway station. Most of the lane is covered with street art of some sort.

street art painting of a man's head, a woman's head and a bird's head, all above a text piece

street art painting in Artist Lane of a man with two merged heads. He has one set of hair, four eyes, two noses, one mouth. below: Four hairy dudes by AEON aka Tom Gerrard
stencils of four people's heads with bright orange hair

Artist Lane, Windsor, Melbourne with street art on garages and walls

street art in Artist Lane, two faces, one man in orange hat, also a fish

a blue mural at the end of Artist Lane, a blue creature

below: “I ain’t afraid of no ghost”, says the cat the skull and the devil.

black drawings on white of a cat head, and a skull. cat has word balloon that says I am not afraid of ghosts

graffiti of a cat in egyptian goddess outfit
below: Fresh presto phats diva!
a text abstract street art with the words fresh presto phats written in the top corner

section of a large series of murals along Artist Lane

below: A tropical scene by Skr3am (aka Skream III)

a mural by skr3am of a tropical beach sunset with palm trees

mural of a dog's head in blue with a large nose

Artist Lane, Windsor, Melbourne with street art on garages and walls
realistic street art painting of a man's portrait in grey tones, black and white

street art, a cartoon painting man with a hat with rabbit ears, he is eating a carrot

mural thati includes a large spray paint can with arms, legs, a mouth and a very big red tongue

a paper paste up of a brass faucet that is peeling away, on a pole in Artist Lane

an eye ball in the middle of a palm of a hand, graffiti

street art in an alcove, up under air conditioning units and plumbing, looks like a sea creature with a big mouth and teeth

faces near Roma Termini

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Mary C

There is a cluster of murals featuring people’s faces near Roma Termini, the central train station. More specifically, at the intersection of Via Giovanni Giolitti and Via Alfredo Cappellini. Many of these are the work of Mauro Sgabri.

below: “Divine Welcome” by Sgarbi – Dante on the right and an immigrant woman on the left, face to face.

motorcycle parked in front of a wall with a mural by Mauro Sgarbi, green background, called Divine Welcome, Dante on one side, an immigrant woman on the other

below: On the left is “Gaetano” repainted in 2019 (by Sgarbi). On the right is a portrait by beet root, aka Riccardo Beetroot, of Trilussa, an Italian poet whose name was actually Carlo Alberto Saulstri (1871-1950). He is shown here surrounded by some of the words from “Felicita”, one of his more famous poems.

motorcycle parked in front of two mural of men's faces. one on the left is a just face, man with mustache called Gaetano. The other is an older man with Italian words written around him

C’è un’ape che se posa
su un bottone de rosa:
lo succhia e se ne va…
Tutto sommato, la felicità
è una piccola cosa.

below: Another portrait by Sgarbi, this time ‘Manzi the teacher”. Alberto Manzi was an Italian teacher who gave Italian lessons on TV in the 1960s and 1970s.

below: … with the body of a man but with the head of a goat

a mural of a person shoulders up except that there is a goat's head instead of a human head, arms and hands are human, wearing a red shirt,

below: The last two paintings in this area, by unknown artists

paper paste up, poster, ghosts, in black and white, on a concrete wall

Trastevere slaps

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Mary C

On Christmas morning, while walking around Rome, we discovered a wall in the Trastevere neighbourhood that was covered with paste-ups, stickers, and other small graffiti. Some of it was made by well known street artists, others by those who remain anonymous. If you know the name of the artist who created any of these, I’d love to hear from you. This is what we saw:

many slaps, stickers, etc, on a wall

below: Red nose boxer with black eyes by MIMI the clowN as well as hands vainly reaching for green dollars by levodopa_046_. A very small pair of very high heeled shoes sneak into the left side.

red nose graffiti by Mimi the clown

below: Fishes Invasion stickers and paste ups can be seen in many places around Rome. They all feature Invader Fish, a two legged walking fish with big lips. The fish actually started in New York City in 2015 and has spread around the world since then.

fishes invasion graffiti

a wall covered with stickers and pasteups

slaps on a wall including a red and white poster of two people kissing

below: ‘Volti spenti’ translates to ‘dull faces’ which is a comment on the poor guy taking a selfie with his phone. The cat is probably the work of Guaro and there is a yellow chick that wants you to know that it’s not a nugget.

volti spenti graffiti as well as a babushka doll and a dinosaur

black and white slaps and stencils

below: The woman on top is by C-ska

slaps on a wall, poster

many slaps

below: To Live and Let Live – Street art against hate.

black and white paste ups

below: Bottom right is an elaborate black and white drawing by Lus57 of a woman who appears to be wearing a long dress but on closer look it’s actually a man’s torso and a tiger skin. She is holding a rifle in her hand. In contrast, there is a woman with bright copper hair and wild sunglasses – the work of stickermaidberlin.

posters and stencils on a wall

below: The bottom half of a Smilin’ Croc above a black and white portrait of a woman by Y-Tong and a big-nosed K2M man with an orange heart.

smilin croc graffiti as well as a big nose by K 2 M, also a black and white pasteup of a woman

below: Even Santa Claus helps spread the word about the Fishes Invasion although the pink and blue tiger seems to have an opinion about that.

fishes invasion graffiti with Santa Claus

below: The Fonz says plant a tree because it’s cool.

thauma red stencil graffiti

below: A purplish blue snake-like fish bites itself. There is also a small C-ska sticker of a woman with a heart in the place of one eye.

long purple fish biting itself

below: My Dog Sighs, a crying eye on page 120 of an old book – with the photographer (selfie?) reflected in the eye. Also, another C-ska piece – a woman with a bird cage for a head… meaning?

eye and red streak painted on a page of a book, now is graffiti, beside a pasteup of a woman with a birdcage for a head

Jadal and Al-Kalha stairs

Posted on February 27, 2020 by Mary C

The city of Amman is built on a series of hills, ridges, and valleys. Many of the streets in the central part of the city run parallel to each other with few streets connecting them because of the hills. The result is quite a few sets of stairs, often long and steep! One set of stairs, Al-Kalha Stairs (top part) and Jadal Stairs (bottom part), has some small shops and cafes. They connect downtown Amman with Jabal Al Weibdeh neighbourhhod. The walls on the side of the stairs have also been decorated with street art.

At the top of the stairs

below: A gold coloured face looks to the sky, by Batool Edais. 2018. It’s difficult to tell now, but on the right one boy is standing on the back of another boy.

below: Laila Hajri has painted someone reaching for a section of watermelon.

below: Mural by Wafa Asmar. The eyes, nose, and mouth on the girl were added after as were the black letters in blue swirl near the bottom (I rebel therefore I exist).

van gogh inspired blue swirls painted in a mural with an orange square in the center. in that square is a heart. To the right of the swirls is a pink vertical bar with a black picture silhouette of a girl holding a bunch of balloons

For my part I know nothing with any certainty but the sight of the stars makes me dream.

multi coloured face with words below that say Don't let the noise of other people's opinions drown out your own.

“Don’t let the noise of others opinions drown out your own”

below: Lots of people have added their names along with a note or two.

below: By the book seller’s table

below: Portraits by Miramar Mohammad (Miramar Al Nayyar) 2016. Marcel Khalife, a Lebanese singer, composer, and oud player, is depicted on the left. The other portrait is of Mahmoud Darwish, a Palestinian author and poet.