Tag Archives: graffiti alley

skateboard portraits

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Toronto’s Graffiti Alley is still an interesting place to explore.  Unlike some street art locations that have succumbed to the scrawls and tags of the less well-intentioned, good art and ideas can still be found here.  At present, adding to the eclectic nature of the graffiti in Graffiti Alley are a few interesting portraits done on half skateboards (or at least on wood in the shape of a skateboard).  All are screwed onto wooden utility poles.

below: One on natural wood colour and the other in vibrant red.  The sticker says Positive Creations.

two men's portraits painted each on half of a skateboard, attached to a pole in graffiti alley. one is black line drawing on natural wood colour, and the other is very red

two women's portraits on a skateboard. Top one is turquoise and the bottom one is pink

below: A man with a mustache

man's portrait painted on half of a skateboard, attached to a pole in graffiti alley

below: Three on the same pole in Graffiti Alley – A red person with shaggy hair and light blue glasses as well someone with very long orange hair.

portraits painted on half skateboards, 3 different men, one in red, one in orange, and one in pink, all on the same pole in graffiti alley, work of positive creations

man's portrait painted on half of a skateboard, in red, shaggy hair, and wearing light blue glasses, attached to a pole in graffiti alley

below: At the bottom, a quizzical look on a pink face.

pink man's portrait painted on half of a skateboard, attached to a pole in graffiti alleyPhotos taken January 2025

In the alley after dark

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A walk down Graffiti Alley on a rainy night.

below: Unfortunately, one of Uber5000’s large Toronto/Canada themed murals has been defaced (the one on the north side of the alley).

Graffiti Alley night time, light from headlights of car, walls covered with street art and graffiti

below: Doug Ford running away with the money, stencil graffiti by D. Terra. Our Premier seems rather happy with his haul. Accurate?

black and white stencil art by d terra, of doug ford in a ablack suit, white shirt, black tie, holding bags of money and smiling

below: A dope piece that bears some resemblance to Homer Simpson.

graffiti alley, homer simpson with word dope

below: A  yellow one-eyed daisy standing tall.

yellow one eyed daisy on green stem

below: This portrait has hair!

black and white portrait of a young man with glasses and headphones,

night time, graffiti alley, street art and graffiti on walls

below: For some reason, a section of one of the side lanes (McDougall Lane? or Rush Lane?) was lit by a red light.   Here there was a collection of pasteups and stickers including one with an abundance of flowers in her hair, a skater figure by drecks. She is joined by a bare breasted woman with even more flowers on her head as well as a Snoopy look alike and a cat on the telly.

slaps on a wall, graffiti alley, night time, red light

below: On the same wall as the above – Tweetie bird, from Australia, along with some friends.  Because of the red light, this photo is very low contrast and difficult to see.  Best to see this wall in the daytime!  Second best, would be to check out the instagram page of tweet_streetart

pasteups in an alley, red light, nighttime

with red lights, at night, slaps, paste ups and other graffiti

below: Another selection of slaps, mostly birds this time.

slaps on a wall, mostly birds, plus a fish

slaps on a wall, mostly birds

below: A little raccoon

raccoon graffiti in black and white, also a bird and a fish sticker

below: Mortus figure – his hands are almost big enough to hold all those skulls.

blob like figure with bald head and big hands, holding a lot of skulls, mural in graffiti alley by mortus

below: On the pavement

text graffiti on the pavement that says get off the internet

below: FP Monkey (aka Julia H), Skamoney, Monster Fan Club, and PP Spray

mural in graffiti alley, collaboration of three artists, FP monkey, aka Julia H.

below: Poser bunny

poser bunny on a column, door beside is covered with scrawls

below:  Making a rap music video

people making a hip hop or rap music video in graffiti alley

graffiti on a wall in graffiti alley

below: The east end of Graffiti Alley, the part closest to Spadina, was very dark.

view down graffiti alley at night, rainy, wet pavement, reflecting light

below: As it turns out, the buildings at this end (north side) are now behind a metal construction fence. Darkness equals empty I suspect.

back of buildings on Queen West, now dark, with construction fence, view from graffiti alley, large orek tag on building, dark, no lights,

below: Yes they matter but was there no where else to paint this?  There’s so much junk in the alley that no one would miss.

graffiti alley uber 5000 mural with a painting with the text every child matters covering the bottom part of it

below: I am going to end this post with a bit of a rant.  Yes, to some extent the art in this alley has come somewhat commercialized especially with the newer buildings on Richmond that back onto the alley.  Uber5000 has benefited from some of this as he has painted a few large (and very good) murals here.  Also, I understand that street art by its nature is prone to “disappearing” behind the work of others but I reject the notion that one person’s tag is as good as another person’s mural.  Anyone can destroy.  Anyone can paint their “name” but if you are proud of writing it over someone else’s more talented work then you haven’t progressed beyond the preschooler phase of life.

street art and graffiti on a wall in graffiti alley

Photos taken October 2023

This post also appears in mcfcrandall.blog

bits of paper in Graffiti Alley

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Another visit to Graffiti Alley to see what’s changed…..

below: Collage on the back of a sign with contributions by many.

many stickers on the back of a traffic sign

below: An orange dragon graces a utility pole.

an intricate painting of an orange dragon on whitepaper, stapled to pole in graffiti alley, with portrait of a woman in the background

below: Sentient Cookie with “The words you’ve said to me a decade ago still echo in my brain”.

below: Another section of wall covered with the remains of stickers and slaps.

many stickers and small wheatpaste on a wall, many colourful pieces

below: Truth, It’s that simple.  Consume daily.  “Free through an earnest volition. Side effects include decreased stress and increased mental clarity….  ”  Dorian’s House.

a poster pasted on top of graffiti covered wall, picture of a bottle with yellow pills and label that says truth. words beside bottle say it's that simple

below: Who do you love?  Apparently someone loves his/her girlfriend while someone else loves, and misses,  Stephanie Ann.

graffit, red background with a little white bird, with text who do you love?

below: More ink additions, this time on a bird.  Someone has written, “no phone no wife” – either he thinks that without a phone he can’t find/attract a wife (no tindr?) or he has neither a phone nor a wife (lucky man?).  Interpret as you want.   Also, there is Kone x Roc on his wing as well as Sari D. declaring her love forever.

sticker with text glass bird, small sticker with drawing of a fat bird, some people have written in ink on the bird

below: Someone left their shoe behind… and that’s quite the reaction from Tips

a brown shoe on the ground, stickers on a metal pipe, some say postering, another is a black drawing of a face

below: 33wallflower33 wheatpaste – My body my choice

wheatpaste by 33 wallflower 33 of two women and words my body my choice

below: … and another

wheatpaste by 33 wallflower 33 of two women and words my body my choice

below: Urban Ninja Squadron running away with an angry bird…. and Adopt by Praxis in bright pink

urban ninja squadron graffiti, also an adopt poster in bright pink

below: An angry white cloud seems to hover hover a drawing by catchoo

stickers on pole, including one that looks like an angry white cloud, a drawing in a circle shape by catchoo

below: More catchoo

a sticker by cathcoo of a face on shiny silver background

drawing by catchoo of many small different coloured faces mostly in shades of orange and green

below: What’s this chef serving up?

black drawing on white, man in chef hat holding a platter with what looks like a shark fin or a sailboat

below: L S and Z

below: A skull and Noah forever.

stickers on a pole, one says Noah forever, a small drawing of a skull

Photos taken June 2023

new slaps on Toronto streets

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don't worry sticker on a pole below: The garbage always leaks before you can get rid of the bag! A trashy Daught calm sticker.

daught calm sticker on a pole of a man in blue pants and sweatshirt holding up a leaking bag of garbage below: Knome with an expression of alarm. a cute little sketchnate puppy and urban ninja squadron sprouted big ears when tbonez teamed up with srats (sketchrats). All on the side of a Canada Post mail box.

stickers on the side of red Canada Post mail boxbelow: 1. The woman with a heart for an eye (got her eye on love?) looks like the work of Italian street artist c_ska. It also looks like she’s taking her temperature. Another c_ska sticker is a naked backside (or is it?) on top of an urban ninja squadron. Yes, you can make jokes about being on top. 2. Talking about jokes, playing on words is daught calm’s ‘be a tuber’ YouTube dig. I guess that’s better than being a potato. 3. The little orange guy, pizza guy? pizza face? is by sketch nate.

stickersbelow: Red chick light bulb, lites creation.

sticker on a grey metal pole, a red con shaped bird over a light bulbbelow: Looking for a drink?

white soda can, pop can, draawing on a sticker, on a graffiti covered wall below: Brian has become an astronaut.

an astronaut shaped slap graffiti that someone has written the name Brian on below: Morbid, Icey, etc. along with the bearded face of No love; Alone boy in black and white by ozokoh. And of course, don’t worry. It took a while… but see that grey face and its mysterious signature? It’s a lino print by Brian (aka bodh.io)

stickers on the side of a phone booth below: Tbonez with a new face

an urban ninja squadron sticker with a different face intead of tbonezbelow: Urban Ninja Squadron as a climbing frame for a whole slew of little sketch nate characters.

urban ninja squadron sticker, in colour, on a blue background - side of a Bell phone booth below: Forge fury, feelings boi, and a sad puppy (yee hop) by sketch nate.

4 stickers graffiti on the back of a street sign, a yellow forge fury wiggly line sticker, a black feelings boi with white line drawing, a small white dog by sketchnate below: Pikachu and a pokeball…. and a pokemon character that I don’t know.

pokemon and poke ball sticker on a painted pole

people in graffiti alley

a man in a grey puffy jacket taking a picture of another man who is posing beside street art