abandoned site, Baldwin & Spadina

Posted on January 18, 2025 by Mary C

There once was a building on the southwest corner of Spadina Ave and Baldwin (Toronto). That building is long gone but the hoardings around the vacant lot have become a home for graffiti. Although advertising posters sometimes take over some of the space, there is often new graffiti too.

This is what was there in January 2025.

below: The Last Laugh by Nigel Smith.

below: Paste-ups on plywood. On the left – a City Kitty character in big pink frame glasses (and what’s that on his head?!). Small black and white pasteups include Visual Noise with Urban Ninja Squadron.

below: WOW! He is not dead yet. Live! Let Live!

below: Two pieces by Bao aka (Bao Pham) who seems to like to mix cultural icons that aren’t usually associated with each other.

below: “Fab Four Troopers” Quebec highway sign

below: “Return of the Boom Bap Trooper”

below: A woman’s portrait among the advertisements.

below: “Frida Moss”, A Frida Kahlo and Kate Moss mash-up, also by Bao

below: A green catchoo looking atch you

below: Ouch! Another Urban Ninja Squadron paste-up, this one in collaboration with Dio Tha Dog.
\Photos taken January 2025

Photos taken January 2025
This post also appears in As I Walk Toronto blog

walking around Bari

Posted on January 14, 2025 by Mary C

….. looking for (and finding!) graffiti and interesting bits of street art.

There were a few pieces by artist Blub who has used well known faces of famous figures or images from art history and placed them underwater wearing a diving mask. These are part of his series, “L’Arte Sa Nuotare” (underwater art)

below: Little angel

street art by blub, his underwater series, famous little angel with arms crossed in front of him, now blue and wearing diving mask

below: The Madonna. In some versions she is with baby Jesus who has been cut out of this image (as you can see the bubbles floating upward from his mask even though he is not in this picture)

street art by blub, his underwater series, famous woman's face now blue and wearing diving mask, virgin mary, or the madonna

Taken from Gustav Klimt’s, “The Kiss”, the kissing couple are now underwater too.

Another artist with a presence in Bari is LeDieSis and her/their Superwomen series

below: Barbie’s been shopping. She’s winking at you.

street art by LeDieSis, image of Barbie wearing blue dress with superman symbol

below: Pink and purple and another wink. Does she realize that someone is looking over her shoulder?

in pink and purple tones, street art by LeDieSis, woman with hair tied back, and superman symbol on front of t shirt

below: Another winking superwoman. I suspect that the official looking notice has been taped over her Superman symbol.

graffiti by LeDieSis, blond woman, other graffiti around her

below: The Virgin Mary is also in Bari, also winking, as she carries her baby daughter

below: Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo superwoman graffiti by LeDieSis

below: “Gals are as strong as hell” by unknown artist.

sticker that says gals are strong as hell

Mopsi, by so schoen immer wieder, can be seen in many European cities including Bari. He (she?) usually has something to say.

below: Equality has no gender. The black scrawl covers the word “no” which can totally change the message if you’re not looking closely.

below: Rizek (aka Kris Rizek)

I saw two small female figues by Miss Quark

below: One woman bares it all

graffiti sticker of a naked woman with back turned and arms covering breasts, bare bum,

below: And the other has flowing red hair and colourful wings.

There were also Gu Tang Clan posters on the walls in Bari.

Zooming in to highlight some of the stickers – a blue shark in pink waters, a flaming sandal, and Ind–? Jam?.

And last, a selection of work by “Unknown Artists”

There are two large paste up figures in black and white which may or may not be by the same artist. The top one is Mona Lisa is a man’s suit. She’s been leaning on this wall since at least 2019 so although she’s looking a little rough, she’s doing well for her age.

life size black and white paste up of Mona Lisa's head on a man's body wearing a suit, on a stone wall, graffiti

large paste up of a man in blue trousers, on a box on sidewalk, in front a womans clothing store

Photos taken February 2024

Beverly murals and stickers

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Mary C

… The Beverly in Massachusetts that is

below: Large back and white mural by Alex Senna with feet overhanging a parking lot.

large black, white, and grey mural by Alex Senna, a male, reclining, feet in sandals

below: The large feet also sit above a line of circus themed images. These vignettes, so to speak, are also seen on the other side of the building (a theater). Some of them are shown here.

feet from mural by Alex Senna, on red brick wall, with a line of circus images below, an elephant,

below: Two clowns.

below: Magic rings

below: Another magician with his props

below: “Welcome to the Golden Theater Beautiful” on one side and “Le Grand David and his Own Spectacular Magic Company” on the other.

below: Appropriately, it was painted on a bicycle store wall. Sadly, the bike shop closed in 2018 after being in business for 70 years. The frog on its bike endures.

on upper part of red brick building, a green frog on the seat of an old fashioned bicycle with a very large front wheel

below: Mural by Helen Bur and Sam Worthington, “Uprising”

below: This mural is dedicated to Howard Lomen (1959-2004). There are words written on the mural including: “Charles Olson and Vincent Ferrini fire their poetry pistols in a dual at niles beach.” It was painted by his son Erik Lomen. Both Olson and Ferrini (in the black hat) were poets from the Gloucester MA area (just up the coast from Beverly).

below: The blur of headlights in the night, a mural by Dana Woulfe

below: A lively flower arrangement by Hailey Bonia

below: Nowhere over fast and a burning car

below: Stay Calm and Love Your Neighbourhood

below: Stickers on a stop sign including a green snail

Photos taken July 2024

walking along the Seine

Posted on May 14, 2024 by Mary C

Graffiti and street art seen while walking along the Seine in Paris.

below: Woof woof! Yes Paris!

below: Multi-coloured by Tremos, Peruvian artist living in France

below: At Voie sur Berge (Passerelle Léopold Sedar Senghor), in the 7ème, is this long mural by Michael Beerens titled “Plastique” – it is a comment on the state of our oceans.

large mural in blues on a wall beside the River Seine

The title is French but the word in the mural is English, “plastic”.

part of Plastique, a long blue mural by Michael Beerens along the banks of the river Seine

below: Honey bear by fnnch. There are quite a few of these around Paris and I blogged about them in June of 2022, Honey Bears.

Swallows in flight; swallows with little white halos.

graffiti, painting of a swallow (bird) in flight, with a small white halo over its head

graffiti, painting of a swallow (bird) in flight, with a small white halo over its head. also words that say forever child and joja

below: A “My dog sighs” sticker beside a portrait of a woman with very orange hair.

stickers and pasteups on a metal box, outside, including a painting of a woman in turquoise dress with orange hair

below: A small black and white cat by Copycat, an “anonymeows streetartist” who has painted hundreds of cats.

below: Another Copycat cat…

below: ….. and yet another, on a multi coloured background

below: Another Copycat cat… this time it has a companion, another orange headed woman. She is surrounded by an intricate design and is the work of OJA.

two paste ups, paper, on metal boxes outside. One is a loose-skinned hairless cat by copycat and the other is a woman, surrounded by intricate detailed border by o j a

below: Two faded OJA pieces

below: Re-using many, many can lids – beer cans, pop cans, drink cans.

3 d art, large plywood board with circle made of pop can tops which are circular

below: Are three heads better than one?

below: A sassy blue monkey with a pink heart bum.

below: Mr. Djoul is an artist who creates mosaics, especially of this little green-eyed alien creature

below: Invader mosaic? And in the lower left corner, bright red hair and words that say “My weariness in longing”

below: From the description beside the photo: “Ho–[torn] made a famous photograph of a dying soldier which became anti war icon since 1930s. Later it was proven to be a staged image on which nobody really died… From Russian diaries of Krapiva Netleva” [krapiva is the Russian word for nettle]

faded large black and white photo mounted on an outside wall

below: Four photographs on a wall

4 small colour photos, framed, on a wall

below: On a post overlooking the river.

two stickers on a pole, river seine behind, buildings on the far side of the river in the background

below: This guy gets around! Nourf, by Pimax

below: More slaps and stickers. A Mohawk-type hair style with A2, Natreel (a clothing brand), Tom Azria (faded), and Venus in a witch’s hat.

below: Abstract shapes and colours. Trying to look 3-dimensional.

Photos taken March 2023

a walk around Delft

Posted on March 18, 2024 by Mary C

Delft is a lovely city with a large public square by an old church. There are some old houses along a few canals as well as some narrow lanes. There is also some street art there.

below: In a very narrow lane, Kloksteeg, is a large mural by Micha de Bie

below: The mural contains portraits of characters from Delft’s past such as Hugo de Groot (1583-1645), Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), “The father of microbiology”) and Vermeer’s Milkmaid (from the famous painting).

below: A mural by Serge KB (aka Serge Kortenbroek), a handful or two of little creatures.

below: Another Serge KB painting, biomechanical. Ectoplasmic ooze. paints surreal creatures, animals, cyborgs and androids.creates grim scenes with a twist.

below: On a wall in Papenstraat is a map of Delft in the 17th century and it is made entirely of mosaic tiles. It is the work of Nan Deardorff McClain and Colja de Roo.

on exterior wall, map of 17th century delft made of ceramics

below: A closer look at part of the map. At the top, close to the left side is Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek’s house (mentioned in the Kloksteeg mural above). The word “microscoop” appears beside it.

portion of a map of 17th century delft made of ceramics

below: Catching and eating fish.

below: Are you sure they fit? Poor Henk

mural of a man trying on new shoes while woman sits behind him

below: A decorated lane

below: “O! Nadine, wat is mijn HUID mooi” or Nadine, my skin is so beautiful (or nice). This replaces a very similar painting that featured a man and a woman with the text, “O Jan wat zit je haar mooi (Jan, your hair is so beautiful”)… But wait…. this is also an ad for beauty products?

below: Literal street art – chalk (paint?) on the paving stones.

below: Stand with Ukraine, a sticker in the main square.

below: Dinosaur angst and an all-seeing eye.

below: Hands by 4d_kaze

below: Accept This street art; it’s Krisbee and his happy smiley face on top. Fishes Invasion on the bottom – I see them everywhere I go!

below: Pen the Forest, aka Wouter Melis – desolate landscapes and dead trees.

words cover their eyes

Posted on March 2, 2024 by Mary C

While walking around the old part of Vieste, an Italian town on the Adriatic coast, I spotted three paste-up collages by Demetrio Di Grado, his “Frammenti Sparsi” (Scattered Fragments)

below: In each collage there were old black and white photos of people with words covering their eyes. This one has not survived very well. I am not sure what word obscures the girl’s eyes (my Italian is not good enough) and it appears that she was not alone in the beginning.

below: Put it all together to get “Cambiate le vostre idee ma conservate i vostri principi.” (Change your ideas but keep your principles).

below: Combining spray paint and collage, “odiao amarmi” – They hate to love me. The little girl in the collage has lost her words, once they were “amano odiarmi” – The love to hate me.

Di Grado’s artwork was part of the local Collateral Maris Festival in September 2022.

Photos taken February 2024

Trastevere slaps – another wall

Posted on January 28, 2024 by Mary C

below: A street in the Trastevere neighbourhood in Rome.

below: A collection of paste-ups (or wheatpastes) from a number of artists.

an exterior wall on a street in trastevere section of rome with many pasteup graffiti pieces on it, in Roma, arte urbano

below: The large simplified guy has Frafimi written on his tummy while the blue hand says “Smile please” as it seems to reach for a skunk. Draw is on the run, The Chosen Few Worldwide show a fist and Horus, at the far right, has weird eyes.

graffiti on a wall in Rome by Farfimi and the Chosen Few

below: A pink thing by Tzing

below: T.A.C.I.M. Collective‘s black and white portrait of a woman with long hair beside a funny looking Jack’o’lantern (i.e. a pumpkin with a face carved into it).

below: Blackheart boy of The Chosen Few with another black and white woman’s portrait. She partially covers that strange image of the two men. ”Liebe” is on the screen at TV Clan. Liebe is love.

graffiti on a rome wall, by tv clan and black heart boy of the chosen few

below: Urban ninja squadron from Toronto makes an appearance. There is also a circular drawing by Streetartee of a women’s leg emerging from a swirl of hair – being reborn. The I ‘heart’ mare is also one of hers. On the top left, with big lips and finny feet is Fishes Invasion (aka Merioone). This little fish gets around; I have seen his image in so many places!

urban ninja squadron t bonez paste up along with some other graffiti on a trastevere wall

below: A combination of streetartee (aka 11tee, or Tracey) and Alessandro Spun (aka spun29) and a large black and white Marilyn Monroe. This is one of those pieces that I struggle with but the fact that streetartee is female seems to make it easier for me to accept it. ”Vivi di gusto” is live with taste while “vivi disgusto” is experience disgust. An interesting play on words.

black and white Marilyn Monroe with other pieces of graffiti and the text vivi di gusto

below: No Limits

black and white graffiti of Marilyn Monroe, a man's head, and many hands

below: Another wall, another collection.

a wall with graffiti paper paste ups on it

below: Two faces with a heart in the middle. The face on the left is an example of pareidolia since the ripped paper forms two eyes, a forehead, and a mouth – our brains see those shapes and interprets it as a face. The other pieces are more paste-ups by streetartee.

paste ups by streetartee on a wall in rome

below: It’s not a very good photo, but this little image of a woman lying on a cauliflower that has been cut in two is another Spun29 piece. The words, “pelle morta di ventisette anni” translate to “dead skin of twenty-seven years”. And I will leave you with that profound thought…..

Photos taken December 2019

If you are interested, there is a previous blog post from a couple of years ago with more Trastevere slaps

Ostiense bridge – another section

Posted on January 25, 2024 by Mary C

My last post, Under an Ostiense railway bridge, showed some of the graffiti and street art that I saw there a few years ago. This post includes more photos of the artwork (and scribbles) that were seen. There was a lot! Even this is only a small portion of the total.

below: Piramide

poster graffiti under a bridge, text says piramide

below: Project Qwerty’s alien in a cage

graffiti under a bridge, qwerty, blue alien-like figure with red high heels sitting in a birdcage

below: Disgusto is the name/word on this.

graffiti posters under a bridge, signed disgusto,

below: Leonardo Crudi 900 poster on the bottom and BVKA on the right .

graffiti under a bridge

below: Foto star Ostiense photo of a woman between a large yellow mushroomy fungus type guy and BVKA who puts the same black head on most of his work.

below: Closer look at Leonardo Crudi 900,

below: The angel resting her head on a trash bin, Cancelletto (aka Rizio Ticenco)

graffiti under a bridge

graffiti on a concrete wall under a bridge

below: He says “Smile!” but the croc is not interested.

below: Icarus on the bottom and a greenish crocodile face on the left. I am not sure what the woman is doing or thinking but that looks like a very long cigarette in her hand.

below: Factory mart and abstract art.

below: Plant a tree; Plant a life.

beside Straat’s door

Posted on December 23, 2023 by Mary C

Amsterdam has a large museum/gallery dedicated to street art. It is located on the grounds of an old shipyard, a short ferry ride away from the central part of the city. Some of the murals are outside, along with a lot of graffiti that has been added over time. The works that I have included in this blogpost are what I saw around the outside of the entrance to STRAAT, the indoor gallery

below: A large metal door or gate that various people have left their mark on.

below: Top of the box, two portrait pasteups by Jeremy Novy, as well as two white hands.

below: Just smile on the frame of what once was a mirror. This was contributed to the space by navarriky.

below: A black and white image that is starting to peel.

below: On the other side of the entrance, is a wall that has served as a canvas for a few artists.

below: “The Asseastant” by FALCO, A nude but athletic thrower of life rings. Saving someone? On FALCO’s instagram page there is this description of the work: “”THE ASSEASTANT“ is a message of hope, altruism and activism. It highlights the media absence of hundreds of thousands of human beings who perish braving the seas to escape war, famine or misery vs 5 rich passengers on a touristic submarine cruise.”

below: A head of a large red heart, love, with a halo, the work of Faben,

below: Little girl destruction, a black and white by Dutch artist N888K

below: Barbie and the riot police. She gracefully dances in her tutu as they haul her away. Graffiti on tiles.

below: Hello Flynn and an ice cream cone with a very long tongue

below:words

Kent Ave container wall

Posted on December 11, 2023 by Mary C

below: Sometime between 2018 and 2022, a large wall was built using old shipping containers. If you use street view on google maps there is a section that still shows images captured in 2018 where there is no wall at Kent & Clymer. There is now graffiti on the containers.

intersection of kent and clymer in brooklyn, wall constructed of shipping containers

below: Small sticker on an already spray painted area with a sparkly, positive message, “It will all be okay”.

small sticker in pink and glittery gold that says it will all be okay

below: Just a little black bear.

a small round sticker with head of black bear

below: Slightly misshapen but also intriguing.

below: There are a lot of containers!

a pedestrian walks along a sidewalk beside a wall of shipping containers, 3 high, that seems to go on forever.

below: Either it was the word on, or a word that ended with on. Your choice.

below: “Do not remove” and “Jesus saves”

below: Another angle.

containers, 3 high, make a wall at Kent and clymer in Brooklyn, a group of people is jogging past it

below: If you don’t have a sticker, a band-aid will do?

close up of drips of paint and other spray paint graffiti, an old band-aid with pen written words in it is stuck to the wall

below: Sarkarbeats image of the Taj Mahal along with the purple character with the funny head whose name is DPac. He has his own instagram page – DPac explores

Dpac, in yoga position in front of drawing of the taj mahal

below: Simple yet menacing.

below: Face pareidolia is the illusion of seeing faces in objects, or in this case, in the rips and tears of old paper. Quite the fancy red dress that she’s wearing!

graffiti, red 5 point star spray painted on container, with ripped old paper labels under the paint that look a bit like a face

wall made of shipping containers on kent ave in brooklyn

below: Dollar signs on green

below: A lot of the graffiti was colourful but wasn’t more that scrawls or tags. My apologies to the men and women who made them, but I wasn’t very interested in them. If I took photos of every tag, I’d be swamped. Instead, I played with the lines, colours, and textures.

small section of graffiti, curved lines in white, yellow, and red, on blue background, with some rust from the metal container showing through

below: Sold Out Art Show sticker, face with multiple sets of eyes

below: Hydration Guy

below: There is a break in the wall for the exit from Steiner Studios and this is where you realize that there is a studio lot behind the wall.

exit from steiner studios in brooklyn, road with container wall on either side, three containers high

Photos taken August 2023.

You can find more graffiti by Sold Out Art Show on a previous blog past from late August

Eyes on the Streets

and feets on the ground. Graffiti, street art and murals seen while wandering the streets and alleys of our colourful world.

Tag Archives: graffiti