Barcelona red door

Posted on March 25, 2023 by Mary C

Marvellously layered. Contributed to by many. Evolving over time.

below: “Please point the camera toward me” and a Salvador Dali portrait by Pat Brazil. In the middle, a large black and white object that resembles a bomb, a needlepoint bomb.

below: With hope in her eyes, by RAF Urban whose work reflects the idea that diversity is hope. Orange paint has partially hidden the bottle of pills (was there a label?) as well as the woman’s face and hands (what is she holding?).

below: Kandin ski. There are quite a few of these pictures around Barcelona – a whole series featuring different well known people. This Kandin-ski was the only one on this door. I haven’t been able to find out who the artist is – clues may lie in the top line of ‘text’ in the upper left corner but I can not figure out what it says.

below: Some wheatpaste in various conditions including a very torn and peeling Ironmould black and white drawing and a red capped Amar Garpa. Unsigned, and therefore unknown monkey, dog, little kid, and man with red beard and glasses.

below: The square in the top right corner reads, “The purpose of this festival is to use art as the attraction of the Qr code, generally used in transactions involving money, purchasing, and capitalism.” (last word in red). Then it is repeated in Spanish (where it might make more sense). “…. es utilizar el arte como atractivo del codico QR, en general utilizado en transacciones implicando dinero, compras, y el captilalism’.

Photos taken March 2023

Eres un graffiti?

Posted on March 25, 2023 by Mary C

“Are you graffiti?”, asks one of the other.

Words matter! Are you graffiti? Of course not, I am more than that! I am a mural.

But what is the difference? Sometimes the difference is obvious but sometimes the line dividing graffiti from its bigger (and more important? more respected?) sibling is blurry.

It’s a question asked by an artist who left his/her mark on a concrete pillar in Girona.

Photo taken March 2023.

by Canal St. Martin

Posted on March 21, 2023 by Mary C

below: Green leaves growing everywhere in a piece by Mowcka

below: Another Mowcka piece with more green leaves. Long flowing hair and a cat mask add to the woman’s character.

paper wheatpaste drawing by mowcka of a woman holding a smaller woman wrapped in two green leaves

below: Bald Eagle carrying a box with its fragile contents, by The End. (the end of animals)

graffiti on a concrete pillar including one by The End of a bald eagle carrying a package, tied with a rope, in its beak

below: A concrete pillar with a number of tags, slaps, and other graffiti.

below: Up high on a pillar, a black and blue box above a bird and a mosaic Super Mario character smashing something to smithereens. As an aside, that’s probably a camera up in the very corner keeping an eye on me as I click away.

below: Love in triplicate and something about Alice and La France.

below: Sugarlandia is Calling. It seems to be full of monkeys swinging from vines and parrots sitting amongst big leaves.

below: Doing the splits… or running in a very strange way. But when you’re green and have horns maybe no one questions what you do.

old building beside a canal, St Martin canal in Paris, now covered with graffiti

Photos taken March 2023

Tintin and friends

Posted on March 11, 2023 by Mary C

Catching a glimpse of yellow, Tintin from afar

looking up a short Paris street with a mural of Tintin in a yellow shirt at the end of the street

below: Tintin and the captain – Captain Haddock, another character from the The Adventures of Tintin comics and books created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi. The mural was painted by Combo in 2018.

Tintin and captain Haddock kissing in a mural

with other friends as well, all together in a small corner on Rue des Petits Carreaux in the 2nd Arrond.

below: Wild Wonder Woman – Quand la nuit nous transperce (or in English, When the night pierces us).

wheatpaste graffiti in blue tones by wild wonder woman, naked women in yoga pose with night sky behind

below: Boxer dog with a tear in his eye, “I don’t want to fight anymore” by Canvaz

street art by canvaz, large size boxer with dog face, a tear in his eye, with ear protection, boxing shorts, and boxing gloves, on a wall

below: White bearded but multicoloured skin Namaste partially hiding behind the bushes with a flower

street art of a multicolored man with white beard and mustache sitting in yoga pose

Pink lady poster (Indie red studio?)

poster on a wall, outside, edges starting to peel, portrait of a woman, red lipstick, lots of pink paint

Photos taken March 2023

graffiti in Faro

Posted on February 23, 2023 by Mary C

below: Some sort of art?

graffiti, black and white wheatpaste of a man in a mask, wearing glasses, head and shoulders view, with text, I am some sort of art

below: And another some art

below: Recycle yourself

black stencil on stone, recycling symbol with word yourself below it

below: He sits behind the glass.

black ink drawing of a man's portrait, signed amarantejaoum, behind the window pane in an old window with white frame

below: Green hair, teal hair.

street art painting of a woman with greenish blue hair, blue eye shadow and red lips

below: Rube stork in black and white

sticker, line drawing of a large bird with its wings out stretched

below: Trump as purple clown. Maybe the colour suits him!

graffiti, Donald Trump in a clown costume including little hat, printed in purple and black

below: The world in red and white.

graffiti, red on white, a globe of the Earth being held by two hands

below: Two faces and an arrow

blue line drawing of a face, also a blue arrow pointing downwards

below: Ouvre les yeux. La vie est belle/ bleue. Open your eyes, life is beautiful.

sticker graffiti, two faces, words that say Ouvre les yeux. La vie est belle but someone has crossed out belle and written bleu

below: Not my World Cup … protesting the 2022 World Cup (football) being held in Dubai.

FIFA world cup trophy wrapped in barbed wire, sticker graffiti

below: Priority mail

graffiti made with a USA Mail priority sticker

below: A cute little couple by Costah (aka Nuno Costah)

below: Grey Putas DSCF4794 (2)

below: Love is blue

below: Question authority?

below: “A veces el cambio se siente como en arcoiris est blanco y negro” roughly translates from Spanish to English as “Sometimes the changes feel like the rainbows are black and white.”

below: On an old wall

graffiti text and a couple of images of people, on an old wall

below: Monkeys with weapons

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below: … and a red mushroom

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below: Fox under red

grey fo pasteup on a wall, with red spray paint above it

below: Batman!

line drawing of Batmans head

below: Yes, it’s just a chicken. If you are wondering why I took a picture of a sticker with a chicken on it, you are not alone. I think that the couple walking behind me, who stopped to look at the pole too, were also confused!

sticker on a pole, a black and white chicken

below: One frog, two frog; green frog, red frog (doesn’t quite rhyme does it?)

blog_green_red_frog

below: Love and suicide and a question that is fraught with complications

graffiti, image of person with up-do hair style, with words is love suicide?

street scene in Faro, green tag saying ano, other buildings in the background

mural with roses and a jellyfish

below:Keep smiling … until next time!

Photos taken February 2023

a visit to Freeman Alley

Posted on January 14, 2023 by Mary C

Freeman Alleyis a private lane that runs parallel to the Bowery close to Sara Roosevelt Park and Bowery subway station. It has become a destination for graffiti both for those who make it and for those who want to look at it. Stencils, wheatpaste, and stickers are the most common and there is lots of it! There is probably more than one blog post’s worth so this is just the start.

below: No loitering in the alley. About to munched on – this one-eyed pink and purple banana by eye.sticker is i danger of losing part of its peel.

below: “Do you see this?” Eyes and hearts but with a tear or two.

below: Mickey Mouse crucified, and a feline love more, #nohatefamily. Something about hello mushroom in there as well.

below: “Black Lives Matter is a movement, not a moment, by Individual Activist,

below: Many faces here including a lightning struck David Bowie. In the center is an anti-war poster by Brad Heckman (aka hecksign) that features a portrait of Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.

protest poster, anti-war, support Ukraine in its war

below: Another Individual Activist anti-war poster. Ukraine is not Putin’s blank canvas. On the left is a big colourful beetle by modomatic.

below: Another modomatic, this time a multicoloured mask. Sticking out on the right is a yellow arm with a pink donut and half smoked joint while a Half Brooklyn Crooklyn’s figure is running away (the last is by TheOhioGirl).

below: Another modomatic creation – insect like? Botanical?

below: “So much love” on newspaper by jkosart along with a back and white intricate drawing of a creature of some kind (signed moose)

below: A picture of a painter painting a picture, by font147

a poster by font147 of a yellow headed person painting on a large canvas and easel in front of a door and window

below: Two women – one on the Sony screen along with one as a BLM tribute by Voxx Romana

below: Mother and Child on blue

stencil graffiti, black on blue, of iconic mother and child

below: A yellow duck below an old faded poem. Once there was a bouquet of red roses but it looks like someone showed their displeasure with pink paint.

below: At the very top, a multiple-eyed face by sold out art show. The woman with the black and white flower hair has her own post on this blog – see Unleashing Flowers.

below: A period piece, black and white in sepia, from 33wallflower33,

below: Oversalted broccoli and a boxer

In case you are interested in such things, there is a gallery/shop in the alley that features the work of many of these artists.

Photos taken June 2022

Bratislava Graffiti

Posted on January 2, 2023 by Mary C

woman in a black beret and striped shirt holding onto a large microphone

below: Fred’s a flying chicken – a rooster on the wing

graffiti sticker in Bratislava, words that say fred flying chicken with a cartoonish yellow chicken head in the middle

below: Godot was here (and so was Nadej) but someone is still waiting. “Nedockas sa kamarat” is Slovak for “You won’t make it, friends.”

words written on a wall, by different people, including Godot was here, I'm still waiting, some words in Slovak, as well as was here

below: A stencilled portrait with a list of 3 Jan’s. The last one, Jan Kucjak was a Slovak journalist who was murdered in February 2018 along with his fiancee Martina Kušnírová. At the time Kucjak was investigating tax fraud of several businessmen with connections to top-level Slovak politicians.
The middle Jan, Jan Palach, was a Czech student who set himself on fire in central Prague on 16 Jan 1969 to protest the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. He died three days later. His funeral turned into a mass anti-communism demonstration.
Jan Hus, the Jan on top, is another Czech who died for his beliefs; He was burned as a heretic in 1415 for calling for reforms in the Catholic church.

stencil graffiti on a wall, man's portrait, small, with names of three Jans, Jan Hus, Jan Palach, and Jan

below: Horst in text, a little fat guy Tubby1 by cooklan, and another drawn monster with two horns and a claw for a hand. Unfortunately the name under the drawing isn’t quite clear enough (or there is nothing online about said monster).

stickers on metal boxes on a utility pole in Bratislava, one is just the name Horst, two others are cartoonish characters in black and white.

below: The man with the red clown nose Igor Matovič, former “clownish” prime minister of Slovakia

graffiti, black and white photo of a man with a red clown nose added on to it. This is Igor Matovič, former prime minister of Slovakia

below: “Neklam” with a pink tie, plus a small black and white sticker from German artist HNRX. Neklam is Slovak for “don’t lie” and the image is a portrait of Slovak prime minister Robert Fico. The blue and white character with mirror symmetry is Mister Bohnita. Defend.

man with a gun, in combat clothing and helmet, graffiti on a piece of newspaper or magazine

below: I suspect that the Uncle Sam type red and white striped top hat is an insult or a protest. UPDATE: Apparently the woman is former Slovakia president Zuzana Čaputová. The hat is a reference to the belief by pro-Russian Slovaks that she is a US agent.

below: A pair of pigeons on a wall.

two large wheatpaste pigeons on a crumbling wall with another street art tag behind

below: cute animal heads

a sticker on a pole, graffiti, with rainbow coloured heads of sheep, cute,

below: Retus with a strange yellowish face and big blood shot eyes. Also, a blue and yellow ribbon for Ukraine.

two stickers graffiti on a pole, the upper one is about the Ukraine war, with a yellow and blue ribbon, the lower one is a yellow skinned character with large white blood shot eyes with word retus written beside it

below: REMS in a respirator,

three stickers on on a pole, the one on top pictures a man in a gas mask respirator and wearing a baseball cap with REMS written on it

below: © MGA with big eyes and pink flowers in her hair.

sticker on a metal pole, a girl with pink curls, pink flowers inher hair, wearing a pink and purple dress

Photos taken in June 2022
With many thanks to Bohar Gondar who has provided much of the information about who is depicted in some of the graffiti.

Coney Island

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Mary C

Greetings from Coney Island! A postcard type mural by Megan Watters.

postcard style mural, greetings from Coney Island, with images in the letters

Here street art has been incorporated into the amusement park. Each year since 2015 , Coney Art Walls has added to their collection of murals and now has more than 60. Go when the park is open!

large painting of a woman's face on the side of the cyclone, a roller coaster ride at Luna, the amusement park at Coney Island

below: More of the Art Walls. The largest one in the photo is by Nina Chanel Abney. The one closest to the camera is ‘Handsome Brother and the Mermaid’ by Aiko which is based on an old Japanese tale called “Taro Urashima and Dragon Palace”.

mural of two people, woman with green face

mural in black and white and grey tones, portrait of 3 black men

below: Behind a chainlink fence, another Coney Island mural.

an old RV parked in front of a coney island mural, sign above the mural advertising cotton candy and other products for sale

below: And yet another Coney Island mural, this one with old black and white photographs of New York City views inside the letters. The Statue of Liberty makes a great exclamation mark.

mural for coney island, letters spelling coney with old black and white photos in the letters

below: Although it is disappearing behind the ivy, this is yet another Coney Island mural.

blue mural with coney island in cursive, an ince cream cone and a hot dog, but ivy is growing from above and starting to cover up the mural

below: Clown face and more faces. Live and let live – street artists against hate in the bottom right. And that blue guy? Have you seen how many teeth he has?!

stickers and slaps on a wall, a clown face in red white and blue, a light blue drawing of a man with one eye open the other eye closed, big smile with too many teeth, also a black and white sticker live and let live street artists against hate

below: Smell the flowers before they die and by the looks of it you don’t have long….

graffiti sticker on metal pole, vase of flowers some dying and some still healthy with text that says stop and smell the flowers while you can

three slaps on a wall

below: A jumble of strings and wires and a few found objects all wound up and made into a slightly human-like shape. Man is a mess?

a wheatpaste graffiti on a red pole, a photo of a mass of string, ribbon, and other items in a vaguely humanoid shape

below: The 5th, and last one here, Coney Island mural is the newest and the biggest. This is “Coney Is For Everyone” on Stilwell Avenue, painted by Danielle Mastrion. It was an Alliance for Coney Island project.

part of a large welcome to coney island mural

part of a mural, a large sea turtle swimming past an octopus as a young boy looks on, aquarium

a woman breathing fire in a mural

coney island mural, the word coney in a beach scene with 2 beachchairs and a child's silhouette

far right end of welcome to coney island mural, beside a pizza restaurant

below: A blue Subway Doodle monster sleeps in front of Nathans on the boardwalk.

Nathans hot dog restaurant on the boardwalk at Coney Island, closed, painting of a blue monster lying on its side, asleep on the metal shutters covering the windows

below: Another result of the Alliance for Coney Island efforts is this multicolour mural on the shutters that was painted by Ledania.

blog_multicolor_amusement_park

sticker on a metal pole outdoors, I (red heart) my hood

below: Lock him up! Donald Trump behind bars. Doesn’t he look cute in black and white stripes?

graffiti sticker on a metal pole. Head shot of former American president Donald Trump (aka the former guy) in jailhouse black and white and behind blue bars

subway is above ground, and above the stores along a coney island street, near Steamania Seafood restaurant and its shrimp mural along the sidewalk

graffiti pieces, Paris

Posted on November 19, 2022 by Mary C

below: Near rue Liban, Bar Populaire with a wall of graffiti.

below: In a circle of knives and with a Medusa head of snakes,

below: Another Laszlo piece – Stern looking portrait of Wednesday Addams from the “Addams Family” TV series.

below: A column of paper pieces

on an outdoor wall, 6 paper pieces of graffiti

below: The top two, both on pages of old books. Top – a heart with “Aimez-sous Bordel” with a multicoloured figure by Corine Forest. On the bottom, drawings by Sulfid

below: More Corine Forest – this time a bird on a page of of music along with a little monster character by Axo. Mam’zelle Nitouche is the music that was chosen (or happened upon?). This is a vaudeville-opérette in three acts composed by in 1883 Hervé (aka Louis-Auguste Florimond Ronger (1825-1892)).

On the bottom – a dove in a heart shape full of white cursive love. “Go Love Anybody Anywhere Anytime”. A little saccharine but sort of sweet.

Learn from yesterday, Live for Today, Hope for Tomorrow.

below: One more Corine Forest wheatpaste – a winged horse among the moon and stars.

below: Paix

La suele couleur qui compte c’est celle denotre de notre sang
(The only colour that matters is the colour of our blood).

below: Invader mosaics and Sorry Mom by Etienne Racine

below: I have no idea who produced the last few – help! Sign your work… or at least drop a hint, leave a clue, but don’t leave with nothing!

rue de la Fontaine au Roi

Posted on October 2, 2022 by Mary C

below: Crazy P (= Crazy Partners) creation, a collaboration between a number of artists. First, a skull by Cannibal Letters. Unfortunately, the skull’s white teeth are hidden by the construction rubbish in front of it.