Gu Tang Clan | Eyes on the Streets

….. 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

Like many corners in Rome, this one in Trastevere has a religious picture on the wall. Here you can see Mary, Jesus, and a couple of angels as well as ‘Ave Maria’ above the picture in what looks to be neon lights. This Mary is accompanied by the words Ricordo Delle Missioni Imperali Borromeo, Marzo MCMXLIX (i.e. 1949). Ricordo delle meaning “I remember”, or more loosely, In memory of”

Mary now has a lot of company.

wall in trastevere rome with graffiti on it as well as a picture of the virgin mary .

below: Crying but still punk Eiknarf sticker as well as a “Volti Spenti” soulless man on his phone, or no face no ego, by Luther Posca

two slaps on a wall, one is a frog standing upright with a bottle in one hand and the words crying punk, by artist eiknarf. the other is a black stencil of a man with blank face taking a selfie on his phone. Instead of facial features he has the words volti spenti which are Italian

below: A black stencil of a woman with long hair and a red Thauma at the tip of what looks like a long green tail with little suction cups on the bottom.

a long green lizard tail graffiti with a picture of a woman thauma beside

below: A Jesus face, tifa toro on his cheek, and a cat by Guaro

black and white cat poster paste up by guaro and a jesus head with the words tifa toro

below: Paste-ups and wheatpastes don’t last forever. 1. In the top right corner are two drawings by LUS57 of women doing things. One of them is vacuuming the universe – Saturn and the stars should be quite clean. 2. Little Qwerty pieces fun to find – this one with the yellow hoodie doesn’t seem like much but I think the bottom half is missing. 3. Last, the little red balloon is the top of a tiny Exitenter painting.

some old faded and partially torn wheatpaste paste ups on a grey wall

below: These are in better shape. 1. A papaya by Per Dispetto whose art centers around that fruit. 2. A large red and white cat mouth open wide and eating an origami cat whole by Krems. 3. The tree with its light green flowers was created by stelleconfuse. 4. Zeta’s little man in gold and black has a post-it note on this torso.. it’s bent so it’s not easy to read by the words ‘sempre’ and ‘indefinable’ are there and it was signed by someone called Jenny (I think!). Zeta’s instagram shows many variations on this man theme. 5. The little cat is “signed” but I can’t read the writing very well; it looks like BZQueen? and Confused Cat. 6. The two animals in the top right corner are a mystery.

many slaps on a grey wall

below: 1. Mr. Minimal, superhero in his blue underpants and flowing cape. 2. A character out of science fiction or just outer space…?, by Winston Smith. 3. And last, Lovers by K2M.

a black and white picture of a spaceman as well as a lovers paste up by K 2 M.

below: Two more ladies hard at work by LUS57. Above them, God wants to undo his creation work in a play on Michelangelo’s famous painting on the the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

graffiti on a wall. one is a poster of Michelangelo's sistine chapel creation where god points finger at man, but this time, ctrl + z is written on top, the computer shortcut for undo. There are also two little drawings by L J S 57, women working, women in old fashioned clothing, one is sorting straw and the other is sweeping

old fashioned like poster of a woman in an orange top with words zoom and vroom

The next few are small pieces that I saw nearby but not on the corner with the above.

black and white stencil on a wall looks sort of like a face made of rounded shapes, with word namea or nanea

a red stencil on a concrete wall of a man with goatee

below: A dog stamp. A play on the Romulus and Remus symbol/statue that you see around Rome. Is there significance to the XXX? This is the work of Gu Tang Clan

motorcycles parked in front of 2 poster street art pieces. one is a play on Romulus and Remus wolf statue and it is by Gu Tang clan. it is made to look like a postage stamp

looking across traffic to a curved wall on a corner with graffiti on it

The previous blog post was also about graffiti in Trastevere. You should be able to find it by scrolling down. If not, this is the link: Trastevere slaps

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: Gu Tang Clan

walking around Bari

Keeping Mary Company