people in the abstract

Posted on June 23, 2022 by Mary C

Lodz Poland is full of murals. It’s the kind of city where Tourist Information gives out maps showing the location of more than 130 murals, most of which are in walking distance (but there are trams too if you prefer). Three of those 130 are here in this blog post.

First, an upside down wiggly line couple by Klone Yourself (aka Igor Revelis) titled “Midnight Lovers”. Painted in 2017.

mural by Klone of two people upside down on the side of building, one figure is missing a face because there is a window there, figures drawn with contour lines in black and white

street scene in Lodz Poland with parked cars, sidewalk, stores, and other buildings, a mural is partially visible

Another large mural in Lodz featuring abstracted human forms is this sort of art deco style painting.

The third is this mural called “Gentrification” by Tone aka Robert Proch (d. 2019). It was painted in 2013.

close up of a mural by tone in Lodz Poland

mural by Robert Proch, tone, of abstract people swirling

Photos taken May 2022

emo & remote collaboration in Hollywood

Posted on August 26, 2019 by Mary C

Emo (aka Eddie Mendieta) and Remote (aka Jay Bellicchi), both from south Florida, collaborated on a large mural in downtown Hollywood, Florida.

a mural by emo and remote, also known as Eddie Mendieta and Jay Bellicchi

Two women, one at each end, reaching for the sun in the middle. Their hands and fingers are loosely wrapped by a vine that is also reaching for the sun.

part of a mural by emo and remote, large yellow and orange sun in the middle, a hand is reaching for the sun, a vine is growing up the hand and fingers towards the sun

close up of woman's face in mural, in grey tones, lying on her side, width of face is height of wall, blank expression on her face

emo and remote mural, rays of light form the sun on blue sky with finges reaching out, vines wrapped around fingers, small green leaves

one end of a mural by emo and remote in hollywood florida can be seen on the side of a building, as seen from across the street, car parked in front, tall palm tree

J-DEF Peace Project, hands in unity

Posted on August 18, 2019 by Mary C

(continued from above)

Another J-DEF Peace Project mural in Pilsen, this time on the brick wall beside a small park on Allport Street.

Hands in Unity, a mural featuring large hands in various positions, making heart shapes, making peace symbols, a mural on a wall

hands forming a heart shape around a man's profile in white

hands in a mural called hands in unity

on a yellow background, a list of 30 names of the young people who helped to create a mural on a brick wall on the exterior of St. Pius church

Cleveland – Waterloo Road

Posted on October 7, 2017 by Mary C

Waterloo Road runs parallel to the Lakeland Freeway (I-90) in Collinwood which is east of downtown Cleveland. It is an older neighbourhood in need of revitalization and, like more and more cities, it is an area in which street art is encouraged – now the Waterloo Arts and Entertainment District The following are the murals that I saw along Waterloo Road last month.

very large mural in black on a boarded up goldish coloured building, windows painted same colour as building, two storeys, man in a gas mask, at the corner of 156th Street and Waterloo in Cleveland

below: This large mural dominates the intersection of East 156th and Waterloo.

continuation of mural of man in gas mask, building is on a corner and the mural exte4nds around the corner, there is a large bird in his hand,

below: Hundreds of faces linked together

four panels in a a mural of people with large multicoloured faces, blue and red bodies, all holding hands,

close up of a mural with face in many colours, all drawn with lines, long red arm reaches in one direction, background is black and white faces

below: Pop Life building

upper part of a building that has been painted in stripes and rectangles of colours including black and white sections

below: The front of the building was painted by Lynnea Holand-Weiss as part of Waterloo Arts Zoetic Walls project, June 2015. The building is owned by Judy Wolfe, a weaver, and some her designs were used as inspiration for the mural.

street art murals on two sides of a two storey building, on side is a black person dancing and on the front are two older people that are facing each other, takes up whole front of the building, there is a blue shadow for each that represents their younger selves.

below: Treasure has left his/her mark

Cleveland street art, exterior, on the upper level of a building, face in many colours, with text that says treasure

below: A hammer and a pair of pliers and a line of little people below. Do the blue lines emanating from his eyes have any significance? It looks rather creepy. But maybe he’s just a visionary or is looking to rebuild the community.

a woman walks past a building with a large mural painted on it, a man holds a hammer in one hand and a pair of pliers in the other, blue lines loop from his eyes to the tools, old store front is empty, Cleveland,

below: A barber with bling in the city.

mural on side of red brick building on Waterloo Road in Cleveland, a large hand with rings and bracelets is reaching towards a cityscape in black with pink yellow and orange sky

below: All Ways, by Lynnea Holland-Weiss

double car garage with a face painted on each, one with black background and the other with blue background, big multi coloured faces that are looking at each other, beside the garage is a fence and gate with two more figures painted on them, one red with a yellow head and the other is blue with a red head

below: A messy pile of opened foldaway chairs. on the side of building in CLeveland, a mural of a stack of foldable chairs, open, disorderly pile, not neatly piled,

below: Abstract lines and shapes form an archway. abstract geometric shapes in a mural, pink background, shapes in blues and greys along with some blue and white lines

below: Part of mural by Nick Mann, 2013 (2 photos)

part of a mural by Nick Mann in Cleveland

below: Joined by an infinite rainbow. The wire fence prevented me from getting closer (trespassing in foreign countries is not as easy as it is at home!) so I didn’t get a good look at some of the detail in this mural.

mural on the side of a building, two people facing each other with rainbow coloured lines joining them

below: The Waterloo Arts building.

the front of the Waterloo Arts building in Cleveland, painted in light green with other designs, such as a long snake. three windows, two are closed and one is open

below: The mural on the side of the Waterloo Arts building…

a mural that is a collage of faces of many people, simply painted, each within a square or rectangle, Cleveland street art

below: … and the words that go with it.

words painted on a wall beside a mural in Cleveland that thanks the people who made the mural

“Inspired by the artwork and concepts of ArtsCollinwood’s portfolio project students, this mural represents our vibrant community and shows what can occur when established artists collaborate with students.

the following students participated in this inaugural year of portfolio project. Not only did they exhibit tremendous talent, they continue to amaze us with their energy, ideas, and fortitude, Imane Blaine, Arrielle Like, Marcel Mason, Miracle Smothers, Lorenzo Thomas, Siera Thomas, Destiny Ware, Derek Witcher. Mural by J. Kelly (with A. Merritt and C. [illegible] ) June 14th – June 24th, 2010″

an Athenian couple

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Mary C

These two people stand side by side on a wall part way up the hill to the Acropolis.

a black and white paste up of woman that has been painted over with many colours except for the head, hands and feet (wearing old fashioned shoes), on a wall in Athens,

I don’t know which artist is responsible for the black and white (pasteup?) at the bottom but the details in their work are wonderful even if a lot has been painted over (or is that what they looked like originally?). I like the texture of the stockings as well as the mix up in the gender – hands too big for her, shoes not right for him.

a black and white paste up of woman that has been painted over with many colours except for the head, hands and feet (wearing old fashioned shoes)

meating place and others

Posted on January 12, 2017 by Mary C

More Buffalo NY street art

below: On the side of Lorigo’s Meating Place on Grant Street, a large mural featuring many people that was installed in 2013. This is “Grant Street Global Voices”; it was created by muralist Augustina Droze with help from students at International School 45 and Lafayette High School. Eighty panels were put together to form the mural – and unfortunately a couple of them seem to have fallen down.

5 storey brick building on Grant St in Buffalo, with green trim around the windows and a small parking lot beside, sign on the side of the building says Meating Place. There is a large mural on the side of the building featuring realistic portraits of many people, including two trumpet players, a girl in a red head scarf, and other men and women,

below: Also on Grant Street is another community mural… The PUSH mural by Max Collins and others, named for the fact that it is over the entrance to PUSH (People United for Sustainable Housing) center.

mural over the entranceway to a building. Two sets of clasped hands, all with different skin tones. Scenes of children playing in the background.

below: A large octopus swims close by on this door.
A supersized creature for a supersized door.

blue mural on an industrial building door, blue marine scene feathuring a large close up of an octopus eye and part of its body, along with some yellow fish, some lily pads and a water lily flower

below: Unicorn! But behind a fence.

mural of a unicorn with a rainbow coloured horn, jumping, behind a wood fence

below: It was the interesting architectural detail over the door that first caught my eye. Then I notice the words, “diez anos como un roble cayendo” Ten years like an oak falling?

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below: A flute player plays to a parking meter. A Buffalo parking meter of a type that is long gone from Toronto streets.

black and white photo of a man playing the flute, pasted onto a woodedn fence beside a sidewalk, next to a book store, a parking meter nearby, on a street in Buffalo

below: Sweetness cafe is the scene of at least three pieces of street art, starting with this woman who smiles at those of us who look up from the sidewalk. I also like the white mugs hanging from the awning.
a large, life sized or larger, paste up of a drawing of the head and shoulders of a black middle aged woman, smiling, above the awning for the Sweetness cafe. 6 white mugs hang from hooks through holes along the lower edge of the awning

below: The door next door has been re-done but that involved removing the face of this paste-up. A facelift gone awry.

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below: But this painting is still on the wall of the Sweetness Cafe.

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below: And we’ll end with the trash. He’s looks happy to take care of your garbage.
Added note, Sonder is a band from Buffalo

part of the side of a green metal container for recycling bins on a Buffalo sidewalk, relief sculpture of a man on the side, to which someone has added to sticker, one is a happy face sticker on the head and another is a parody of wonder bread that says sonder.

Woodseer, Shoreditch

Posted on October 18, 2016 by Mary C

Woodseer Street is one of the many little streets that runs off of Brick Lane. In September 2016 I saw quite a few little stencils and paste ups here (with a few other things).

below: A large Plin face at the end of the street.

painting by street artist plin of a black and white face that is mostly mouth - a large rectangular mouth with a lot of little teeth, two eyes and only a small bit of black hair. On a brick wall by a sign (street sign) that says Woodseer St. E.1. It also has the name in arabic.

below: Another red headed woman by C3 beside a wrdsmith typewriter that will always wonder. Period.

three pieces of street art, a poster with drawing of flower in pink and red with blue background, a red wordsmith typewriter with a page that says I will always wonder. period. and lastly, a girl, standing, almost life sized, with red hair and a red heart on her cardigan.

below: Expect Resistance bomb

coloured paste up of bomb with wings and on the wings is painted a cityscape with river and people in lifeboats, life jackets washed up on the shore

below: On gold coloured paper, two male heads by Mayu_ LA_, one with checkered horns and one with a crown.

two street art paste up posters on gold paper, both drawings of male figures, one with black and white checkerd horns, the other with a crown.

below: Sidewalk stencil, “Find them” by drsc0

sidewalk stencil of mountain, moon and stars in white on blue and purple background, with words, find them, drsc0 '16

below: A simple hand print.

graffiti made of a handprint, hand on brick wall, spray with red, leave make of handprint. SOmeone has written, back to basics above the hand

below: D7606 bottles in primary colours below a two faced man by drsc0 and a skull.

blog_drsc0_mouths_eyes_bottles

below: Double yellow, eye beneath.

a small square paste up in yellow with black drawing of an eye
below: A Voxx Romana poster

black and white poster by Voxx Romana, Join the Resistance, a woman's face with elaborate head dress

below: Skating on the crack; boarding on the wire.

little yellow stencil of a person skateboarding, on a brick wall

below: Soldier silhouette by Ben Naz . He was born in Strasbourg, France in the late 70’s, the son of a Filipino father and a French mother. His street art career lasted for more than 20 years but sadly was recently ended when he died of cancer.

street art in black of a silhouette of a soldier with weapon on back, looking down at the precipice that he's standing on as it starts to crumble

below: An electric creature, four legs and a tail.

street art paste up of a drawing of an electric plug that has been made into a four legged creature.

below: The layers of interaction. First there was a man painted on a wall who was standing on the sidewalk. Now a torn poster covers his mid-section, a poster that is torn, peeling, and written on. He was a two headed man but that’s not in the photo.

a man painted on a wall, with feet at pavement level, standing, no clothes, then a torn poster on top of it, the someone has written Syria in red on the poster which is torn and peeling off. In the bottom corner there is a small graffiti of a woman's head in profile

below: There was one mural on this street and this is it. Unfortunately, the signature has been tagged over and is very difficult to read but I’m fairly certain that it says Bicicleta, a Brazilian artist.

mural by bicicletas on a low brick fence on a street, low rise apartments in the background, a bike parked in front. Bright and bold colours, red, blue, green and orange mostly, abstracted nature scene

below: Broken man on a black pole, even all the hands can’t keep him together – or maybe they’re tearing him apart?

sticker on a black pole, torso and head of a man, looking upward, his body is covered with hands.

below: Another sidewalk stencil.
sidewalk stencil of a young man draped in leopard print fabric

below: Pink eye.

graffiti drawing of a pink eye

below: There are so many people in his head, a paste-up. At first I thought that it was by Motormannen but they are a music group, not an artist …. and if you look closely that’s actually a sticker that’s been placed on top of the poster.

a brick wall beside a metal gate, behind the gate is a motorcycle, on the brick wall are two street art paste ups, a warning poison label and a poster by M. Torannen of a man with the top of head opened up and four people standing inside.

below: I started this post with a face and I’ll end with one too. There’s a bit more colour in this one and the mouth’s not quite as big 🙂

street art painting on a brick wall of a large face in red and blue with some whites in the eyes and some white teeth.

Belfast street art

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Mary C

Belfast is home to more than 250 murals. Most of them are political or historical in nature and concern the recent “Troubles” in Northern Ireland’s past. But there are other murals in this city, and other street art. This post features some of the apolitical murals that I saw late in September of 2016.

below: A large mural by Smug One on High Court Street (One of his murals previously seen in Melbourne – Smug on Wood Street)

below: Keep Her Lit, keep the furnace in your heart burning, keep the fire alive.

below: These fingers are pointing at you in a mural by EMIC. 3D glasses are available in Sunflower, which is a store across the street. It’s difficult to take a photo in 3D!

below: This blue woman looms over one of the smaller streets in downtown Belfast.

below: Fighting with swords while a dead (or injured) dog lies on the floor. Surreal?

below: The vertical painting in browns is done by KVLR

below: A mural by Kashink who is an artist from Paris. She has painted in many cities around the world and some of her work can be seen in Montreal.

below: A colourful dog by Verz, a local artist.

below: A mural showing streets at night, lights and reflections, by Dan Kitchener

below: One of the hazards of taking pictures of street art is the usual presence of parked cars. They get in the way. A lot. Sometimes you just have to make them part of the composition.

below: And then there are the times when the cars are just in the way and there’s no way around it. This black bird was painted by Spanish artist Sabek. It would be nice to think that the arrow is aimed right at the car roof and that it missed the bird.

below: Continuing the bird and arrow theme is this mural titled “The son of Protagoras” by MTO (French born, now Berlin based). The mural is located in the yard of Northern Ireland War Memorial. Note the markings on the arrows. Protagoras (about 490 – 420 BC) was a Greek philosopher; he was either an agnostic or an atheist.

below: This snake and arrow mural was painted in 2015 as part of the ‘Hit the North’ event when 30 murals were painted in Belfast. Some of the other murals in this blog post were painted then. If you watch this video on youtube you might recognize them!

below: A fantastical dragon creature in purple and orange walks along the pavement.

below: A cockatoo by Dan Leo sits high on a wall, brightening up the side of a building.

below: On the fence beneath the cockatoo is this mural. It seems to be a deer hunt? The woman and her dog are chasing the deer? Or running with the deer?

below: A Faigy mural, The owl doll Millies

below: A wonderful portrait of a man by DREPH. I saw a few slices of bread with feet… The signature on the side of the bread seems to say Artista. The himbad signature on the left goes with the cat in the picture below

below: Himbad cat, wide open mouth and many sharp teeth!

below: Now it’s Puinsai Hawaii at any time.

below: On the Restore Charity Shop, a woman by Emic.

below: ‘LOST’, a man with harp antlers and a pink nose, two lonely whiskers and a grille over his mouth. My apologies for the fact that the quality of the photo is such that the smaller words are illegible. I think that what is lost is dip-py but could be dup-py.

below: More pasteups. A Citizen Nobody poster is surrounded by other pasteups in various states. “The will to consume terrorises you.”

below: Ireland is not full of leprechauns. There is one on this wall but I didn’t see too many others, real or otherwise! There were no pots of gold either. I saw a few nuns though including this one by David Creative.

below: Pull up a mattress and make yourself comfortable.

below: A mural or an ad?

artist paper paste-ups

Posted on January 17, 2016 by Mary C

Paste-ups seen on Artist Lane, Windsor (Melbourne) this past weekend.

Artist Lane runs parallel to Chapel St. between Green and Union streets, just north of Windsor station. It has the highest concentration of good street art that I have seen yet in Melbourne. I have too many pictures for one blog post. As a result, have divided it up into sections, paste-ups (paper), stencils, and paintings. Here are the paste-ups.

below: It’s twenty seconds into 11:50 somewhere in the world.
I wonder what time the alarm is set for?

below: A perfect afternoon to sit and watch the world go by.

below: Cans inside of cans inside of cans. Tin Babushka dolls.

below: Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing

below: Spraying on a happy face.

below: Flying away. Spraying only where eagles dare.

below: In case of emergency, smile. Put on a happy face.

below: Many words. Many bent and leaning columns at the tipping point.

below: Hammer and sickly cover the globe.

below: This one is signed, by barek

below: Every T-shirt tells a story, of sailing ships and volcanoes about to blow.

below: Watching paint dry, or maybe just thinking about it.

below: The snail is printed on scrap paper? or is there significance to the fact that the original purpose of the paper was information about Julius Baer, a Swiss private financial company, and EMA Partners, a company that matches executives with international companies, also based in Switzerland.

below: with a sigh and a shrug.

below: Stop on red signal. If you look closely, you’ll see that there is more to it than that.

A lot of the above art was done by Phoenix, a Melbourne street artist.
More information about him can be found on his website

Zio Ziegler, Vegas murals

Posted on December 23, 2015 by Mary C

A very large mural in downtown Las Vegas by Zio Ziegler

very large horizontal mural that takes up the whole side of one building, with an empty parking lot in front of the mural

part of a large mural by Zig Ziegler on a wall, intricate black line drawings on white of faces, people like creatures, trees, skulls, gears, feets, etc. on a sky blue background. Some yellow and orange features for contrast, sun, hair, circles - a skull, some masks with eyes closed and a serpent's head

part of a large mural by Zig Ziegler on a wall, intricate black line drawings on white of faces, people like creatures, trees, skulls, gears, feets, etc. on a sky blue background. Some yellow and orange features for contrast, sun, hair, circles - cubes going into the top of a head, gears coming out of the mouth

part of a large mural by Zig Ziegler on a wall, intricate black line drawings on white of faces, people like creatures, trees, skulls, gears, feets, etc. on a sky blue background. Some yellow and orange features for contrast, sun, hair, circles - a person lying on the ground with eyes closed, a tree is growing upwards from the side of the head

close up of part of a large mural, a man seated, round yellow objects

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part of a large mural by Zig Ziegler on a wall, intricate black line drawings on white of faces, people like creatures, trees, skulls, gears, feets, etc. on a sky blue background. Some yellow and orange features for contrast, sun, hair, circles - a finger pointing down from a cloud with two eyes, a head with a crwon on it and two heads horizontal on the ground.

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.

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