John Breiner | Eyes on the Streets

In Albany New York, like in many cities, there is a group that promotes street art (especially murals) as way of enriching neighbourhoods and increasing the involvement of people in their communities. Here the group is Capital Walls. One area that they have focused on in downtown Albany is a space under the highway ramps between Interstate 787 and Clinton Street. Most of it is a large parking lot. There are a series of concrete pillars that have now been painted by various artists.

below: mmm

below: John Breiner painted this bird in flight in 2019.

mural on concrete ramp support, bird in flight, many feathers, by john breiner

below: Another John Breiner painting, ‘Float’, is on the reverse side of the one above.

mural on tall concrete support under highway off ramp for Clinton street in Albany

below: In the foreground is ‘Modern Systems’ by NDA

below: ‘Paradise Pattern’ by Vanessa Mastronardi,

below: ‘Courage’ by Rosie Sunshine

below: ‘Journey’ by Arzu Fallahi

below: Quakenbush Square, “Belonging” by Adam Fujita

mural with words, you belong here we all belong together, each word in a different colour, along with a happy face with heart shaped eyes, and a large yellow heart

below: On the lower part of the Quackenbush multi-level parking garage, there is a mural called “Upstate Albany Portrait Landscape” that was painted by George Maxwell Dunn. This is part of it. The part that spells Albany.

below: Part of a “Downtown is Pawsome” campaign are dog statues painted by different artsits. Nipper, as he is known, is about three feet high and is one of ten. This red and black one (‘Industrial Anthropology’) was painted by Stephanie Levay.

below: “Explore” by Ramiro Davaro-Comas

mural on the side of an entrance to a parking garage, with large text says explore

below: On the other side of the Quackenbush Garage is this painting, ‘Mix Tape’ by Hellbent (aka J. Mikal Davis)

on the side of a parking garage, painted shapes and patterns

below: There are more on and off ramps for the I-787 on the south side of the garage. Here too, some of the supports have been painted. “Back to Life” by D. Colin

below: A couple of scenes from ‘Geraldines Reverie’ by Elizabeth Zunon

below: At Orange and Water, ‘The River that Flows in Two Directions’ by Rachel Baxter.

mural on the side of an elevated section of freeway in albany by rachel becker, orange and blue on white

below: Nearby – “Escape to Nature” by Trash Kid Art (aka Jade Warrick)

below: At Wallenberg Park, within the dog park, is this doggie mural by Chip Fasciana and Mark Gregory.

street art mural in a dog park, images of dogs on yellow background

“The devil made me do it”

black drawing and text graffiti under highway ramp, the deveil made me do it

O+ Festival is the name of an annual art, music, and wellness festival in Kingston New York that began in 2010. Most of the murals in this post were painted as part of that festival. But not all of the murals in Kingston are included – my apologies to those left out – but I will be back!

a bright and colorful mural in an alley, large cursive word Kingston with smaller pictures around the letters, two faces in the mural as well

Bright and bold Kingston, but down an alley where it’s hard to see all at once.

the lefthand end of a bright and colorful mural in an alley, large cursive word Kingston with smaller pictures around the letters, only the first 3 letters are visible in this photo, K I and N

large pink female face at the end of a mural in an alley, face ends at the sidewalk of Broadway Ave in Kingston New York, shops and other buildings in the background

street art paintings around the entrance to a business, southwestern theme, cactii

below: This mural was painted by Jess Snow and Jia Sung and is titled “Oh Wind, Take Me to my Country”. It is a portrait of Sudanese poet Safia Elhillo and was inspired by one of her poems.

mural by Jess Snow and Jia Sung in Kingston New York, portrait of a woman with long flowing black hair, a small sailboat in her hair, all on background of watery blues

below: “Late Summer Kill Swim” by Samantha French and Aaron Hauck. Apparently the word ‘kill’ is a reference to the local Hudson Valley swimming holes.

below: “LIfted” by Lindsey Wolkowicz and Dillon Paul, 2018. Women and girls girls working together to lift each other up.

mural on the end of a building showing girls and women of different coloured races helping each other

below: Thorneater Comics painted this sturgeon in 2015.

large mural of a fish, outdoors, in shades of grey

below: “Pretty Nose and Dakota Unity Riders” by LMNOPI (aka Lopi LaRoe). Pretty Nose was an Arapaho woman war chief who participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. It is said that she lived to be 101 years old.

mural, center is first nations portrait surrounded by circles of triangles looking like the rays of the sun, silhouettes of people on horseback on either side

below: “Native Americans Discover Columbus” by Lady Pink

day of the dead themed mural, girl with painted white face and decorations, a baltimore oriole beside her, she has long flowing hair

below: “Shadow Guide/Shadow Self” by Dina Kravtsov and Matthew Schulze, 2018

mural of two people on a bicycle built for two, a tandem bike

below: On one of the exterior walls of Keegan Ales is a mural painted by John Breiner in 2016. “From the Ground Up” has faded a bit over the past few years but there is a photo of it in its former glory on the artist’s website.

mural on an exterior of Keegan Ales, with window and reflections in the middle of the picture, mural painted by

below: Another mural on Keegan Ale buildings – this one was painted by Jack Dishel and Vor138 in 2014.

mural on Keegan Ale exterior, cartoon like characters and items, skull, skunk, dart board,

below: Letting the imagination run wild as boys and girls read books in “Fishbone” by Eugene Stetz Jr., 2016

mural of two children, a boy and a girl, reading, with a cloud of objects from their imaginations joining them together. A mural on St. James Street in Kingston New York by Eugene Stetz Junior.

part of a mural, visualizing the imagination of a boy as he reads, planets, a baseball, an apple, a bone, and other items

below: “Sun/Moon” by Enz.

A two storey exterior wall, Keegan Ales, in Kingston NY with street art on it, a large mural across the top, a text piece on the lower level.

below: “Shadows of our Ancestors” by La Morena (aka Lucinda Yrene Hinojos) , with help from Cesar Castaneda, 2018. The mural depicts the artist’s grandmother, daughter, and niece participating in a healing ceremony while the hummingbirds represent her spirit animal.

a mural on Downs Street in Kingston New York

below: “Flight Sequence”, an owl in flight, by Justin Suarez, 2017

a horizontal mural showing three stages of an owl in flight

below: A tribute mural by Jalani Lion and Donny Mapes; In memory of Adam (Jeff) McQueen, Kaireem Meeks Jr, Dante Crump, Jonte Clark, and Jeffrey D’Aguilar, painted in 2015.

A tribute mural, showing portraits of young black men, by Jalani Lion and Donny Mapes; In memory of Adam (Jeff) McQueen, Kaireem Meeks Jr, Dante Crump, Jonte Clark, and Jeffrey D'Aguilar, painted in 2015.

More Kingston NY murals
Photos taken July 2022

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: John Breiner

under Clinton Street, and vicinity

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