Keeping Mary Company

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Mary C

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

Trastevere slaps

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Mary C

On Christmas morning, while walking around Rome, we discovered a wall in the Trastevere neighbourhood that was covered with paste-ups, stickers, and other small graffiti. Some of it was made by well known street artists, others by those who remain anonymous. If you know the name of the artist who created any of these, I’d love to hear from you. This is what we saw:

many slaps, stickers, etc, on a wall

below: Red nose boxer with black eyes by MIMI the clowN as well as hands vainly reaching for green dollars by levodopa_046_. A very small pair of very high heeled shoes sneak into the left side.

red nose graffiti by Mimi the clown

below: Fishes Invasion stickers and paste ups can be seen in many places around Rome. They all feature Invader Fish, a two legged walking fish with big lips. The fish actually started in New York City in 2015 and has spread around the world since then.

fishes invasion graffiti

a wall covered with stickers and pasteups

slaps on a wall including a red and white poster of two people kissing

below: ‘Volti spenti’ translates to ‘dull faces’ which is a comment on the poor guy taking a selfie with his phone. The cat is probably the work of Guaro and there is a yellow chick that wants you to know that it’s not a nugget.

volti spenti graffiti as well as a babushka doll and a dinosaur

black and white slaps and stencils

below: The woman on top is by C-ska

slaps on a wall, poster

many slaps

below: To Live and Let Live – Street art against hate.

black and white paste ups

below: Bottom right is an elaborate black and white drawing by Lus57 of a woman who appears to be wearing a long dress but on closer look it’s actually a man’s torso and a tiger skin. She is holding a rifle in her hand. In contrast, there is a woman with bright copper hair and wild sunglasses – the work of stickermaidberlin.

posters and stencils on a wall

below: The bottom half of a Smilin’ Croc above a black and white portrait of a woman by Y-Tong and a big-nosed K2M man with an orange heart.

smilin croc graffiti as well as a big nose by K 2 M, also a black and white pasteup of a woman

below: Even Santa Claus helps spread the word about the Fishes Invasion although the pink and blue tiger seems to have an opinion about that.

fishes invasion graffiti with Santa Claus

below: The Fonz says plant a tree because it’s cool.

thauma red stencil graffiti

below: A purplish blue snake-like fish bites itself. There is also a small C-ska sticker of a woman with a heart in the place of one eye.

long purple fish biting itself

below: My Dog Sighs, a crying eye on page 120 of an old book – with the photographer (selfie?) reflected in the eye. Also, another C-ska piece – a woman with a bird cage for a head… meaning?

eye and red streak painted on a page of a book, now is graffiti, beside a pasteup of a woman with a birdcage for a head

at Borgo Pio and Vicolo Del Campanile

Posted on February 3, 2020 by Mary C

Near the Vatican is saw a small collection of pasteups:

below: Game Over on the Cash Machine by Luther Posca

paste up graffiti on a wall in Rome, a picture of a cash machine as video game, monitor says game over

paper paste up of Jesus, white robes, halo, and arms reaching up

close up of Jesus's upper body and the picture and words on his chest

below: The remains of a big nosed character by K2M with a red heart along with a black and white version of Edvard Munch’s “Scream” but with a man in a white shirt and black tie instead. Modern man’s turn to scream.

3 paper paste ups on a yellow concrete wall, all three slightly faded and peeling at the edges, one is a K2M charaacter with a red heart, another is a black and white drawing similar to Edvard Munsch's Scream painting, and the last is a drawing of a young boy with ray gun and old fashioned idea of a space uniform

below: Similar to above but in better condition. K2M’s iconic character now has a pink heart and a version of “American Gothic” by Grant Wood has appeared beside the screaming man. Again, the man is dressed in a white shirt and black tie. Almost lost at the bottom are two stickers from Flat Heart.

paste ups on a metal box in the street in Rome

little things in Bologna

Posted on June 16, 2016 by Mary C

Bologna Italy, March 2016

pasteup on a salmon coloured door with a green wall on one side and a grey metal shutter on the other. The pasteup is of two women, one is upside down.

below: Sneakers by K2m

street art paste up of white high top rinning shoes with K2m written on the side in large red letters. The shoes are covered with what looks like drawings of yarn and balls of yarn

bluish grey graffiti paingint on a wall of a child (head and shoulders) wearing a leopard costume, but with the mask lifted up so child's face shows, on a door

graffiti on an old stone building with burgundy coloured window shades, blue tag, other words written on the wall include

black stencil of Robin Williams on a wall, graffiti

paste up of yellow crown on a young man's head. The graffiti has been placed above a metal feature on a concrete wall so the eyes look like they are peering over it. Someone has written the words Casa Lucio with an arrow pointing upwards above the crown.

black stencil of a woman's head in profile, long hair, wearing a hat, words coming out of her mouth, shape of words is a megaphone. Words say " Chi si loda s'imbroda"

black stencil of the pope's head and shoulders on a brown wood wall. The words "dici a me" are stenciled on too.

paste-up of a man's head and neck, with a red outline painted around his head. glasses and a beard.

stencil in black on a concrete wall that is not in good shape, a man, from the waist up wearing a black jacket and a necklace. One hand is raised to shoulder level, showing palm. Over one shoulder are two red lip marks

a grey tone graffiti on a pinkish wall, a small furry animal with a fez on its head and eyes that resemble nuclear symbols, sits atop a man's head. he has two sets of eyes and a large mouth with teeth

a paste up of a person with short black hair, a blue hat and blue eyes, holding a black cat. On the person's arm, written in blue are the words "Pieces were stolen from me"

a paste up with slightly curled edges, graffiti on a concrete wall, a black picture of a man like creature with stylized features is pointing a large knife at its chest.
black drawing on white, paper paste up street art, man's head and neck in profile, no skin, shows the muscles of the face and neck. with part of the skull removed to reveal the brain. By SNEM
A silhouette shape of a rabbit's head and ears made of paper that has fern leaves on it. Pasted on a metal piece on a wall.

below: Two pieces by kocore

a street art piece in orange by kocore of the head of a Soviet cosmonaut with his helmet on.

street art piece of a skull made up of lots of grey lines The word Kocore is beside the skull

stencil of a woman sticking out the top of a long limo, black on concrete.

below: Make peace or dead, by exitenter

Small painting of a stick figure with its hands on its hips. Its face is a flower, looks like a red daisy with 6 petals. The words " make peace or dead are written above

graffiti on a beige wall, a stick drawing of a person stands on the upper right part of a red heart. The word exit is written above the left side of the heart

below: The fox and the grapes, by exitenter, probably a reference to Aesops fable. When the fox couldn’t reach the grapes, it pretended that the grapes were sour. The “lesson” from the fable being that there are many people who pretend to despise and belittle things that are beyond their reach. graffiti on a concrete wall, an orange fox reaches for a bunch of yellow grapes that are higher on the wall

black stencil on grey concrete wall, man reaching out from inside a TV to turn the TV off, by Skene Two small stencils on a wall, a green hand grenade and a black handgun,