portraits in Shoreditch

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Mary C

As I walked around Shoreditch and other areas in east London, I saw a lot of portraits by street artist Paul ‘Don’ Smith. He’s been painting on the streets for more than 25 years, mostly portraits of famous people or characters from TV and movies. These are the ones that I saw (March 2016).

below: Two portraits side by side. On the right, from the TV series, The Avengers, Patrick Macnee as John Steed with Diana Rigg as Emma Peel. On the left is #wooshinism If I google that, I get photos of this portrait that people have posted on instagram.

two street art portraits, on the right is character from the TV shaw the Avengers

below: The title on this one has been covered over I’m afraid. Any ideas?

A couple, man and woman, portraits by Paul Don Smith, street art

below: Telly Savalas as police detective Kojak, a TV series from the 1970’s. “Who loves ya baby” was one of his catchphrases.

Kojak portrait, from the TV series, by Paul Don Smith

below: Statham, or Jason Statham, actor. Kiss kiss bang bang.

street art portrait of a man with a gun to his head, Statham,

below: “The Message” a portrait of Malala, referring to Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani advocate for education for women and the youngest ever Nobel laureate.

portrait of Malala, by Paul Don Smith, street art, on a door

below: And one I don’t know. Do you?

portrait of a woman, street art by Paul Don Smith in London, on a door

people on Fashion Street

Posted on August 3, 2016 by Mary C

The Fairy Goth Mother store stands at the corner of Commercial St and Fashion St in London E1. First the bright blue caught my eye and then the name of the store made me smile. When I walked this area back in March 2016 I saw a lot of graffiti and and street art on Fashion St and I took the following pictures.

A storefront in a line of brick buildings, at an intersection, with blue wood window frames and door frame, a woman is walking past. the store is called, L and L, Fairy Goth Mother

below: Why so serious? Joker’s face by Syd, one of a number of pieces (and people) together on a brick wall.

street art painting of the joker's face up close, bright red mouth, other features in black on white, with the words, Why so serious? bySyd

a wall in Fashion street, London E1, with a painting of the jokers face and some paste ups

below: Is this Liza Minelli? Or someone else?

large paste up of woman standing, looks like Liza Minelli in red and white striped long top and black leggings, red shoes, on a brick wall

below: Wrapped up in Yves Saint Laurent.

detail of a paste up of a woman in a head scarf made of fabric with the Yves Saint Laurent logo all over it and a child, in grey tones

below: Another wall in Fashion Street. Close ups of some of the graffiti are in the following 2 photos.

a man walks past a wall that is covered with stickers and paste ups graffiti and street art in Shoreditch London

below: Stikki peaches James Dean paste up man, Rebel with a cause. A purple beaver, pistachio shell art, and can you spot David Bowie? Hint, check the telephone.

stylized animal paste up by Costah, small blue beaver head, man paste up by stikki peaches, and other graffiti stickers and paste ups on a wall

below: The background of the collage is a page from the ‘Financial Times’ of 27 June 2012. The white strips of paper have words printed on them, the same words over and over again, “UR SO PORNO BABY if you want it”. The small white poster on the right says, “Danger, Community Support in the area: screwing the community and attacking the vulnerable”.

collage on newspaper, face, the word Baby many times, in a black outline

below: A mural on the side of Joe’s Kid Cafe, painted by Jimmy C. It features the owner, Danni as a three year old child with her grandfather Joe. Joe also ran a cafe in East London back in the 1930’s.

A man hugging a young girl, Joe's Kid is the title,

below: A person (Michael Jackson?) constructed of other people’s faces. An interesting concept. I don’t recognize all the constituent faces and perhaps they aren’t all famous people, but I can see Mohammad Ali, John Travolta, the Bee Gees and possibly Grace Jones. The printed text on his T-shirt is more “UR SO PORNO BABY if you want it”. The rant in grey on black is as follows: Now you can’t stop me even thought (sic) U think that if U block me you’ve done UR thing and when you bury me underneath all UR pain I’m steady laughing while surfacing baby I’ve got what it takes and there’s no way u’ll ever get me.”

a street art peice in the shape of a person walking, made up of a collage of pictures of people's heads

Two paste ups on a wall, a running wolf with hind legs outstretched to the back, and a woman in an orange and black outfit

street art, collage woman's face with an eyeball in her mouth, scrawled letters of Howl Owl and a white rectangle with two black ovals,

below: Beside #31, Eastco Industrial Wear Ltd. She has been since painted over with a mural by the same artist – another woman’s face but in purple tones.

a mural of a woman's face in profile on a wall, many colours, long hair, maroon background,

foots-crazy people and faces

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Mary C

Heaps of neat street art that I saw one day while walking around Footscray.

street art painting of a minion, a green turtle like creature

street art painting on a metal garage door of a couple standing behind a barbed wire fence

large clown like face painted on a wall between windows with metal bars. big laughing mouth and white face

below: Wanna play? by Mika

stencils on a black wall

very large two storey mural of a girl on the side of a building. Her head and shoulders profile

below: Larissa McFarlane is responsible for the paste-ups of people doing handstands that are around Melbourne. I saw two instances of them in Footscray.

paste up by Larissa McFarlane of a life sized person doing a handstand while wearing striped socks

street art paste ups of three people standing on their hands, with a cane to the right of them.

street art painting of un ugly wrinkly dog face with bulging eyes and lots of drool

street art of a person with two heads wearing a long blue dress with no arms or legs visible but with one hand holding a very small person, also a large bumblebee street art painting. also a dog wearing a red and white striped top and a white dog face mask

mural of people in black and white with a red heart in the middle

white skull wearing a brown cowboy hat amongst graffiti tags on a brick wall. words "scary oner" written to the left of the skull

street art painting of a woman in a yellow head scarf and blue top waving

street art painting of a large white man's face with two windows as eyes, his hand is over his mouth

paste up of a drawing of a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk holding a sign that says hungry. printed on a book of postcodes

paste up of woman doing a hand stand in front of a brick wall, done in black and white
street art mural wearing purple masked space helmets, holding a white flag
street art painting in Melbourne of a woman with light blue skin, an orange top and a two patterned head scarf, orange and gold stripes and black with blue and pink circular patterns on it.

street art painting of a child with her amrs crossed, a smile on her face, and a red heart on her chest. Words "I am a refugee this is my dream. Peace"

Chambers Street Footscray

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Mary C

Chambers street is a short street near Footscray train station. It dead ends at the section of Nicholson street that is a pedestrian mall. It is like a lane in that no buildings front on to it. There is a small park part way along the street.

below: This picture appears in a previous post ‘Guerilla territory’ because the large paste-up is a work by baby guerilla. This building fronts on to Paisley street.

wall of an old red brick industrial building, 3 storeys high, covered with street art. Lower level is series of murals and above them is a large paste up by baby guerilla of a couple flying. A man is behind a woman and he is reaching for her foot as she is reaching for the roof of the building.

below: The murals and street art across the bottom of the building shown above.

a mural featuring a pink person in head carf and a blue person
below: the best Australian I know, signed by gee

mural of a person holding a messy sandwich in his hands, with some words that say: Born in Vietnam came by boat in 1981 (18 months old) lives in Footscray the best Australian I know
below: Stop violence against women

Stop Violence against women mural on a blue door
below: Stay calm and keep sarcastic

On a wood door that has been painted bright blue is a stencil in pink that says ' Stay calm, she "asked" for it
below: first piece, Medev

turquoise woman wearing a head scarf and holding on oil lamp. Signed in the corner as first piece Medev. pink border around the woman
below: junkies vs. yuppies

Green letters painted on a black door that say "We prefer our junkies to yuppies"

below: Shaibu’s story

A lot of words written on a wall. Brown letters, white brick wall.
below: It’s not very often I have to dodge a Maserati while taking pictures of street art!

a black maserati drives past of building with street art on it including a picture of a running person with an arm outstretched and it looks like she is reaching for the car
below: The more I look at this one, the creepier I think it is.

A horizontal mural on a wall with a door in the middle. A brown face on the door with two hands branching from it, each hand it holding a face.
below: maniacally letting loose the green paint

a green montrous face painted on a wall, with green paint flowing onto the pavement in front of it.

colourful mural

below: One Love – Footscray Love, mural to say welcome, painted by Tim Rollin

mural on a wall in Footscray Melbourne by Tim Rollin with the theme of One Love, Australians say welcome, featuring pictures of various kinds of people

around Jewell station

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Mary C

Jewell train station is on the Upfield line in Brunswick. The Upfield Bikeway path runs alongside the tracks at this point. Most of the walls along the bike path have street art on them. This is a selection of the graffiti that I saw around Jewell station and south from there to Park street.

streetart paper wheatpaste black and white life sized photo of person standing on their hands with a cane beside them. Wearing fuzzy slippers and plaid pants and a hoodie that is covering their face (because it's upside down)

On the side of a small brown house is a large painting of a woman's head and neck. Short black hair, pink cheeks and her eyes are closed. The lower part of the picture is behind a fence. The picture takes up the whole side of the house.

a red bicycle is parked outside a bike shop that has a painting of a person on bicycle by the door. It is beside a bike path and the train tracks.

street art painting of two fat men's faces, white line drawing on black background, on a wall beside a sign that says Bike Shop

long abstract looking headless man lying horizontal, street art painting across the bottom of a building with wood siding. Written above in large black letters is Eve Novs

three small pink and white monkey wheatpastes under a large geometric (square) lettering tags. The monkeys are right by the ground. One is wearing sunglasses, one is wearing headphones and one is wearing a respirator. An interpretation of see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil

row of old brick buildings with diagonal rooflines covered with graffiti beside a bike path near Jewell train station

row of old brick buildings with diagonal rooflines covered with graffiti beside a bike path near Jewell train station - large text graffiti that says Eve MVH and the words "sit and wait" written underneath. Jamsr Klustr written in large letters above it.

geometric tag in white letters with black and orange accents on a red brick wall. Small letters of the words fwo, feeby and idem

tag graffiti, two pieces, on a wall beside a side walk

two trees in front a low small building with the side covered with one street art painting

an interesting piece of street art, horizontal across a building, letters, but some animals incorporated into it. K E and S and H for sure but not sure what the other letters are.

Outdoor graffiti on a corner wall by train tracks and a parking lot at Jewell train station

graffiti tag where the top half of the letters are yellow and the bottom half is orange. On green capital T is in the middle

looking across the train tracks to a side of a building that has been covered with street art

a row of terrace houses in Brunswick Melbourne with a parking lot at the left side. The side of the house closest to the car park has a mural painted on it.

a street art painting of the Hulk (green man) smashing through a wall with just his hands.

tag in pinks and blues with the letter a i c (or eric) in the corner

looking across the train tracks to a side of a building that has been covered with street art

mural with symbols of industry, gears, power line, smoke stacks,

Horizontal blue tag, letters, graffiti across the bottom of a building. Across the upper two floors is a large peeling paper wheatpaste of a person flying with two children holding onto the legs.

Melbourne PT train on train tracks as it passes by a wall of graffiti and some buildings behind the wall

colourful stylized abstract graffiti on a wall, an eyeball included

streetart paper wheatpaste black and white life sized photo of person standing on their hands on an orange brick wall

a street art painting of an orange fish (not realistic looking) sitting in a glass bowl, with a surprised expression on its face

Union Lane, Melbourne

Posted on January 11, 2016 by Mary C

Union Lane is a short alley in downtown Melbourne and like a lot of lanes in Melbourne, there is some street art on the walls. Here is a selection:

on a grey metal door in an alley, a simplistic painting of a chubby black boy wearing a white shirt and holding a bunch of white, pink, and red balloons, some of the balloons are drifting away.

a multi coloured face painting in an alley that has had stickers added to it. The word beside the face is blender

5 old cassette tapes are mounted on a wall and then covered with spray paint as part of a street art piece in Melbourne

A grey man's face street art painting in Union Lane in Melbourne
street art in a lane of a man's face in orange, he has a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. A large orange tag (only partially seen) is across his forehead

a balaclava mounted on a wall in an alley in such a way that it looks like a face, covered in pink and gold spray paint as part of a street art piece

In Union Lane, Melbourne, on a wall, a drawing of buddha's face with the words to Hare Krishna written beside it, along with "be happy"

Two wheatpaste pictures of women. On the left is a woman in a head scarf with the name Malala Yousafai written below. On the right is another woman in a head scarf and a thought bubble that says 'My purpose is to serve humanity'.

The head and neck of a creature with a beak, with a droopy melted pencil lying across it, plus words in a square that say bmd Noah Eva, plus of Bill Murray beside sign that says Bill Posters Prosecuted

a man's face wheatpaste in the foreground and a double metal guard rail mounted on a wall and covered with graffiti in the background

little monsters, green, pink and purple with big eyes and scared open mouths

street art painting of a woman's head, shoulder length black hair, sunglasses and also a peeling paper wheatpaste

white sticky tape face-like creation on the pavement

a wall in a laneway in Melbourne, on it are three things, a sign that says "Bill Posters Prosecuted", a paper wheatpaste of a silhouette of a naked woman, and a face in two colours - orange on one side and white on the other, with the name Tina written on it. The orange side has eye open and the white side has eye closed.

some Fitzroy murals

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Mary C

below: Adnate’s woman in blue near Johnston and Brunswick.

mural of two women, three stories high,

blog_face_red_blue

below: Astronaut surfing Hokusai’s Great Wave at Napier and St. David streets

blog_mural_hokusai_astronaut_wave

below: Praying mantis

street art of a praying mantis on the side of a wall

below: Suited up lion on safari with his bunny beside him.

mural of lion (person's body, lion's head) holding a machine gun and standing beside a person with a white rabbit head and pink ears

below: Face among the grasses.

in an alley, mural of a person's face, looking over his/her shoulder at the street

below: Dog and men

blog_mural_dog_faces

mural of two men's faces in grey tones, with tags on the bottom portion

below: Harlem Globetrotters, right and left sections of the same mural.

mural of the Harlem globetrotters basketball team bouncing basketballs

mural of Harlem globetrotters basketball team crowded into a red, white and blue bus.

between Brunswick and Jewell stations

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Mary C

One of my previous posts was about the street art that I saw as I walked north from Brunswick train station towards Anstey. Today’s post is a result of a walk south from Brunswick to Jewell station.

below: Piano teeth guy by goodie

street art painting of a young man's face in profile, instead of teeth he has a piano keyboard

below: On the bike path, a collaboration between Taylurk, Shida, Twoone and Eno painted on the side of Acustico Cafe on Union Street.

mural on the side of a two storey building of a woman lying on her side. A black bird is sitting on her shoulder. There is a yarn covered bike rack in front

below: There were a number of these little pink creatures along the bike path too.

grey concrete wall with graffiti on it, large JJ in pink, a man's head, a green tag, railway tracks are in the foreground.

below: “Long time no see” Mike W.

street art painting in grey tones of two guys meeting, thumbs together, both with silly grins on their faces. One has black afro hair and the other has long stick up in the air hair.

below: Oh no! The zebra has fallen behind the rubbish bins!

A street art painting in black and white of a zebra lying in the ground with its feet in the air. A line of green rubbish bins is in front of the zebra and partially obscures it.

below: anti-church sentiment high on a wall.

poster graffiti high on a wall of a picture of a cathedral with the words "Tear it down. He's not coming"

below: A bright pink welcoming door amongst the graffiti.

A lot of graffiti on a red brick wall. A door is in the middle and it has been painted pink. large black and pink letters are painted in it that say Oh Hi. The O in Oh is a happy face. The i in Hi is an arm and hand.

below: Yes! Be awesome. Stay awesome.

sign at a railway crossing that says Stop on Red Signal. below it someone has posted a sign that says Please be awesome.

below: There were a lot of these ISIT stickers. Not very creative. I have included a picture of this one mostly to give you some idea of the look of the railway tracks and bike path along this stretch.

stickers covering a fence post, also spray paint in orange and pink. A white rectangular sticker with ISIT printed on it. In the background, slightly out of focus, is a pedestrian bridge over railway tracks

Two tiny little arrows attached to a telephone pole. Both of them point downwards. One is red and the other is red and turquoise.

concrete wall with tags, tea, zeske, smeumbl, posh boys. Plus black and white wheatpaste of two men kissing.

below: A bunch of balloons by Fintan Magee. It was probably part of a larger mural that has been partially painted over

street art of a lot of ballons by Fintan Magee

below: This is what the wall looks like now.

street art with balloons by Fintan Magee that were probably part of a large mural that has since been painted over with large grey and blue tags, kires and something else

below: Still hanging in there

paper graffiti of a person hanging from a window sill (which is real), person is paper. It has started peeling away

below: Two junky creatures made from trash.

a junky project sentinel creature on a pole. small body

nailed to a wooden telephone pole is a little creature made from a flattened pop can, another metal label and two bottle caps for eyes.

The previous post was about these junky projects so if you scroll down a bit you will find more junky examples.

Flinders Court faces

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Mary C

Flinders Court is a little alley in downtown (CBD) Melbourne with some interesting street art paintings that haven’t been tagged over or defaced.

street art in a Melbourne alley, a pink girl with long eyelashes and almost cat like feaures, looking very sad, on pink background.
a realistic looking street art painting of a young woman's face in blues. A young man is standing beside painting, in a Melbourne alley

a young man painted by Goodie, with a piano keyboard and some empty bottles, a green creature by stola (Stoza?) is also in the picture

A purple cat in front of many playing cars that are hearts and diamonds. In its hand is a spray paint can, coming out from the can is the word BOSS in turquoise, the words seem to be going into a large mouth, all one street art piece in a Melbourne lane.

a purple boney creature street art painting on a wall in a lane in Melbourne

another face by goodie, that looks like it is missing a few teeth, and also looks like it's been squashed under a window

white drawing of a cats face on blue paper

Caledonian Lane

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Mary C

Caledonian Lane, downtown Melbourne.

A lot of the street art has been tagged over and a lot of the paper pieces are peeling,
but there are still a few interesting pieces in this alley.

buildings in an alley with graffiti all over them. A man is sitting on the kerb in front of one of the buildings

street art on a wall in an alley, brown man's face with the words "Life must be preparation for the transition to another dimension"

two young men sitting on a kerb smoking, they're sitting under a street art painting of a large mouth with a long tongue

A small picture of a woman's face on a four piece puzzle on a wall in an alley, under a no parking sign

street apinting of a head, person with curly white and yellow hair that looks like the head of an animal, brown face, on a blue background, on a wall between two doors.

Purple building with the words Everything has beauty but not everyone can see it. The wall has a large tag LouisV written on it. Tukka Smick is written over the door.