Coney Island

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Mary C

Greetings from Coney Island! A postcard type mural by Megan Watters.

postcard style mural, greetings from Coney Island, with images in the letters

Here street art has been incorporated into the amusement park. Each year since 2015 , Coney Art Walls has added to their collection of murals and now has more than 60. Go when the park is open!

large painting of a woman's face on the side of the cyclone, a roller coaster ride at Luna, the amusement park at Coney Island

below: More of the Art Walls. The largest one in the photo is by Nina Chanel Abney. The one closest to the camera is ‘Handsome Brother and the Mermaid’ by Aiko which is based on an old Japanese tale called “Taro Urashima and Dragon Palace”.

mural of two people, woman with green face

mural in black and white and grey tones, portrait of 3 black men

below: Behind a chainlink fence, another Coney Island mural.

an old RV parked in front of a coney island mural, sign above the mural advertising cotton candy and other products for sale

below: And yet another Coney Island mural, this one with old black and white photographs of New York City views inside the letters. The Statue of Liberty makes a great exclamation mark.

mural for coney island, letters spelling coney with old black and white photos in the letters

below: Although it is disappearing behind the ivy, this is yet another Coney Island mural.

blue mural with coney island in cursive, an ince cream cone and a hot dog, but ivy is growing from above and starting to cover up the mural

below: Clown face and more faces. Live and let live – street artists against hate in the bottom right. And that blue guy? Have you seen how many teeth he has?!

stickers and slaps on a wall, a clown face in red white and blue, a light blue drawing of a man with one eye open the other eye closed, big smile with too many teeth, also a black and white sticker live and let live street artists against hate

below: Smell the flowers before they die and by the looks of it you don’t have long….

graffiti sticker on metal pole, vase of flowers some dying and some still healthy with text that says stop and smell the flowers while you can

three slaps on a wall

below: A jumble of strings and wires and a few found objects all wound up and made into a slightly human-like shape. Man is a mess?

a wheatpaste graffiti on a red pole, a photo of a mass of string, ribbon, and other items in a vaguely humanoid shape

below: The 5th, and last one here, Coney Island mural is the newest and the biggest. This is “Coney Is For Everyone” on Stilwell Avenue, painted by Danielle Mastrion. It was an Alliance for Coney Island project.

part of a large welcome to coney island mural

part of a mural, a large sea turtle swimming past an octopus as a young boy looks on, aquarium

a woman breathing fire in a mural

coney island mural, the word coney in a beach scene with 2 beachchairs and a child's silhouette

far right end of welcome to coney island mural, beside a pizza restaurant

below: A blue Subway Doodle monster sleeps in front of Nathans on the boardwalk.

Nathans hot dog restaurant on the boardwalk at Coney Island, closed, painting of a blue monster lying on its side, asleep on the metal shutters covering the windows

below: Another result of the Alliance for Coney Island efforts is this multicolour mural on the shutters that was painted by Ledania.

blog_multicolor_amusement_park

sticker on a metal pole outdoors, I (red heart) my hood

below: Lock him up! Donald Trump behind bars. Doesn’t he look cute in black and white stripes?

graffiti sticker on a metal pole. Head shot of former American president Donald Trump (aka the former guy) in jailhouse black and white and behind blue bars

subway is above ground, and above the stores along a coney island street, near Steamania Seafood restaurant and its shrimp mural along the sidewalk

quatre murs peints – no hiding here!

Posted on November 11, 2022 by Mary C

There is a spot at 169 bd Vincent Auriol where you can see four large murals at once. Boulevard Vincent Auriol, presqu’au croisement avec la rue du Château-des-Rentiers.

looking up at a couple of high rise apartment blocks where you can see 4 murals painted on exterior walls

On the far left is a mural by Wen2 and Pakone called “Les Perdrix ” . I’m not sure what “Partridges” have to do with it, but below is a clearer view.

Sitting on the dock. Watching the world? What thoughts could be going through her head? From this angle, the calligraphy on the black and grey mural is also in focus. It is a poem, ‘The Time of Your Life’ by William Saroyan, written in the artist’s own very stylized English script and it covers the entire side of the building. The artist is Cryptik, a Korean-American. I’m sorry that I don’t have a more complete picture of the mural.

les perdrix, a mural by wen 2 and paxone, showing old wood buildings or shacks, on a dock, one is cafe du port, some sea gulls flying around

The dominant mural in the top picture, the mural with the brightly colored sun is ‘Sun-Daze’ painted in painted April 2019 by Hownosm. How and Nosm (Raoul and Davide Perré) are identical twin brothers. The lower part of the mural is best seen from street level.

At the very top there is an image of man who has turned his head towards the setting sun.

a bright round sun at the top of a mural, a man on the left corner,

And last, there is the pensive looking Asian woman (Japanese?) who was painted by British artist Hush (with some more of Cryptik’s calligraphy).

mural by hush portrait of a Japanese woman with bright red lipstick, eyes looking town, clothing made of strips of Japanese print fabric, dark black hair,

”In the time of your life, live –
so that in that good time there shall be no ugliness or death for yourself
or for any life your life touches.
Seek goodness everywhere,
and when it is found, bring it out of it’s hiding place
and let it be free and unashamed”
…. opening lines from “The Time of Your Life”, William Saroyan,

Hip Hop Homage

Posted on October 15, 2022 by Mary C

In a vacant lot on 14th Street in Manhattan are two large murals by the street art team, OSGEMEOS (or Os Gemeos), a Portuguese word meaning twins. An apt word in this case because the two Brazilian artists, Gustavo Pandolfo and Otavio Pandolfo, are twin brothers. The murals were painted in 2017 after a building was demolished – the lot is still vacant and the murals are still looking good (even if they are behind a fence).

They face each other across the wasteland. Music fans might be able to find the references to various musicians that have been included in the paintings.

Osgemeos mural hip hop homage on 14th street in New York city, young people with ghetto blasters playing music and dancing

two men walk past a vacant lot with a tagged fence in front of it, on the far side of the lot is a large Osgemeos mural hip hop homage on 14th street in New York city, young people with ghetto blasters playing music and dancing

Photos taken October 2022

two women and a faded heart

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Mary C

below: A red headed woman wrapped in a blue shawl and holding a white rose. White roses are symbols of purity and innocence as well as love and affection. Traditionally the Virgin Mary is depicted with a blue shawl or similar clothing. The mural is ‘Oblicze Piękna’, painted in 2018 by Paulina Nawrot. The title translates to Face of Beauty, or Vision of Beauty.

below: A faded woman sits by her telephone in a 2014 mural by Russian artist, Morik as part of Galeria Urbans Forms.

mural by Morik of a woman sitting on the floor beside a telephone, with large plant leaves around her, monstera deliciosa.

close up of part of a mural, a woman's head with large leaves from a monstera deliciosa house plant.

close up of part of a mural, an old fashion telephone with the receiver off the hook and lying on the floor. A woman's hands and bare feet are by the phone.

below: Another faded mural, this one shows an anatomically correct heart with half of a butterfly on each side. Above the heart grows a large tree. The mural was painted in 2015 by Puerto Rican artist Alexis Diaz and is titled “Czuć” (or in English, “Feel”)

on the side of a building with a small tree partially blocking the view, a faded mural. An anatomically correct heart in the center bottom with a large deciduous tree growing from it. A butterfly, cut in half, sits on either side of the heart.

Bird Watching

Posted on September 13, 2022 by Mary C

“The Vision of St. Dominic”, 2017, by Paulina Nawrot and Ola Adamczuk, one of three murals sponsored by the Dominican order of Łódź in honor of its 800th birthday.

mural by Paulina Nawrot and Ola Adamczuk in Lodz, of St. Dominic sitting in a tree reading a book white a flock of bluebirds fly

below: Part of one of the other St. Dominic murals. There are three birds in the mural.

below: ‘Ptak” by Axl Studio, aka Alexander Mehlhorn, 2016

mural of a girl standing by a large hummingbird, fence is blocking part of the mural.

below: Chasing the bluebird but not quite able to catch it.

part of a mural, a small blue bird is facing a larger blacker bird with a yellow beak.

New Dawn collaboration

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Mary C

New Dawn is the name given to the latest laneway street art mural painting project. It is a celebration of the 10th anniversary of StreetARToronto.

The alley runs parallel to Queen Street West (just west of Ossington); it crosses Brookfield and Fennings streets.

mural part of new dawn project, painting by Nick Sweetman standing on a ladder as he paints bees on the top part of the mural

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The largest mural of the project is a collaboration between five artists: Meagan Kehoe, Kreecha, Bacon, Sight, and Nick Sweetman.

contributions by bacon, a flower, and kreecha, calligraphy designs in white and gold, on a mural

mural, part of, a large cat's head in silver and gold with long whiskers and a gold coloured eye. Cat painted by street artist Bacon and calligraphy by kreecha

mural part of new dawn project, painting in progress by Nick Sweetman

This post also appears on the As I Walk Toronto blog.

Spirit Stories under Old Mill

Posted on July 16, 2022 by Mary C

In Toronto, subway tracks cross above the Humber River at Old Mill station. The concrete pillars that support the subway bridge have been covered with many watery blue First Nations themed murals.

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar

below: The artist, Philip Cote, described the story behind this image on the ArtworxTO website (see link); like all cultures, the Anishinaabe have an origin story. In the beginning there was just Spirit. “And that spirit decided to send signals out into the universe and waited for a response. And when no response happened that spirit called the signals back and said, “As you come back to me, create light in the universe”. And at that moment they had light and dark in the universe. And that is the beginning of the Anishinaabe cosmology. Everything for Anishinaabe is made of light and dark. Everything we look at has a spirit, everything, the ground, the rocks, the sand, the trees, the birds, the plants, everything is… and even our sun and our Mother Earth and the moon, they all have a spirit.”

The blues of the water, the Humber River, were painted by Kwest. Water is the Underworld in Ahishinaabe cosmology and the Guardians of this Underworld are the fish. Another artist, Jarus aka (Emmanuel Jarus), painted the fish.

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, large grouper fish in the water surrounding the central medallion

Most of the paintings have a well defined circle. This is the boundary between water and earth, between the spirit world and the physical world. But there are connections between the two worlds – all living things are connected and we are all connected to the Spirit World.

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, a mountain of ice in the background

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, a male and a female figure

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, an otter swimming in the water, looking below the surface

Philip Cote Anishinaabe mural of water and spirits on concrete pillar, a turtle shaped animal with a bear head with open mouth trying to catch fish

O Positive Plus

Posted on July 11, 2022 by Mary C

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

Harrington and the Mechanical Wolf

Posted on June 24, 2022 by Mary C

These two murals are at Srodkowa 17 and Srodkowa 21 in the Praga neighbourhood of Warsaw. The one in the back is “Mechaniczny Wilk”, which translates to “Mechanical Wolf”.

The other is “Warsaw Fight Club” by Conor Harrington

Artur Rubenstein and a butterfly

Posted on June 23, 2022 by Mary C

These two murals are close to the train station in Lodz. In the foreground is a large portrait of pianist Artur Rubenstein. Just in the picture on the right hand side, is a wall with a faded butterfly mural.

The colourful portrait was painted in 2014 by Brazilian artist Kobra (aka Eduardo Kobra). Like many of the murals in the city, it was painted as part of an Urban Forms Foundation project/festival and now is part of the Urban Forms Gallery.

small green space in front of large colourful mural by Kobra featuring a portrait of pianist Artur Rubenstein

Rubenstein was born in Lodz in January 1887. He was a child prodigy – giving his first piano performance when he was 7 years old. At 13 he played with the Berlin Philharmonic and at 19 he played Carnegie Hall in New York City. He career spanned eight decades. He died in 1982 at age 95.

close up of face of Artur Rubenstein in a mural by Kobra in Lodz Poland

a wall in Lodz Poland with some faded text as well as a large painting of a butterfly.

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: murals