This blog post is a quick look some of the “art” that can be seen in Toronto’s Graffiti Alley at the moment. There is lot on display even though I only walked between Spadina and Portland so this post focuses on the murals and larger paintings that I saw. The smaller stickers and paste ups will be in a subsequent post (sooner rather than later I hope!).
below: Blue birds and big ugly black dogs.
below: A portrait of Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine’s blue and yellow colours.
below: Daisy, in rabbit ears
below: On one of the corners, there is a long grey mural with bits of red….
below: “A lone samurai known as Ghost stands on watch”. A story and a mural by Dewucme
below: Portraits painted on skateboards – there has been a collection of such portraits hanging here for at least a year. I am not sure if these three are newer, or if I just forgot them last time. (Link to blog post of skateboards from 2025)
below: Portrait by Bunso
below: Other part of the above mural, but painted by a different artist (I think)
below: In memory of Andre Campbell
below: Behind the Queen Street stores
below: Painting on hoardings as downtown redevelopment (and subway construction) slowly encroaches on the Queen and Spadina neighbourhood.
below: “Find peace in your chaos” Plus, it seems to be wearing shirt and tie but it’s also drooling and looking just a little unhinged!
below: Monstrous television screen head with bloody gums and matching tie.
below: “Who you gonna call?” Ghostbusters green slimey thing!
below: He’s got one big eye and a scowl on his face. There’s a burning cigarette in his mouth and the Ace of hearts is tucked into his hat band. Quite the character.
below: Not all cats are cute?
below: A woman with her purple hair tied up with little glowing (but ghostly) lanterns in a mural by MonkYi
below: Climbing green onions (scallions?)? An upside down blue goose? … And in the middle, yellow siu mai (Chinese open-topped steamed dumplings, a dim sum favorite), all images from the imagination of Mixt Paints aka Kelcy Timmins Chan
below: There’s that snowman again, but on a different wall and surrounded by graffiti
below: Ninos Libres, by Kalaruno
below: Another Kalaruno painting
below: At least it’s a step up from tagging…..
below: A green finger on the trigger.
below: Blue. And strange looking. He’s hanging out in the doorway.
below: An emoji come to life and he’s laughing so hard that he’s crying. His phone is his window on the world, but in reality it’s also someone else’s window. This painting by Spok Brillor marks the passageway from Lafayette Street to a courtyard full of street art behind a building that is home to the Punto Urban Art Museum.
below: In a quiet corner, sits a little metallic fellow (by Pixel Pancho) and a blue peacock (?)
below: Strawberry Shortcake is also here with a wise message about eating cake first (by Megzany). She first appeared as a doll in 1979 after being featured in Hallmark greeting cards for a few years before that.
below: One of the larger murals back in the courtyard is “Doña Mecho” by the duo Dúo Amazonas (Lina Castellanos and Nati Andreoli).
below: Farmers in their fields with mountains behind. This is “Mural De Campo” by Rigo Peralta, Melanio Guzmán, and Ramón Santiago
Punto Urban Air Museum (PUAM) is located in the Point neighbourhood of Salem and one of it’s goals is to “create a beautiful, uplifting environment for Point residents”. It also hopes to tap into the tourists that visit Salem – to get them to explore the area and help the economy of the Point neighbourhood. There are now more than 90 murals painted here. Not all of them are shown in this blog, but there some of the other Salem posts:
… is a street in Bonn that ends in a dead end (for traffic). There are buildings only on one side of the street because the other side is a concrete wall that helps support Guido-Westerwelle-Brucke as it rises to form a bridge over the railway tracks.
below: Little long-nosed knee pads for someone with big feet.
below: Cheap Art (& Factorie 45) are located here. Also, there is body (of sorts) above those big feet. “Legs Alien” was painted by Falko.
below: Books coming together to form a bridge – this is “World Construction” by Anthony Dipaola and Adolfo Torrico. There are 17 books in the stack and each one represents a Sustainability Goal such as No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Gender Equality, and Affordable Energy, etc. It is painted on the side of Kult 41 cultural center (and beside Bonn’s Central Mosque).
below: This mural by Marie Hesse is a recent addition to the neighbourhood. It is a tribute to Expressionist painter August Macke (1887-1914) and is her interpretation of a Macke painting “Mädchen mit Blauen Vogeln (Girl with Blue Bird) (the museum, August Macke Haus is nearby).
below: Big brown eyes, with a tack in the bottom corner of one.
below: Smile!
below: Another Smile! This one looks like weather – there’s lightning, and raindrops, and clouds.
below: I almost missed it – This Petit Astronaute by Seileise (aka Tim Ossege) was hiding behind some very heavy pieces of metal.
below: Because I was trying to balance the metal pieces while holding my camera, the photo is not at the best angle.
below: Purple lines, like purple crayon drawings.
below: Mahala
below: A big toothy grin, popsicle by NanE
below: The south end of Hochstadenring – vacant lot on one side, concrete wall on the other.
below: Turn around, and look back where you came from.
below: An alien life form and lots of scribbles.
below: From the end of Hochstadenring you can see the next street over, Heerstrasse, and two faded older mural dating from 2015.
below: A closer look at the one on the left shows this scene
below: There was a flowing grid of different colours on the mural on the right but most of it has been covered with tags.
below: Street art of a slightly different sort – the next two photos are large whimsical sculptures that were probably made from found objects. They add some fun to the courtyard of Kult 41.
….Yet another lane in the Central Business District in Melbourne that has street art on its walls.
below: Two bald men, two pink robots.
below: Two different men. On the right, Julian Assange, of WikiLeaks fame, is painted on a roller door. On the left is a portrait of a different man, Ethan Joker, by Lushsux.
below: Bob Marley
“You say you love rain But you use an umbrella to walk under it. You say you love sun But you seek shelter when it is shining. You say you love wind But when it comes you close your windows. That’s why I’m scared when you say you love me.”
below: A mix of different paste-ups and stencils including an astronaut’s proclamation that “We are the Chosen Few” and a UFO with an enormous brain.
below: A closer look at “We are the Chosen Few”
below: Catwoman on the run with a blue bag from DeliveryBunny.
below: Bad Habits – Riots not diets!
below: The Breaking Bad LEGO guys are in Higson Lane too. There is also a little Robbo-T guy with crossed wrenches – a skull and crossbones motif!
below: Cute penguins and a big fuzzy penguin, by Lukas Kasper
below: On the left, another Lukas Kasper painting – this time a lizard. On the right, a brilliantly coloured falcon’s head by Silly Sully
below: Melbourne Moments
below: Revolution on the Television Head, or something like that. A women’s revolution? It’s the work of Salvo, aka Matthew Domenic Salvo.
below: “It’s okay to change your mind” written on orange beside a Tinkerstrumpf paste-up of a young woman and her guns. She has appeared in London and Cologne as well here in Melbourne.
below: On the right, a sort of portrait of a woman, or at least the skull of one.. with sunglasses.. and then overlaid with yellow, orange, and red stripes (by v-Is_4_vasso) The one in the middle is either a restaurant menu or an artwork meant to look like a menu – whichever the case, she has a red octopus on her head. Last, the very pink face on the left looks a lot like Princess Leia.
below: Ronald McDonald is saving a seat for you.
below:Robbo-T has ripped his heart out but the two young ladies haven’t noticed.
below: Black and white photos of somewhere in Melbourne.
A previous post, ‘stencils on a blue fence‘ featured art in San Francisco’s Balmy Alley. This post contains a lot more street art from the same location! Although the alley is only one block long, there is a lot to look at! Most of the art depicts Mexican or Hispanic history and culture; there is a strong reoccurring theme of social justice as well.
below: Street art paintings have been a part of Balmy Alley since the early 1970s. it is now home to numerous brightly colored murals.
below: Part of “Five Sacred Colors of Corn” at the entrance to Balmy Alley. Prior to 2021 these panels were at Mercy Housing.
below: A Day of the Dead image – a holiday to remember and honor those who have died.
below: Max from “Where the Wild Things Are”
below: This photo, and the following two, are from an older mural by Hector Escarraman. It was painted on a wood fence in the alley back in 1995. The colours have faded and the vines have started to encroach on the top of some of the heads but enough of the image remains that you can get a good idea of what the original painting looked like. All of the people in the mural are icons of Mexican art.
below: A lonely red heart has been added.
below: One of the figures in blue is Frida Kahlo.
below: Three generations of women working in Nepal are depicted in this mural by Martin Travers. “Naya Bhinana” (A New Dawn) was painted in 2002.
below: These stairs were decorated by Precita Eyes Muralists with a mural titled “Dragon Eyes”. It was painted way back in 1998. For more than forty years Precita Eyes has used murals to enrich communities in San Francisco – murals that focus on positive images about such topics as culture, nature, unity, and history
below: Zigzags and triangles in bright colours with a couple of hummingbirds flying around.
below: There’s a lot of religious and cultural symbolism in this mural and it shows how much the two are entwined.
below: On the left, Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti with a few origami birds added to the scene.
below: Mother and child
below: At 50A
below: Women of the Resistance, 38 women’s portraits in a group, painted in 2018 by Lucía González Ippolito aka Cia Lu Art
below: Ruby throated hummingbird resting on a very blue finger.
below: There is a dragon here too!
below: The other half of the mural… It as painted by Carla Wojczuk in 2011 and is titled “56 Lu the Wanderer”.
below: “The Mission District is for Everyone” is the text on the sign that the little blue bear is holding. The mural is “Victorion” by Sirron Norris
below: A tribute to Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who gave his life fighting for social and economic and ecological justice. He was murdered by the CIA (or at least by CIA-backed assassins) on 24th March 1980, the day after he he urged Salvadoran soldiers to disobey their superiors. A few days later, more than 30 people were killed at his funeral. In all, at least 75,000 people lost their lives during the 12 years that the civil war lasted in El Salvador.
below: Un Pasado Que Aún Vive (A Past That Still Lives Here) by Joel Bergner, from 2004
below: Standing in a barrel is El Chavo from a Mexican television sitcom from the 1970s and 1980s. He is standing beside a mural from 2001 of a butterfly and a palm tree in “Memorias Primas” by Marta Ayala. The butterfly has been covered up for some reason.
below: Happy singing tree? Scared yelling tree? Enchanted and magical forest? Haunted and creepy forest?
below: Another tree/human mix. This time there is a contrast to the hot colours of the desert on one side and the cooler colours of the city on the other. It is titled “Love and Compassion” and it is in memory of Father Richard Purcell (1938-2011), a Franciscan friar who ran a homeless shelter nearby for men with AIDS. The mural was painted by Laura Campos, a Precita Eyes member.
below: Parrots and toucans and other details, mural by Dallas Hyatt
below: “Tu doy una Cancion como un Disparo como un libro, una Palabra, una Guerrilla, Como Doy el Amor. I give you a Song Like a Tribute, like a Book, a Word, a Freedom fighter, like a I give Love.” Silvio Rodriguez.
below: Day and night. The man in the moon reflects on the water below. The sun shines in a blue sky.
… a few things seen as I walked around Dusseldorf on a rainy day.
below: At the train station – not really street art? But it’s a colourful addition to a grey platform.
below: One of the original pieces of street art in Dusseldorf is this large yellow Monkey that appears to be painted by a group of smaller monkeys. It was painted in 1969 by the Majo Brothers. The title is, appropriately “Affe” which is German for monkey. You could probably call it Der Gelbe Affe, or the Yellow Monkey.
below: Joseph Beuys is memorialized in this large portrait – he was a native of Dusseldorf who was influential in the development of the city from the 1960s until his death in 1986. One of his famous phrases is, “Everyone is an artist”.
below: Complex and largely symmetrical in shades of pink and purple is one way to describe this mural by HowNosm (or How & Nosm), a partnership between brothers Raoul and Davide Perre.
below: This is a large-scale, monochrome mural realistically depicting a person’s feet as they stand. They are wearing old boots (or shoes) and you can also see the bottom of their pant legs in the image. The artist was Hendrik Beikirch (aka ECB).
below: “Meat is Murder” he says as he holds out a sausage.
below: “No more wore” written on the Ukrainian flag.
below: Floral dog on a black and white slap, image by Christin Wenga.
below: Sad face with a blotch of yellow on his forehead.
below: “Nix Gelernt?” Nothing Learned?
below: In the center, raising the flag but it has been altered from the original photograph of the American the flag being raised at Iwo Jima on 23 Feb 1945 to an Anarchist flag. In the bottom corner is a small League of Legends sticker
below: His burning inside produces enough hot air to keep him afloat. There is a word written on his T-shirt which might give some clue as to the artist who created this large paste-up but I haven’t been able to find any answers online.
below: The thirteen of hearts and a pinwheel of robotic arms.
below: mmm
below: A bright green potted barrel cactus “growing” on a concrete wall.
below: Another dusseldorf monkey, not so big this time.
below: A lot of advice packed into a small space. “Don’t Panic”, “Be Big”, as well as “Never ever on a first date”.
below: Red head.
below: Framed twice.
below: For aspiring photographers – here is one way to display your work. Do you think that is effective? Worth the effort?
below: I’m not sure who it is, but they have very big black and blue lace-up shoes.
Walls of Vision, “Wald” by Shaleen Faussner. This was the winning image in a competition for young artists. One of the requirements was that the piece had to be a modern Interpretation of the historical artwork. Faussner chose “Woman Walking in an Exotic Forest” by Henri Rousseau. The artist duo innerfields (aka Holger Weissflog and Jakob Bardou) helped translate the winning image into the much larger size that was needed.
below: “Schöner leben ohne macker” = Better life without machos. (These are available as stickers from Etsy where they have the translation as “Live better without a bloke” – similar yet very different).
below: Ludwig von Beethoven’s image is all over Bonn. Here, it’s mostly just his eyes that you can see.
below: Helicopters bring relief that many (half?) of you will relate to.
below: Parakeet on a pink heart – as an aside, there are noisy parakeets in the nearby cemetery.
below: Du bist schön = You are beautiful
below: Smoochies with a very pink, and very happy, flamingo
below: Many little pieces
below: Birds on a wire – but one just has to be different.
below: Homeless astronaut
below: PEZ dispensers, one with a red floppy eared dog and the other is Wednesday Addams. PEZ candies (actually officially known as Pfefferminz), in their special dispensers were invented in Austria back in 1911.
below: Another PEZ dispenser – I think that he came from Star Trek? He’s accompanied by a few other paste ups.
Carlin’s Cafe in the Mission District was closed for about 3 1/2 years during Covid. It re-opened in 2023. The paintings on the exterior wall pre-date the closure.
below: 298 Valencia Street.
below: A closer view
below: A rocket powered BART train? The lights of the Golden Gate bridge shine in the night while a sailing ship lingers outside the harbor. There is also a welder hard at work.
below: She’s dancing in a flowing orange dress but with a partner whose hands are skeletal.
below: Tucked up in the shadows under the awning are a couple of baseball players
below: Playing for the camera?
below: A coffee moment.
below: More coffee, this time from the source.
below: The 49ers of the National Football League, the home team here in San Francisco.
below: A poster in the window
below: Seen outside the restaurant – This graffiti was inspired by Danny DeVito’s character Ongo Gablogian, art collector, critic, and patron, from the movie It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This graffiti was created by Ongosf and apparently, little Ongos can be found in many places!
below: The Corporation and a hungry little black bird.
Eyes on the Streets 