I saw mosaics in two places, both close to the same corner – Lexington and East 104th.
The first set can be seen under the windows of what is now Exotic Fragrances Inc. – radiating Be Barrio Love and yo chicken.
below: “This our home land here now” with a cheerful and accepting rainbow “everyone welcome”.
below: Shelves of fancy decorated perfume bottles looking lovely in the window, an interesting accompaniment to the “I got you” mosaic below it.
Around the corner, a whole mural made of little tiles. A picture of an elephant, a snail, and a lot of white doves circling the Earth. A row of brightly coloured tenement buildings anchors the picture. It was commissioned by Hope Community Inc. and was constructed by artist Manny Vega., The mural is titled ‘Al Ritmo de La Paz’ (To the Rhythm of Peace) and it is on East 104th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue,
below: Mary and Jesus on the corner, with murals to the right and murals to the left.
below: Along Via Ragusa there is a wall covered by a series of murals. On the other side of the wall are football fields. You can see the nets above the wall to prevent balls from flying onto the street.
below: Three dimensional cubes stacked on top of each other.
below: Flying cubes
below: A Checkos, tribute to Juan Alberto Barbas, an Argentinian football player, b. 1959, who played for a number of clubs in Argentina, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland before retiring in 2009.
below: Linked fingers
I “found” these murals in a northeast section of Lecce when I went looking for the 167/B Street Murals. They are in the same neighbourhood.
below: Two sides of the Hanover Theatre in central Worcester Massachusetts have large murals on them. On the left, a woman’s portrait by Damien Mitchell; on the right, a couple touch foreheads, by Insane 51.
below: A closer look at the woman.
below: Like much of Insane 51’s work, this mural has been painted in shades of blue and red. One colour, blue, is used for the visible outer part of the body while the skeleton underneath is painted in red.
below: Two filters have been installed at approximately eye level across the parking lot from the mural. When the mural is viewed with a blue filter, this is what you see…. (with a few reflections of another building I’m afraid). The red elements disappear.
below: The red filter makes the blue parts invisible and now the skeleton and teeth are predominant.
Over the past few days I have posted pictures of some of the murals in Holyoke Massachusetts. This post will be that last one for that city for now. I know that I didn’t see everything that Holyoke has to offer but I hope to be back soon!
below: “Yagrumo” by Vero Rivera. Rainforest plant with palmate leaves – In brown and white, together forming patterns and designs.
below: Painted by David Zayas, high energy dancing, with music and movement. The rooster may not be dancing but it too moves with energy and vigor.
below: The Master of Masks, by David Zayas and Don Rimx. The mural portrays Don Raúl Ayala Carrasquillo, who was a master in the art of making vejigante masks – A vejigante is a folkloric character in Puerto Rican festival celebrations, especially during Carnival. He learned his craft from his father and he, in turn, passed the tradition on to his children.
below: “Child Flower” painted on the former Boys Club building on Race Street, by Gleo
below: Colonia – topless, draped with a Puerto Rican flag.
below: Frankie Borrero’s creation, “Transición de las antepasadas” (Transition of the Ancestors)
below: Right – The mural says EL ARCOIRIS as a tribute to an after school program created by Nueva Esperanza more than 20 years ago. They use art and murals as part of their program to engage youth. This mural is a tribute to those pioneers and was painted by Golden 305 (aka Cristhian Saravia). Previously, I posted another of his murals in Holyoke
On the left is “Chromoji” by Bikismo (aka Ismo La Joya del Caribe, or the Chrome Master)
below: An older El Arcoiris mural, faded blues with a rainbow connection between the two windows. Flowers and butterfles, and a guitar.
below: A mural on the side of a bakery. Puerto Rica and the USA, Palm trees and sunflowers. Farmers harvesting food from the fields behind the city streets.
below: There’s even a horse drawn carriage.
below: Nuestras Raices = Our Ancestors
below: On the large wall of University Products, Yo Soy I am by TakeOne and GoFive
An interesting description of this mural is on the Beyond Walls website: “Yo Soy! I am anything and everything. It is not enough to simply exist. Playing it small doesn’t serve the world, therefore it does not serve me. I embody the very essence in which life is created. I am a powerful force. I am light. I am beauty, undefined. I am capable. I am resilient. I am, You are, We are ENOUGH!”
below: As mentioned in my previous post, Holyoke has the largest number of Puerto Ricans per capita outside of that country.
El Spirit Republic of Puerto Rico – Defending our roots and our communities.
below: mmm
below: Tim Purington was a City Councilor and public health advocate who died in 2019.
below: Needle exchange programs were one of the public health initiatives that he advocated for.
below: “Iguana-boina ” by Rafique aka Rafael Enrique Vega. Here we see the union of the iguana, the symbol of the sun, and “boina”, a dark-colored snake that represents dark rain clouds. From these, life is formed. These elements are found in the Taino creation story where the cave of Iguanaboina was the primordial den from which the Sun emerges to illuminate the earth and to which it returns to hide as the moon emerges. The Taíno people were the predominant indigenous people of the Caribbean.
below: Alvin is missing the rest of his chipmunks.
A few days ago I posted pictures of the father and baby moose that Bordalo 2 made on Clemente Street and yesterday I shared images of the mural ‘La cultura es poder’…. But there are many more Holyoke murals thanks to organizations such as Beyond Walls and Nueva Esperanza. I think that I have barely scratched the surface. Photos taken July 2024
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.
below: Another John Breiner painting, ‘Float’, is on the reverse side of the one above.
below: In the foreground is ‘Modern Systems’ by NDA
below: Quakenbush Square, “Belonging” by Adam Fujita
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: On the other side of the Quackenbush Garage is this painting, ‘Mix Tape’ by Hellbent (aka J. Mikal Davis)
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.
There is an intersection in Lynn where three streets tangle together, Washington St, Oxford St, and Central Ave. That is where I was standing when I took this photo – a great view of two immense murals. They are very different from each other and they are both fabulous.
below:Ernesto Maranje, flora and fauna, rhinocerus, black bear and at least two species of birds.
below: ‘The Resident’ by Smug on Central Avenue painted in 2019.
Both of these murals, and many others, are because of the work of Beyond Walls, a non-profit agency that promotes art in the community. They believe that art and the active spaces that go with it, strengthens cities.
If you walk around the old part of Naples (particularly the Quartieri Spagnoli), you will see many murals and paintings by the Italian duo Cyop & Kaf. Many of them are weathered and faded or written over but they are still hard to miss. This is a selection of the ones that I saw in Naples one wet spring day.
Here are three more, of the MANY, murals found in Stornara Italy.
below: “Fly with me” by Alessandra Carloni, 2023. With a suitcase all packed and ready to go, heading out for adventures on a turtle.
below: A lazy, comfortable ride through a sea of red and blue in a mural by Nikro, aka Nicola Ciarallo, 2021
below:Erica II Cane (or Ericailcane), A distracted cat! And while the cat’s away, the mice will play. The mice have taken over! Don’t be a distracted cat!
below: “We are all magic” with green eyes, unicorns, and a butterfly. Mural by Sarah G. Sheppard. This mural is actually on the same building as the mural that I showed in the last blog post here, Pink Men on 5th.
below: “Temple of Eternal Bliss”, 2019, by Palehorse (aka Christopher Parks)
Photos taken March 2024
Nearby are other murals in the Warehouse Arts District. They can be seen in two other blog posts: 1. Pink Men on 5th and 2. St. Pete’s – more from the Warehouse District.
Have a seat! It’s another tour of laneway street art.
Today’s blog features Paul Estrela Lane which runs for one block on the northside of the Danforth ending at Woodbine Avenue. Some of the garages and fences have been painted with bright and cheerful murals. There are quite a few paintings considering the fact that the lane is only one block long. I first visited it in 2017 and most of these photos are from that time. I went back the other day to see if there were any changes….
below: A mural by mediah and the CBS crew.
below: Another contribution from the CBS crew but this time in collaboration with kanos, a French artist, from Paris. More of his work can be seen under ikanografik on instagram.
below: A warm summer day by the surf.
below: Toothy grins and googly eyes, coloured monster faces all squished together to completely cover the back of this building. It is the work of monicaonthemoon.
below: Listening to music as her orange and pink hair blows in the wind, by Kim
below: Marine life swimming in the laneway, an octopus with orange eyes looking at you, and what I think is a squid on the left. Painted by kittzen.
below: Japanese characters painted by Tokyo. Hint to street artists – if you want to be found, your moniker should be something that doesn’t bring up millions of unrelated hits on a search engine. Any ideas about what he might be saying?
Most of the above murals are still there – looking a little faded, or with small shrubs growing up in front of them. The remaining photos were taken in March 2024.
below: A blue eyeless man and his cat with marvelous green eyes – the work of a mystery man, Victorful. This mural was here in 2017 but the painting to the right was a newer addition to the alley (photo from 2024).
below: Children eating ice cream.
below: Another newer mural is this 2018 creation by Caitlin Taguibao
below: This little blue boy is part of a larger mural that is on two sides of a corner of a building.
Eyes on the Streets 