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.
The previous blog post was about a large mural in Clearwater that was on the Pinellas (bike and walking) Trail as it passed the downtown area, “See yah later Alligator”. Slightly to the north of that alligator, but still on the trail, is this mural….
It was painted by Illsol, a husband and wife team of Michelle Sawyer and Tony Krol and is titled, “One hundred years before J. Cole”. In 1885 the Orange Belt Railway, a narrow-gauge railway, was opened. This was also the year that the bicycle (with the same design as modern bikes) went into production. Today, the Pinellas Trail runs along the route of the Orange Belt Railway. The reference to J. Cole is because of a song of his called ‘1985’ about change and history.
below: “Ikebana”, a flower arrangement. The word ikebana is Japanese and it refers to a style of flower arranging. It was painted by DAAS.
below: “Elysian Days” by Cecilia Lueza, rainforest inspired colours and shapes.
below: History at the corner of Garden and Cleveland.
below: “Avenue du Jardin” is quite faded (I’ve played with the colours and enhanced them a bit). The plaque on the wall says, “This mural is dedicated to the citizens of Clearwater in celebration of our history and our future.” It was originally painted in 2002 and then restored not too long ago by Ana Livingston.
below: United We Stand, signed by four artists: Maria Chang, Jennifer Vallieres, Miriam Vallieres, and Laurie Anopach,
below: A bit of colour on the sidewalk brought to you by the Clearwater Arts Alliance.
below: With drips and bubbles and great shades of blue, a tree by Candy Schultheis
Delft is a lovely city with a large public square by an old church. There are some old houses along a few canals as well as some narrow lanes. There is also some street art there.
below: In a very narrow lane, Kloksteeg, is a large mural by Micha de Bie
below: The mural contains portraits of characters from Delft’s past such as Hugo de Groot (1583-1645), Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), “The father of microbiology”) and Vermeer’s Milkmaid (from the famous painting).
below: A mural by Serge KB (aka Serge Kortenbroek), a handful or two of little creatures.
below: Another Serge KB painting, biomechanical. Ectoplasmic ooze. paints surreal creatures, animals, cyborgs and androids.creates grim scenes with a twist.
below: On a wall in Papenstraat is a map of Delft in the 17th century and it is made entirely of mosaic tiles. It is the work of Nan Deardorff McClain and Colja de Roo.
below: A closer look at part of the map. At the top, close to the left side is Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek’s house (mentioned in the Kloksteeg mural above). The word “microscoop” appears beside it.
below: Catching and eating fish.
below: Are you sure they fit? Poor Henk
below: A decorated lane
below: “O! Nadine, wat is mijn HUID mooi” or Nadine, my skin is so beautiful (or nice). This replaces a very similar painting that featured a man and a woman with the text, “O Jan wat zit je haar mooi (Jan, your hair is so beautiful”)… But wait…. this is also an ad for beauty products?
below: Literal street art – chalk (paint?) on the paving stones.
below: Stand with Ukraine, a sticker in the main square.
With over 130 murals in Stornara, it would be a bit daunting to show them all in one blog post so I have been spreading them out a bit. My previous post showed some murals on Via Don Enrico Tazzoli, ‘A Stornara wall’. The first few pieces in this post is just around the corner from those.
below: “Lupin e Jigen” by The Gaetan, a tribute to gay love. Both are characters from a manga series, Lupin III, first written by Monkey Punch (aka Kazuhiko Katō) in the 1960s. Lupin is a thief and Jigen is one of several of his gang members. Throughout the series, Jigen remains Lupin’s loyal and reliable partner to the end.
below: Are those words written across his face in place of his eyes?
below: There are a number of pop culture references in Toni Espinar’s ‘Mondo Patetico’ that was panted during el Festival COMIXSTREET de Stornara in 2022
below: Nearby, there are a few more walls that were (or could have been) painted during Comixstreet such as this image – she wears Wonder Woman’s clothes but carried Captain America’s shield. It was also painted by The Gaetan.
below: A couple of “comic book” type illustrations by Devil Art Design
below: by Kris Rizek “Donatrix (The great red riding hood)” – she carries a basket of spray paint cans to grandma’s house and no wolf is going to stop her!
On Viale Tor Marancia in Rome there is another residential area that has had murals painted on the four storey apartment buildings. There are 21 or 22 of them in total. Many of the murals are now at least ten years old so some of the colours have faded. Like most projects involving residential areas and mural, there is an organization behind them. In this case it is ‘Big City Life’ which is turn is a product of 999Contemporary. There was also collaboration with ATER – Azienda Territoriale per l’Edilizia Residenziale and Comune di Roma
below: An eye along with a partial face was carved into the wall on this building back in 2015. This is a method that Portuguese artist Vhils (aka Alexandre Farto) has used to create images.
below: This is “Bambino Redentore” (which translates to “Redeemer Child”). painted by French street artist Seth in 2015.
below: A look at part of the public housing development on Tor Marancia. The buildings date from the 1960s. They replaced earlier housing that was provided for the people who had been displaced from areas near the Vatican decades earlier.
below: Clemens Behr’s abstract figure.
below: A collection of many squares of different colours, by Italian street artist Alberonero (aka Luca Boffi). In fact, it’s title, “A Carlo Alberto 93 Colori” (“To Carlo Alberto 93 Colours”) suggests that there are 93 squares.
below: “Alme Sol Invictus” by Domenico Romeo; the title references the ancient Roman god of the sun, Sol Invictus.
below: Natura Morta by Reka (aka James Reka) – people, curly hair, fruit, flowers, a wine glass.
below: Just peeking out is one of the faces in “Nostra Signora di Shanghai” by Mr Klevra. The whole mural shows a mother holding a child, a religious image that is seen over and over again in Rome (and in all of Italy). One could also say that it is Rome (the mother) holding Tor Marancia (the child). The title translates to “Our Lady of Shanghai” as once upon a time this neighbourhood had the nickname of Shanghai.
below: Argentinian artist Jaz’s (aka Franco Fasoli) work, “Il Peso della Storia” (The Weight of History) depicts two wrestlers in the middle of a fight. One wrestler is carrying another on his back, representing the weight of Tor Marancia’s history. It was the first Big City Life mural (2014).
below: Another mural from 2015, is “Hic Sunt Adamantes”, by local street artist Diamond. Ancient Romans used to write on maps “Hic Sunt Leones” (“Here Be Dragons”) to describe the areas that had not yet been explored. Diamond turned the popular sentence into Here Be Diamonds to highlight the great potential of the area. In this mural, Diamond painted in his iconic, Art Nouveau style a representation of Rome: a sleeping beauty unable to wake up from her numbness. And there is also a Shanghai reference: a Chinese dragon inside a golden garland that sparkles in the sunshine.
below: Lek (aks Frédéric Malek) and Sowat ( Mathieu Kendrick) working together since 2010. painted “Veni, Vidi, Vinci.” This is not a typo, but an intended twist of Giulio Cesare’s famous sentence to tribute another notable Italian: Leonardo da Vinci.
below: An orange, part of a building, and a head? Does that head have a body? This is “Spettacolo, Rinnovamento, Maturità” (translation: “Performance, Renewal, Maturity,” 2015) by Gaia (aka Andrew Pisacane). Perhaps the orange makes more sense in Italian where it becomes ‘anancia’ and here we are in Tor M’arancia’. (more of Gaia’s work can be seen in a blog post from Heerlen Netherlands, Four for Community)
below: She may be involved in an intimate encounter but she seems more interested in what’s happening elsewhere. This is “the Pyramid”, a hug, by English twosome Best Ever (aka Neil Edward and Hadley Newman)
below: The now familiar face of Greta Thunberg.
below: “The Hand of God” by Jerico (aka Jerico Cabrera Carandang) obviously inspired by Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam” in the Sistine Chapel. ceiling frescoes) except here the fingers are surrounded by cherry blossoms
below: Bluish grey snake-like fish (whales?) school together, in “Il Ponentino” by Pantonio
below: And lastly, not a mural but a delight to find – a small collection of colourful flowers and a little white hummingbird was stenciled onto one of the walls, by STEW.
This blog post is a sample of the murals that I found while visiting a section in northeast Lecce around three streets – Via Raguso, Via Novara, and Via Agrigento
below: Dimitris Trimintzios aka Taxis painted this image of a woman harvesting what appear to be olives. Lecce is in the province of Apulia where olive groves dominate parts of the landscape; about 40% of Italy’s olive oil is produced in Apulia.
167B Street is a group that promotes art and community – to improve the look of neighbourhoods and to promote interactions between the residents. It is named after the multi-ethnic residential area in Lecce Italy where many of the murals have been painted, Neighbourhood 167 is a collection of apartment buildings that was built in the late 70’s to meet the demands for social housing at the time. It is also the neighbourhood where these photos were taken
below: “Mamma perdono” by Sabotaje al Montaje – here a fisherman catches plastic caps instead of fish, a comment on water pollution.
below: Two large murals on adjacent buildings, both painted by Chekos.
below: It’s their world – Children who are friends in real life too, Andrea and Fatou.
below: This mural is a tribute to two football players, Michele Lorusso and Ciro Pezzella, who played in Lecce in the 1970s and 1980s. Both died in a car accident in December 1983.
below: Two Great Spotted Woodpeckers painted by a pair of Dutch artists, Karski (aka Roy Valk) and Beyond (aka Roelof Schierbeek) These birds are known for creating the perfect home and environment and for defending their territory.
below: Wish by Millo (Millo also has a mural in the nearby town of Monopoli that I included in a previous blot post – Monopoli’s Millo). Here, the couple are tied down and tied to each other by red strings attached to their fingers. Are they wishing for travel (airplanes)? housing? dreams? each other?
below: The Italian words, “L’amore non è amato” translate to Love is not Loved, a quote that is attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi. The artist, Igor Palminteri, says on his instagram page, “I dedicate this wall to all residents of the 167 neighbourhood in Lecce. Let’s rise up, overcome all prejudice and open new paths to self-determination.”
And last, there is a lowrise building in the neighbourhood that has been fully decorated by a team of artists – Chekos (aka Francesco Ferreri), Gabriele Quarta, Ania Kitlas, and Simon De Filippi. The murals were created from ideas provided by a Lecce City project called “Libri per la pelle – interventi artistici di arte urbana” (generally translates to Books for the Skin, interventions in urban art). Ferreri and Kitlas are the artists that founded 167B Street.
A large blue portrait of a woman, painted by Leticia Mandragora in 2020, dominates the center square in the small Italian town of Stornara.
Over the past few years, the organization Stornara Life, has been responsible for bringing artists to the town to paint murals. There are now more than 100 of them. Mandragora’s blue portraits are now on three of the walls in this town including this young girl on the side of a residential building. It was painted in 2023 as part of the annual Stramurales festival.
“Reginae Mater Natura” from August 2021
He is San Rocco, a 14th century pilgrim who was known for his ability to cure those with the plague…before he himself died of it
Eyes on the Streets 