Tag Archives: paint

Eres un graffiti?

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“Are you graffiti?”, asks one of the other.

Words matter! Are you graffiti? Of course not, I am more than that! I am a mural.

But what is the difference? Sometimes the difference is obvious but sometimes the line dividing graffiti from its bigger (and more important? more respected?) sibling is blurry.

It’s a question asked by an artist who left his/her mark on a concrete pillar in Girona.

Photo taken March 2023.

graffiti in Faro

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below: Some sort of art?

graffiti, black and white wheatpaste of a man in a mask, wearing glasses, head and shoulders view, with text, I am some sort of art

below: And another some art

black and white wheatpaste paste up graffiti of a man's facebelow: Recycle yourself

black stencil on stone, recycling symbol with word yourself below it

below: He sits behind the glass.

black ink drawing of a man's portrait, signed amarantejaoum, behind the window pane in an old window with white frame

below: Green hair, teal hair.

street art painting of a woman with greenish blue hair, blue eye shadow and red lips

below: Rube stork in black and white

sticker, line drawing of a large bird with its wings out stretched

below: Trump as purple clown. Maybe the colour suits him!

graffiti, Donald Trump in a clown costume including little hat, printed in purple and black

below: The world in red and white.

graffiti, red on white, a globe of the Earth being held by two hands

below: Two faces and an arrow

blue line drawing of a face, also a blue arrow pointing downwards

below: Ouvre les yeux. La vie est belle/ bleue.  Open your eyes, life is beautiful.

sticker graffiti, two faces, words that say Ouvre les yeux. La vie est belle but someone has crossed out belle and written bleu

below: Not my World Cup … protesting the 2022 World Cup (football) being held in Dubai.

FIFA world cup trophy wrapped in barbed wire, sticker graffiti

below: Priority mail

graffiti made with a USA Mail priority sticker

below: A cute little couple by Costah (aka Nuno Costah)

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below:  Grey Putas DSCF4794 (2)

below: Love is blue

below: Question authority?

below: “A veces el cambio se siente como en arcoiris est blanco y negro” roughly translates from Spanish to English as “Sometimes the changes feel like the rainbows are black and white.”

below: On an old wall

graffiti text and a couple of images of people, on an old wall

below: Monkeys with weapons

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below: … and a red mushroom

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below: Fox under red

grey fo pasteup on a wall, with red spray paint above it

below: Batman!

line drawing of Batmans head

below: Yes, it’s just a chicken. If you are wondering why I took a picture of a sticker with a chicken on it, you are not alone. I think that the couple walking behind me, who stopped to look at the pole too, were also confused!

sticker on a pole, a black and white chicken

below: One frog, two frog; green frog, red frog (doesn’t quite rhyme does it?)

blog_green_red_frog

below: Love and suicide and a question that is fraught with complications

graffiti, image of person with up-do hair style, with words is love suicide?

street scene in Faro, green tag saying ano, other buildings in the background

mural with roses and a jellyfish

below:Keep smiling … until next time!

Photos taken February 2023

Elicser and Sweetman at West Lodge

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Along a wall beside the playground at 103 and 105 West Lodge is a mural painted by Elicser Elliot and Nick Sweetman a couple of years ago. It’s theme is the outdoors and it includes scenes like kids playing baseball, people reading and sitting outside enjoying themselves, as well as people planting gardens and admiring the flowers. There are also lots of animals – a large dragonfly shows off its wings, bees fly by, squirrels hoard nuts, a robin pulls a pink worm out of the ground, and a very large hedgehog sniffs the flowers.

below: Hedgehog covered with thousands of protective spikes.

large hedgehog in a mural, painted by Nick Sweetman

below: Playing baseball and keeping an eye on the bees

outdoors theme mural on wall at west lodge ave apartment buildings, parkdale
behind some trees, elicser elliot mural
large bee in a mural, painted by Nick Sweetman

below: An encounter with a skunk

woman in blue uniform sitting on ground beside large skunk, kids watching her

below: Playing with friends.  Great dunk shot!

mural by elicseer elliott, people outside, two boys playing basketball
part of a mural along a wall by elicser elliot, a girl with a white head scarf holds a large orange flower. winter time, snow on the ground

below: This robin has found very large worm

mural, nick sweetman, brown dog standing beside a large robin that is pulling a pink worm out of the ground
mural, boy outside, kneeling on grass and playing with large pink worm, another boy is hiding behind a tree
corner of wall, interior angle, with mural painted on it

below: A blue dragonfly with translucent wings

blue bodied dragonfly in a mural, painted by Nick Sweetman, 103 West Lodge Ave., wall, snow on the ground, beside some large trees
elicser elliott mural, three kids outside, one in purple top and orange shorts sitting against tree, reading a book.

below: A black squirrel and a grey squirrel and thousands of nuts!

mural, outside, close up of a black squirrel and a grey squirrel and their piles of nuts
two people sitting in a garden, part of a mural on a wall, one person in a green t shirt is planting a small green twig in the brown dirt, the other person is female and has a purple head scarf
portion of wall painted by Elicser Elliot and Nick Sweetman, people outside,
snow covered playground with one wall covered in a mural painted by elicser elliott and nick sweetman

The people in the mural scenes were painted by Elicser Elliott while Nick Sweetman painted the animals.

Photos were taken December 2022

zirco fish

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In an alley near Dovercourt and Queen West in Toronto are two garage door murals unlike any others.

below: ‘Elephancy’ by Zirco Fish – It’s an elephant but it’s not. Tusks like an elephant and the ears seem to be big a floppy. But the mouth is like a beak and the eyes are certainly not those of an elephant. A crazy fantastical creature, the product of someone’s imagination.

a street art mural on a garage door, rust coloured wood garage. Image looks like an elephant
mural on a grage door, another garage door that has been tagged, graffiti on a fence, the back of a house, in a lane.

below: ‘Scrat Attack’ by Zirco Fish. 

mural of a cat head, in memory of Scrat, painted by James Zirco Fisher, on a garage door in an alley

boxed in Tirana

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below: Hippity hipster rabbit with sunglasses and tatts.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, a hipster with rabbit head, wearing sunglasses and with tattoos on his arm

below: Sargent Pepper theme, character in green with drums – Ringo Starr from the Beatles.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, Sargent Pepper cartoon character in green and playing drums, like Ringo Starr

below: A second Sargent Pepper character but this time it’s George Harrison in yellow. I didn’t see the other Beatles but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are in the city somewhere.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, Sargent Pepper cartoon character in yellow playing guitar while sitting cross legged on the floor

below: A child rides on the back of a white goose as it flies in front of a boat. The boy, in the red hat, is Nils and he has been bewitched by an elf so that he is only a few inches tall. The goose is his transportation and together they have adventures. Nils saves the goose and some ducks from a hungry fox; he also rescues a baby squirrel from a hunter. The Nils books were written in the early 1900s by Selma Lagerlof (Swedish), the first woman to win a Nobel prize in literature.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, large white goose flying over a wooden boat

below: Beavis and Butthead from the 1990s animated TV series.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, television characters from the 1990s, Beavis and Butthead, sitting on a red couch

below: Green Frankenstein.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, portrait of Frankenstein with green face

below: Blue woman with a feather

the narrow side of painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, painted blue with the portrait of a woman

below: His arms are covered with tattoos but the face has been defaced (or was very strange to begin with?) so I am having trouble figuring out who the character is.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana,

below: Angry bird on the right, standing beside another hipster rabbit. The words stencilled on the box, “Nidermarrja e Dekorit Bashkia Tirane”, roughly translates to Decoration Enterprise, Tirana Municipality. There is a Dekori – Bashkia Tirane instagram page that features some of the artists whose works are found Tirane.

two painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, the one on the right is a red angry bird from the game

below: Chuck Norris

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, portrait of man with text that says Chuck Norris counted to infinity twice

below: Quentin Tarantino.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, portrait of Quentin Tarantino

below: A tiger growls at the passing traffic

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, tiger with open mouth

below: An older man with many birds in his beard, inspired by a poem by Edward Lear:
” There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, “It is just as I feared!—
Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard.”

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, man with large grey beard with birds in it

below: A rooster on a cat on a dog on a donkey in the night. This time it is a story that is referenced here, “The Town Musicians of Bremen”. Although the story dates from the 12th century it was first published in 1819 by the Brothers Grimm. It is the tale of 4 older animals no longer useful on their farms who meet up and decide to go to the city of Bremen to be musicians. They never get there but they have other adventures instead (you’ll have to read the story to get the details!)

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, silhouettes of animals stacked on top of a donkey. A rooster sits at the top. Cat and dog in the middle, night time

below: Another story – here it is Peter Pan and the Darling children, Wendy, John, and Michael, flying off to Never Never Land.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, yellow box with black silhouettes of Peter Pan and the three children flying through the sky

below: Bob Marley in front of Hops.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, portrait of reggae musician Bob Marley

behind Central Ave

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St. Petersburg is home to a growing number of murals. There are maps online that help you find the murals but if you walk along Central Avenue and explore the streets and alleys close by, you will encounter most of them.

below: There’s a short alley behind the north side of Central Ave that is home to quite a few street art pieces. This is the view westward from 6th St. North (toward 7th St N)

street art and murals painted on walls and buildings in an alley

below: This is the mural at the east end of the alley.  This portrait among the fishes and mermaids was painted by Derek Donnelly

mural of a man with black rimmed glasses painting on the wall, marine scene

part of a mural, a mermaid with long pink hair and a pink fin

part of a mural with fish

below: Colourful mural by kosharekart

a mural by kosharekart

below: Some paper pasteups that have seen better days
paper pasteups, partially peeling

paper paste ups on a wall in a lane

below: Circle patterns in a mural by Megan Kelly

below: Frida Kahlo

a small mural on the side of a garage, portrait of Frida Kahlocar parked in front of a mural

below: Another painting by kosharekart

female figures with very decorated clothing, painted in a mural

close up of a mural showing a woman in a sail boat, with a large bird and its beak beside

below: Another Derek Donnelly fish.  The lower portions were once a brighter orange but it`s faded over time (painted in 2014).

a car is parked in front of a mural of a very large fish painted by Derek Donnelly

mural in an alley by kosharekart

below: Boat on the water

mural in a lane, a woman stands beside a boat on very wavy water

below: Hearts, a bird, and a snail

mural in an alley of a female figure dressed in a red heart covered dress. There is a large snail on her lap

below: Someone seems to disapprove of Mr. Cactus.

a small sticker of a cactus with a face, stuck on a mural beside a face

below: `Twiggy`by Brad Mize is at the rear of 648 Central Ave.

very large face on white background, mural in an alley

pale purple background, cursive writing of the words life is magical
“Life is Magical When You Look” with a black cat sitting on the moon nose to nose with a dragonfly in a mural by Christy Faris

mural of a black cat sitting on the curve of a new moon, also a dragonfly by the cat

below: Brad Mizes ‘Mr. Sunshine’ is now partially behind a fence.  The sun is a copy of a 1940s design used to promote the city of St. Petersburg.

bright yellow sun on sky blue background, mural, sunshine mural

below: Fish in a birdcage

small sticker on a post, white background, black drawing of a fish in a birdcage

mural around a door that makes it look like it's in India, some white lotus flowers painted beside the door

below: Adios! Let it go

black mural with hands and the word adios in cursive

below: Treat yo self, woof woof, by aurailieus

mural of a black pug dog on blue background

below: Mural for Caskey, a musician, or more specifically, for his song “Thank God I Made it” which was released about the same time that the mural was painted (May 2021).  Artist: skycaptain

skycaptain mural ode to musician caskey

below: Shark mural by Shark Toof, a 2015 SHINE mural, on the east wall of the State Theater building.; It too is a little bit faded.

mural of a grey shark on an orange red wall
a car parked in front of a mural that is the same orangish red that the background of the mural is, a large shark with mouth open and many teeth

below: This the Hindu Goddess, Saraswati, who symbolizing knowledge, learning and wisdom was well as, music, art, and speech. She was painted by Palehorse Design. Follow the link to learn more about the mural.

large 50 foot by 30 foot mural by Palehorse Design of the Hindu goddess saraswati playing a musical instrument called a veena. She has four arms to represent the four elements of inner life, mind, intellect, ego, and consciousness.

below: “Space Rainbows” by Ricky Watts

view from behind trees in a parking lot, large mural called Space Rainbows covers the side of a building

Space Rainbows mural from the side

Many of these murals are the product of SHINE Mural Festivals. Follow the link for more information about these festivals.

All photos were taken in mid-April, 2022

new slaps on Toronto streets

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don't worry sticker on a pole below: The garbage always leaks before you can get rid of the bag! A trashy Daught calm sticker.

daught calm sticker on a pole of a man in blue pants and sweatshirt holding up a leaking bag of garbage below: Knome with an expression of alarm. a cute little sketchnate puppy and urban ninja squadron sprouted big ears when tbonez teamed up with srats (sketchrats). All on the side of a Canada Post mail box.

stickers on the side of red Canada Post mail boxbelow: 1. The woman with a heart for an eye (got her eye on love?) looks like the work of Italian street artist c_ska. It also looks like she’s taking her temperature. Another c_ska sticker is a naked backside (or is it?) on top of an urban ninja squadron. Yes, you can make jokes about being on top. 2. Talking about jokes, playing on words is daught calm’s ‘be a tuber’ YouTube dig. I guess that’s better than being a potato. 3. The little orange guy, pizza guy? pizza face? is by sketch nate.

stickersbelow: Red chick light bulb, lites creation.

sticker on a grey metal pole, a red con shaped bird over a light bulbbelow: Looking for a drink?

white soda can, pop can, draawing on a sticker, on a graffiti covered wall below: Brian has become an astronaut.

an astronaut shaped slap graffiti that someone has written the name Brian on below: Morbid, Icey, etc. along with the bearded face of No love; Alone boy in black and white by ozokoh. And of course, don’t worry. It took a while… but see that grey face and its mysterious signature? It’s a lino print by Brian (aka bodh.io)

stickers on the side of a phone booth below: Tbonez with a new face

an urban ninja squadron sticker with a different face intead of tbonezbelow: Urban Ninja Squadron as a climbing frame for a whole slew of little sketch nate characters.

urban ninja squadron sticker, in colour, on a blue background - side of a Bell phone booth below: Forge fury, feelings boi, and a sad puppy (yee hop) by sketch nate.

4 stickers graffiti on the back of a street sign, a yellow forge fury wiggly line sticker, a black feelings boi with white line drawing, a small white dog by sketchnate below: Pikachu and a pokeball…. and a pokemon character that I don’t know.

pokemon and poke ball sticker on a painted pole

people in graffiti alley

a man in a grey puffy jacket taking a picture of another man who is posing beside street art

Revolution Wall 2

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The other day I posted some pictures of the art on the boards around the United Nations ESCWA building in Beirut (Feb 20, Let Lebanon Live).  The pictures in this blog post are from another Revolution Wall, by Art of Change, in the same neighbourhood.

on a grey wall in red letters, Revolution Wall Art of Change, peace written as a tag,

below: A rotten orange by dew (Ali Kadado) & renoz (renozoner).

On blue background, a young man holding up a large rotten orange, holding by the stem, street art by Dew and renoz

graffiti and street art on a Beirut wall

below: Wings of Freedom

wings of freedom graffiti

below: Close to a real heart

graffiti on a wall including a large heart that is anatomically close to real

metal and concrete barricades beside a wall covered with tags and graffiti

on a city street, low rise goldish brown stone buildings with graffiti and street art around the bottom layer

below: The count down is upside down

street art and protest graffiti on a wall, exterior

below: An archer fires red hearts in a painting by Lea Bou Habib

graffiti, an archer in blue top and shorts shoots a red heart from a bow

below: Stencil by markghsoub aka Markus

blue circle, red vertical stripe, black stencil of doves and other things in black

blue circle, red vertical stripe, black stencil of doves and other things in black along with a woman with a teal coloured bandana over the lower part of her face, a woman with long hair trying to hold onto a dove, all stencils

below: Throwing dice in a painting by Zein. street art of a hand throwing a pair of dice

grey wall in front of office building, with street art on the wall, Beirut

a woman's face with hair half blue and half pink, a large blue mouse that is screaming

below: Two pink mice

two pink mice painted on a wall in Beirut

below: Protesters throwing red hearts, not just any hearts, but hearts with the Lebanese cedar tree.

graffiti of a yellow circle with black silhouette of a person with a gas mask on, throwing a red heart
metal and concrete barricades, three white metal panels with graffit on them, a D, R and S on the panels

below: A Lebanese flag with the red stripe made of hearts, Our love for this country will overcome your greed for the green. street art of a Lebanese flag with the red stripes made of hearts, also the words Our Love for the country will overcome your green for the green

below: Three panels of bulls, cows, and words by Selim Mawad

three panels of drawings of cartoon bulls and cows by Selim Mawad

below: Close up of the middle panel

close up of a middle panel, work by Selim Mawad, black and white cows and bulls with Arabic writing

Scroll down to the previous blog post for more of Selim Mawad’s work.

Let Lebanon Live

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… Before I Die

Back in late October and early November 2019, one of the walls surrounding the Beiruti ESCWA (a United Nations building, Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia) building was transformed with graffiti and street art into a “Revolution Wall”.  It coincided with protests against bad governance, corruption and social injustice in Lebanon.  The  Art of Change movement was involved in painting the wall…  along with many Lebanese artist.  This is only one of such walls.

below: Caricatures of Lebanese officials along with two posters.  The one on the far left is by sumerziady 

light brown temporary wall outside, made of panels, now home to a revolution wall of art and graffiti, white faces, a poster by sumerziady and the words let Lebanon live before I die

below: A mouse wearing a hard hat and brandishing a sword.

a grey mouse in a hard hat holding a sword, graffiti on a wall

below: A wonderful black and rust coloured bird, by RenoZ,  It doesn’t seem fazed by the mouse with the sword.

realistic painting of a red and black bird on a branch, on a wall in Beirut

below: A monkey-faced man by Zein, a clenched fist rising out of the ground, and two green fighters in a no entry zone (or is it the Lebanese flag?).

graffiti, a man with a monkey face, a red and white do not enter sign with two green figures fighting,

below: Freedom, loud and clear.

looking along a wall full of protest street art including a large word freedom

below: Another Renoz painting, a skull on a chair from which a red rose is rising.

a skull sits on a red upholstered chair with wood arms and legs, on a blue background, also hand with lebanese flag, and the word resist

below: The man in the megaphone is signed Dewdle, the mark of Ali Kadado, a Lebanese artist.  Resist.

a black hand with a Lebanese flag over the palm beside a man's face, shouting with eyes closed, coming out of a megaphone, street art protest piece

below:  I am now feeling that my lack of Arabic means that I am missing a lot of what these mean.  For instance, the purple guy by Weesdom is saying something but I don’t know what.  I also suspect that the words written on the tap over the young man’s mouth are important, perhaps “Revolution even if you try to silence us”? (artwork by Roula Abdo).  The last one is in English but now some knowledge of Lebanese politics would be helpful –   a phone screenshot by phat2tg (ot the tg posse)

street art on the escwa wall in Beirut

wall of revolution, text in red paint on a wall in Beirut, along with other graffiti

below: Stencil by markghsoub aka Markus – a larger than life man standing in a shallow boat.

stencil of a man in arab dress walking and other graffiti

below: Title section, “Revolution Wall” featuring a clown with dollar signs flashing in his eyes by Ivan Debs.

revolution wall, title of all the street art collection, on escwa wall, protest art, Beirut, clown face, green tree, closed fist,

below: Caricature mugshots.  Lebanese government officials as Jokers as they go off to jail.

graffiti on a Beirut wall, caricature mug shos of 4 Lebanese men, green hair and clown mouths, wearing black and white striped tops

below: Another markghsoub stencil

black stencil of two people looking into the distance, on top of a green circle along with a red and white dove

can you smell the madness is written in red across some other graffiti

below: Dancing while the bombs fall by Zein.

white ballet dancer with skirt twirling as she spins, black bombs dropping around her. graffiti on a wall

below: Giving the peace sign, a man in a red and white shirt by fasewho aka Oliver Matar (He also painted the large word ‘Freedom’ a few pictures back). The head with all the people as hair is another painting by Roula Abdo.

a head with stick figure people with arms upward as hair, and a strip of cloth in form of Lebanese flag across bridge of nose and cheeks, by Roula Abdo alongside a man in a red and white shirt on a green background, both graffiti on a wall

below: A bunch of balloons, most in the colours of the Lebanese flag by ilatk aka Ilat Knayzeh  on one side, and on the right is a woman stenciled on top of a circular pattern by  ZaFeelz aka Zayna Ayyad

Beirut Revolution Art wall, two pieces, circlar art with woman's face stenciled in black, a painting of balloons and lebanese flag

below: Among the profanity, two calligraphy pieces by Ghaleb Hawila

two calligraphy graffiti pieces on a wall in Beirut

below: An intricate and detailed black and white drawing by @rasharahal

protest graffiti in Beirut, a black and white line drawing by rasharahal

below: A closer look at the top part

close up of the top half of the poster - protest graffiti in Beirut, a black and white line drawing by rasharahal

There is an Instagram page devoted to collecting the 2019 Lebanese Art of Revolution, or Art of Thawra.  Check it out if you are interested seeing more of this type of art.

Hunting Pollution

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In the Ostiense district in Rome there is a large mural of a heron titled “Hunting Pollution”.   It covers seven storeys of a residential building and took 21 days to paint in 2018.

Lower part of a large mural called Hunting Pollution by Federico Massa also known as Iena Cruz, of a heron, over seven storeys of a building in Rome, background in marine blues and greens

The artist, Federico Massa (aka Iena Cruz) has used Airlite paint.  This paint has been engineered to clean the air around it by neutralizing some pollutants.

Upper part of a large mural called Hunting Pollution by Federico Massa also known as Iena Cruz, of a heron with a fish in its beak

The mural was commissioned by Yourban2030, a female non-profit group that strives to bring awareness to environmental issues.

Lower part of a large mural called Hunting Pollution by Federico Massa also known as Iena Cruz, of a heron

pink seaweed or trees in a mural with a heron