Madame Gilles

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Mary C

As you walk around the city of Montreal, you can probably spot quite a few paper paste-ups featuring collage images of people that were created by an artist that signs her pieces as Madame Gilles.

poster sized graffiti on a wall in Montreal, collage of different pictures to form abstract womans face, by Madame Gilles

below: Similar image as above but this time on a door with another, including “One Day You Will Come” by @_doverin

below: A little less abstract and a lot less colour

black and white paper pasteup graffiti by Madame Gilles, womans face is predominant feature

paper pasteup graffiti by Madame Gilles, black and white image of a female guitar player, Joan,

The next two pictures show the same doorway. First the top section where once again the same image appears.

pasteups by Madame Gilles on a door in Montreal

Lower portion of the door.

pasteups on a door in Montreal

pasteup that was a collage but has been tagged over in blue paint

Photos taken September 2021

Montreal slaps

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Mary C

This post is a selection of stickers and paste ups (wheatpaste) that I saw in Montreal in the past few days.

below: A @dysastrophy bunny with a gas mask and a painted hand grenade.

liittle sticker on a grey metal pole, a rabbit in a gas mask holding a hand grenade, dystrastrophy stcker

below: Paste ups at number 4. That hand is reaching past the butterfly and flowers towards the door handle.

wood door with blue number 4 and 4 on a mailbox, with pasteups on the door too

below: That’s supposed to be a green and purple Frida Kahlo and she’s saying something: “Nothing is absolute. Everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away.“

a green face with purple hair paste up beside a paper with words on it about Frida Kahlo

below: “No man camps” says the sign. This is a protest sticker, as the yellow words on his jacket, Wetsuweten strong, suggest. It references their complaints and protests against the Coastal GasLink pipeline. a yellow pasteup on a black and white door with pink spray paint over the top. pasteup says no man camps

below: A pink man by labrona

a paste up of a pink man's head and torso on a blue metal box, short hair, middle aged man

below: Another labrona head, in shades of orange this time.

an orange face pasteup on a black exterior wall

below: Two turtlecaps with a heart between them.

two turtle cap paste ups on a door with a red heart between them

below: A hand drawn sticker signed by Bonnie hand drawn sticker of a person's head and torso on a red background with black and white lines behind

below: Superman Bear in Montreal – a sticker by G. Knight (Graffiti Knight)

sticker with superman logo on undershirt

below: The Kiddist out and about with his camera

a parking street sign with a sticker on it of a boy with a camera around his neck and the words the kiddist

paper poster on a wall outside, man playing a keyboard, musician,

below: Any idea of what these men are carrying?

a street art poster on a wall, 5 men carrying something orange

below: Little white ghost pretending to be something he’s not while he collects lost claws. Actually, lost claws is the name of the artist.

paper pasteup of a ghost costume, white sheet, with black eyes, also little hands holding an orange bag. words on the ghost saying pretending to be something i'm not

below: An elephant with a few cans of beer already consumed so he says “I won’t remember you”. This is another lost claws creation.

pasteup on a brick wall, a grey elephant drinking cans of beer with words about how he's not going to remember

below: Waxhead sticker

sticker on a pole, woman with laser lights coming out of her eyes,

below: An encounter with a couple of cowboys, a poster by someone with a signature that I haven’t been able to decipher.

a street art poster on a door of cowboys and indian

below: A selection of paper wheatpaste in varying conditions. The blue ice cream in melting. The bottom left is another waxhead paste up….. And then there are some from TCF (the chosen few) including squiggles from forge fury, Tbonez (urban ninja squadron) is on his phone, and lastly a roc roc birdie by ROC(514) is starting to peel off.

six wheatpaste graffiti papers on the lower part of a door, all in different conditions, an ice cream cone, an urban ninja squadron tbonez on his phone and a waxhead piece

below: Remnants, left over from better times.

old posters and tags graffiti on a wall

left over bits and pieces of paste ups on a wall, paper, torn, weathered,

below: Play your truth
stickers on a metal gate, including one with the words play your truth

Trastevere slaps

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Mary C

On Christmas morning, while walking around Rome, we discovered a wall in the Trastevere neighbourhood that was covered with paste-ups, stickers, and other small graffiti. Some of it was made by well known street artists, others by those who remain anonymous. If you know the name of the artist who created any of these, I’d love to hear from you. This is what we saw:

many slaps, stickers, etc, on a wall

below: Red nose boxer with black eyes by MIMI the clowN as well as hands vainly reaching for green dollars by levodopa_046_. A very small pair of very high heeled shoes sneak into the left side.

red nose graffiti by Mimi the clown

below: Fishes Invasion stickers and paste ups can be seen in many places around Rome. They all feature Invader Fish, a two legged walking fish with big lips. The fish actually started in New York City in 2015 and has spread around the world since then.

fishes invasion graffiti

a wall covered with stickers and pasteups

slaps on a wall including a red and white poster of two people kissing

below: ‘Volti spenti’ translates to ‘dull faces’ which is a comment on the poor guy taking a selfie with his phone. The cat is probably the work of Guaro and there is a yellow chick that wants you to know that it’s not a nugget.

volti spenti graffiti as well as a babushka doll and a dinosaur

black and white slaps and stencils

below: The woman on top is by C-ska

slaps on a wall, poster

many slaps

below: To Live and Let Live – Street art against hate.

black and white paste ups

below: Bottom right is an elaborate black and white drawing by Lus57 of a woman who appears to be wearing a long dress but on closer look it’s actually a man’s torso and a tiger skin. She is holding a rifle in her hand. In contrast, there is a woman with bright copper hair and wild sunglasses – the work of stickermaidberlin.

posters and stencils on a wall

below: The bottom half of a Smilin’ Croc above a black and white portrait of a woman by Y-Tong and a big-nosed K2M man with an orange heart.

smilin croc graffiti as well as a big nose by K 2 M, also a black and white pasteup of a woman

below: Even Santa Claus helps spread the word about the Fishes Invasion although the pink and blue tiger seems to have an opinion about that.

fishes invasion graffiti with Santa Claus

below: The Fonz says plant a tree because it’s cool.

thauma red stencil graffiti

below: A purplish blue snake-like fish bites itself. There is also a small C-ska sticker of a woman with a heart in the place of one eye.

long purple fish biting itself

below: My Dog Sighs, a crying eye on page 120 of an old book – with the photographer (selfie?) reflected in the eye. Also, another C-ska piece – a woman with a bird cage for a head… meaning?

eye and red streak painted on a page of a book, now is graffiti, beside a pasteup of a woman with a birdcage for a head

Let Lebanon Live

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Mary C

… 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

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

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

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?).

below: Freedom, loud and clear.

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

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

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)

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

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

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

below: Another markghsoub stencil

below: Dancing while the bombs fall by Zein.

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.

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

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

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

below: A closer look at the top part

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.

exitenter in Florence

Posted on January 26, 2020 by Mary C

exitenter is a prolific graffiti artist whose art is usually centered around red hearts, love, and equality. The pieces with their stick figures are simple and direct.

below: Reaching for love

simple graffiti of a black stick figure with white filled in, reaching up to a red heart, with the word exit written above it

below: Black equals white. Equality

two stick figues, one with black body and the other with white body, holding hands, with a red equals sign above their hands

below: Swinging on a heart, in love.

on a blue one way street sign, a sticker with a stick figure swinging on a red heart

below: Apart and fighting, but come together in love. Another way of saying “All you need is love”.

below: Together, hand in hand looking for love.

two stick figure people holding hands and reaching for a red heart

below: Juxtaposition of the Nativity scene with the idea of refugees.

street art paste up of a nativity scene, Mary and Joseph standing together with Mary holding the baby Jesus, under night sky with moon and stars. The word refugees is written below the picture. All contained in a grey arch shape

For more pictures and information, ExitEnter instagram page and website

Wabash street and vicinity, Chicago

Posted on September 12, 2019 by Mary C

The Wabash Arts Corridor, founded in 2013, is a portion of Wabash Street in downtown Chicago. It is now the home of many large murals in a wide variety of styles. I know that I didn’t find them all, but here is a large selection of them. I’ve also included some smaller pieces that aren’t necessarily part of this project.

two murals on a wall on Wabash street in Chicago, on the wall Columbia college, beside a parking lot with a little bright orange car as well as other cars

below: A peacock painted in black and white by thedailydrizz aka Andrea Dunn

mural of a peacock done in black and white paint and made to look like it was done on 4 pieces of paper, on an old brick wall, by Andrea Dunn, a k a the daily drizz

below: Slime Mountain by Heidi Unkefer

mural in pastels tones, a reddish triangle, point down, and a light blue triangle, point up, meet in the middle, face on blue one, hands and little creatures too,

below: by Jordan Nickel, aka POSE

a bright collage-like mural

below: Many faces on the walls at this corner. On one side are colourful abstract faces by Kashink,

two level parking structure on a street corner in Chicago, the short walls are painted with street art faces. On one side are colourful abstract faces by Kashink and on the other side are black and white faces from the project called Stop Telling Women to Smile.

below: “Stop Telling Women to Smile” is the title of the series on the other walls of the parking structure, a series of women’s faces in grey tones by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh

on the walls of a parking structure, a line of realistic faces in grey tones, a man sits on a bench beside it

on the walls of a parking structure, a line of realistic faces in grey tones, two rows high

below: A mural by Darryll Schiff, “Descending into Heaven”

mural on a wall, black people in silhouette walking towards numbers in LED lights that look digital

below: By Lady Lucx and Sarah Stewart, an untitled piece on a parking structure wall.

walls of an elevated parking structure painted in an octopus mural

close up of the eye of an orange octopus in a mural by a parking structure

2 murals on Balbao street in Chicago, a blue one by a parking lot and one by asup on the side of a restaurant,

below: Mural called “Make Your Own Luck” a group of cyclists by asvp on the side of the South Loop Club Bar & Grill
mural by asup on the side of a bar and grill on Balboa street in Chicago, in red, white and pale blue

below: “High Tide” by Amuse126

a large watery blue mural

below: Sticker, Lucky Gnome proclaiming happy changes in his life.
a sticker made with a USA postal sticker, picture of a gnome with words,

below: A paste up on a post, Andy Warhol
paste up of Andy Warhol on a post

below: “X Marks the Milky Way” by Renee Robbins, 2016

X Marks the Milky Way, a mural in a Chicago alley by Renee Robbins, abstract colours and shapes on a teal background

below: “Gift to the Class of 2016” by Don’t Fret

mural on wall above mollys Cupcakes in Chicago, a man with hands by mouth

below: On “The El” where orange & green line trains pass by

large murals on walls surrounding a parking lot that has an elevated train passing over it

below: Just the “Y” at the end of the word “Harmony” in a mural by Ben Eine beside a silver and grey mural by Marquis Lewis aka Retna

part of two murals, the letter Y and one in silver and grey

below: “Moose Bubblegum Bubble” by Jacob Watts

large mural of a moose blowing a big pink bubble with bubble gum

below: “We Own the Future” by Shepard Fairey in the same style as his “Obey” series

mural by obey in red, black, and gold, on upper storey of a brick building in Chicago

below: Watching over black horses on grey, a mural by Ricky Lee Gordon called “I am You, You are Me”.

horizontal mural of a woman's head in profile and horses, in black on grey

below: by Hera, “Imagine if we could Tolerate Each Other’s Differences”

on the upper storeys of a brick building in Chicago, a mural by Hera of a woman holding some birds in her hand, a small white figure stands beside her

below: A redheaded woodpecker. This is only a part of a larger mural that has been covered over by a large ad. It was “From Boom to Doom” by Collin van der Slujis. Seems like doom has won.

part of a mural, a large red head woodpecker, but rest of mural has been covered over by a large ad

below: “Impossible Meeting” by Marina Zumi
a mural by Marina Zumt of a doe and a buck, two deers, meeting nose to nose, painted in blues and purples

below: On the far right, by antckone aka Anthony Lewellen

four vertical panels close together, the two on the left are portraits, then an elephant and then a cartoon character by antckone

below: Butterflies on the corner. There are many butterflies in this mural by Hector Duarte. It is a representation of Mexican immigration.

a butterfly painted on the corner of a building

below: Within the confines of a small dog run, Melanie Vazquez‘s “Contra Todo Siendo Resistendo”

a mural behind a fence, pink, with yellow sun and green cactii

below: A large mural in a small space. “Standing Wave” by Justus Roe

large abstract mural beside a parking lot, small area, also in a fenced in space

below: Part of “Listen to Learn” by Hello Kirsten aka Kirsten McCrea. Using an old telephone receiver to shed light on life. The fence was a barrier.

car parked beside a mural, large hand holding an old fashioned telephone receiver but using is as a flashlight

below: The other side of the fence and the other side of the mural

mural by Hello Kirsten on the side of a brick building with a blue exterior metal staircase

below: A second rate photo I’m afraid. It’s taken through the window of a moving train… and I forgot to go back and find the mural after I got off the train. It is 8100-square-foot mural painted by Italian street artist Never 2501 in 2015.

seen through the window of a train, a large mural in Chicago

below: Ruben Aguirre, “Drowning City”

orange shapes on black, mural

below: Sun bum is winning. J.C. Rivera’s “The Bear Champ vs Sonny” two cartoon-like characters wrestling of boxing, one has shirt on that says sun bum

mural in bright oranges and reds, sharp edges, linear, and across the street are portraits of musicians done in tile shaped pieces

on the corner of a building, on both sides, a mural in bright oranges and reds, sharp edges, linear, with a realistic hand as well,

mural in bright oranges and reds, sharp edges, linear, with a realistic hand as well, people walking past it, one man with hand out pointing at something

carol taking a picture of a row of murals of black musicians done in little squares on a brick wall in Chicago

mural of a black man singer made in tiles in blacks and white with shades of blue

photo (or photo like picture on a wall of a man looking at a tornado made of objects

EvL, Edward von Longus in Wedding, Berlin

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Mary C

While walking in Wedding, a part of Berlin, last summer I came across three tall images by Edward von Longus, an Estonian street artist. In fact, it’s his little hedgehog on a laptop graffiti that is sometimes at the top of this blog.

These are what I saw:

on a pillar in Wedding Berlin, an almost life sized in shades of grey, street art of a person that looks like Abraham Lincoln in a long robe

below: These figures are part of (R)estart Reality an app that facilitates combining street art and digital technology. Apparently there were 100 ‘people’ in many European capitals with a story to tell to those who have the app. The program began in June 2017 and I am not sure if it is still running. in shades of grey, street art of a person - a soldier sitting down, helmet on and gun in lap by Edward von Longus

It was in celebration of Estonia’s 100th birthday.

on a pillar in Wedding Berlin, an almost life sized in shades of grey, street art of a person, working man in jeans and jacket

Baptist Lane, Melbourne

Posted on December 15, 2018 by Mary C

Graffiti and street art seen in Baptist Lane, CBD

below: looking down the lane. On the immediate right is an old mural of the Last Supper which has been scrawled over almost to the point of making the mural indecipherable.

graffiti and street art in an alley, pale yellow walls

once it was a sepia toned painting of the last supper (religious) but it has had a lot of graffiti written on top of it

below: A blank eyed bride with her flowers

black and white pasteup of a bride in veil, with 5 black stars encircling her head, holding a large bouquet of flowers

below: Two faced and holding up a jacket.

two black and white pasteups on a wall. on the right is a pair of white hands holding up an open jacket and on the left is a woman's head with two pairs of eyes, and a pair of hands below the head

below: Red brick wall and a window box

two windows in a small building in a lane, surrounding the windows is street art like a window box, awning, and then the wall space between the windows is decorated too

street art beside a window

below: I’m against all authority except my mother (close enough translation anyhow).

words on top and below a headless figure holding the head of a woman in its hands, words say contro toda autoridad excepto mi mama which is Spanish for I defy all authority except my mother below: Studying the hole in the fence

black and white pasteup of a person in a hoodie standing behind a chain link fence with a hole in it.

below: Two little cats two black and white cats on a pasteup in a lane

LA women, street art style

Posted on February 22, 2017 by Mary C

A few more photos of street art in Los Angeles. Photos taken February 2017.

On the SB Tower, corner of 6th Street and Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles, there is this large mural by Robert Vargas.

by Robert Vargas, large mural of a woman's head in monochrome grey, almost three storeys tall, surrounded by yellow, with a large hand wrapped around the corner of the building, photo taken from diagonally across the intersection. A man in yellow jacket is pushing a cart, a street cleaner, as he starts across the intersection. Other people are waiting for their green light.

below: Not just three women but also a white dove, a red rose, snakes, a soldier in black, a revolver, a pistol, rocks, leaves, and a multitude of colours, shapes and patterns.

part of a larger mural, two women's faces with a man in a black and blue outit between thwm, a white dove is strating to take flight between their foreheads, a pistol is aimed at the dove,

below: Staring from behind the wire.

realistic mural of a woman with short blond face and blue eyes, staring straight ahead, head and neck only, on a black wall, seen from the other side of a wire fence with looped barbed wire across the top.

below: Two women. A small woman with angel wings and a larger woman in a blue hood who seems to be playing with the car. When cars park in front of street art and you want to take a picture – well, you’ve got to find a way to make it work, especially if you can’t get back later.

blog_woman_blue_hood_car

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below: She sees a red book in her crystal ball

blog_woman_crystal_ball_candles

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below: I think we can include this one as a picture of a woman. I can almost hear Lady Liberty saying “Cheers” as she raises her pint of beer. This paste up is the work of @sellout_tcf

paste up black and white line drawing of the statue of liberty, lady liberty, holding up a yellow coloured beer mug full of beer while holding a large beer keg in the other arm.

Mission Linen Building, east wall, Las Vegas

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Mary C

The old Mission Linen building is at the corner of South 1st Street and Coolidge Avenue in Las Vegas. The following photos were taken when I was in Las Vegas in October 2015. The east wall of the building (facing South Casino Center Blvd) was a canvas for a number of street artists in a project curated by Dr. Lepper. It was covered when I saw it and it was being added to as well.

exterior wall of a two storey building that has been covered with street art by a number of different artists

below: Artist John Pacheco was putting the finishing touches on a mural about Donald Trump and his wall. It also features Gandhi, the Pope, and Mother Teresa. Pacheco told me that he planned to paint the word ‘freiheit’, German for ‘freedom’, above the wall. In hindsight, perhaps a word in Russian would have been more appropriate?

street artist John Pacheco stands in front of the ladder that he is using to paint a mural featuring Donald Trump, Ghandi, the Pope, Mother Theresa and a wall that is being built.

below: In the mural, Trump is saying “I want in. I can win”. As I write this, it’s the 18th of Jan 2017 and Trump’s inauguration as President of the USA is only 2 days away.

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