wheatpaste on the windows

Posted on February 18, 2023 by Mary C

On blackened windows in a row of abandoned houses in Barreiro (an area in Lisbon) there is a series of images.

below: Kouka Ntadi’s image of an African woman is the only signed piece.

black and white image of an African woman

a graffiti piece, with image of a Campbells soup can

black and white image graffiti of a jelly fish-like creature with body of a hand grenade and small wings

wheatpaste paste up image of two children sitting together and looking out the window

four images on a wall, one is a wheatpaste bicycle

two graffiti pieces on a wall, one is the back of a man as he uses a long handled roller

a visit to Freeman Alley

Posted on January 14, 2023 by Mary C

Freeman Alleyis a private lane that runs parallel to the Bowery close to Sara Roosevelt Park and Bowery subway station. It has become a destination for graffiti both for those who make it and for those who want to look at it. Stencils, wheatpaste, and stickers are the most common and there is lots of it! There is probably more than one blog post’s worth so this is just the start.

below: No loitering in the alley. About to munched on – this one-eyed pink and purple banana by eye.sticker is i danger of losing part of its peel.

below: “Do you see this?” Eyes and hearts but with a tear or two.

below: Mickey Mouse crucified, and a feline love more, #nohatefamily. Something about hello mushroom in there as well.

below: “Black Lives Matter is a movement, not a moment, by Individual Activist,

below: Many faces here including a lightning struck David Bowie. In the center is an anti-war poster by Brad Heckman (aka hecksign) that features a portrait of Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.

protest poster, anti-war, support Ukraine in its war

below: Another Individual Activist anti-war poster. Ukraine is not Putin’s blank canvas. On the left is a big colourful beetle by modomatic.

below: Another modomatic, this time a multicoloured mask. Sticking out on the right is a yellow arm with a pink donut and half smoked joint while a Half Brooklyn Crooklyn’s figure is running away (the last is by TheOhioGirl).

below: Another modomatic creation – insect like? Botanical?

below: “So much love” on newspaper by jkosart along with a back and white intricate drawing of a creature of some kind (signed moose)

below: A picture of a painter painting a picture, by font147

a poster by font147 of a yellow headed person painting on a large canvas and easel in front of a door and window

below: Two women – one on the Sony screen along with one as a BLM tribute by Voxx Romana

below: Mother and Child on blue

stencil graffiti, black on blue, of iconic mother and child

below: A yellow duck below an old faded poem. Once there was a bouquet of red roses but it looks like someone showed their displeasure with pink paint.

below: At the very top, a multiple-eyed face by sold out art show. The woman with the black and white flower hair has her own post on this blog – see Unleashing Flowers.

below: A period piece, black and white in sepia, from 33wallflower33,

below: Oversalted broccoli and a boxer

In case you are interested in such things, there is a gallery/shop in the alley that features the work of many of these artists.

Photos taken June 2022

Bratislava Graffiti

Posted on January 2, 2023 by Mary C

woman in a black beret and striped shirt holding onto a large microphone

below: Fred’s a flying chicken – a rooster on the wing

graffiti sticker in Bratislava, words that say fred flying chicken with a cartoonish yellow chicken head in the middle

below: Godot was here (and so was Nadej) but someone is still waiting. “Nedockas sa kamarat” is Slovak for “You won’t make it, friends.”

words written on a wall, by different people, including Godot was here, I'm still waiting, some words in Slovak, as well as was here

below: A stencilled portrait with a list of 3 Jan’s. The last one, Jan Kucjak was a Slovak journalist who was murdered in February 2018 along with his fiancee Martina Kušnírová. At the time Kucjak was investigating tax fraud of several businessmen with connections to top-level Slovak politicians.
The middle Jan, Jan Palach, was a Czech student who set himself on fire in central Prague on 16 Jan 1969 to protest the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. He died three days later. His funeral turned into a mass anti-communism demonstration.
Jan Hus, the Jan on top, is another Czech who died for his beliefs; He was burned as a heretic in 1415 for calling for reforms in the Catholic church.

stencil graffiti on a wall, man's portrait, small, with names of three Jans, Jan Hus, Jan Palach, and Jan

below: Horst in text, a little fat guy Tubby1 by cooklan, and another drawn monster with two horns and a claw for a hand. Unfortunately the name under the drawing isn’t quite clear enough (or there is nothing online about said monster).

stickers on metal boxes on a utility pole in Bratislava, one is just the name Horst, two others are cartoonish characters in black and white.

graffiti, black and white photo of a man with a red clown nose added on to it

below: Neklam with a pink tie, plus a small black and white sticker from German artist HNRX. The blue and white character with mirror symmetry is Mister Bohnita. Defend.

man with a gun, in combat clothing and helmet, graffiti on a piece of newspaper or magazine

below: I suspect that the Uncle Sam type red and white striped top hat is an insult or a protest.

below: A pair of pigeons on a wall.

two large wheatpaste pigeons on a crumbling wall with another street art tag behind

below: cute animal heads

a sticker on a pole, graffiti, with rainbow coloured heads of sheep, cute,

below: Retus with a strange yellowish face and big blood shot eyes. Also, a blue and yellow ribbon for Ukraine.

two stickers graffiti on a pole, the upper one is about the Ukraine war, with a yellow and blue ribbon, the lower one is a yellow skinned character with large white blood shot eyes with word retus written beside it

below: REMS in a respirator,

three stickers on on a pole, the one on top pictures a man in a gas mask respirator and wearing a baseball cap with REMS written on it

below: © MGA with big eyes and pink flowers in her hair.

sticker on a metal pole, a girl with pink curls, pink flowers inher hair, wearing a pink and purple dress

Photos taken in June 2022

smaller things in Lodz

Posted on September 16, 2022 by Mary C

Lodz Poland is home to many large murals that have been funded and promoted by organizations such as Urban Forms Gallery (Fundacja Urban Forms). Although not as common as in some cities, there are smaller works to be found – paste ups, stickers, and stencils by a number of artists. These are ones that I saw the day that I was in Lodz back in May 2022.

below: Putin as the devil, a Nazi devil surrounded by skulls and death.

paper pasteup graffiti with image of Putin with Nazi swastika on his forehead, fangs for teeth, and phallic devil's horns on his head. He is surrounded by a ring of small skulls

below: blue hand grenade

paper paste up on a metal sidewalk box, a large hand grenade made of repeating blue and white geometric pattern

below: Gu-tang Clan dog headed hand grenades plus a 2020 view of Earth.

below: A pasteup on a sidewalk box in Centrum that shares many similarities with the 2020 Earth above.

people walking past on the sidewalk, beside a metal box with a 2020 paper pasteup of a man in black hat, suit and tie, holding a red beating heart in his hands, picture has an elaborate border. Under it are 2 identical posters. Also a Lodz Poland street sign, Ulica Stanislawa Moniuszki, in Centrum.

below: This balck and white dog head features on many gu-tang works…

below: …. such as this one.

black and white paper paste up slap of a dog's head with upright pointy ears, a symbol of gu-tang clan graffiti artist or artists

below: A 3fala portrait of Katarzyna Kobro (1898-1951), a Polish sculptor.

a 3fala paper pasteup portrait of Polish sculptor who died in 1951, Katarzyna Kobro,

below: Man with a beard. More on 3fala (if your Polish is good): TrzyFala

a 3fala portrait of a man with beard and mustache, laughing

below: 3-D mask with a square nose and eyes closed

three dimensional graffiti, a mask attached to a concrete wall. top part is painted blue with word LAD in white, bottom part painted to look metallic, brassy, eyes closed, square nose

below: A masked swordsman painted on a fence

below: An abstract painting that was pasted to a wall.

abstract painting on paper that was pasted to wall and is not peeling and fraying at the corners, in blues, yellows and reds

below: A pink balloon dog crosses the street at the crosswalk. The sticker on the left says “Moje ciato, moj wybor”, or: my body, my choice.

below: A grumpy, angry bald man growling at the world.

small graffiti pieces on the exterior wall of an abandoned building, on plywood covering a door is an eye with legs, three small heads on exposed brick, and a larger painted, line drawing face of a scowling man with no hair

below: A house for a body? Or a house with legs? Whatever it is, it seems to be wearing adidas shoes. It too is angry and letting the world know it. Random words, win, and sugar.

below: Flower

black marker on white, drawing of a flower, on a metal sidewalk box

below: square happy faces

below: Lodz, No Surrender

below: Small pink happy cat with twinkling yellow heart.

below: A bird? and its shadow

rue de Savies

Posted on June 29, 2022 by Mary C

is a small street in the 20th arr., in the Belleville neighbourhood of Paris.

small stencil on a concrete wall, young girl in red dress with long hair tied back, holding a potted plant in a bucket, walking away with her back to viewer

below: Henry the bear on his scooter. One of the many bears released around the city by #bear_in_mind aka Gil Dassillien. You can see many more on his instagram page (check the link!).

black and white drawing on paper, pasted to wall, a bear on a scooter, wearing a shirt with the name Henry on it, street scene,

below: Amazing! large mural.

large mural with the word amazing written in cursive in yellow, orange and red, tribute mural to brens ody basketball player

below: A kiss in primary colours, a painting by SWeb aka Sebastien

below: Bare minimum white person rejoicing with the birds (or chasing pigeons…), jumping over rocks by the waterfall.

blog_white_man_birds

below: Top right, a street art piece by LOUYZ. A fish out of water bursting through the wall, a Paris fish at that. Above the door – three lost little ones from Pac Man.

exterior wall with graffiti on it, large purple head of a bird with yellow beak and blue hat

behind Central Ave

Posted on April 25, 2022 by Mary C

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

below: Colourful mural by kosharekart

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

below: Circle patterns in a mural by Megan Kelly

below: Frida Kahlo

a small mural on the side of a garage, portrait of Frida Kahlo

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

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

black mural with hands and the word adios in cursive

other Artist Lane murals and graffiti, Windsor, 2018

Posted on August 2, 2021 by Mary C

Artist Lane runs parallel to Chapel Street between Green and Union streets, just north of Windsor railway station. Most of the lane is covered with street art of some sort.

street art painting of a man's head, a woman's head and a bird's head, all above a text piece

street art painting in Artist Lane of a man with two merged heads. He has one set of hair, four eyes, two noses, one mouth. below: Four hairy dudes by AEON aka Tom Gerrard
stencils of four people's heads with bright orange hair

Artist Lane, Windsor, Melbourne with street art on garages and walls

street art in Artist Lane, two faces, one man in orange hat, also a fish

a blue mural at the end of Artist Lane, a blue creature

below: “I ain’t afraid of no ghost”, says the cat the skull and the devil.

black drawings on white of a cat head, and a skull. cat has word balloon that says I am not afraid of ghosts

graffiti of a cat in egyptian goddess outfit
below: Fresh presto phats diva!
a text abstract street art with the words fresh presto phats written in the top corner