Tag Archives: peace

East Harlem mosaics

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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.

mosaic images under a window of a store, be barrio love and a chicken, with word yo
part of a mosaic picture under a window of a store, little medallions with images in them, a woman, a man, a drum, a cactus, a ladder, a palm tree, a frog, a mandolin or guitar, and a water jug.

below: “This our home land here now” with a cheerful and accepting rainbow “everyone welcome”.

in a window in a store, exotic fragrances, a rainbow sign saying everyone welcome and a mosaic in red, blue, beige, and black, that says this our home land here now, and a pair of beaded moccasins in the center

below: Shelves of fancy decorated perfume bottles looking lovely in the window, an interesting accompaniment to the “I got you” mosaic below it.

in the window of a store, shelves with display of fancy decorated perfume bottles, in gold and clear glass, under it is mosaic saying i got you, mermaid, hand, white flower with five petals, small butterfly, heart,

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,

mural by manny vega, of an elephant, a snail, and many white doves representing peace and flying around the earth, also a rhinoceros,

large snail in a mosaic mural
5 four story apartment buildings in bright colours with different coloured windows

Photos taken July 2024

Treeftsteeg

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There are a number of lanes and passageways that connect the canals/roads Singel and Herengracht in central Amsterdam. One of the narrowest of them is Treeftsteeg.

below: Entrance to the alley, from Herengracht.

entrance to Treeftsteeg, a narrow alley, with graffiti painted on the walls

Various messages and symbols of peace – “I Love Kherson”, a girl waving a large Ukranian flag, “Love no War” (Love not war?), a white dove with wings of blue and gold, “Love makes a house a home”. In addition (under the word Kherson) there is a portrait of George Yurri Shevelov (1908-2002). His CV is long but in general he is most known for his research proving that the Ukrainian language has a separate history from Russian.

words and portraits painted in an alley

below: The portrait of the man in the top left corner is of Taras Shevchenko (1814 – 1861), a famous Ukrainian poet. Moving right, the woman at the top with the orange background is the former Queen of the Netherlands, Queen Beatrix. Third from the left is Ukrainian writer and feminist Lesya Ukrainka whose work spanned the late 1800s and early 1900s. On the right side there is an image of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy although it is not the clearest picture.

anti war, pro Ukraine graffiti in an alley

below: Commemorating the sinking of the Moskva, a Russian ship in the Black Sea near the beginning of the war.

painted graffiti in an alley

below: arrow showing the way to Kharkiv

graffiti in an alley, a red arrow pointing left with word Kherson written in it

below: caricatures

graffiti, faces, portraits

below: The narrowness of Treeftsteeg. Along with the pro-Ukraine messages, there are a few black and white portraits.

bicycles parked and leaning against walls in a very narrow alley

a black and white portrait of a man, pasted on wall that is blue and yellow

below: These portraits are part of “A Paper Monument to the Paperless” is an ongoing project headed by Dutch artist Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries.

portraits, posters on an alley wall, part of A Paper Monument to the Paperless, a project by Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries

a painting of a person wearing long red pants sitting under a tree

crossing the Williamsburg Bridge

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between Manhattan and Williamsburg, over the East River

crossing the Williamsburg bridge, with pinkish red metal railings and girders, pedestrian walkway is beside and slightly above road and subway lines.

graffiti on the williamsburg bridge pavement

A little yellow dinosaur trying to look fierce as he growls at your feet.

graffiti on pavement, line drawing in yellow of a dinosaur, on hind feet, open mouth,

I’m happy you’re here, keep going!

text graffiti on the williamsburg bridge pavement that says I'm happy you're here keep going

I crave you

text graffiti on the williamsburg bridge pavement that says I crave you, written inside a large white heart

Shy white cat says meow

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Homesick and Lucky Star writ large on a grey wall. The American flag image below them is made using painted car doors.

view from williamsburg bridge, buildings, one with graffiti street art on it

It’s just love in a rainbow of colours.

stencil on williamsburg bridge pavement that says its just love in a rainbow of colours

… and love is gold

blog_love_is_gold

Pacman wears a gold crown, king of the streets

large white pacman character from the video game, with open mouth, with a gold three pointed crown on his head

Looking down at Williamsburg streets including a mural with two faces and two flowers.

view from williamsburg bridge in new york city, buildings, including one with a mural on it

Blackface pink walker

graffiti on the pavement, a pink person walking

Reaching out in peace and love

graffiti on the sidewalk, two white people, one with sign reaching out for the other

Stencil by go4tart aka GOAT, rat on a scooter; a rat loves NYC

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Seek Discomfort

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Sold out art show yellow face with three pairs of eyes.

blog_sold_out_artshow graffiti on sidewalk, turquoise hair, yellow face, blue eyes, 3 pairs of eyes

I wonder what Jane’s reaction was?

stencil graffiti with text that says Jane will you marry me

….. Maybe this is Jane ?!

graffiti on pavement, white face with large red exclamation marks on it, dots of exclamation marks make the eyes

on the railing – mask? and master?

slaps, sticker graffiti on a pole on railings of a bridge

Kiss me

graffiti on pavement

More words on love

graffiti on pavement

… but in the end, the virus gets you.

graffiti on pavementPhotos taken August 2023

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.

new murals on South Wood Street, Chicago

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A couple of stretches of concrete wall in Pilsen have recently been opened up to street artists in Chicago.  One of these is on South Wood Street immediately north of the railway tracks (by West 15th Street).   This past week, August 2019, a group of artists painted the wall.  This is a selection of the murals that now adorn that wall.

below: Some of the new murals

a person walks past a wall covered with many murals beside a street, South Wood Street

below: As you emerge from under the bridge, this is the first mural that you see on the west side of Wood Street.

a mural that is partially under a railway bridge, metal supports for the bridge in the picture,

a mural on South Wood Street, a person with a wide brimmed hat carrying a ghetto blaster on her shoulder

below: Peace mural by @sob_e (aka Eliza Riley Delgado)

two murals on a wall beside a street, one has the word peace

below: Warrior City Tribe by Mero

warrior city tribe mural on a wall on Wood street in Pilsen

two murals on a wall, both with birds

below: Breaking down walls and letting the rats and vermin out.

two murals on a wall, painted like hole in the wall with rats, cat, and skunk

below: Two alligators (Crocodiles?), one break dancing and one stepping out in a hoodie and bling.

mural on a concrete wall in Pilsen, two alligators or crocodiles, one in a hoodie and one standing on one front leg and smiling

two murals on a wall, one is mostly red and has a wizard cap with a star on it and the other is mostly yellow

below: Sponge Bob Square Pants tries his hand at singing while Bart Simpson spins.

mural on South Wood street in pilsen illinois, a dance scene with an angry sponge bob square pants singing while Bart Simpson is the D J with two turn tables, a man is trying to dance

a small tree in front of two murals on a wall

below: On the left is a mural by Yo Loco

two murals on a wall

below: by @All_CITY_COWBOY, helicopter, music, and mayhem in the city.

a mural by @all_city_cowboy, helicopter, shadow silhouette figures

below: With the green lizard character standing by

two murals on a wall, one with green lizard character

Belfast street art

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Belfast is home to more than 250 murals.  Most of them are political or historical in nature and concern the recent “Troubles” in Northern Ireland’s past.  But there are other murals in this city, and other street art.  This post features some of the apolitical murals that I saw late in September of 2016.

below: A large mural by Smug One on High Court Street  (One of his murals previously seen in Melbourne – Smug on Wood Street)

very marge mural of a man with moustache and small beard and wearing a chef's shirt is holding a large lobster

below: Keep Her Lit, keep the furnace in your heart burning, keep the fire alive.

a mural of an anatomical painting of a heart with the center being a furnace, steam puffs coming out of the vessels at the top, words at the top of the mural are Keep Her Lit

below:  These fingers are pointing at you in a mural by EMIC.  3D glasses are available in Sunflower, which is a store across the street.  It’s difficult to take a photo in 3D!

Mural of two hands with fingers pointing outwards, The mural is painted to look 3D if you have the right glasses on. Words at the top of the mural say 3D glasses available at Sunflower (which is store across the street)

below: This blue woman looms over one of the smaller streets in downtown Belfast.

very large mural of a woman's upper body and head, done is shades of blue, shoulder length hair, looking at the viewer

below: Fighting with swords while a dead (or injured) dog lies on the floor.   Surreal?

Grey tones, black and white, monochrome, painting of a fencing scene, indoors, in historical clothing, chandelier on the table, black man watching the fencing, dead dog on the floor

below: The vertical painting in browns is done by KVLR

two murals on a building, one is a very realistic painting of an old man and the other is a vertical painting in brown tones by KVLR

two murals on two sides of a corner. One is a realistic painting of an old man and the other is also a man's head but it is done in red, white and black shapes.

below: A mural by Kashink  who is an artist  from Paris.  She has painted in many cities around the world and some of her work can be seen in Montreal.

mural by Kashink of person with green face, four eyes and long bushy reddish orange hair. Words say and fun--damental rights. Person is smoking (green hands)

on the side of a two storey building, a large woman in profile, head and shoulders, in a multicoloured cloud, with her hands together in prayer, eyes open and looking slightly upwards

below: A colourful dog by Verz, a local artist.

mural on black wall of a dog's head and neck in oranges, red, and pinks,

below: A mural showing streets at night, lights and reflections, by Dan Kitchener

large mural of streets and car traffic at night with lights shining on wet streets, two white cars parked in front.

below: One of the hazards of taking pictures of street art is the usual presence of parked cars.  They get in the way.  A lot.  Sometimes you just have to make them part of the composition.

two red cars are parked against a wall on which a mural of a young woman's face is painted. white skin, black hair, grey eyes,

below: And then there are the times when the cars are just in the way and there’s no way around it.  This black bird was painted by Spanish artist Sabek.   It would be nice to think that the arrow is aimed right at the car roof and that it missed the bird.

mural by sabek of a black bird caught up in a white ribbon as it tries to fly

below: Continuing the bird and arrow theme is this mural titled “The son of Protagoras” by MTO (French born, now Berlin based).  The mural is located in the yard of Northern Ireland War Memorial.  Note the markings on the arrows.   Protagoras (about 490 – 420 BC) was a Greek philosopher; he was either an agnostic or an atheist.

mural of a red headed young man squatting and holding a dead bird in his hands. The bird has two arrows through it, with red ends on the arrows. The mural looks to be on top of a fence and there are cars parked in front of the fence

below: This snake and arrow mural was painted in 2015 as part of  the ‘Hit the North’ event when 30 murals were painted in Belfast.   Some of the other murals in this blog post were painted then.  If you watch this video on youtube you might recognize them!

a rusty red fence and a green hedge is in front of a mural of a large black and yellow snake wrapped loosely around a long red arrow.

below: A fantastical dragon creature in purple and orange walks along the pavement.

horizontal mural of a long purple and orange dragon

horizontal mural of a long purple and orange dragon

below: A cockatoo by Dan Leo sits high on a wall, brightening up the side of a building.

simple mural of a grey toned cockatoo with a pink patch on its face, on a turquise background

below: On the fence beneath the cockatoo is this mural.  It seems to be a deer hunt?  The woman and her dog are chasing the deer?  Or running with the deer?

a blue dog is on a leash held by a woman, pink deer silhouettes jumping in the forest in the background

below: A Faigy mural, The owl doll Millies

owl doll millies mural

below:  A wonderful portrait of a man by DREPH.  I saw a few slices of bread with feet… The signature on the side of the bread seems to say Artista.  The himbad signature on the left goes with the cat in the picture below
a street art painting of a slice of bread with green feet is above a street art painting by deph of a black man with a beard and a brown cap

below: Himbad cat, wide open mouth and many sharp teeth!

large cat face with sharp teeth, street art by himbad

a happy face stick figure person made with paint that has dripped from a piece of street art, on a sidewalk (pavement)

below: Now it’s Puinsai Hawaii at any time.

altered sign, now says puinsai Hawaii anytime. yellow sign on a post with barbed sire on either side. Also An 'I love you" sticker on the pole beneath the sign.

below: On the Restore Charity Shop, a woman by Emic.

mural by emic, head and face of a young woman looking to the right, in grey tones (black and white) on a bright red background.

storefronts on a streeet in Belfast, brick building, but metal awnings/screens covering the shops because they are closed. Young Savage vintage clothing and Arts Lab, both have street art paintings on the screens. One is a young woman with long blue hair that forms a circle around her.

below: ‘LOST’, a man with harp antlers and a pink nose, two lonely whiskers and a grille over his mouth.  My apologies for the fact that the quality of the photo is such that the smaller words are illegible.  I think that what is lost is dip-py but could be dup-py.

three posters on a black wall. One is a skull with a spring for a neck and two antenae coming out of the top, one is labeled 1 and the other is 2 . The other posters are the two the same, withthe word lost written above a man's head, with harps for ears and a small muzzle over the mouth, words in the bottom corner,

below: More pasteups.  A Citizen Nobody poster is surrounded by other pasteups in various states. “The will to consume terrorises you.”

a few paste ups in black and white. In the middle is a poster by citizen nobdy that is only words that read The will to consume terrorises you.

below: Ireland is not full of leprechauns.  There is one on this wall but I didn’t see too many others, real or otherwise!  There were no pots of gold either.   I saw a few nuns though including this one by David Creative.

two murals on a corner of a building. One one sideis a head and shoulders of a nun in a yellow habit with black head wear. On the other corner is a leprechaun and some sunflowers.

The front of a house, upper storeys, covered with a painting that looks a bit like an imaginative version of the stars at night. The universe and beyond.

a collection of street art pieces on the side of a greybuilding, painted in purple, yellow and turquoise mostly. Abstract shapes

below: Pull up a mattress and make yourself comfortable.

a mattress is rolled up and lying against a wall that has a mural on it.

below: A mural or an ad?

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day trip to Bendigo

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There isn’t much street art in the town of Bendigo – or I was wasn’t in the right part of town.  The five pictures below is all that I saw.

below: You’ve just been given the bird.  Peace.

a white stencil on a blue wall, a dove in flight with an olive branch in its mouth. A hand and arm is made of the words "You have just been given the bird"

below: A supercalifragilistic stencil

black stencil on a light brown wall, Mary Poppins floating upwards with her open umbrella. Her trail is the word supercalifragiliciousexpialidocius.

below: Three women on walls.

black stencil on a stone wall of a woman's head, very large Afro hair style, smiling,

small paper wheatpaste of a blond woman on the door of a small metal box, with a padlock. The paper is peeling a bit and the rust from the box is also on the graffiti

Paper wheatpaste of a woman that is badly faded and peeled off. She is beside some purple spray paint.