Spirit of Harlem

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Mary C

Near 125th subway station (A/B/C) there is a mosaic mural. Original artwork done by Louis Del Sarte and made into a mosaics by Franz Mayer of Munich, 2005. After it was vandalized, it was restored in 2018. It’s a lively scene with musicians and dancers enjoying themselves. Vibrant. Alive.

spirit of harlem mosaic mural in new york city, musicians, drummers, bass players, and women dancing

spirit of harlem mosaic mural in new york city, brass band, women dancing

spirit of harlem mosaic mural in new york city, man in hat watching musicians

spirit of harlem mosaic mural in new york city, woman floating above dance floor,

spirit of harlem mosaic mural in new york city, black woman dancing and floating

spirit of harlem mosaic mural in new york city, woman with a shiny blue necklace

below: The corner of 125th (also Martin Luther King Blvd) and Frederick Douglas Blvd.

Erie Canal, Syracuse NY

Posted on July 11, 2024 by Mary C

Syracuse filled in the Erie Canal and built a museum to it instead. As part of this museum, a large two storey mural of a canal side warehouse interior was painted on the remains of a 4 storey brick warehouse (1989).

mural on the side of a brick building at the erie canal museum in syracuse new york, scenes from the interior of a warehouse along the canal back in history

part of erie canal museum mural, interior, a shop inside a warehouse, goods on shelves, a woman behind the counter, male customer

part of a mural, boy sitting on floor, open door and window with views of boat on canal outside, a black pot bellied stove in the room too

upper level of warehouse scene, workmen moving around bags of goods.

cyop & kaf in Naples

Posted on June 18, 2024 by Mary C

If you walk around the old part of Naples (particularly the Quartieri Spagnoli), you will see many murals and paintings by the Italian duo Cyop & Kaf. Many of them are weathered and faded or written over but they are still hard to miss. This is a selection of the ones that I saw in Naples one wet spring day.

Flat characters, stylized, simplified.

mural by artists cyop and kaf in naples, three crosses on a blue hill that is encircled by long black arms of a blackcharacter in a red skirt and white top

man with long red rope, one end tied around his leg

Exaggerated body parts

mural by artists cyop and kaf in naples, a figure drinking a glass of red wine, long pointy white nose, red pants, sitting on a rock with Napoli spray painted on it, a silver coloured motorcycle is parked next to the mural

mural by artists cyop and kaf in naples, banner with cuban flag flying from back of man's head

Missing body parts. Awkward positions.

mural by artists cyop and kaf in naples, black man in white outfit on the back of a horse with no hind legs, front legs have boots, one red and one black

Surreal situations

mural by artists cyop and kaf in naples, black figure lying on back, long nose is holding up a tray with three white bottles on it

Improbable proportions and impossible actions

mural by artists cyop and kaf in naples, one headless figure in grey is punching hole in middle of another flat figure in grey. second man has tiny red head

mural by artists cyop and kaf in naples, figure sitting on a black chair, one blue hand and one black hand small blue boots,

mural by artists cyop and kaf in naples, small figures standing on red half torsos, jousting

mural by artists cyop and kaf in naples, man lunging position

two men in white tops and orange pants, with a red banner

Photos taken February 2024

St. Enochs Square

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Mary C

St. Enochs Square, between Massey Hall and the back of the stores facing Yonge St., just south of Shuter St. (Toronto)

This mural was painted back in 2013 as part of a project to rejuvenate this alley. It was a collaboration between EGR and Elicser Elliott.

entrance to laneway, red brick building on the left (Massey Hall), mural painted on the wall on the right. Mural shows a woman & a boy blowing the seeds from white puffy dandelions.

entrance to St. Enochs Sq. on Shuter St.

A woman is holding an infant and a small child. Another child is clinging to her. A man is to her right and a girl is to her left. The infant is ugly and may not really be an infant but instead be a little roly poly old man... or a hybrid of the two

left side of the mural

a large black and white cat is looking at the viewer. It is wearing a little crown. Beside the cat is a boy in a blue and white striped shirt who is blowing the seeds off a puffy white dandelion.

blowing dandelions

panorama of the mural

Photos taken July 2014

a Stornara wall, one of many

Posted on March 10, 2024 by Mary C

below: “Young Starling” by MATE Artist

mural in Stornara, young girls face, flowers in hair, yellow and blue stripes through face, one eye covered,

below: “Eternal Love” by Artiste Rast, for Stramurales 2023 festival

two murals in stornara, wall - older couple smiling at each other with lots of roses in the picture, called eternal love. other mural is young child with yellow, red, and blue stripes,

below: The wall along Via Don Enrico Tazzoli.

below: “Rose” by Spanish artist Buble Gum (aka Tirso Paz Sans)

below: Swans and swallows in a mural by Fio Silva also for Stramurales 2023. Most of her work features birds.

mural with two white swans with orange beaks and two swallows in flight, by Fio Silva, blue background

below: “Colors of Puglia” by Reka One (aka James Reka)

mural of shapes and colours, abstract, in shades of green and pink with some white and orange, blue background, more curves than lines. Colors of Puglia by James Reka

Photos taken February 2024

For more murals from Stramurales 2023

on a Central corner

Posted on January 8, 2024 by Mary C

Central Ave (and the streets running parallel to it) in downtown St. Petersburg Florida has become home to numerous murals thanks to the SHINE Mural Festival held every October. 2024 will be its 10th year.

two murals on two sides of the same building, meet in the middle, part of shine festival st. petersburg murals

First, two kids in a boat on triangular sea, by Zulu (or Zulu Painter). The girl is at the helm with her paddle. Both are watching intently, eyes ahead. What do they see?

mural all in blue tones, two kids, a girl and a boy, together in a row boat out on the water, water made with triangles, by zulu painter,

And second, there is a long horizontal mural by Daniel R. Barojas with a pattern of hexagons for a background. A woman is on one side. She seems focused on something.

… peeking out in the middle (caught in the middle?, or just curious?)

part of a mural by Daniel R. Barojas, a person with bright blue eyes seems to be peeking out from under the ground i.e. eyes at very bottom of mural

… and a man with feathers in his ear at the other end

Photos taken April 2022

painted on the parking structures

Posted on January 7, 2024 by Mary C

Parking garages, especially large structures, can usually be described as boring and ugly, i.e. they aren’t great to look at. Downtown Tampa has a large parking structure that was decorated with street art murals back in 2015.

below: William F. Poe Parking Garage on North Ashley Drive is now home to “Stay Curious” a series of murals by artists Tes One (aka Leon Bedore) and Bask (aka Ales Hostomsky), with contributions by the Vitale Brothers.

below: The text says “Stay Curious”

below: Nearby is a Marriott Hotel (at the corner of North Franklin and East Tyler) and this is what they did to their parking garage.

mural, abstract in shades of blue on the marriott hotel in tampa

below: Another corner of another garage

below: It’s not a mural or a painting but it’s a colorful and fascinating way of covering the exterior of a parking structure. This is DOTS, by sculptor and artist Christian Moeller and it consists of 119 aluminum alloy discs. Each disc is almost 6 feet across and weighs about 40 pounds. They cover the parking part of a new University of Tampa residence building.

large metal discs, as art, cover the exterior of a parking garage, 119 discs, called dots, by artist Christian Moeller

After a quick google search on parking garage art, I have decided that this has become a “thing”. Very trendy by the looks of it.

Photos taken April 2022

four for community

Posted on November 9, 2023 by Mary C

On all four corners of an intersection in a residential area of Heerlen (Netherlands) there is a mural on the side of one of the buildings. They were all painted by the same artist and they all feature some aspect of Dutch culture or history. A pink and purple theme also runs through them all.

below: On Oude Kerkstraat is “Operation Heartbeat” by American artist Gaia – A heart surrounded by different flowers from the Dutch “Empire”

mural on the end of a building, a red heart surrounded by many Dutch flowers such as poppies and tulips, all on purple background, Operation Heartbeat by Gaia

below: Another Gaia mural across the street from his hearts and flowers is this bit of local history – Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Joop den Uyl, announces the end of the coal mining in Limburg, December 1, 1965.

street scene with 2 large murals in view, one with a face and tulips and the other with a man giving a speech at a lecture in front of microphones

below: ‘Tulipmania’. The face is that of Frederik Hendrik (1584-1647) who was a Statdtholder of the Dutch Republic, as well as a sovereign Prince of Orange during the Dutch Golden Age, i.e. in the time of Tulipmania. I doubt that he’s a recognizable face these days but it’s an interesting detail just the same.

Tulipmania mural by Gaia, a face partially obscured but the eyes very visible, tulips in purple and white

below: ‘Resilience’ was influenced by the painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder (d. 1569) who painted scenes of everyday peasant life. Here is a contemporary scene of everyday urban life.

mural by Gaia of a city scene, people outside interacting, an orange apartment building, a woman waving, a reddish coloured house,

paink background, part of a larger mural, a woman waving

fantasy among the windows

Posted on November 3, 2023 by Mary C

On the back of an apartment building in Seville (Sevilla) Spain there is a mural that is a collection of scenes involving fantasy animals and characters.

back of an apartment building, with many small scenes painted in one mural

part of a larger mural, a monster like character leaning over

below: Long and flexible arms make it possible for her to water the flowers and reach out to others at the same time. … even if she’s got wet hair.

part of a mural, a woman in a red dress is holding a watercan over her head and watering a real flowerbox in a real window of the residential building that the mural is painted on