Tag Archives: people

‘Out and About’ in Weston

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‘Out and About – Windows of Time’ is a large mural by Christiano De Araujo that features scenes from the social history of Weston village.  Unfortunately, the (painted) young man who is sitting on the sidewalk and playing a guitar is hidden by the (real) car parked in front of the mural.

part of mural by Christiano De Araujoo, windows of time, in Weston, history series, starting with kids in front of bakery window from the 1880s

part of mural by Christiano De Araujo, windows of time, in Weston, history series, a WW2 couple kissing soldier and woman in blue with blue hat, also a couple dancing from the 1960s. Another window shows interior of soda parlor

part of mural by Christiano De Araujoo, windows of time, in Weston, history series, Out and About, people doing things

part of mural by Christiano De Araujo, windows of time, in Weston, history series, woman in yellow head scarf pushes a stroller past a restaurant window while a young boy wearing glasses chases birds

part of a mural by Christiano De Araujo, a young man has a ghetto blaster to his ear and his arm around a young woman, in front of a restaurant window where there are people sitting

Lansdowne underpass

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There is a railway bridge that crosses Lansdowne Ave just south of Dundas West. Along the concrete wall on the east side of the underpass is a long stretch of murals painted last year by a group of muralists and street artists. This is “Community Built”.

below: At the south end of paintings…. Ducks and loons in the water; ducks in flight by Nick Sweetman. Most people will recognize the green-headed mallard; the duck with the big black and white head is a male hooded merganser. A female merganser has a similar crest on her head except that it is brown.

Next to the ducks there are people fishing and wading in a creek. This portion was painted by Elicser Elliott.

part of a mural on the walls of an underpass, Nick Sweetman painted ducks and Elicser Elliott painted people in a creek

part of a mural, painted by elicser elliott, woman in yellow jacket and hat, standing in creek, hands in water,

below: Under the tracks, abstract flowers in yellows and oranges by Chris Perez

painting of abstract flowers in a mural by underpass, painted by Chris Perez, yellows and oranges on a blue background

below: Black hands and white hands reaching out, by Rowell Soller

street art mural underpass, calligraphy in red and yellow surrounding a black person, face and many black and white hands,

below: Kedre Brown (left) and Artchild (right)

mural under a railway bridge, two diferent scenes by two different artists, a black panther on the left, a person's portrait on the right, person is wearing a blue hat with little wings on it

below: Scenes on light green by Andrea Manica – a dog, a bee, and a couple of strawberries – walking in heels with coat and hat – sitting on a yellow blanket – a tent, mushrooms, and playing ball.

stylized people on light green background, scenes, in a mural under a railway bridge,

below: As the years go by we’ll be able to date the artworks of 2020 to 2022 by the presence of masks. That’s assuming that we won’t be wearing them again…..

part of mural, a brown person wearing an olive coloured wide brim hat and a pink covid mask,

below: Under a rainbow where nature thrives in a collaboration between Shawn Howe and Mo Thunder.

mural by shawn howe and mo thunder, an wall of an underpass. under a pink sky, a semi circular rainbow. under the rainbow a sleeping fawn, a loon, and many flowers and plants

a sleeping fawn in a street art mural

below: Que Rock

two murals on an underpass wall, on the right, by que rock, first nations theme and symbols

from a street art mural, a face painted with lines in blues, red, and yellow,

below: A few artists from Red Urban Nation Artists Collective had a section of the wall to paint

houses above, a stair case to a lower level sidewalk and street, with a mural on the wall and stairwell between the two levels

below: Part of the RUN Collective, is Ren Lonechild who painted the mother sasquatch with her little ones at the bottom of the stairs. Swooping and swirling around the apes and the stairs are ghostly creatures that are the work of Cedar Eve Peters

murals by an outdoor staircase, by red urban nation artists collective, apes walking in the blue night time, northern lights, ghost like figures

close up of part of a mural with large monkey or ape hand reaching for a smaller monkey or ape

below: The view from the top of the stairs from Shirley Avenue

looking down an outdoor stairwell beside Lansdowne Ave., into an underpass, murals on the left wall, street on the right

below: by Danielle Hyde

close up of part of mural painted by Danielle Hyde, a member of Red Urban Nation Artists Collective, on a wall beside a staircase, pink and brown faces swirled together,some hands too

long stretch of concrete wall alongside a railway underpass on Lansdowne Ave., covered with many different murals,

below: A mural with a message that the willow tree is nature’s aspirin. Willow bark contains salicin which is chemically similar to aspirin which also known as acetylsalicylic acid. The salicin chemical structure is shown in this mural by Keitha Keeshing-Tobias.

mural on a wall, willow as nature's aspirin, chemical structure of aspirin, evening sunset scene

below: This project incorporated a previous public art installation on this site. Back in 1989 a number of small sculptures, or forms, by Dyan Marie were embedded into the wall of the underpass.

shiny round sculpture embedded in concrete wall that has been incorporated into a street art mural

below: This is Leone McComas’s contribution to the ‘Community Built’ project

mural on concrete wall of underpass, different coloured silhouettes in long flowing clothes walking to a picnic in the park

below: Alex Bacon painted dancers in hazy flowing shades of pink and orange.

mural on exterior concrete wall, in shades of pink and orange, 3 human figures dancing, females, long flowing hair,

below: Two murals.

two murals on a concrete wall. on the right is a cyclist painted by Curtia Wright and on the left is a scene with two brown figures, a male and a female, standing above a yellow and orange sun

below: Close up of the cyclist painted by Curtia Wright

close up of cyclist head and shoulders, part of a mural, long brown hair, orange bike helmet,

below: Two brown figures by kaya joan

two brown figures facing each other, pink flowers on chest, hands up, white flowers in hands, dark sky behind them

below: On the right – a blue woman reclines by a cluster of colourful houses. She’s got one hand on a pink lawn and her feet on a red lawn under a white-leafed tree. This mural was painted by Yasaman Mehrsa.

two murals, one by june kim of a gold tiger, and one by yasaman of a blue reclining woman

below: Close up view of the big regal cat by Planta Muisca as it sits on a blue mat by a bowl of papaya and a slice of lemon.

part of a mural by Planta Muisca, yellow and gold tiger, with green necklace, a bowl of papaya, other animals in pastel colours

below: Welcome to Little Tibet … standing beside a white chicken by Caitlin Taguibao

two murals on Lansdowne Ave., on the left is tribute to little tibet, on the right is a white chicken with wings stretched out

below: People from the Little Tibet mural, by Kalsang Wangyal,

part of a mural, multi generational group of people, little tibet, mother holding baby, father with son on his shoulders, grandparents too

below: A mural by Tenzin Tsering on the right – a bonfire where “the flames of the bonfire represent the tradition of oral storytelling and act as a homage to the diverse and unique stories/voices of the people in Tkaronto.” (from her instagram page)

two murals with tops of houses behind,

below: And what’s a Toronto mural if it doesn’t have a raccoon?

light blue silhouette of a raccoon with a light blue and dark blue striped tail, in a mural on Lansdowne Ave

In the mural two pictures above, the painting on the left is the work of Jordan McKie (aka trip2thetop) The next few images are from that mural.

part of mural by trip 2 the top, butterfly with smiley face, other abstract shapes and figures

trip 2 the top mural, face of a person, black and white crosswalk, a yellow duck, a purple cat,

a smiley face worm by some leaves in orange and red, abstract shapes mural

below: A dragon’s head at the north end of the underpass by June Kim.

part of a June Jiuen Kim mural of a green gragon head with white teeth, blue spots, blue nose, and blue eyes

below: Looking south

graffiti on concrete supports at the end of a railway underpass, winter time, some snow on the ground, trees, a truck driving past,

city of toronto brass plaque on Lansdowne underpass bridge

A Mural Routes project from 2021

June, Jordan McKie, Tenzin Tsering, Kalsang Wangyal (waz_graphics), Caitlin Taguibao, Planta Muisca, Yasaman Mehrsa, kaya joan, Curtia Wright, Alex Bacon, Leone McComas, Keitha Keeshig-Tobias Biizindam, Red Urban Nation Artists Collective (Drew Rickard, Danielle Hyde, Cedar Eve Peters, Ren Lonechild and Que Rock), Mo Thunder and Shawn Howe, Andrea Manica, Kedre Brown, ARTCHILD, Rowell Soller, Chris Perez, Elicser Elliott, Nick Sweetman.

Curator and community engagement facilitator: Bareket Kezwer

looking through the top of a TTC bus shelter with blue sign for Dundas, Lansdowne Ave in the backgound

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

Viennese slaps and stencils

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Stencils, stickers, and small paste ups around Vienna

below: You don’t have to look like this

two stencils on a concrete wall, one red and one black, both with a silhouette of a person's figure and both with words that say you don't have to look like this

below: K2m Cactus is feeling blue – I can Imagine is ici (or is it Incredible Crew of Invaders?) – and someone’s wearing a gas mask.

stickers on an outside wall, two small blue cactus in a plant pot, one is bigger than the other and looks like a sad bald man. Another sticker says ici which is acronym for I Can Imagine

below: Skateboarder, diva, and 2 lit lighters.  Let’s scream.

a few small stencils together on a wall, a skateboarder, a lit cigarette lighter, an outline drawing of a face with spikey hair

below: Fishman doesn’t seem to like his metamorphosis.  I have questions – how does he breathe?  How does his hair stay in place? 

a black and white drawing on a blue watery background, a scaley fish with a man's head

below: Screaming in anger and frustration “Nothing I do matters while Capitalism exists. “

black stencil of a man with head back and mouth open as he screams the words nothing I do matters while capitalism exists.

below: Comment on the Patriarchy

stencil of a face

below: With a touch of green

stencil of a person sitting, in black except for green of lenses in glasses that they are wearing

below: Mouse with an umbrella or at least I think that it’s a mouse.  Such a ballsy behind.

black stencil of a mouse holding an umbrella as it stands on its hind legs

below: Eyes – blue eyes on red and one eye almost hidden behind a mask and torn paper.

blog_megaphone_blue_eyes

below: Stickers on blue

a blue circular street sign that has been covered with stickers

below: More stickers and paint on sign

directional sign by the waterfront that has been covered with stickers and some painted graffiti tags

below: Oh my! A sorry yellow ghost – he doesn’t look very sorry does he?

sticker, a ghost with the word sorry, ad advert for sorry tattoo

below: Frauhans

below: Little green happy faces plus translation surprises: Weihnacht hatte angst aber Ostern hat eier!! = Christmas has fear but Easter has eggs.  Why do people choose the words they write?

part of a wall with 4 pieces of graffiti, sticker with green happy faces, a drawing f a man's head in profile, one that is ripped, and one with the words Weihnacht hatte angst aber ostern hat eier,

small black stencil of upper part of person

below: While a blue Rick Astley claims that he’s never gonna give you up others are waiting for something to happen even though something is waiting behind you. 

words written in black marker on a wall along with a little character

below: Forked tongue, sluglike hugs on a pole.   We all need a little TLC.

graffiti sticker on a pole

below: Big theater, little applause.  The curtain drew back and revealed that the world is on the stage.  All the world’s a stage…..

sticker on a wall

Kiemo Galerija – Yard Gallery

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Back in 2014, Vytenis Jakas decided to turn a residential courtyard into an art gallery.

below: Charlie Chaplin oversees the entrance to the yard.  The black plaque above Chaplin’s head is in memory of Juda Zupavicius (1914-1944) who was a lieutenant in the Lithuanian military and a chief on the Kaunas ghetto police force. In 1941 the Jewish residents of this area were forced out and had to relocate to the Kaunas ghetto. Zupavicius was also one of the leaders of the underground resistance during WW2.

street art on a concrete wall, three older women sitting on a bright red bench. Women are wearing grey winter coats, head scarves, and sun glasses. the woman in the middle is knitting

below: The words under the photo of the couple: „Čia 1939 m. – 1941 m. gyveno Dita ir Juda Zupavičiai. Juda buvo vienas iš Kauno geto pogrindžio vadovų, žiauriai nacistų kankintas neišdavė geto vaikų slėptuvių. Dita buvo kovos bendražygė“ (English translation: “Here in 1939 – 1941 lived Dita and Juda Zupavičiai. Juda was one of the underground leaders of the Kaunas ghetto, he was brutally tortured by the Nazis and did not reveal the hiding places of the ghetto children. Dita was a comrade in the struggle”)

street art, three black and white photos of people who used to live in the courtyard. A large artwork of Marcel Marceau in white clown mime clothes, a red tear painted on his face, standing beside a vintage box camera on a tripod
bright yellow shutters on a window, pot of geraniums, red geraniums, beside, an empty flower box below, a painting of a fat brown cat half out the window and half inside

below: Venus probably never had to do the grocery shopping

street art stencil or pasteup of the statue of venus, woth arms broken off. behind her is a woman in modern clothes carrying bags of shopping

on exterior wall, black and white photo of man, below part of a larger colour photo

a picture of the plaque describing the yard gallery that is seen in the gallery itself, Kiemo Gallery

Yard Gallery

Upon noticing that the neighbours living in the yard had become alienated and had forgotten the common past of the yard, the artist Vytenis Jakas started creating a “Yard Gallery” – a courtyard surrounded by apartment buildings built in the inter-war period. In the past, the yard inhabitants knew each other well, communicated warmly, celebrated holidays together, and supported each other in troublesome times. The yard had a large table, a fountain and a sculpture, the Dapkevicius sisters grew flowers, and lilacs grew near the windows of the neighbour Regina. Over time, the population and the social environment changes, the number of cars increased, and the yard space became too small.

Seeing this situation, Vytenis Jakas, with the help of other artists and neighbours, turned the derelict yard into a centre of attraction, the open air “Yard Gallery”. Various artistic projects are implemented here: Portraits of the Jews who lived in this house before the Holocaust, along with the current residents, characters of various works are painted on the facades of the apartment buildings; mirror mosaics and stained glass windows are created, and community events are organised, with community festivals celebrated together. “

mosaic on a wall, outdoors, made of broken pieces of mirror. reflective
painting of a stork, street art

O Positive Plus

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O+ Festival is the name of an annual art, music, and wellness festival in Kingston New York that began in 2010. Most of the murals in this post were painted as part of that festival. But not all of the murals in Kingston are included – my apologies to those left out – but I will be back!

a bright and colorful mural in an alley, large cursive word Kingston with smaller pictures around the letters, two faces in the mural as well

Bright and bold Kingston, but down an alley where it’s hard to see all at once.

the lefthand end of a bright and colorful mural in an alley, large cursive word Kingston with smaller pictures around the letters, only the first 3 letters are visible in this photo, K I and N
large pink female face at the end of a mural in an alley, face ends at the sidewalk of Broadway Ave in Kingston New York, shops and other buildings in the background
street art paintings around the entrance to a business, southwestern theme, cactii

below: This mural was painted by Jess Snow and Jia Sung and is titled “Oh Wind, Take Me to my Country”. It is a portrait of Sudanese poet Safia Elhillo and was inspired by one of her poems.

mural by Jess Snow and Jia Sung in Kingston New York, portrait of a woman with long flowing black hair, a small sailboat in her hair, all on background of watery blues

below: “Late Summer Kill Swim” by Samantha French and Aaron Hauck. Apparently the word ‘kill’ is a reference to the local Hudson Valley swimming holes.

below: “LIfted” by Lindsey Wolkowicz and Dillon Paul, 2018. Women and girls girls working together to lift each other up.

mural on the end of a building showing girls and women of different coloured races helping each other

below: Thorneater Comics painted this sturgeon in 2015.

large mural of a fish, outdoors, in shades of grey

below: “Pretty Nose and Dakota Unity Riders” by LMNOPI  (aka Lopi LaRoe).  Pretty Nose was an Arapaho woman war chief who participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.  It is said that she lived to be 101 years old.

mural, center is first nations portrait surrounded by circles of triangles looking like the rays of the sun, silhouettes of people on horseback on either side

below: “Native Americans Discover Columbus” by Lady Pink

day of the dead themed mural, girl with painted white face and decorations, a baltimore oriole beside her, she has long flowing hair

below: “Shadow Guide/Shadow Self” by Dina Kravtsov and Matthew Schulze, 2018

mural of two people on a bicycle built for two, a tandem bike

below: On one of the exterior walls of Keegan Ales is a mural painted by John Breiner in 2016. “From the Ground Up” has faded a bit over the past few years but there is a photo of it in its former glory on the artist’s website.

mural on an exterior of Keegan Ales, with window and reflections in the middle of the picture, mural painted by

below: Another mural on Keegan Ale buildings – this one was painted by Jack Dishel and Vor138 in 2014.

mural on Keegan Ale exterior, cartoon like characters and items, skull, skunk, dart board,

below: Letting the imagination run wild as boys and girls read books in “Fishbone” by Eugene Stetz Jr., 2016

mural of two children, a boy and a girl, reading, with a cloud of objects from their imaginations joining them together. A mural on St. James Street in Kingston New York by Eugene Stetz Junior.
part of a mural, visualizing the imagination of a boy as he reads, planets, a baseball, an apple, a bone, and other items

below: “Sun/Moon” by Enz.

A two storey exterior wall, Keegan Ales, in Kingston NY with street art on it, a large mural across the top, a text piece on the lower level.

below: “Shadows of our Ancestors” by La Morena (aka Lucinda Yrene Hinojos) , with help from Cesar Castaneda, 2018.   The mural depicts the artist’s grandmother, daughter, and niece participating in a healing ceremony while the hummingbirds represent her spirit animal.

a mural on Downs Street in Kingston New York

below: “Flight Sequence”, an owl in flight, by Justin Suarez, 2017

a horizontal mural showing three stages of an owl in flight

below: A tribute mural by Jalani Lion and Donny Mapes; In memory of Adam (Jeff) McQueen, Kaireem Meeks Jr,  Dante Crump, Jonte Clark, and Jeffrey D’Aguilar, painted in 2015.

A tribute mural, showing portraits of young black men, by Jalani Lion and Donny Mapes; In memory of Adam (Jeff) McQueen, Kaireem Meeks Jr,  Dante Crump, Jonte Clark, and Jeffrey D'Aguilar, painted in 2015.

More Kingston NY murals
Photos taken July 2022

people in the abstract

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Lodz Poland is full of murals. It’s the kind of city where Tourist Information gives out maps showing the location of more than 130 murals, most of which are in walking distance (but there are trams too if you prefer). Three of those 130 are here in this blog post.

First, an upside down wiggly line couple by Klone Yourself (aka Igor Revelis) titled “Midnight Lovers”. Painted in 2017.

mural by Klone of two people upside down on the side of building, one figure is missing a face because there is a window there, figures drawn with contour lines in black and white
street scene in Lodz Poland with parked cars, sidewalk, stores, and other buildings, a mural is partially visible

Another large mural in Lodz featuring abstracted human forms is this sort of art deco style painting.

mural on a white apartment building

The third is this mural called “Gentrification” by Tone aka Robert Proch (d. 2019). It was painted in 2013.

close up of a mural by tone in Lodz Poland

mural by Robert Proch, tone, of abstract people swirling

Photos taken May 2022

Polaroid Guy

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On a little dead end street near Gumpendorfgasse u-bahn station, there is a small series of murals. The most prominent one, is of a man in a black striped long sleeved T-shirt taking a picture with a polaroid camera.

blog_polaroid_guy_mural

To his right are a few images that look like they are the resulting polaroids – part of his collection perhaps.

a small dead end street with street art murals on the buildings on the left side

These images were painted by Jana and JS, a couple who have been painting murals together for many years.

mural on a wall that looks like 3 square polaroid photos. Two are of young women with blond hair standing in front of apartment blocks, and the third is a man who is also taking a polaroid picture

mural that looks like two polaroid pictures. on top is a woman taking a picture, on the bottom is a portrait of an older Asian man in a red cap and red jacket

Photos taken June 2022

Kamenne Namestie

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… is a public space in Bratislava that is mostly parking lot. It is also home to a few murals.

below: Mural by tankpetrol, painted in 2018 as part of that year’s Bratislava Street Art Fest

a man in grey clothes walks past a kiosk selling drinks, snacks, and such things. behind it is a building with a large mural on the side. in the mural, a hand is holding a photo of part of a face on what looks like a ripped piece of paper. the eyes and nose are visible. the mural was painted by tank petrol

close up of face in a mural, a hand is holding a photo of part of a face on what looks like a ripped piece of paper. the eyes and nose are visible. the mural was painted by tank petrol

below: This mural was created in 2020 by Cart’1.

mural, a character in a white puffy suit is using forced air to hang blue wall paper. paper has pattern of words ego and vanity in white

below: The blue wallpaper has a pattern that is made of the words ‘vanity’ and ‘ego’ repeated hundreds of times.

close up of character in cart 1 mural about wall papering in blue

below: ‘Rozjimanie’ by Fin DAC

large, tall, mural of a red woman, title of Rozjimanie, by Irish artist Fin DAC. bottom part of mural is obscured by cars in a parking lot.

large, tall, mural of a red woman, title of Rozjimanie, by Irish artist Fin DAC.

 below: Daor and Dano, painted these two partial faces

two womens faces on a wall, painted mural

below: Above the coffee shop this statuesque woman, seemingly carved from stone, reaches towards the birds.

below: čo nás ľudí robí krásnymi [loosely: what makes us people beautiful] by Sasha Chagina and Jano Wajcko Vajsabel. It is a promotion by DM, i.e. an advertisement. But it looks so much like a street art mural! You might not agree with it’s inclusion on this page but you’ll have to admit that it has blurred the line between “commerical” and “artwork”.

large mural of a large group of people, a very diverse group, crossing at a crosswalk