Tag Archives: people

Wynwood’s movie gangstas

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original gangsta mural

The gangsta wall in Wynwood is along the side of the Toe Jam Backlot, a private studio/event space that is available to rent.   The mural on the north wall has nothing to do with ‘gangsters’ but it still looks wonderful – an amazing amount of detail.  My apologies for not knowing the artist’s name.

mural on a wall

The wall on the west side of the building is where the gangsta wall is.  It’s a wall that features the images of “bad guy” actors in famous movies, starting with Jack Nicholson in “The Shining”.

entrance to building, Toe Jam Backot, on the corner, whole building is covered in street art murals

Marlon Brando in The Godfather and Al Pacino from “Scarface”

Marlon Brando as the Godfather, in a mural with other actors

… Al Pacino in “Scarface” (again), Robert DeNiro in “Cape Fear”,  and John Travolta in “Pulp Fiction” …

mural with images of famous actors in movie roles, Al Pacino in Scarfacce, a man in a tophat, a man with a machine gun

   ….Arnie in “Terminator”,   Malcolm McDowell in “Clockwork Orange”, a masked Anthony Hopkins in “Silence of the Lambs”,  and Heath Ledger as “The Joker” …

Clockwork Orange, masked Anthony Hopkins and Heath Ledger as the Joker, faces in a mural on a wall, black background, Wynwood

…. and at the very end is the only woman, Uma Thurman in Kill Bill

Uma Thurman wielding a sword, image from Kill Bill movie

As you have probably noticed, I haven’t named all the faces – still doing the research to find out who they are!  If you can help, please let me know!

a young man poses in front a mural with images of actor's faces, original gangsta is the title of the mural, gangstawall

artist’s signature, 2009

artist signature on gangsta wall mural, 2009

on Tallinn walls

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Tallinn is the capital city of the small Baltic country Estonia.  I was only there for a short time but I did find some street art in the old town and in Kalamaja.

below: The young person on the right is the work of @minaJaLydia.  I you look closely, there are two tiny faces to the right of the knees.

street art by MinaJaLydia on a concrete wall, two pieces, a pasteup of an elaborate abstract drawing of a face and hands as well as mushrooms and other plant life. the other is a young person sitting on a chair, with 4 legs hanging from the chair.

below: I am calling this one, The Warrior and his Social Media Hedgehog.  They are the work of Edward von Longus

a large muscular partially clad man with a weapon over his shoulder, on a grey brick wall, a small hedgehog is working on a laptop beside him. graffiti

below: Close up of the hedgehog. It needs time in the limelight too.

graffiti, a small grey and white hedgehog is working on a laptop

below: Whatever he was writing on the wall is long gone. This is another work by Edward von Longus.

painting of a blond boy with a red T shirt and blue jeans is facing a wall and drawing on it.

below: A green and blue planet Earth between two animals (a cat and a ?), by multistab

street art by multistab. A blue and green small plaet earth in between two large black and white creatures. One looks like a grinning cat, the other might be a cat but migh be something else

below: A couple of couples by Linna Sokk but with the theme of domestic violence.

two poster pasteups by #koos Both are of a couple, in one they are kissing

below: Something’s stuck to his forehead… looks like a sheep to me.

a large sticker with a realistic picture of a skull on it, on a small electrical box beside a building

below: Not your average Easter Bunny!

painting of a large agressive stylized rabbit in grey top and white shirts, a carrot in its mouth, running on two legs, one arm upraised.

below: A multi talented, multi handed,  multi tasking elephant!

an elephant with 4 arms and two legs, bare feet, spray paint cans in its hands,

below: This wall is difficult to see because of the fence – it is part of the old fortress/prison that is no longer open to visitors.

street art on a wall that is hard to see because it is behind a fence

below: The next two are by the same artist, Lume, of LDK crew who is from Naples Italy.

stylized flowers and leaves in pastel colours, line drawings, on a pale yellow wall

stylized flowers and leaves in pastel colours, line drawings, on a salmon coloured wall

below: In case you can’t read it, the sign that Darth Vader is holding says: “Help me.  I need $$$ to build a death star.”

a few small piece of graffiti, a yellow face, a black stencil of a man's head and shoulders, a stencil of Darth Vader, and some scribbles,

on a wall beside w window, two line drawings of animal creatures, on dinosaur like and the other a small round thing

a big bee on a yellow wall, street sign that says Salme

two drawings, one is Jerry the cartoon mouse and the other is

three stencils on a wall, an orange womans face, a blue diamond and a purple man with sunglasses on

a paste up of a person's head wrapped in an old fashioned bandage that ties under the chin

doorway shaped and sized line drawing graffiti in purple with turquoise highlights, a man's head and neck

blue triangles

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The north wall of the Angel City Brewery has a few large blue triangles painted on it.  Those triangles have become the background for a large number of paste-ups and stencils.

 

below: A young boy with an oxygen mask uses the stump of a very old tree that has been cut down as a table.

paste up graffiti on the wall of the Angel City Brewery

 

below: The statue of liberty holds up a large blue LA glove, by sellout.  A black stencil “selfie this” gives the finger, by crisp.

paste up graffiti on the wall of the Angel City Brewery

 

below: Pheobe from New York sits quietly reading about the quiet life.

paste up graffiti on the wall of the Angel City Brewery - a seated phoebe from new york reading a book, she's wearing a large red hat

 

below: A wall of graffiti.

paste up graffiti on the wall of the Angel City Brewery

paste up graffiti on the wall of the Angel City Brewery

paste up graffiti on the wall of the Angel City Brewery

black stencil graffiti on the wall of the Angel City Brewery - one person is helping up a person who is on the ground

LA women, street art style

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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.

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below: She sees a red book in her crystal ball

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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

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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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two street art pictures, A yellowish orange parrot with green wings and on the left a black man with orange exploding head

street art painting on a metal roll up garage door of a man in profile, in black and blue

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murals and street art on the side of a building, the old Mission Linen building in Las Vegas.

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a brightly coloured fish white with spots of orange, red, and yellow, swims in a blue patch on the pavement

 

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white question mark on a concrete block painted yellow, with a mural covered on a wall in the background

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Chance Street, Shoreditch

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More street art from East London, September 2016

below: Paste ups on a door

a door with pasteups on it, between a black wall and a wall that is painted in red, pink and yellow. One of the paste ups is of a black man in a military uniform in a gilded frame. The word rai is written on top of it.

close up of the paste up - a door with pasteups on it, between a black wall and a wall that is painted in red, pink and yellow.

below: By number 57, a mask by Crisp

a 3D mask graffiti piece mounted high on a wall, painted in white, turquoise and purple patterns. The number 57 is beside it.

below: Dressed in orange robes and running shoes…
with a hope of peace, by Unify

a streeet art pice on a door, a person in a long orange robe is standing, holding a sign with a red peace symbol on it. A work by unify

below: A large hedgehog by ROA

a very large hedgehog in black, white, and grey, painted on the side of a building, by street artist roa. Some tags and throwup graffiti across the bottom.

below: All on a grey fence

  1. A large  love card, a king and queen perhaps.
  2. Two drawn portraits by Veil.  [how to be invisible: have a name that returns millions of hits when you search for it, none of them yours]
  3. A cartoon character wearing a London Bobby hat… the words at the bottom say “at a tremendous speed the rocket zips into space 1993.”
  4. A collage of many photos of a man’s neck and ear, a studded collar and a woman’s fingers with long fingernails, all in a sickly green colour.
  5. Some ace nylon stickers.

5 pasteups on a grey wood fence. On the left a playing card of two people cheek to cheek with an L and a red heart. Also two drawings, portraits of men, by veil,

below: Silently standing still, cowboy and mannequin.

a pasteup of a black and white print of a cowboy, not quite life sized, with cowboy hat and vest. The paper is starting to peel away at the edges. A sticker of a blue and white partially peeled banana has been stuck on him. Beside him is a male mannequin in a store window.

below: Reading comics together

a group of comic book heros is reading a comic book together, The Hulk, a man with laser vision, Thor, and a man with a blue costume and an S on his hood.

 

looking down Chance Street in Shoreditch, a few people walking on the narrow street, the buildings on the left are covered with murals. The first is aboriginal symbols in white, green and brown on a black background. THe second is in bright shades of blue, red and yellow.

graffiti on a black metal door, a face with big red glasses

graffiti on a brick wall including a little stick figure man with a large head by n'ice pops, and the words no stopping

Allentown (Buffalo) street art

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The Allentown area of Buffalo is now home to some interesting murals.   If you walk around the neighbourhood of Allen Street and College Street, this is what you might see:

below: ‘Voyage’ by Chuck Tingley, 2014.  Commissioned by MyBuffaloPride and Loop Magazine and dedicated to Buffalo’s LGBT community and its allies.  “In a world of scrutiny, we have the power to embrace our differences and use our inner light to guide us through the darkest of times.”

a mural called Voyage painted by Chuck Tingley on the side of a building in Buffalo, a large multicoloured boy is sitting in a small boat and holding on to a yellow paddle. The sky is rainbow colours.

below: The corner of Allen Street and Wadsworth Street.

intersection in Buffalo with old two storey square front storefronts. wet road, rainy day, liquor store on the corner that is now empty but the sign only half works - only half the letters in the word liquor are lit.

below: Nietzsche (German composer and philosopher) with the quote “Without music life would be a mistake”.  When I googled to make sure that that was an actual quote, I found a quote from a letter that he wrote in 1888:  “Music … frees me from myself, it sobers me up from myself, as though I survey the scene from a great distance … It is very strange. It is as though I had bathed in some natural element. Life without music is simply an error, exhausting, an exile.”  The picture is on the side of a Nietzsche Bar.

street art picture of Nietzsche head and shoulders in black and white along with a quote that says Without music life would be a mistake.

below: It’s About Time, with three red fists on the upper part of the Allen Street Hardware Cafe.  One is holding a yellow paint roller and one is holding a yellow spray paint can.  The third fist is in the background and is holding either tools or paint brushes or markers?  Painted by the Allen Street Street Art Collective (ASSA).

a brick two storey store with a mural on the upper part in red, yellow and black, with the words It's about time. The picture in the mural is three red fists. One is holding a yellow paint roller and one is holding a yellow spray paint can. Another mural is in the background, a car parked on the wet street, a pedestrian on the sidewalk

below: ‘Tribute to Spain Rodriguez’ by Ian DeBeer.  Rodriguez was a comic artist who was born in Buffalo and the piece is largely about a fight that he got into in the bar across the street (once the Jamestown, now the Nietzsche).

long horizontal mural drawn like a comic book strip, dedicated to the memory of Spain Rodriguez and painted by Ian DeBeers in 2013, a large woman's face with bright red lips, the word 'she; painted in red, a motorcylce, a man wearing a hat,

a motorcycle, part of a larger mural

below: When this mural was first completed, the grey parts were black.  The large picture of the man that stands between the windows on the left and those in the middle, was quite distinct.  Now, you might have missed him when you first looked at the picture.

the front of a building is covered with black and white poster sized pictures of people.

below: The pink stripes in the background of the finger-like portions of this mural have also faded considerably since the mural was painted in 2013.   “The work we do is not for the faint of heart”.

a mural on the side of a building. On the left is a purple and black drawing of what looks like fingers. on the right are yellow and turquoise stripes with the words, the work we do is not for the faint of heart

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below: The last ASSA mural features an iron fireman. It’s a long horizontal mural with the words Iron and Fireman written in large letters over shapes that resemble flames.

word Iron written in large letters, part of a mural

below: Between the two words is a painting of a black ‘iron fireman’, a robot-like creature shovelling coal to feed the fire.   This was the logo for the Iron Fireman, a coal stoker first developed in the 1920’s by Thomas Harry Banfield and Cyrus Jury Parker.  A coal stoker mechanically feeds coal into a furnace or boiler – the Iron Fireman was a commercial success in the days when coal was a commonly used fuel.

picture of a black robot figure shovelling coal

word fireman written on large letters in a mural, brick buildings (apartments) behind, cars parked in front.

below: One of the other interesting things about Buffalo is how the architecture is different here, or at least different from what I am used to in Toronto.  The building with the green details on the front is the Puritan Building, built in 1893.  It has recently been renovated with the Billy Club restaurant on the ground level and three storeys of apartments above.   And yes, that is a purple house on the right.  Many of the houses in the area are painted in bright and cheerful colours.

 

mural in the middle gound, two low rise buildings in the background, one is the Puritan building with green details around the windows in the front of the building.

below: She’s almost disappeared.

very faded street art piece of crouched young girl with a pony tail - although it is faded enough that I might be wrong.

below: But he’s as vibrant as ever.

a painting of a man has been mounted in an arched window, covers the window.

a red brick building, side of a store, bottom part has been painted orange, probably to paint over graffiti, but has since been tagged twice, once in black and once in red, a parking lot is in front of the wall, with a small snowbank at the edge.

a door is covered with graffiti stickers.

street art in Havana

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Back in June 2015 I spent a week in Havana.   The street art that I saw there ranged from scribbles on walls to elaborate murals and pictures.  The following photographs cover almost all the street art that I saw.

mural on a wall of a group of people, stylized slightly, obviously cuban

below: A young boy by 5 Stars

a painting by 5 stars of a young boy seated, in a sleeveless white top, black curly hair

street art, large eyes staring straight ahead

below: A variation on a slogan, “just do it”

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below: yellow faces, holding up a portrait

a small person with a yellow head holds up a large yellow square which in turn is a yellow head

below: Charlie Chaplin and the kid

black and white street art piece of Charlie Chaplin looking around the edge of a door - the door is real. A young boy is with Charlie Chaplin

below: A fish out of water, swimming down the street

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While I was in Havana, the Duodecima Bienal de La Habana was also on and some of what I saw on the streets, including the photo below, probably belonged to that.  The Bienal De La Habana is an art festival that occurs every three years (yes, three years even though bienal means every two years!).  The next festival will be in November 2018.

below: The little blue signs says “Gabinete del imaginario” which translates to Cabinet of the Imaginary.

a rough wooden cover covers a window, a wall used to be orange and blue but most of the paint has peeled off. On the wall a picture has been mounted. It is a beach scene, two people sitting on an orange beach with orange sky and blue water.

below: Oops I did it again, scribbles on the wall.

scribbled graffiti on a wall, a silly drawing of a boy with the words oops I did it again, some exclamation marks

below: Black and white portraits overlooking the street

a man and a woman talking on a street corner. Beside them is a wall with three black and white murals painted on it. A middle ages woman with a head band and hands on her hips, an older man's head in a white hat and looking upward and last, a man in a white uniform holding a box under his arm.

below: “…no quiero mas el queso” or, I don’t want more cheese.   It is signed as Cuba Ecuador 2015 as well as Ratador.  So far I haven’t been able to find any information on this artist.

two street art pieces, one is a large rat with a piece of cheese and the words No quiero mas el queso. On the right is a black and white image of a man's head with a number below him. N I 8908202623.

below: “A las almas”  To the souls, on one side of the door while a woman rides her bike on top of the world on the other side of the door.

an old green wood door on a building. on one side is a red poster with a black silhouette of the upper part of a man with one arm reaching to the clouds as well as the words a las almas, on the other side of the door is a painting in pinks and bieges of a winged woman on bike riding on top of the globe

below: An eye over number 156

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below: Waves of hair, waves of water

a street art picture of a young woman's head and face, she is looking slightly back over her shoulder. Blue abstract beside her

below: Calling Seth

the word Seth in a word bubble, with the top part of a man's head as he pokes his head around a wall.

face of a man drawn in black, with dabs of yellow, green, and red added to the picture

 

a wooden cart in poor shape is parked next to a mural of a woman lying on her side. It looks like she is lying on the sidewalk. She is topless.

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There are also a number of political pieces.  I suspect that some state are sponsored and some are not.

below: CDR #8 refers to Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (Spanish: Comités de Defensa de la Revolución) which is a network of neighbourhood committees across Cuba.  Their purpose depends on what side of the fence you are on.  They promote social welfare and report on counter-revolutionary activity or they are a secret police organization.  Take your pick.

mural cdr number, portraits of three men wearing green, Che Guevera, Castro and

below: This is the symbol of the Young Communist League in Cuba.  In Spanish it’s  Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas or UJC. Estudio, Trabajo, Fusil = Study, Work, Rifle.   The symbol shows the faces of Julio Antonio Mella, Camilo Cienfuegos and Che Guevera.  Mella was a founder of the Cuban Communist Party while Cienfuegos and Guevera were major figures in the Cuban Revolution.

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below: A UJC mural, “fieles a nuestra historia ” or Faithful to our History.
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below: Che Guevera on his own.

a black stencil of Che Guevera's head

many poster of Che Guevera

The next three pictures are of a mural on Callejon de Hamel (callejon is a lane)

colouful mural on a blue building in havana cuba

colouful mural on a blue building in havana cuba

below: A woman looks out the window above the mural.  The words on the beige part say “Puedo esperar mas que tu, porque soy el tiempo.” This translates to, “I can wait more than you because I am time. ”   On the red section the words are “Salvador 26 to 95”.

colouful mural on a blue building in havana cuba - a woman looks out from a window above the mural

below: And last, a picture that was definitely a part of the Bienal.  ‘Identidad ‘ by Julio Cesar Garcia  It is part of a series of photos called Resistencia.  The words that accompany it are given below along with a translation – not the best but with my beginner Spanish and the limitations of google translate, you get what you get!

a black and white photo of a man's head and shoulders, wearing a white hat, older man, large picture, on a wall outside

Identidad da inicio a una serie titulada Resistencia.  Apelando al uso del lenguaje y el concepto de arte callejero, la serie esta compuesta por retratos de gran formato ubicados, a largo plazo, en varias ciudades del pais.   La intention es intervenir muros, edificos, aceras y calles de la ciudad con gigantografias concebidas en forma de mosaico sobre cartulina cromada.  Las obras, en relaction directa con todo tipo de publico desede el proceso mismo de su instalacion, tendran un caracter efimero.  Resistencia sera una consigna, una actitud, un modo de vida y de hacer el arte.

 

Identidad is the first in a series titled Resistencia.  Appealing to the use of language and the concept of street art, the series is composed of large format portraits located, in the long term, in several cities of the country.   The intention is to intervene on walls, buildings, sidewalks and streets of the city with large photos made in the form of mosaics on chrome paperboard. The works [In direct relation with all types of public from the process itself of its installation]  will have an ephemeral character.  Resistance will be a slogan, an attitude, a way of life and making art.

Princelet Street, Shoreditch

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Graffiti and street art seen on Princelet Street, another small street in Shoreditch.

A wall covered by street art and graffiti of all kinds – paint, stencils and pasteups – by many different artists.   The children pointing their guns at the jester (pied piper?) is a painting by Otto Schade.  The Muslim woman and white man at Stik people by street artist Stik.   Three black and white posters, top middle, have slogans and pictures of people…. “Greed for oil causes war” features George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden.  “Consumerism causes child labour” features an Asian child and a Barbie like doll.  The third poster talks about debt dependence being addictive and shows a picture of the man from the Monopoly game.

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below: Three portraits.  Two women by voxx flank a gilded framed picture of Karl Lagerfeld by endless.  Mr. Lagerfeld is holding a white cat as well as some Chanel perfume bottles.  For some reason there is a small naked man in the picture too.

three pasteups on a wall, poster size, two by voxx and one in the middle by endless. Karl Lagerfeld is the subject in the endless paste up - with dark sunglasses and a wild patterned jacket, a fancy gold frame is around him,

below: Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil paste-up by buenocaos aka Luis Bueno.

a paste up of a boy reading a book, Neitzsche's Beyond Good and Evil

below: A red head by C3 sits on the ground beside a woman by iljin.

3 paste ups of women on a wall. One is a woman's head and shoulders in blue with short black hair by iljin . One is a multicoloured face. One is a young woman sitting on the ground with her knees up. She has red hair and a heart on her leg, by c3b

below: A ballerina by neoh
a wispy partially abstract painting of a ballerina by neoh

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two street art faces painted on a metal covering over a shop window. One is man's face in beige with brown hair and the other is a stylized face in green with black hair
below: Coming apart on the wall.

two large black and white eyes and a white nose with black outlines, painted on a wall.

below: Savant says to Collapse the Certainties

stencil on a wall. poster sized, words by savant that say Collapse the Certainties.
below: Some very sharp claws… chasing the worm?

Two pieces of street art on a grey metal covering over a shop window. One is an intricately drawn realistic looking yellow bird's foot with long curved talons.
below: And last, a small red figure high on a wall.
It seems to be trying to get something off of its head

a 3 D figure in red attached high up on a wall