In a courtyard, behind a museum

below: An emoji come to life and he’s laughing so hard that he’s crying. His phone is his window on the world, but in reality it’s also someone else’s window. This painting by Spok Brillor marks the passageway from Lafayette Street to a courtyard full of street art behind a building that is home to the Punto Urban Art Museum.

large mural by Spok Brillor of a yellow laughing emoji with tears in one eye, holding a smart phone in his hand.  phone corresponds to a window in the building.
looking up from below, large mural by Spok Brillor of a yellow laughing emoji with tears in one eye, holding a smart phone in his hand.  phone corresponds to a window in the building.

below: In a quiet corner, sits a little metallic fellow (by Pixel Pancho) and a blue peacock (?)

two graffiti aintings, beside a red and a yellow planter with plants, petunis and tomatoes.  A white character by Pixel Pancho, white metal, yellow features, sitting on the ground, behind him a bird with a long neck, peacock? or maybe vulture?

below: Strawberry Shortcake is also here with a wise message about eating cake first (by Megzany). She first appeared as a doll in 1979 after being featured in Hallmark greeting cards for a few years before that.

street art painting on red brick wall, strawberry shortcake character, girl with red and white dress, red and white hat, red shoes, with words life's short, cake first.

below: One of the larger murals back in the courtyard is “Doña Mecho” by the duo Dúo Amazonas (Lina Castellanos and Nati Andreoli).

woman in a mural, beside a large table with a black pot on it, head scarf on her head, smoking  a pipe

below: Farmers in their fields with mountains behind. This is “Mural De Campo” by Rigo Peralta, Melanio Guzmán​, and Ramón Santiago

mural, rural scene, workmen in fields, palm trees, mountain in the distance, two men on horses on dirt road, a couple of dogs, painted by Rigo Peralta, Melanio Guzmán​, and Ramón Santiago

below: Radiating lines and a smiling face in a mural (“Migrar”) by Felipe Ortiz and Ivan Salazar.

large mural on the side of a brick residence by Felipe Ortiz and Ivan Salazar

below: Equality, by Goma and Amby

equality mural, two faces, purple female and blue male, woman has red rose in hter long white hair, man has basket of flowers on his head.

below: A quiet corner among the trees.

outdoor chairs on a patio, with murals on the walls behind them

Punto Urban Air Museum (PUAM) is located in the Point neighbourhood of Salem and one of it’s goals is to “create a beautiful, uplifting environment for Point residents”. It also hopes to tap into the tourists that visit Salem – to get them to explore the area and help the economy of the Point neighbourhood. There are now more than 90 murals painted here. Not all of them are shown in this blog, but there some of the other Salem posts:

  1. Dream Home
  2. On Congress Street apartments,
  3. Wrapped buildings

Photos taken July 2024

Vhils and friends in Honolulu

below: Wall of street art on a building in the Kaka’ako district.

three pieces of street art across the back of a long, low building, palm trees in front, cars parked in front

below: This portrait of a man is by Portuguese artist Vhils (aka Alexandre Farto).  Vhils is known for his unique “scratching the surface” technique, which involves carving, drilling, and chipping away at layers of plaster, posters, and dirt on walls to create images. The mural was created as part of the annual POW! WOW! street art festival in 2014.

portrait of a man, by Vhils, picture made by chipping away at the concrete to reveal different layers with different shades of grey

below: Paradise and Beyond is written on the large mural in the middle but I think that the title is actually “A Big Wave”. Also written is Melón which refers to the artist MelonJames & Co. (with a shout out to alohabohs – aka Mike). This was painted in 2020, also as a POW!WOW! piece.

two street art pieces, on right is portrait by Vhils and on leftis abstract in blue, yellow and black, by alohabohs and oldboy melon

part of "A Big Wave", a mural by Melon James in Honolulu

below: A tall tree on yellow.

street art painting of a tree, very tall with some leaves, on a bright yellow background.

below: In the shadows to the left of the tree, is a door that has been boarded up and covered with Mickey Mouse-ish images. The headline on the poster in the window reads Congrats Hawai’i, Give Yourself a Hi-5. There is then a lot of text that I can’t read.

boarded up glass door covered with mickey mouse and minnie mouse images, some with giant eyeball oozing instead of a head

portion of boarded up glass door covered with mickey mouse and minnie mouse images, some with giant eyeball oozing instead of a head, with pull sign with chinese alphabet characters

Photos taken July 2025

Pohukaina Street

A previous post showed a number of murals that have been painted near the corner of Cooke and Pohukaina Streets in the Kaka’ako district of Honolulu. If you were to stay on Pohukaina Street instead of turning on Cooke, you would walk past another wall of murals. This is that wall. It takes up the whole block.

below: At the corner with Cooke Street

street art mural in Honolulu

below: Dinosaur head? Pterodactyl?

car parked in front of a street art mural in Honolulu

below: Green theme… as in ecologically green, with clean water and sustainable crops.

street art mural in Honolulu

below: Morning glories and pears

street art mural in Honolulu

below: In the water with green eyed creatures

street art mural in Honolulu

below: Asian style dragons and creatures

street art mural in Honolulu

below: … with yellow eyes and fangs

street art mural in Honolulu

below: Superheros to the rescue! 123Krew

street art mural in Honolulu plus reflections in a car window of

below: Humanoid … robotic? transformer?

street art mural in Honolulu Photos taken July 2025

panda, dragon, and a foxy lady

Baptist Place, Melbourne
One small section of a yellow wall.

a section of yellow wall in an alley with a number of different paste up graffiti pieces

below: him: I’ve waited a long time to carry you over the threshold, her: Finally a tent of our own!

cartoon like drawing of a blond young man carrying a woman in pink skirt and purple top,

below: It doesn’t take many lines to make a compelling portrait.

fine drawing of woman's portrait, woman with long hair, on white paper, pasted on yellow wall,

below: Two simple but cute puppies selling their wares.

graffiti paste up, black drawing on white, bicycle food cart

below: Two Marilyns

paste up pf Marilyn Munroe wearing a t shirt with a large face of marilyn manson on it

below: upper: “Without leaving my House I know the whole universe.” Panda Philosophy.  lower: T-bonez rides with trp613 (aka Ty Pro), Visual Noise & Urban Ninja Squadron.

two slaps, a panda bear paste up and a graffiti piece featuring t bonez of urban ninja squadron riding on motorcycle of

below: A little dragon creature, by stenandoli

graffiti, little gragon-like character with big orange head, little wings as arms that are red and blue striped, big yellow eyes, by stenandoli

below: The sad grey man with the very long arms and bad posture is another creation of stenandoli. In the middle is an Australian White Ibis by tweet – I wonder what it is trying to say to the cat?

three paste ups on a yellow wall, a cat, a bird that is an australian white ibis, and a sad grey man character by stenandoli

below: A foxy lady, by Susi Foxy Art, aka Susi Luard.

graffiti poster, by susi foxy art, woman with fox fur including tail, corset in orange and black, fox coloured hair, fishnet stockings,

below: Carried away by a yellow balloon…..

little painting on old paper with chinese characters, a pink shoe being carried upward by a yellow balloon

below: left: “T Phobia is rooted in White Supremacy” with a purple flower.  middle: “Don’t be dick”, with a yellow flower.  right: He seems to be holding a fish. Seems fishy?

3 paste ups on an alley wall, a man holding a big fish, text says don't be a dick, and third also with text that says trans phobia is rooted in white supremacy

below: Look out everyone, there’s an angry looking Blastoise pokemon character coming your way!

two slaps on an alley wall, one is a blaistoise pokemon character in blue, the other is a drawing of little animals in a greenhouse, a house made of glass

black and white graffiti, small, of a woman turning to look at viewer.

below: Think!

sticker says think in decorated capital letters, sticker is a style wars sticker, someone has written in ink, sounds like capitalism

Photos taken February 2025

Insane + one, faces in Worcester

below: Two sides of the Hanover Theatre in central Worcester Massachusetts have large murals on them. On the left, a woman’s portrait by Damien Mitchell; on the right, a couple touch foreheads, by Insane 51.

2 murals on the Hanover theatre in Worcester, both very large, a white woman's portrait by Damien Mitchell, blue eyes and reddish purple lips on one side, and a blue and red mural by insane 51 on another side

below: A closer look at the woman.

a white woman's portrait by Damien Mitchell, blue eyes and reddish purple lips, on a black background

below: Like much of Insane 51’s work, this mural has been painted in shades of blue and red. One colour, blue, is used for the visible outer part of the body while the skeleton underneath is painted in red.

a blue and red mural by insane 51, close up of a couple, seen from the side, touching foreheads.
part of a  blue and red mural by insane 51, close up of a couple, seen from the side, touching foreheads.

below: Two filters have been installed at approximately eye level across the parking lot from the mural. When the mural is viewed with a blue filter, this is what you see…. (with a few reflections of another building I’m afraid). The red elements disappear.

a blue and red mural by insane 51, close up of a couple, seen from the side, touching foreheads, seen through a blue filter so that the red parts of the mural become invisible, so just see the outside of the 2 bodies

below: The red filter makes the blue parts invisible and now the skeleton and teeth are predominant.

a blue and red mural by insane 51, close up of a couple, seen from the side, touching foreheads, seen through a red filter so that the blue parts of the mural become invisible, so just see the skeletons and teeth

Photos taken July 2024

two, larger than life

There is an intersection in Lynn where three streets tangle together, Washington St, Oxford St, and Central Ave. That is where I was standing when I took this photo – a great view of two immense murals. They are very different from each other and they are both fabulous.

2 very large murals in Lynn Massachusetts, one by Ernesto Maranje with a rhino and the other by smug of a young man with his shoes

below: Ernesto Maranje, flora and fauna, rhinocerus, black bear and at least two species of birds.

mural, blue background, a large grey rhinocerus with one horn, part of his body is a landscape scene with water, trees, flowers, and other plant life, along with a small black bear.  There are also birds.  A mural by Ernesto Maranje

below: ‘The Resident’ by Smug on Central Avenue painted in 2019.

a large mural by street artist smug, a young Black man in a white sleeveless top has a pair of yellow, black, and white running shoes slung over his shoulder.  on a brick building in Lynn, traffic in the street

Both of these murals, and many others, are because of the work of Beyond Walls, a non-profit agency that promotes art in the community. They believe that art and the active spaces that go with it, strengthens cities.

pedestrians walking in front of a building with a large mural by street artist smug, a young Black man in a white sleeveless top has a pair of yellow, black, and white running shoes slung over his shoulder

Photos taken July 2024

at 24th Street and 5th Avenue South

St. Petersburg, Florida

a stop sign is covered with graffiti stickers and slaps.  Also, 2 green and white St. Petersburg street signs, one for 24th Street and one for 5th Avenue South

below: Pandas galore in “Laughing Giants” by Aaron (Woes) Martin, 2021

two white trucks parked in front of a mural with heads of many pandas, by Woes Martin,
close up of pandas heads in mural with title laughing giants

below: “We are all magic” with green eyes, unicorns, and a butterfly. Mural by Sarah G. Sheppard. This mural is actually on the same building as the mural that I showed in the last blog post here, Pink Men on 5th.

mural by sarah sheppard, eyes, butterfly, text that says we are all magic
close up of mural by sarah sheppard, eyes, butterfly, text that says we are all magic

below: “Temple of Eternal Bliss”, 2019, by Palehorse (aka Christopher Parks)

mural by palehorse, lines, two dragons, doorway, temple shape

blog_females_girls_women

front of a low building covered with portraits and street art paintings of girls and women
mural with a large white question mark in a circle, surrounded by hundreds of smaller question marks

Photos taken March 2024

part of a mural, a gold coloured unicorn with one horn in middle of head

Nearby are other murals in the Warehouse Arts District. They can be seen in two other blog posts: 1. Pink Men on 5th and 2. St. Pete’s – more from the Warehouse District.

Pink Men on 5th

On 5th Ave South there is a large mural painted by Colombian artist GLEO for SHINE 2021 as a tribute to two men who were important to her. SHINE is the annual St. Petersburg Mural Festival. Unfortunately part of it is now hidden behind a large white container.

at the end of a parking lot in st petersburg, one black vehicle, one large white container, a mural with men's faces by gleo

Left side

part of a mural, a man balancing a large pink flower by the bottom of its stem, a large man's face

Middle

a large hand over a man's face, part of a large mural by gleo
part of a mural in st petersburg painted during shine festival in 2021

Right side

right side of mural by gleo, another man's face in shades of pink large ear in foreground of photo

Photos taken March 2024

on a Bushwick corner

On St. Nicholas Ave where it meets Scott Avenue….

A number of artists created this tribute to David Jude Jolicoeur, who rapped as Trugoy the Dove in the trio De La Soul. He passed away in February 2023 at the age of 54. It was painted during the 2023 Bushwick Block Party this past summer and involved a number of artists (Enjoy Hads, Six Million Dollar Steve, Mr. Makro, Brandy, and Sure78 and more? )

below: On one of the walls there is a portrait of Biggie Smalls (1972-1997) also known as The Notorious B.I.G., a rapper and hip hop artist who was born and raised in Brooklyn. It was painted by Danielle Mastrion

blog_black_man_sunglasses

below: Up high on the roof, figures by stik, holding hands and looking down at passers by.

below: “La Bodega” was a collaborative effort by Zack Curtis and Danny Cortes

Photos taken August 2023