Beaney Lane is a small lane in downtown Melbourne. Once it was nondescript, now it has colour. Along one wall there is a large street art painting with a portrait of a blue lady at one end. The words “Inner Dream” are written beside her head. Her hair is covered with a net-like cap; a waterdrop shaped jewel rests between her eyes. She was painted by Mongolian born artist, Heesco.
Australian artist Matt Adnate was also involved in the making of this mural. A pair of green eyes peers out from behind a head covering.
The Mission District in San Francisco is full of street art of all types from messy graffiti to fabulous murals. Back in February I had the opportunity to walk around the area with my camera. This is the first of many posts that should result from my walks.
The first sign that Lilac Street might be an interesting street to wander down is this San Francisco mural on the side of a house.
below: Mother with a child looking over her shoulder
below: Norm on a black garage
below: A portrait in blue.
below: A tribute to Sharon Jacobs (1982-2019).
below: Anti Skateboarding Hero.
below: Higher up, a purple rhino and a yellow bird by chilovia – a pair of South Americans, Pancho Pescador and Pablo (aka Raiz)
below: Contrasts – the empty, graffiti covered old building beside the newer redevelopment. A common urban theme found in most cities as they age and re-new.
below: A wish for peace in Palestine.
below: This street certainly has its scruffy and neglected looking sections. In small doses, streets like this have their charm, especially from a photogenic perspective.
below: Walking past number 133, frowning and grumpy.
below: There is a strong resemblance here to Olaf from “Frozen” – but this guy looks a little more deranged….
below: On the corner of Nelson and Carlisle streets, near Balaclava station in St. Kilda East.
below: Black panther roaring with mouth open wide, fangs and teeth ready….
below: The railway crosses over Carlisle street at the north end of Balaclava station
below: Praying. Painted by Pawtl
below: Two women hanging out with a white rabbit and a white cat, by Deb.
below: Come Alive Melbourne
below: A rainbow lorikeet
below: Owls by the door
below: More owls
below: Continuing the bird theme – a very old and weathered stencil of a pigeon
below: Another oldie, a paste-up of many people. One person in a red and white striped shirt, holding a toddler. A girl with long hair wearing a checkered red and white dress; she’s holding something like a brown box in her hands. Beside her is a girl who is wearing a white top and a blue skirt. Who else can you see?
The next few pictures are a selection of paintings on the upper level of some of the stores on Carlisle.
below: Dana’s Patisserie
below: Many hands
below: Flowers and faces
below: “TAKE” or perhaps “TAK E” above a painting beside the walkway to Balaclava station, southbound trains.
below: On the platform, Balaclava station, “Shake was here”
below: Gradients in blue and orange cover the ground floor level of a new development beside the station – seen from the station platform.
below: Also seen from the platform, street art on the back of a building by the tracks.
below: Raise a steaming cup to the coffee culture that is strong here in Melbourne! Cheers!
below: On one side of the alley is this long mural that comes in two sections – a sleeping woman with an outstretched hand is a collaboration between Vexta and Lisa King.
… and a little bird stands on her forehead.
below: The wall of the other alley is covered by a black and white painting of kangaroos, birds, and other animals… along with some plants. A few red feathers brighten the image. It was painted by Minna Leunig, an Australian artist from Darwin.
below: It’s easy to miss because of its location, but if you go to the end of the lane and look way up, you’ll catch a glimpse of this mural by Cam Scale.
Near the west end of Little Bourke Street are 4 large murals that feature people.
below: First there is this couple whose bed is high above the street – painted by Fintan Magee
below: The old man, pictured above as well as here, was painted by Smug, aka Sam Bates.
below: Next to the old man are two women in blue painted by Rone.
below: Last, is this portrait of a young man looking skyward, by Adnate (whose portrait of a mother and child is featured in a mural seen in Albany Alley that was shown here in a previous post).
A portrait project from 2014 – 10 years on and still looking great
A total of 528 portraits line the side of a walkway under the railway tracks in Lynn.
They are the product of a Raw Art Works project – Young artists took photos of various people in Lynn and then made portraits from those photos. The portraits also include ones that the artists made of themselves.
Raw Artworks – whose mission statement includes the words; “to ignite the desire to create and confidence to succeed”. It’s a program for youth that has been running in Lynn since 1994.
Toronto’s Graffiti Alley is still an interesting place to explore. Unlike some street art locations that have succumbed to the scrawls and tags of the less well-intentioned, good art and ideas can still be found here. At present, adding to the eclectic nature of the graffiti in Graffiti Alley are a few interesting portraits done on half skateboards (or at least on wood in the shape of a skateboard). All are screwed onto wooden utility poles.
below: One on natural wood colour and the other in vibrant red. The sticker says Positive Creations.
below: A man with a mustache
below: Three on the same pole in Graffiti Alley – A red person with shaggy hair and light blue glasses as well someone with very long orange hair.
below: At the bottom, a quizzical look on a pink face.
….. looking for (and finding!) graffiti and interesting bits of street art.
There were a few pieces by artist Blub who has used well known faces of famous figures or images from art history and placed them underwater wearing a diving mask. These are part of his series, “L’Arte Sa Nuotare” (underwater art)
below: Little angel
below: The Madonna. In some versions she is with baby Jesus who has been cut out of this image (as you can see the bubbles floating upward from his mask even though he is not in this picture)
Taken from Gustav Klimt’s, “The Kiss”, the kissing couple are now underwater too.
Another artist with a presence in Bari is LeDieSis and her/their Superwomen series
below: Barbie’s been shopping. She’s winking at you.
below: Pink and purple and another wink. Does she realize that someone is looking over her shoulder?
below: Another winking superwoman. I suspect that the official looking notice has been taped over her Superman symbol.
below: The Virgin Mary is also in Bari, also winking, as she carries her baby daughter
below: Frida Kahlo
below: “Gals are as strong as hell” by unknown artist.
Mopsi, by so schoen immer wieder, can be seen in many European cities including Bari. He (she?) usually has something to say.
below: Equality has no gender. The black scrawl covers the word “no” which can totally change the message if you’re not looking closely.
below: And the other has flowing red hair and colourful wings.
There were also Gu Tang Clan posters on the walls in Bari.
Zooming in to highlight some of the stickers – a blue shark in pink waters, a flaming sandal, and Ind–? Jam?.
And last, a selection of work by “Unknown Artists”
There are two large paste up figures in black and white which may or may not be by the same artist. The top one is Mona Lisa is a man’s suit. She’s been leaning on this wall since at least 2019 so although she’s looking a little rough, she’s doing well for her age.
below:Wrdsmth – “This is my palette. A mere twenty-six deep, yet the possibilities are infinite.” … Plus his typewriter that appears in all his graffiti and street art. The mural also credits PowWow Worcester which was an annual arts festival (for a few years prior to 2021) that was responsible for bringing a number of murals to the city.
below: A tower of women, by Marka27, aka Victor Quinonez, 2016, a very vertical mural on the side of the parking garage at Federal Plaza.
below: A painting by Christina Angelina, another parking garage mural at Federal Plaza
below: Another mural that was painted during a PowWow Worcester is this cartoon-like painting by Greg Mike (2016).
below:Jason Eatherly’s trucks parked beside the old brick building.
below: One of the first murals painted in Worcester is this now slightly faded creation by Caleb Neelon
below: At the YWCA, two young girls in shades of blue on a red background.
below: Keep on smiling!
Photos taken July 2024
There were also murals by Damien Mitchell (below) and Insane that I saw in downtown Worcester but they have already been featured in a prior blog post, (Insane + One)
Graffiti and street art seen while walking along the Seine in Paris.
below: Woof woof! Yes Paris!
below: Multi-coloured by Tremos, Peruvian artist living in France
below: At Voie sur Berge (Passerelle Léopold Sedar Senghor), in the 7ème, is this long mural by Michael Beerens titled “Plastique” – it is a comment on the state of our oceans.
The title is French but the word in the mural is English, “plastic”.
below: Honey bear by fnnch. There are quite a few of these around Paris and I blogged about them in June of 2022, Honey Bears.
Swallows in flight; swallows with little white halos.
below: A “My dog sighs” sticker beside a portrait of a woman with very orange hair.
below: A small black and white cat by Copycat, an “anonymeows streetartist” who has painted hundreds of cats.
below: Another Copycat cat…
below: ….. and yet another, on a multi coloured background
below: Another Copycat cat… this time it has a companion, another orange headed woman. She is surrounded by an intricate design and is the work of OJA.
below: Re-using many, many can lids – beer cans, pop cans, drink cans.
below: Are three heads better than one?
below: A sassy blue monkey with a pink heart bum.
below:Mr. Djoul is an artist who creates mosaics, especially of this little green-eyed alien creature
below: Invader mosaic? And in the lower left corner, bright red hair and words that say “My weariness in longing”
below: From the description beside the photo: “Ho–[torn] made a famous photograph of a dying soldier which became anti war icon since 1930s. Later it was proven to be a staged image on which nobody really died… From Russian diaries of Krapiva Netleva” [krapiva is the Russian word for nettle]
Eyes on the Streets 