Ostiense bridge – another section

Posted on January 25, 2024 by Mary C

My last post, Under an Ostiense railway bridge, showed some of the graffiti and street art that I saw there a few years ago. This post includes more photos of the artwork (and scribbles) that were seen. There was a lot! Even this is only a small portion of the total.

below: Piramide

poster graffiti under a bridge, text says piramide

below: Project Qwerty’s alien in a cage

graffiti under a bridge, qwerty, blue alien-like figure with red high heels sitting in a birdcage

below: Disgusto is the name/word on this.

graffiti posters under a bridge, signed disgusto,

below: Leonardo Crudi 900 poster on the bottom and BVKA on the right .

graffiti under a bridge

below: Foto star Ostiense photo of a woman between a large yellow mushroomy fungus type guy and BVKA who puts the same black head on most of his work.

below: Closer look at Leonardo Crudi 900,

below: The angel resting her head on a trash bin, Cancelletto (aka Rizio Ticenco)

graffiti under a bridge

graffiti on a concrete wall under a bridge

below: He says “Smile!” but the croc is not interested.

below: Icarus on the bottom and a greenish crocodile face on the left. I am not sure what the woman is doing or thinking but that looks like a very long cigarette in her hand.

below: Factory mart and abstract art.

below: Plant a tree; Plant a life.

Treeftsteeg

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Mary C

There are a number of lanes and passageways that connect the canals/roads Singel and Herengracht in central Amsterdam. One of the narrowest of them is Treeftsteeg.

below: Entrance to the alley, from Herengracht.

entrance to Treeftsteeg, a narrow alley, with graffiti painted on the walls

Various messages and symbols of peace – “I Love Kherson”, a girl waving a large Ukranian flag, “Love no War” (Love not war?), a white dove with wings of blue and gold, “Love makes a house a home”. In addition (under the word Kherson) there is a portrait of George Yurri Shevelov (1908-2002). His CV is long but in general he is most known for his research proving that the Ukrainian language has a separate history from Russian.

words and portraits painted in an alley

below: The portrait of the man in the top left corner is of Taras Shevchenko (1814 – 1861), a famous Ukrainian poet. Moving right, the woman at the top with the orange background is the former Queen of the Netherlands, Queen Beatrix. Third from the left is Ukrainian writer and feminist Lesya Ukrainka whose work spanned the late 1800s and early 1900s. On the right side there is an image of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy although it is not the clearest picture.

anti war, pro Ukraine graffiti in an alley

below: Commemorating the sinking of the Moskva, a Russian ship in the Black Sea near the beginning of the war.

painted graffiti in an alley

below: arrow showing the way to Kharkiv

below: caricatures

below: The narrowness of Treeftsteeg. Along with the pro-Ukraine messages, there are a few black and white portraits.

bicycles parked and leaning against walls in a very narrow alley

a black and white portrait of a man, pasted on wall that is blue and yellow

below: These portraits are part of “A Paper Monument to the Paperless” is an ongoing project headed by Dutch artist Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries.

portraits, posters on an alley wall, part of A Paper Monument to the Paperless, a project by Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries

a painting of a person wearing long red pants sitting under a tree

no more

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Mary C

On a Paris wall, I saw graffiti posters by Street Art Rebellion, a group of 48 artists and 18 partner organizations. Their Conquistador is sailing blind, he has his binoculars but he’s covered his eyes. They have produced many posters like this for their #loveplanet project, many of which can be seen on their Instagram page. Mankind’s relationship with nature and other such environmental issues feature heavily. Eight of the nine posters shown here start with a quote that is then illustrated.

below: A closer look at three of the posters. From left to right:
1. “L’homme a mange la terre” by JB Fressoz [translation: Man ate the Earth]
2. “Si vous pensez vraiment que notre environnement est moins important que nore economie, essayez juste d’arreter de respirer le temps de compter votre argent” by Guy McPherson (promoter of Near-Term Human Extinction, which predicts human extinction by 2026 [translation: “If you really think our environment is less important than our economy, just try to stop breathing while you count your money.]
3. “Si vous n’avez pas peur, c’est que vous n’avez pas compris” by Rob Hopkins (English activist and writer on environmental issues) [translation: If you’re not afraid, you don’t understand]

below: Two posters
1. left: “Maintenant, la seule croissance que nous supportons sera celle des arbres et des enfants” quote by Alain Damasio [translation: “Now the only growth we support will be trees and children]
2. right: “C’est une triste chose de songer que la nature parle et que genre human n l’ecoute pas” quote by Victor Hugo [translation: “It’s a sad thing to think that nature speaks and that mankind does not listen to it.]

below: “Tout seul plus vite ensemble plus loin” Extinction Rebellion [translation: All alone faster, together further]

below: “A l’echelle planetaire, cent multinationales sont responsables de 70% des emission de gaz efffet de serre” Manuel Cervera_Marzal [translation: On a planetary scale, one hundred multinationals are responsible for 70% of greenhouse gas emissions”]

Photos taken March 2023

five little posters on a wall

Posted on March 26, 2023 by Mary C

…. with a story to tell about Alice complete with the Queen of Hearts (no tarts though), a White Rabbit and a grinning Cheshire Cat. But it’s not Alice in Wonderland, instead it’s Alice Au Pays du Street Art.

5 posters on an outside wall, each with a painting on it

below: With a mask and a feather in his tophat, Atelier Waladou’s black and white linocut along with the Queen of Hearts who wants sentencing first and verdict after (by Nevoul Art)

black and white linocut picture of a person in a mask and a top hat with a feather in it. a second poster is the queen of hearts from alice in wonderland or alice through the looking glass

below: All Alice stories need a white rabbit, or rather un lapin blanc when in Paris. In this case, it was provided by Glauc‘ who has given him a pocket watch,an egg timer, and at least five wrist watches so he can watch the time. He mustn’t be late! Le lapin blanc face au temps.

painting of a white rabbit with a pocket watch over one eye, a big red bowtie, an egg timer in one hand, 5 wrist watches around his arm, long white ears, a green jacket

below: The Cheshire Cat is grinning ear to ear as it asks to be taken to Wonderland but left in Neverland. It was painted by LiAXrt. And last is Alice in her pink outfit with a red bottle of “drink me” potion and a brown “eat me” cookie.

2 poster on a wall, one is a large picture of a cat face and the other is a girl in pink and purple, Alice

Photos taken March 2023

by Canal St. Martin

Posted on March 21, 2023 by Mary C

below: Green leaves growing everywhere in a piece by Mowcka

below: Another Mowcka piece with more green leaves. Long flowing hair and a cat mask add to the woman’s character.

paper wheatpaste drawing by mowcka of a woman holding a smaller woman wrapped in two green leaves

below: Bald Eagle carrying a box with its fragile contents, by The End. (the end of animals)

graffiti on a concrete pillar including one by The End of a bald eagle carrying a package, tied with a rope, in its beak

below: A concrete pillar with a number of tags, slaps, and other graffiti.

below: Up high on a pillar, a black and blue box above a bird and a mosaic Super Mario character smashing something to smithereens. As an aside, that’s probably a camera up in the very corner keeping an eye on me as I click away.

below: Love in triplicate and something about Alice and La France.

below: Sugarlandia is Calling. It seems to be full of monkeys swinging from vines and parrots sitting amongst big leaves.

below: Doing the splits… or running in a very strange way. But when you’re green and have horns maybe no one questions what you do.

old building beside a canal, St Martin canal in Paris, now covered with graffiti

Photos taken March 2023

graffiti pieces, Paris

Posted on November 19, 2022 by Mary C

below: Near rue Liban, Bar Populaire with a wall of graffiti.

below: In a circle of knives and with a Medusa head of snakes,

below: Another Laszlo piece – Stern looking portrait of Wednesday Addams from the “Addams Family” TV series.

below: A column of paper pieces

on an outdoor wall, 6 paper pieces of graffiti

below: The top two, both on pages of old books. Top – a heart with “Aimez-sous Bordel” with a multicoloured figure by Corine Forest. On the bottom, drawings by Sulfid

below: More Corine Forest – this time a bird on a page of of music along with a little monster character by Axo. Mam’zelle Nitouche is the music that was chosen (or happened upon?). This is a vaudeville-opérette in three acts composed by in 1883 Hervé (aka Louis-Auguste Florimond Ronger (1825-1892)).

On the bottom – a dove in a heart shape full of white cursive love. “Go Love Anybody Anywhere Anytime”. A little saccharine but sort of sweet.

Learn from yesterday, Live for Today, Hope for Tomorrow.

below: One more Corine Forest wheatpaste – a winged horse among the moon and stars.

below: Paix

La suele couleur qui compte c’est celle denotre de notre sang
(The only colour that matters is the colour of our blood).

below: Invader mosaics and Sorry Mom by Etienne Racine

below: I have no idea who produced the last few – help! Sign your work… or at least drop a hint, leave a clue, but don’t leave with nothing!

Let Lebanon Live

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Mary C

… Before I Die

Back in late October and early November 2019, one of the walls surrounding the Beiruti ESCWA (a United Nations building, Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia) building was transformed with graffiti and street art into a “Revolution Wall”. It coincided with protests against bad governance, corruption and social injustice in Lebanon. The Art of Change movement was involved in painting the wall… along with many Lebanese artist. This is only one of such walls.

below: Caricatures of Lebanese officials along with two posters. The one on the far left is by sumerziady

below: A mouse wearing a hard hat and brandishing a sword.

below: A wonderful black and rust coloured bird, by RenoZ, It doesn’t seem fazed by the mouse with the sword.

below: A monkey-faced man by Zein, a clenched fist rising out of the ground, and two green fighters in a no entry zone (or is it the Lebanese flag?).

below: Freedom, loud and clear.

below: Another Renoz painting, a skull on a chair from which a red rose is rising.

below: The man in the megaphone is signed Dewdle, the mark of Ali Kadado, a Lebanese artist. Resist.

below: I am now feeling that my lack of Arabic means that I am missing a lot of what these mean. For instance, the purple guy by Weesdom is saying something but I don’t know what. I also suspect that the words written on the tap over the young man’s mouth are important, perhaps “Revolution even if you try to silence us”? (artwork by Roula Abdo). The last one is in English but now some knowledge of Lebanese politics would be helpful – a phone screenshot by phat2tg (ot the tg posse)

below: Stencil by markghsoub aka Markus – a larger than life man standing in a shallow boat.

below: Title section, “Revolution Wall” featuring a clown with dollar signs flashing in his eyes by Ivan Debs.

below: Caricature mugshots. Lebanese government officials as Jokers as they go off to jail.

below: Another markghsoub stencil

below: Dancing while the bombs fall by Zein.

below: Giving the peace sign, a man in a red and white shirt by fasewho aka Oliver Matar (He also painted the large word ‘Freedom’ a few pictures back). The head with all the people as hair is another painting by Roula Abdo.

below: A bunch of balloons, most in the colours of the Lebanese flag by ilatk aka Ilat Knayzeh on one side, and on the right is a woman stenciled on top of a circular pattern by ZaFeelz aka Zayna Ayyad

below: Among the profanity, two calligraphy pieces by Ghaleb Hawila

below: An intricate and detailed black and white drawing by @rasharahal

below: A closer look at the top part

There is an Instagram page devoted to collecting the 2019 Lebanese Art of Revolution, or Art of Thawra. Check it out if you are interested seeing more of this type of art.

more Denver street art

Posted on March 1, 2018 by Mary C

More Denver street art from this past summer.

below: A blue astronaut

an astronaut dressed in blue sitting on a kids swing, mural, two storeys high, helmet,

mural of a chicken standing in a window. sitting on the ground beside the window is a young man in brown pants and blue t-shirt with a chicken mask covering his face

a large mural of a grey rabbit sitting on a green turtle

gate, painted with mural, large blue face, eyes, nose and cheeks, light green highlights,

mural of peace symbol with the angle lines (2) in red paint, a large blue featherin the center, the words #nobannowall

mural on grey wood fence of a very large insect from the side, pincer claws, six little light blue legs and a tail that curves upward, pink body, yellow tail,

mural on a garage door of a large octopus with its legs all tied up in knots.

large painting by @blvdart of a yellow bird with black and white head

mural in bright colours and abstract shapes, one wringly face, an eye and a nose, some squares,

picture of a man in black and white, mount on a wall, weathered, some writing around the edges

we the people poster featuring a young black woman with long dreadlocks and a red t-shirt

faded poster on an exterior wall, picture of young woman with flower in her hair and the words we the people

a metal enclosed trailer is in a parking lot, the back has a portrait of Prince painted on it.

a small mural on an upper storey wall of a small person, naked, sitting with knees up, wearing a large white animal mask

a mural on an upper level of a building, two characters, one white and one green,

large woman's face covering the front of a two storey house, rectangle front, flat, cubist like style

light green mural, black line drawing of an airplane? or a gun?

two metal boxes outside and a meter box, all covered with stickers

genfit store or gym, characters on outside wall in gym or exercise clothes, cartoonish characters

Sweet Paradise seen

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Mary C

I saw these three posters on street art covered walls in Athens.
They are both part of an award winning series by Brazilian photographer Fabricio Brambatti.

below: “My Sweet Paradise” by Fabricio Brambatti a.k.a. Urso Morto

poster on an outdoor wall, a person wrapped in a red blanket and lying on the sidewalk

The small print on the bottom right of these two posters says:
” This is a poster part of the Guerilla Exhibition – https://void.photo “

below: “My Sweet Paradise” by Fabricio Brambatti a.k.a. Urso Morto

poster on a wall outdoors, of a man sleeping in a shopping cart outside.

below: Near the top right corner is another poster from the “My Sweet Paradise” series – the photo of the man lying on a black and white tiled floor. He is bleeding. There are many posters by #ironik on this wall as well.

a motorcycle is parked in front of a wall covered with posters. Some are advertisements and some are graffiti

Link to more information about Brambatti.

Belfast street art

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Mary C

Belfast is home to more than 250 murals. Most of them are political or historical in nature and concern the recent “Troubles” in Northern Ireland’s past. But there are other murals in this city, and other street art. This post features some of the apolitical murals that I saw late in September of 2016.

below: A large mural by Smug One on High Court Street (One of his murals previously seen in Melbourne – Smug on Wood Street)

below: Keep Her Lit, keep the furnace in your heart burning, keep the fire alive.

below: These fingers are pointing at you in a mural by EMIC. 3D glasses are available in Sunflower, which is a store across the street. It’s difficult to take a photo in 3D!

below: This blue woman looms over one of the smaller streets in downtown Belfast.

below: Fighting with swords while a dead (or injured) dog lies on the floor. Surreal?

below: The vertical painting in browns is done by KVLR

below: A mural by Kashink who is an artist from Paris. She has painted in many cities around the world and some of her work can be seen in Montreal.

below: A colourful dog by Verz, a local artist.

below: A mural showing streets at night, lights and reflections, by Dan Kitchener

below: One of the hazards of taking pictures of street art is the usual presence of parked cars. They get in the way. A lot. Sometimes you just have to make them part of the composition.

below: And then there are the times when the cars are just in the way and there’s no way around it. This black bird was painted by Spanish artist Sabek. It would be nice to think that the arrow is aimed right at the car roof and that it missed the bird.

below: Continuing the bird and arrow theme is this mural titled “The son of Protagoras” by MTO (French born, now Berlin based). The mural is located in the yard of Northern Ireland War Memorial. Note the markings on the arrows. Protagoras (about 490 – 420 BC) was a Greek philosopher; he was either an agnostic or an atheist.

below: This snake and arrow mural was painted in 2015 as part of the ‘Hit the North’ event when 30 murals were painted in Belfast. Some of the other murals in this blog post were painted then. If you watch this video on youtube you might recognize them!

below: A fantastical dragon creature in purple and orange walks along the pavement.

below: A cockatoo by Dan Leo sits high on a wall, brightening up the side of a building.

below: On the fence beneath the cockatoo is this mural. It seems to be a deer hunt? The woman and her dog are chasing the deer? Or running with the deer?

below: A Faigy mural, The owl doll Millies

below: A wonderful portrait of a man by DREPH. I saw a few slices of bread with feet… The signature on the side of the bread seems to say Artista. The himbad signature on the left goes with the cat in the picture below

below: Himbad cat, wide open mouth and many sharp teeth!

below: Now it’s Puinsai Hawaii at any time.

below: On the Restore Charity Shop, a woman by Emic.

below: ‘LOST’, a man with harp antlers and a pink nose, two lonely whiskers and a grille over his mouth. My apologies for the fact that the quality of the photo is such that the smaller words are illegible. I think that what is lost is dip-py but could be dup-py.

below: More pasteups. A Citizen Nobody poster is surrounded by other pasteups in various states. “The will to consume terrorises you.”

below: Ireland is not full of leprechauns. There is one on this wall but I didn’t see too many others, real or otherwise! There were no pots of gold either. I saw a few nuns though including this one by David Creative.