Eros & Psyche

‘Eros & Psyche’ is a large mural painted by Greek artist insane51 as part of Montreal’s 2019 Mural Festival.  It is designed to be viewed with 3D glasses.  Painted in blues is the ‘exterior’ of a woman while the skeleton and brain are shown in reds.

large mural, red and blue, of a woman showing skeleton and brain, as well as body pierced by two red arrows, designed to be viewed with 3 D galsses, painted in Montreal by insane51

In Greek mythology Psyche was the goddess of the soul and the wife of Eros, the god of love.  Eros, also known as Cupid (in Latin, or Roman mythology), was the son of Aphrodite and he was always throwing arrows to people in order to hit their heart and make them fall in love.  Psyche was the youngest daughter of a king; she was more beautiful than any goddess.  The story of Eros and Psyche is long and a bit convoluted.  It involves prophesies, happiness followed by betrayal and heart ache but of course it has a fairy tale ending, Psyche becomes immortal, and the couple live happily ever after.

 

exitenter in Florence

exitenter is a prolific graffiti artist whose art is usually centered around red hearts, love, and equality.  The pieces with their stick figures are simple and direct.

below: Reaching for love

simple graffiti of a black stick figure with white filled in, reaching up to a red heart, with the word exit written above it

below: Black equals white.  Equality

two stick figues, one with black body and the other with white body, holding hands, with a red equals sign above their hands

below: Swinging on a heart, in love.

on a blue one way street sign, a sticker with a stick figure swinging on a red heart

below: Apart and fighting, but come together in love.  Another way of saying “All you need is love”.

below: Together, hand in hand looking for love.

two stick figure people holding hands and reaching for a red heart

below: Juxtaposition of the Nativity scene with the idea of refugees.

street art paste up of a nativity scene, Mary and Joseph standing together with Mary holding the baby Jesus, under night sky with moon and stars. The word refugees is written below the picture. All contained in a grey arch shape

For more pictures and information, ExitEnter instagram page and website

Chopper Lane, Collingwood

Chopper Lane is a small dead end alley that runs off Perry Street in Collingwood. This bright blue mural is at the end of the lane.

below: I can’t read the signature at the bottom right, any ideas?

looking to a dead end lane, Chopper Lane, wall is painted like a blue sky with a few clouds, text written on it.

Text in the mural:
“I meet love and I lose it,
I sense it, I reject it,
I pursue it,
I find it in small things
Like
When I stop to look at the sky
And I wonder
About You”

upper part is remains of a mural showing just a pair of woman's eyes, in blue, mural on the bottom of women working

below: The signature at the bottom right of this one is utama.co and lingerid.  Unfortunately, I cut off the signature on the left (partially visible here).

mural of two women

red and silver graffiti on a wall underneath a row of windows with frosted glass

below: One Mob

street art painting of a man topless with arms over head in victory, with text underneath that says one mob

below: Mural of a sugar glider, a small nocturnal possum.

street art mural of a sugar glider, a small rat-like rodent

I’m not sure if it’s still Chopper Lane after it crosses Perry Street, but you can continue walking north.

below: Looking across Perry Street from north to south.

devil mural on the right, then looking across the street to another wall and garage door on Perry Street in Collingwood, that is painted with street art

below: On the paper it is written: “Sometimes a deal with the devil is better than no deal at all.”  Even if it’s the devil from the TV show “Futurama”
futurama devil in a mural, yellow colour, blue text graffiti, devil is holding a hand written paper that says sometimes a deal with the devil is better than no deal at all

gold letter text street art with a picture of a woman in broad rimmed hat and purple and orange sunglasses

coloured lines, abstract, street art painting

below: A knight in no armour but a helmet spearing open a spray paint can.

street art painting, man on horse with long lance, or sword, on horse back, horse rearing up on hind legs,

text street art in an alley in Collingwood Melbourne

street art picture of a blue spray paint can being held by a blue hand, can has mouth wide open showing white teeth and red tongue.

below: I’m not sure it’s “street art” but it was too cute not to include here.

a row of stuffies behind a rusty metal grille in front of a window.

below: A closer look.

close up of three stuffies behind a rusty metal grille in front of a window.

looking into a back yard from an alley, drawing on white door, an old chair in front of the door.

below: Two pasteups on a pole

a row of spoons drawn on a piece of paper then used as a pasteup on a pole

black and white pasteup on a pole, outisde, with some red spray paint covering parts of it.

below: Oh!  It looks like I was spotted!

man on a balcony above a garage is looking down into the alley, another garage door has street art sprayed onto it

door in a fence in an alley covered with street art, textual

If you walk to the end of the lanes, you’ll find yourself on Bedford Street where there is another mural by Lingerid.

large painting of a man's head on the exterior wall, surrounded by grey words

Jamaica at Hillgrove, Bristol

below: A panda finds a quiet corner under the street sign.

small street art piece of a panda with bamboo in its mouth, under a street sign for Hillgrove Street

 

Hillgrove is a short street, two blocks long.  It is dissected by Jamaica Street.   On one corner is a large mural by Phlegm.  A man looks through a telescope while sitting on the shoulders of a man who in turn is standing on stilts.  One hand is holding the telescope while a bird on a rope is held by the other.   A large red and white wave reminiscent of ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ by Katsushika Hokusai is the eye catching focus of the painting.  It’s as if he’s looking to the future while standing on the shoulders of giants (masters). 

 

buildings on a street in Bristol, including one with a large mural by phlegm,large red and white wave with a person on a ladder besideit looking through a telescope

large mural by phlegm,large red and white wave with a person on a ladder besideit looking through a telescope

 

below: A stenciled cat walks on the sidewalk….  the  work of Beastie.

small stencil of a realistic looking cat, on a concrete wall, at sidewalk level so itloks like it's walking on the pavement

below: A natural woman of sorts – with plants, vines and roots and the bugs and butterflies that depend on them.

tall narrowmura of a woman with flowers and vines and chinese character tattoo on her shoulder

sprayed on the sidewalks of LA

As you walk around the Arts District in Los Angeles, watch where your feet are going.
You’ll see many stencils that have been spray painted underfoot.

This first one, women in head scarves, is obviously a political statement.
It was also the only stencil that was in two colours.

Stencils on the sidewalk, spray paint, in red and turquoise, the heads of 6 women in head scarves, shown in profile, One is in a scarf that is turquoise with red polka dots and one has red and turquoise striped pattern on her scarf.

below: Dangerous insects, with scoped rifles for wings.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, a beetle with folded wings that are automatic rifles

below: … and a dragonfly too.  Weaponized terrorist bugs.
No wait, they’re Homeland Security agents in disguise.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, a dragonfly with wings made of automatic rifles.

below: No money, No honey.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, outline drawing of a man with long hair and a cowboy hat, with words written inside the drawing that say No money no honey.

below: Social media is selling your shit.  Apparently there is a third one that says “Seeking your applause, your digital mirage” but I didn’t see it.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, outline drawing of a man with long hair and a cowboy hat, with words written inside the drawing that say Social media is selling your shit. Facebook and instagram symbol are also there

below: A red extremist.  Love extremists.

red stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, outline of a heart with the word extremist written inside it.

below: A dove with a rose in its beak, La Rosa

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, a dove in flight with a small rose in its mouth, words written underneath are La Rosa

below: I am fairly certain that the word says iagily but I haven’t been able to find any info online.

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, shoulders and head of a young woman with her hands up to her face

below: Got love?

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, of a small milk box with a heart on the side. Words written underneath are got love?

below: I have always seen you.   That’s the chorus/refrain from the song ‘Harriet’ by American Appetites.  There may be other references?

black stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, words I have always seen you

below: Campbells soup made of vegans? or for vegans?

green stencil on grey concrete sidewalk, campbell soup can, vegan soup

below: The last one is not actually a stencil but I couldn’t resist including it here.

words written in black that say love me anyways.

Photos taken February 7, 2017

Belfast street art

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)

very marge mural of a man with moustache and small beard and wearing a chef's shirt is holding a large lobster

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

a mural of an anatomical painting of a heart with the center being a furnace, steam puffs coming out of the vessels at the top, words at the top of the mural are Keep Her Lit

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!

Mural of two hands with fingers pointing outwards, The mural is painted to look 3D if you have the right glasses on. Words at the top of the mural say 3D glasses available at Sunflower (which is store across the street)

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

very large mural of a woman's upper body and head, done is shades of blue, shoulder length hair, looking at the viewer

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

Grey tones, black and white, monochrome, painting of a fencing scene, indoors, in historical clothing, chandelier on the table, black man watching the fencing, dead dog on the floor

below: The vertical painting in browns is done by KVLR

two murals on a building, one is a very realistic painting of an old man and the other is a vertical painting in brown tones by KVLR

two murals on two sides of a corner. One is a realistic painting of an old man and the other is also a man's head but it is done in red, white and black shapes.

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.

mural by Kashink of person with green face, four eyes and long bushy reddish orange hair. Words say and fun--damental rights. Person is smoking (green hands)

on the side of a two storey building, a large woman in profile, head and shoulders, in a multicoloured cloud, with her hands together in prayer, eyes open and looking slightly upwards

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

mural on black wall of a dog's head and neck in oranges, red, and pinks,

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

large mural of streets and car traffic at night with lights shining on wet streets, two white cars parked in front.

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.

two red cars are parked against a wall on which a mural of a young woman's face is painted. white skin, black hair, grey eyes,

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.

mural by sabek of a black bird caught up in a white ribbon as it tries to fly

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.

mural of a red headed young man squatting and holding a dead bird in his hands. The bird has two arrows through it, with red ends on the arrows. The mural looks to be on top of a fence and there are cars parked in front of the fence

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!

a rusty red fence and a green hedge is in front of a mural of a large black and yellow snake wrapped loosely around a long red arrow.

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

horizontal mural of a long purple and orange dragon

horizontal mural of a long purple and orange dragon

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

simple mural of a grey toned cockatoo with a pink patch on its face, on a turquise background

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?

a blue dog is on a leash held by a woman, pink deer silhouettes jumping in the forest in the background

below: A Faigy mural, The owl doll Millies

owl doll millies mural

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
a street art painting of a slice of bread with green feet is above a street art painting by deph of a black man with a beard and a brown cap

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

large cat face with sharp teeth, street art by himbad

a happy face stick figure person made with paint that has dripped from a piece of street art, on a sidewalk (pavement)

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

altered sign, now says puinsai Hawaii anytime. yellow sign on a post with barbed sire on either side. Also An 'I love you" sticker on the pole beneath the sign.

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

mural by emic, head and face of a young woman looking to the right, in grey tones (black and white) on a bright red background.

storefronts on a streeet in Belfast, brick building, but metal awnings/screens covering the shops because they are closed. Young Savage vintage clothing and Arts Lab, both have street art paintings on the screens. One is a young woman with long blue hair that forms a circle around her.

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.

three posters on a black wall. One is a skull with a spring for a neck and two antenae coming out of the top, one is labeled 1 and the other is 2 . The other posters are the two the same, withthe word lost written above a man's head, with harps for ears and a small muzzle over the mouth, words in the bottom corner,

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

a few paste ups in black and white. In the middle is a poster by citizen nobdy that is only words that read 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.

two murals on a corner of a building. One one sideis a head and shoulders of a nun in a yellow habit with black head wear. On the other corner is a leprechaun and some sunflowers.

The front of a house, upper storeys, covered with a painting that looks a bit like an imaginative version of the stars at night. The universe and beyond.

a collection of street art pieces on the side of a greybuilding, painted in purple, yellow and turquoise mostly. Abstract shapes

below: Pull up a mattress and make yourself comfortable.

a mattress is rolled up and lying against a wall that has a mural on it.

below: A mural or an ad?

blog_cqhq_moving_city_center

Goddard gallery

In Newtown (Sydney),  Goddard Street is only one small block long.  It runs west from King Street.  The north side of Goddard is the wall of one building and that wall is home to a number of paintings.  Gigi’s Pizza occupies the front part of the building, facing King street, but I’m not sure what else is there.  Most of the paintings are unsigned and I have only been able to find  information about some of them online.

below: four eyed cat, signed honeybunny

pictures painted on a wall on Goddard street in Newton, Sydney, Australia

below: The painting on the right is probably by Ears

pictures painted on a the wall on Goddard street in Newtown, Sydney, Australia

below: MW, left painting, is Mike Watt

pictures painted on a wall on Goddard street in Newtown, Sydney, Australia

 below: The red face is by Ears

pictures painted on a wall on Goddard street in Newtown, Sydney, Australia

below: The woman’s head is the top of a painting by Lucy Lucy.

pictures painted on a wall on Goddard street in Newtown, Sydney, Australia

below:  The rest of the painting by Lucy Lucy along with a portrait on a door by Crisp.
Narrow sidewalks, parked cars and rubbish bins – the bane of photographers taking pictures of street art!

Three street art paintings - two on a wall and one in the middle on a door. On the left is a woman by artist Lucy Lucy, in the middle a person in black, white and blue, and on the right a rabbit like faced creatures, wearing a top hat

below: A hunched over blue man by Skulk

pictures painted on a wall on Goddard street in Newtown, Sydney, Australia

 

street art | painting | murals | Newtown