Tag Archives: Roma

Tor Marancia

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On Viale Tor Marancia in Rome there is another residential area that has had murals painted on the four storey apartment buildings. There are 21 or 22 of them in total. Many of the murals are now at least ten years old so some of the colours have faded. Like most projects involving residential areas and mural, there is an organization behind them. In this case it is ‘Big City Life’ which is turn is a product of 999Contemporary. There was also collaboration with ATER – Azienda Territoriale per l’Edilizia Residenziale and Comune di Roma

below: An eye along with a partial face was carved into the wall on this building back in 2015. This is a method that Portuguese artist Vhils (aka Alexandre Farto) has used to create images.

large mural on the side of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome, white face carved into the building, by Vhils

below: This is “Bambino Redentore” (which translates to “Redeemer Child”). painted by French street artist Seth in 2015.

large mural on the side of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome, back of a boy climbing a colored ladder, painted by Seth

below: A look at part of the public housing development on Tor Marancia. The buildings date from the 1960s. They replaced earlier housing that was provided for the people who had been displaced from areas near the Vatican decades earlier.

pathway between apartment buildings

below: Clemens Behr’s abstract figure.

large mural on the side of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome, abstract figure by Clemens Behr

below: A collection of many squares of different colours, by Italian street artist Alberonero (aka Luca Boffi). In fact, it’s title, “A Carlo Alberto 93 Colori” (“To Carlo Alberto 93 Colours”) suggests that there are 93 squares.

large mural on the side of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome, 93 colored squares by albernonero

below: “Alme Sol Invictus” by Domenico Romeo; the title references the ancient Roman god of the sun, Sol Invictus.

large mural on the side of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome, red on white calligraphy type mural, circle shape, sun-like

below: Natura Morta by Reka (aka James Reka) – people, curly hair, fruit, flowers, a wine glass.

large mural on the side of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome,

below: Just peeking out is one of the faces in “Nostra Signora di Shanghai” by Mr Klevra. The whole mural shows a mother holding a child, a religious image that is seen over and over again in Rome (and in all of Italy). One could also say that it is Rome (the mother) holding Tor Marancia (the child). The title translates to “Our Lady of Shanghai” as once upon a time this neighbourhood had the nickname of Shanghai.

large mural on the side of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome, large mural face peeking out from behind another building

below: Argentinian artist Jaz’s (aka Franco Fasoli) work, “Il Peso della Storia” (The Weight of History) depicts two wrestlers in the middle of a fight. One wrestler is carrying another on his back, representing the weight of Tor Marancia’s history. It was the first Big City Life mural (2014).

large mural on the side of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome, two wrestlers in a fight, painted by Jaz in 2014

below: Another mural from 2015, is “Hic Sunt Adamantes”, by local street artist Diamond. Ancient Romans used to write on maps “Hic Sunt Leones” (“Here Be Dragons”) to describe the areas that had not yet been explored. Diamond turned the popular sentence into Here Be Diamonds to highlight the great potential of the area. In this mural, Diamond painted in his iconic, Art Nouveau style a representation of Rome: a sleeping beauty unable to wake up from her numbness. And there is also a Shanghai reference: a Chinese dragon inside a golden garland that sparkles in the sunshine.

large mural on the side of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome, sleeping woman in art deco style decoration, by diamond,

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below: German street artist SatOne (aka Rafael Gerlach). “Talking Like a Waterfall” (2015) .

large mural on the side of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome, abstract design by Rafael Gerlach

below: Lek (aks Frédéric Malek) and Sowat ( Mathieu Kendrick) working together since 2010. painted “Veni, Vidi, Vinci.” This is not a typo, but an intended twist of Giulio Cesare’s famous sentence to tribute another notable Italian: Leonardo da Vinci.

two large murals on the sides of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome, one is a large hand and the other is three words, veni, vidi, Vinci

below: An orange, part of a building, and a head? Does that head have a body? This is “Spettacolo, Rinnovamento, Maturità” (translation: “Performance, Renewal, Maturity,” 2015) by Gaia (aka Andrew Pisacane). Perhaps the orange makes more sense in Italian where it becomes ‘anancia’ and here we are in Tor M’arancia’. (more of Gaia’s work can be seen in a blog post from Heerlen Netherlands, Four for Community)

large mural on the side of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome, by gaia

below: She may be involved in an intimate encounter but she seems more interested in what’s happening elsewhere. This is “the Pyramid”, a hug, by English twosome Best Ever (aka Neil Edward and Hadley Newman)

large mural on the side of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome, a man and a woman are hugging, man's face can't be seen, woman is looking out over the street

below: The now familiar face of Greta Thunberg.

below: “The Hand of God” by Jerico (aka Jerico Cabrera Carandang) obviously inspired by Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam” in the Sistine Chapel. ceiling frescoes) except here the fingers are surrounded by cherry blossoms

large mural on the side of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome, two large hands with index fingers pointing to each other, plus some white blossoms

below: Bluish grey snake-like fish (whales?) school together, in “Il Ponentino” by Pantonio

large mural on the side of a four storey apartment building in Tor Marancia, Rome, a school of bluish grey fish swimming

below: And lastly, not a mural but a delight to find – a small collection of colourful flowers and a little white hummingbird was stenciled onto one of the walls, by STEW.

stencil of white hummingbird over colourful flowers, by stew

Photos taken February 2024

Ostiense bridge – another section

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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.

poster street art under a bridge

below: Closer look at Leonardo Crudi 900,

graffiti under a bridge

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.

graffiti under a bridge

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.

graffiti under a bridge

below: Factory mart and abstract art.

graffiti on a concrete wall under a bridge

below: Plant a tree; Plant a life.

graffiti on a concrete wall under a bridge

under an Ostiense railway bridge

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Once upon a time, about 2013, on Via Ostiense under the railway tracks, a group of artists painted the concrete walls…  Names like 2501, moneyless, andreco, tellas, Martina Merlini,  ozmo, and gaia.   By January 2020 only parts of them could be seen.  This post shows part of those concrete walls as they appeared at the beginning of 2020 (other parts of the bridge to follow in subsequent posts).

The artist  2501 (aka Jacopo Ceccarelli)  is known for his black and white striped creations and some of those were still visible along with realistic looking hands and faces that were probably painted by others.

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blog_hand_striped_ball

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below: Percy Bysshe Shelley, the poet, by OZMO

blog_shelley_by_ozmo

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below: Another portrait by OZMO

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below: A tarot card with an image of Temperance.  She is often an angel and is one of the three virtues found in tarot cards along with Justice and Strength.  A woman mixing water into wine was a standard allegory of Temperance in European art.

blog_angel_playing_card

below: “#BackToBlue” by Luca Maleonte, the original 2014 mural was tagged over before I saw it and just the top central two figures could be seen.

below: I found this photo online of the mural after it had just been painted.

Luca Maleonte mural #BacktoBlue from Widewalls site
Photo credit: Widewalls

below: The artist who created these is leonardo crudi novecento (Leonardo Crudi) The description of the black and yellow poster on his Instagram is “Alle bestie che strisciano da varie fessure Bisbiglio piano, di mio arbitrio: Prospera Allora mi guardo intorno – ma forse agisco, Sventurato contro la volonta di qualcuno Prigov e gli scarafaggi”  Using Google Translate – “To the beasts that crawl from various cracks I whisper softly, of my own free will: Prosperous Then I look around – but perhaps I act, Wretched against someone’s will Prigov and the cockroaches” Prigov refers to Dmitri Prigov, a Russian writer and artist.

below: Helicopter silhouette

Pictures taken January 2020

The next installment of graffiti found under the Ostiense bridge is here – another section