Tag Archives: sidewalk

on the sidewalks of LA

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Look down.

Sidewalk graffiti; sidewalk stencils.

All photos taken in the Arts District of Los Angeles

below: “Catch your life” on a Pokemon ball

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk

below: Life, and metamorphosis

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk - a person with large butterfly wings and the word "life"

below: Stikman is in LA too!

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk - stickman (or maybe stikman)

below: Not me? and a little moneybags mouse

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk - two creatures, one a big blob man-like creature with the words 'not me' written on his chest, the other a small black hatted man carrying a large moneybag

below: “Paint here and here”

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk - words that say 'paint here and here' but there is a large space between each word

below: Say Yes!

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk - large block letters that say "say yes'

below: Smile for the ego

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk - a female robot holding a cameraphone and taking a selfie. The words say 'smile for your ego'

below: Buy the Lie

black paint with stencil graffiti on a sidewalk - person with long hair, a cowboy hat, sunglasses and a bandana covering face from nose down.

Photos taken in 2015

crossing the Williamsburg Bridge

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between Manhattan and Williamsburg, over the East River

crossing the Williamsburg bridge, with pinkish red metal railings and girders, pedestrian walkway is beside and slightly above road and subway lines.

graffiti on the williamsburg bridge pavement

A little yellow dinosaur trying to look fierce as he growls at your feet.

graffiti on pavement, line drawing in yellow of a dinosaur, on hind feet, open mouth,

I’m happy you’re here, keep going!

text graffiti on the williamsburg bridge pavement that says I'm happy you're here keep going

I crave you

text graffiti on the williamsburg bridge pavement that says I crave you, written inside a large white heart

Shy white cat says meow

blog_cat_white_chalk

Homesick and Lucky Star writ large on a grey wall. The American flag image below them is made using painted car doors.

view from williamsburg bridge, buildings, one with graffiti street art on it

It’s just love in a rainbow of colours.

stencil on williamsburg bridge pavement that says its just love in a rainbow of colours

… and love is gold

blog_love_is_gold

Pacman wears a gold crown, king of the streets

large white pacman character from the video game, with open mouth, with a gold three pointed crown on his head

Looking down at Williamsburg streets including a mural with two faces and two flowers.

view from williamsburg bridge in new york city, buildings, including one with a mural on it

Blackface pink walker

graffiti on the pavement, a pink person walking

Reaching out in peace and love

graffiti on the sidewalk, two white people, one with sign reaching out for the other

Stencil by go4tart aka GOAT, rat on a scooter; a rat loves NYC

blog_rat_scooter_stencil

Seek Discomfort

blog_seek_discomfort_pink

Sold out art show yellow face with three pairs of eyes.

blog_sold_out_artshow graffiti on sidewalk, turquoise hair, yellow face, blue eyes, 3 pairs of eyes

I wonder what Jane’s reaction was?

stencil graffiti with text that says Jane will you marry me

….. Maybe this is Jane ?!

graffiti on pavement, white face with large red exclamation marks on it, dots of exclamation marks make the eyes

on the railing – mask? and master?

slaps, sticker graffiti on a pole on railings of a bridge

Kiss me

graffiti on pavement

More words on love

graffiti on pavement

… but in the end, the virus gets you.

graffiti on pavementPhotos taken August 2023

history on the streets

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While walking around the Byward Market in Ottawa, I saw a lot of traffic control boxes at intersections that were wrapped with old black and white photos. This is the result of The Capital History Project, a collaborative effort between Carleton University, the Workers History Museum, and the city of Ottawa. These boxes first appeared 2017 and they are/were all over the city. I am not sure how many there still are …. but here are a few of them….

below: Petigorsky’s shoe repair. Mr. Oscar Petigorsky in front of the store that he and his wife Nina ran, 1930s. The store was at 289 Dalhousie Street.

below: The sign on the side of the horse drawn wagon says “”Tea and Coffee Warehouse, W. Cunningham, Grocer, Wine Merchant”

below: “Ottawa band Modern Rock Quartet at Cafe Le Hibou”, photo by Dave Sproul circa 1970. MRQ was formed in 1967 and over the next few years they played with many top rock groups of the era. According to Wikipedia, their first live performance was at the Prime Minister’s official residence – that would be Pierre Trudeau.

black and white photo by The Photographic Stores, Dave Sproul, of a band, 3 members, one on drums, one man on guitar and third man singing with mike on a stand

below: Sam’s? Buy & Sell

For a complete story of these boxes, see the Capital History website. There you will find an interactive map showing the location of all the boxes.

Photos taken May 2023

boxed in Tirana

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below: Hippity hipster rabbit with sunglasses and tatts.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, a hipster with rabbit head, wearing sunglasses and with tattoos on his arm

below: Sargent Pepper theme, character in green with drums – Ringo Starr from the Beatles.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, Sargent Pepper cartoon character in green and playing drums, like Ringo Starr

below: A second Sargent Pepper character but this time it’s George Harrison in yellow. I didn’t see the other Beatles but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are in the city somewhere.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, Sargent Pepper cartoon character in yellow playing guitar while sitting cross legged on the floor

below: A child rides on the back of a white goose as it flies in front of a boat. The boy, in the red hat, is Nils and he has been bewitched by an elf so that he is only a few inches tall. The goose is his transportation and together they have adventures. Nils saves the goose and some ducks from a hungry fox; he also rescues a baby squirrel from a hunter. The Nils books were written in the early 1900s by Selma Lagerlof (Swedish), the first woman to win a Nobel prize in literature.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, large white goose flying over a wooden boat

below: Beavis and Butthead from the 1990s animated TV series.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, television characters from the 1990s, Beavis and Butthead, sitting on a red couch

below: Green Frankenstein.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, portrait of Frankenstein with green face

below: Blue woman with a feather

the narrow side of painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, painted blue with the portrait of a woman

below: His arms are covered with tattoos but the face has been defaced (or was very strange to begin with?) so I am having trouble figuring out who the character is.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana,

below: Angry bird on the right, standing beside another hipster rabbit. The words stencilled on the box, “Nidermarrja e Dekorit Bashkia Tirane”, roughly translates to Decoration Enterprise, Tirana Municipality. There is a Dekori – Bashkia Tirane instagram page that features some of the artists whose works are found Tirane.

two painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, the one on the right is a red angry bird from the game

below: Chuck Norris

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, portrait of man with text that says Chuck Norris counted to infinity twice

below: Quentin Tarantino.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, portrait of Quentin Tarantino

below: A tiger growls at the passing traffic

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, tiger with open mouth

below: An older man with many birds in his beard, inspired by a poem by Edward Lear:
” There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, “It is just as I feared!—
Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard.”

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, man with large grey beard with birds in it

below: A rooster on a cat on a dog on a donkey in the night. This time it is a story that is referenced here, “The Town Musicians of Bremen”. Although the story dates from the 12th century it was first published in 1819 by the Brothers Grimm. It is the tale of 4 older animals no longer useful on their farms who meet up and decide to go to the city of Bremen to be musicians. They never get there but they have other adventures instead (you’ll have to read the story to get the details!)

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, silhouettes of animals stacked on top of a donkey. A rooster sits at the top. Cat and dog in the middle, night time

below: Another story – here it is Peter Pan and the Darling children, Wendy, John, and Michael, flying off to Never Never Land.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, yellow box with black silhouettes of Peter Pan and the three children flying through the sky

below: Bob Marley in front of Hops.

painted sidewalk box on a sidewalk in Tirana, portrait of reggae musician Bob Marley

little things on Barcelona walls

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Barcelona Spain, April 2018,
 pasteups, stickers, stencils and other little pieces of graffiti.

below:  The green creature (with Ore on its tail) seems to want to eat the heart.  The tiger appears on walls in many Spanish cities although sometimes he’s just a black and white head.  He’s the creation of Bloo.  Last, an orange crab with eye lashes on one eye.

some pasteups and other small pieces of graffiti on a concrete wall. A tiger, a heart, an orange crab.

below: RAF Urban, young boy

paste up of a boy's head and shoulders by raf urban

below: Another face, this time a woman looking up.  She’s not quite obscured by the paint around her.

yellow arrow, pointing to a pasteup of a womans face on a wall

below: Pointed

a stencil on a wall, a hand with index finger pointing, points to a metal door that is covered with a mural

below: “Lo importante esta en tu cabeza” on empty cans. As it turns out, this the name of an album by the group La Gran Orquesta Republicana.  Rough translation is: The important is in your head.

empty cans covered with black and each with a blue letter on them, the cans are put together on a wall so the letters make words.

 

below: More cans on walls. This time they say “mensajes de amor en tiemps de guerra,  mensajes de paz con la mente  guerrera”. [messages of love in times of war, messages of peace with the warrior mind].   This can art is the work of an anonymous couple.   Many examples of their work can be seen on instagram with the hashtag #llaunesbcn

empty cans covered with white, with black letters, one per can, on them. The cans are mounted on a wall in with letters forming words that say mensajes de amor en tiemps de guerra, mensajes de paz con la mente guerrera

below: Funny Bone and a little hairy chested, hat wearing, tattooed fellow with love on his tummy (or lower).

stickers on a door that has a red tag on it.

below: Güelcom was an Argentinian movie, a romcom from 2011.   Because of my poor Spanish as well as the rip in the paper, I can’t tell what the second word is. 

pasteup of a woman with blue hands reaching out for her face, also the words, guelcom

below: A black and white paste up.

pasteup of a man's face, wearing black sunglasses, also his face is covered with black lines

below: Mowcka “uniendo tus partes” and others

stickers and paste ups on a wall

below: Very, very with symmetry, as a red rose lies on the sidewalk.

stencil, in purple, words mucho mucho with the second one being uder the first, and upside down, also a stenciled red rose lying under the words, arranged such that the flower looks like its lying on the sidewalk,

below: Smile! Anthropomorphic rabbit photographer in blue

blue rabbit with a camera

… and red

red rabbit with a camera

below: somiatruites, Catalan for daydreamer

small painting on a gold coloured wall, exterioe, six green arms with fingers stretching out from a central reddish face
below: Utility box.  JERC = Joventuts d’Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Young Republican Left of Catalonia).   They support independence for Catalonia which is the part of Spain that includes Barcelona.

utility box with painted political statements graffiti

below: The Hulk.  Even he is locked out.

The Hulk

below:  Watering can and plant pot faces.

2 small pictures on white board on outside wall

below: Another collection of small paste ups on a wall.  There’s that tiger again.   A blue unicorn and a very large insect share the upper left corner.  That little black and white figure in the bottom left is a flying peanut, a character by Hadsawit that really gets around.

graffiti pasteups on a wooden door

many pasteups on a wall

below: The Raven, or at least a large black bird

stencil, black bird eating something

metal utility box on a sidewalk beside a stone wall, drawing of the upper part of a man, in black line drawing.

old wood door covered with blue tag and a sticker with a red flower

sprayed on the sidewalks of LA

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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