Love’s the only engine of survival

Posted on January 6, 2024 by Mary C

Or at least that’s what written on a wall in Tampa Florida that was painted by a number of artists during Tampa Bay Fresh Fest in early 2020. It’s a Leonard Cohen quote.

words painted on a wall in the corner of a green mural that says love's the only engine of survival

mural, green background with water drops, black silhouette of a frog and a gecko climbing the wall

below: Greetings! Peace. A very friendly doorman, by Luisa Padró

mural around a double door, glass, of a large man bending over the top of the door, he is giving peace symbol with two fingers

below: The wall is on Franklin Street.

wall decorated with five murals by street artists on Franklin St in Tampa

below: A snake and a mama kangaroo with a joey in her pocket, the merging of two disparate animal species, by Jerry Cahill

below: She’s got quite the hairdo. Are the pirates coming for her? Or is she just on the side observing the boatload of skull-like figures? This was a collaboration between Artcapco (aka Juan Pablo & Vanessa Parra and Ashley Cantero

mural of a woman with pink hair, up do, with a pirate ship in the background where the pirates are skulls

below: A bear, an arrow, some squares and rectangles, a mixed composition by noirsone

a mural with a brown bear, a white arrow that looks like a cursor on a computer screen

Photos taken April 2022

The Leonard Cohen quote comes from the lyrics of a song, “The Future”. There are many words in the song and you can find them online if you are interested. It’s a rather dark song. This is the stanza that the quote comes from:

“You don’t know me from the wind
You never will, you never did
I’m the little Jew
Who wrote the Bible
I’ve seen the nations rise and fall
I’ve heard their stories, heard them all
But love’s the only engine
Of survival”

pesimo DMJC crew and saile_one in Wynwood

Posted on July 20, 2017 by Mary C

There is a large mural in Wynwood that is a collaboration between Peruvian street artist pesimo DMJC crew and saile_one. Four very large figures cover the side of a building. The car helps to give a sense of just how big the mural is.

large mural by pesimo93, dmjc crew and saile_one

below: There are a lot of details in the mural…. the spray paint can on the left, the vehicle crashed over the shoulder, an 8 ball, and a USB stick. Is it a snake or a wreath of living plants around the neck? Is it strangling him? The mask worn by the person on the right has a zipper, a padlock and crossed chopsticks.

large mural by pesimo93, dmjc crew and saile_one - part of the mural with a red car parked in front of it.

below: More details. The dog is wearing a chain that says “trust no human”, and there are eyeballs on one of the heads. The man on the left is wearing a badge that says #NoDAPL which is the hashtag associated with the anti Dakota Access Pipeline protest including the resistance at Standing Rock.

large mural, upper part of two people, one has face painted

below: Their “signature” includes their “portraits”.

two stylized heads painted on a door, one is in blue tones and the other in olive green tones, the left is dmjc crew and the right is saile_one. both have cigarettes and baseball caps on backwards. also wearing glasses.

graffitis animaux à paris

Posted on December 11, 2016 by Mary C

Little animals, big animals.
Pasted, painted and stenciled graffiti animals.
Real animals and those just imagined.
All on the walls of Paris.

below: A very realistic tiger walks towards you. Painted by mosko.

pasteup graffiti of a very realistic tiger drawn in oranges and black, almost life size, walking directly at the viewer

below: Another mosko creation, a leopard.

pasteup graffiti of a very realistic leopard drawn in oranges and black, almost life size, walking directly at the viewer

below: What cows order when they stop for fast food. Human meat burger with a side of human finger nibblets. I wonder if he’ll order his burger with meadow grass or cheese?
a poster showing a cow in a fast food restaurant ordering a human meat burger. Another cow is behind the cash register. Pictures of items on the menu are above the cashier. Done in cartoon style

below: A pink fish dreamily swims past.

big pink fish graffiti, with a half open eye and a moustache

below: There’s a zebra under the window.

stencil graffiti of a greenish coloured striped zebra

below: A very tall mural of a blue and white long-necked bird. Un héron bleuté, painted by STEW in the Chinatown area of Paris (13th arrd.)

very large mural on the side of an apartment building of a large blue and grey bird with a long neck. either a heron or a crane

below: A close up view of the bottom of STEW’s heron mural.

part of a larger mural, a white bird in flight, with a long nexk, surrounded by blue sky with a lot of flowers in the sky . The flowers are line drawings in yellows and white

below: An elephant head, and mouton white sheep above the cordonnerie

on the side of a beige concrete wall, two pieces of graffiti, one is an elephant's head and the other is a white sheep with black face and feet.

below: A pink and blue teddy with a few bits missing. It seems to be passing something to the window. Amor! A creature stands under the cross.

a pink and blue teddy bear paste up pon a wall, partially torn. He's beside a window. on the other side of the window is a small red cross with the word amor written under it.

below: A wide mouthed big teethed snake

two graffiti pieces on a wall, a blue and silver diamond shape an a green snake

below: A pink cat

stencil of a realistic grey and black cat on a pink wall

below: Two birds standing together

reddish stencil graffiti of two birds standing beside each other

below: The next two may not be animals, but they certainly aren’t human either. Two creatures just playing tunes and boarding on by. The first is labelled Les Impressionoures.

on a metal box on the sidewalk pavement beside a street, a red creature with a band aid on its cheek rides on a skateboard while holding a ghetto blaster near its ear . The words les impressionoures is written below him