STEW | Eyes on the Streets

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.

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

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.

below: Clemens Behr’s abstract figure.

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.

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

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).

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.

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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

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

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

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