bright lights

Pasted onto a wall in Baptist Lane, Melbourne, is a woolen string of paper lights where each light bulb is a little artwork.

on a wall painted yellow, paste up graffiti of a string of light bulbs where each bulb is a little artwork by a different artist

below: Julybubble80’s blue cat has grown wings

paper pasteup on yellow wall, shape of a light bulb, blue, with a cat, by julybubble80

below: Another julybubble cat along with “Aimer”, two red and blue whale (fish?) tails that come together to form a heart by NBF Street (Sirène in the street). A little fairy holds a gold star, the work of Balaet Balaets.  “Viens, on rêve… (come, let’s dream).

on a wall painted yellow, paste up graffiti of a string of light bulbs where each bulb is a little artwork by a different artist, 3 bulbs

below: Little yellow rubber duckies – these traveling ducks (canards vagabonds) are having more adventures!

paper pasteup on yellow wall, shape of a light bulb, a group of yellow ducks, with pencil crayons, canards vagabonds

below: With her usual cat-like persona, tweet_streetart holds an Aussie flag waving koala.

paper pasteup on yellow wall, shape of a light bulb, person with a cat head hold a grey koala who in turn is holding an Australian flag

below: It’s pink bandana is signed, Valcu G.

below: A cheeky little blue octopus sits on a light bulb that contains a fish (artist: o21_simplement).

paper pasteup on yellow wall, shape of a light bulb, a little blue octopus with its tongue sticking out, sits on top of one of the bulbs that contains a small fish. the other light bulb has a cat head, rest of bulb is out of the picture

below: Two images of little women by wall_lilo

paper pasteup on yellow wall, shape of a light bulb, by wall lilo paper pasteup on yellow wall, shape of a light bulb, by wall lilo

below: Paddywagon is an artist who combine street art and cyanotypes (a process that creates white images on blue like the.  Here, a small light bulb showcases one of her images of tiny compound leaves.  To the left, “Come on baby, light my fire”, a woman with long and flowing yellow hair, by Wild Wonder Woman.
paper pasteup on yellow wall, shape of a light bulb, wild wonder woman and paddywagon cyanotype of leaves

below: A second Wild Wonder Woman, this time her long yellow hair flows down her bare back and wraps around her swing.  Next to her is a picture by Felfi (aka tanzt_die_orange), a Dutch artist.

paper pasteup on yellow wall, shape of a light bulb,

below: Close by is a second set of light bulbs with art by the same artists – you might recognize some of them!

paper pasteup on yellow wall, shape of a light bulb,

paper pasteup on yellow wall, shape of a light bulb,

paper pasteup on yellow wall, shape of a light bulb,

Photos taken February 2025

In the alley after dark

A walk down Graffiti Alley on a rainy night.

below: Unfortunately, one of Uber5000’s large Toronto/Canada themed murals has been defaced (the one on the north side of the alley).

Graffiti Alley night time, light from headlights of car, walls covered with street art and graffiti

below: Doug Ford running away with the money, stencil graffiti by D. Terra. Our Premier seems rather happy with his haul. Accurate?

black and white stencil art by d terra, of doug ford in a ablack suit, white shirt, black tie, holding bags of money and smiling

below: A dope piece that bears some resemblance to Homer Simpson.

graffiti alley, homer simpson with word dope

below: A  yellow one-eyed daisy standing tall.

yellow one eyed daisy on green stem

below: This portrait has hair!

black and white portrait of a young man with glasses and headphones,

night time, graffiti alley, street art and graffiti on walls

below: For some reason, a section of one of the side lanes (McDougall Lane? or Rush Lane?) was lit by a red light.   Here there was a collection of pasteups and stickers including one with an abundance of flowers in her hair, a skater figure by drecks. She is joined by a bare breasted woman with even more flowers on her head as well as a Snoopy look alike and a cat on the telly.

slaps on a wall, graffiti alley, night time, red light

below: On the same wall as the above – Tweetie bird, from Australia, along with some friends.  Because of the red light, this photo is very low contrast and difficult to see.  Best to see this wall in the daytime!  Second best, would be to check out the instagram page of tweet_streetart

pasteups in an alley, red light, nighttime

with red lights, at night, slaps, paste ups and other graffiti

below: Another selection of slaps, mostly birds this time.

slaps on a wall, mostly birds, plus a fish

slaps on a wall, mostly birds

below: A little raccoon

raccoon graffiti in black and white, also a bird and a fish sticker

below: Mortus figure – his hands are almost big enough to hold all those skulls.

blob like figure with bald head and big hands, holding a lot of skulls, mural in graffiti alley by mortus

below: On the pavement

text graffiti on the pavement that says get off the internet

below: FP Monkey (aka Julia H), Skamoney, Monster Fan Club, and PP Spray

mural in graffiti alley, collaboration of three artists, FP monkey, aka Julia H.

below: Poser bunny

poser bunny on a column, door beside is covered with scrawls

below:  Making a rap music video

people making a hip hop or rap music video in graffiti alley

graffiti on a wall in graffiti alley

below: The east end of Graffiti Alley, the part closest to Spadina, was very dark.

view down graffiti alley at night, rainy, wet pavement, reflecting light

below: As it turns out, the buildings at this end (north side) are now behind a metal construction fence. Darkness equals empty I suspect.

back of buildings on Queen West, now dark, with construction fence, view from graffiti alley, large orek tag on building, dark, no lights,

below: Yes they matter but was there no where else to paint this?  There’s so much junk in the alley that no one would miss.

graffiti alley uber 5000 mural with a painting with the text every child matters covering the bottom part of it

below: I am going to end this post with a bit of a rant.  Yes, to some extent the art in this alley has come somewhat commercialized especially with the newer buildings on Richmond that back onto the alley.  Uber5000 has benefited from some of this as he has painted a few large (and very good) murals here.  Also, I understand that street art by its nature is prone to “disappearing” behind the work of others but I reject the notion that one person’s tag is as good as another person’s mural.  Anyone can destroy.  Anyone can paint their “name” but if you are proud of writing it over someone else’s more talented work then you haven’t progressed beyond the preschooler phase of life.

street art and graffiti on a wall in graffiti alley

Photos taken October 2023

This post also appears in mcfcrandall.blog