Tag Archives: uber5000

checking in to see what’s new

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… another walk down Graffiti Alley

group of people, back to camera, walking down graffiti alley

below: Part of a monochrome mural by Nicolas Araneda aka niko.volts that has a lot of very American feet walking all over the faces of other people as lay on the ground….   ‘Trampling’ might be a better verb than ‘walking’

part of a mural in shades of grey, black and white, of feet wearing boots that look like the American flag, walking over the heads and faces of other people lying on the ground

below: Some walk in heavy boots, and others swim with open mouth ….

large fish mural in graffiti alley,

below: Looking crazed and demented, “Lobo” by Horus (aka Trevor Goodwin)

evil villain face with red eye, white wrinkly skin, yellow teeth, graffiti on a wall in graffiti alley, by horus,

below: Not quite so crazy or so demented but certainly not cuddly and warm either.

face, graffiti, white skin, yellow hair, red lips,

below: “Bring your green hat” by FreshPaintDaly aka Billy Creekwater

Donald Duck like character, but older and seedier, with black hat, text balloon that says bring your green hat

below: Two (and a bit) of six panels, drawings by Hartshorn (or posts collective).

street art drawings on the pavement

street art painting in graffiti alley, in alcove that was a window, now boarded up

street art painting in graffiti alley

collection of graffiti slaps covering a door in graffiti alley

below: “Not today Satan”.  There’s a lot going on here – the Silly Sausage Gang being front and center.  33wallflower33 in her white coat with the fuzzy collar and little decorations by catchoo .  There is also a T-bonez (of urban ninja squadron fame) wearing a green shirt and a necklace with a pendant – that’s Sticker Eddie he’s wearing, apparently.   The red-hearted pug’s name is Mopsi. Mopsi has something in his mouth but the donut is in the way (for more Mopsi see the Instagram page of his creator, So schoen immer weider)….   And the other dog is a collaboration between TRP613 (check out the reflections in the sunglasses!) and DivadogLA

part of a door covered with graffiti stickers and other slaps

below: “Get me out of here” and a dose of Instant Karma.

two graffiti paste ups, one is a young woman saying get me out of here, the other is a large hand holding a glass that says instant karma

many paste ups up high on a wall

below: Free Iran

free iran mural in graffiti alley, woman holding a white dove that died because shot with an arrow

below: This painting of a woman with her headphones above and yellow birdie walking a dog below was one of the first murals in Graffiti Alley – the work of Uber5000. Not many originals still exist!

uber5000 mural in graffiti alley, yellow birdie is walking dog, woman with headphones, on brick wall,

below: Elicser Elliott’s contribution to a larger mural that has been painted below the pink Poser bunny, “Don’t watch me cry”

street art painting by elicser elliott, part of a larger collaborative mural, man with burgundy baseball cap, with hands over his eyes. back of hands have tattoo words, Don't watch me cry, written over the two hands

below: Half a face.  He only needs one eye to stare at you.

half of a purple face, urban art, with other shapes and colours on it, black and grey eye and nose

below: Gold…  With a garland of white and blue flowers.

street art painting, gold male face with light blue highlights, wearing garland of blue and white flowers

below: A very large and very purple bear is at the door.

street art painting covering a door in graffiti alley, a large purple bear's head and face

below: He or she looks rather cramped in there. Signature says Neem?

street art mural, blue face

below: Another flower garland and another Neem head squeezed into a box.

two graffiti paintings, on left is black and white face with fingers in front, on right is an orange face with a garland of daisies on its head

graffiti alley, people taking pictures, people walking past

below: Scowling and smoking with ace in his cap.

mural in graffiti alley

below: Skydome forever and ALCS, as well as Vladdy’s number 27 shirt and World Series 2025…. little blue and white pieces of ceramic that celebrate the Toronto Blue Jays that someone lovingly made.

graffiti or urban art made of a collection of little ceramics, all decorated with toronto blue jays baseball team symbols

below: One Inch?  …  And other stickers crammed together.

man in red shirt is taking a picture, behind him is a sign that is covered with graffiti stickers

graffiti stickers covering a sign, a mural of a face is behind it

below: “We are the colours of corn”

feet on paved alley, where someone has written we are the colour of corn

below: More stickers and pasteups including catchoo’s dumpster fire that t-bonez from urban ninja squadron is using to dry his socks and underwear.

graffiti stickers and slaps on a wall

below: A couple of contributions from Dogmaslaps here (they’re all about dogs in case you haven’t guessed yet).

below:  More pasteups, some of which are quite intricate and detailed … especially the top two (vulture and jaguar?) which are both the creations of Ezpektro.

below: Sharing space with the Ezpektro pieces are a few smaller pasteups, some of which were made by artists that are new to me.  There is a pink bike in the top right, the same bike that is in the Make Art Not War poster in the above image…  BikeDeSuro creates stickers and wheatpaste featuring bikes.  From the left, a woman by Fiigueers and then a young girl with the Spanish words, “que nunca se apague la llama de la autonomia” which translates to “may the flame of autonomy never be extinguished”… The collection is rounded out with a guitar player from Sentient Cookie and a cute little green guy from Catchoo.

 

below: MonkYi cat with a very real looking heart in his claws.  Two carp swimming on the pavement in front.

below: Charmander, a Pokemon character.

orange pokeman character, urban art

below: Alfred E. Neuman makes an appearance in a couple of places – he’s the dude from MAD Magazine.

Alfred E. Neuman graffiti, also a woman on a television screen, as well as a very large painted eye

Alfred E. Neuman as a graffiti sticker, along with a black and white little bird

below: By 50 shades of greatt aka Adam McKnight – It looks a lot like Sponge Bob… maybe it’s his cousin?  But what’s with that tongue?  It looks like a slug is trying to slither out of his mouth.

square cartoon character with skinny arms and legs, and big white hands, purple tongue sticking out, by fifty shades of great

 

below: Verity and a happy face.

graffiti, including a yellow happy face and the word verity

small graffiti on round metal disc, graffiti is image of person with head of a large baseball,

below: Someone is not impressed…. Lame

concrete block at the base of a sign on a metal pole, stencil graffiti on the concrete that says lame

below: Green guy says: “In one year’s time, strike your blow, I shall return.”

stickers and paste ups, graffiti alley

below: “These days will define us”

small sticker graffiti with words these days will define us, with a drawing of the Earth

street art painting of a purple and yellow bear's face and front paws

Photos taken August 2026

First 2025 visit to Graffiti Alley, Toronto

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My previous post, skateboard portraits was from a walk down Graffiti Alley in Toronto the other day.   This post contains more photos that I took that snowy afternoon… so, let’s take a look!

below: Uber 5000’s yellow bird is still walking his dog and singing a song on this side of this red brick building.  It’s at least 10 years old?  The black and grey portrait on the right is much newer.

Graffiti Alley street art paintings, many, including uber 5000 walking dog and singing,

below: Profile portrait by TheHalfDecent

Graffiti Alley street art painting, profile portrait of woman in black and purple, car parked in front of it

below: “Let them drink beer”, a stencil from D. Terra featuring Ontario Premier Doug Ford whose biggest “win” in the province is bringing alcohol sales to convenience stores and gas stations…. at a massive cost.

below:  A 33wallflower33 pasteup in the foreground, with a corner of one of Nick Sweetman’s bird murals in the background.

pasteup by 33wallflower33, a black and white vintage photo of a woman, cut to oval shape, on a red surface. graffiti alley, a mural by nick sweetman is in the background, a blue bird in flight

below: A collaboration between Nick Sweetman and Shanehuss produced this drippy, melting jaw portrait.

street art mural, calligraphy in grey tones is the background, man's portrait with red skin, purple hat, metal frame glasses, the bottom part of the face is either washing away or melting.

below: The top portion of ” RIP King Reign & Son of Soul” remains.  This tribute mural was painted by Elicser Elliott and Omen514.  I am not sure who is responsible for the newer painting on the bottom, the one in yellows and blues.  That’s probably a ‘signature’ in the bottom left but I don’t recognize it.

Graffiti Alley street art painting, 2 men wearing caps, King Reign and Son of Soul tribute mural, also a uber5000 little yellow bird with a tea cup in his hand

part of King Reign and Son of Soul tribute mural by Elicser Elliott and Omen 514, with newer abstract mural covering the bottom part

below: Graffiti Alley in the snow.

graffiti alley in the snow

below: Sun of Aquarius (aka Andre Mandela Lopez) painted this naked figure with brown wings and bird mask

in an alley, exterior stairs to upper level balcony in alcove with two sides painted with murals, including one by sun of aquarius

below: A pole covered with knit squares while T-bonez is shushing you.

Graffiti Alley street art painting, on wall, pole in front of wall that is covered with knit squares, also a pasteup of urban ninja squadron, t bonez

below: A pointy nosed, long snouted dog by Mr. Myl, aka Luis Casas, who was originally from Havana Cuba.

mr myl street art painting in graffiti alley, on bright pink background, an orange and yellow dog with log snout and orange teeth, small ears, sitting position

below: Another Mr. Myl dog, this one with its blue eyes popping out.   I don’t think that it’s because of the woman next to him.  “Para mi Tita” is Spanish for “For my aunt”.

mr myl street art painting in graffiti alley, on bright pink background, an orange and yellow dog with log snout and orange teeth, small ears, sitting position, beside a portrait of a woman holding a large calla lily, with text

below: Blue haired woman by April Showers

below: And another blue haired woman…..

below: … and a third.  I think that I see a trend.  Methinks April Showers likes blue hair.

grey car parked in parking lot at end of alley, murals painted on the walls, stickers cover the signs

below: An anti-camera, anti-photographer image, “Gimmy a break, clik, clik, clik” featuring uber 5000’s yellow bird and blue cat, with the Pink Panther is a supporting role.   Love the red specs!

street art on a wall by stairs, pink panther, uber 5000 yellow bird, tags, also uber 5000 complaints about photographers

below:  Poser bunny in red

street art, red poser bunny

below: He (she?) seems puzzled by the snow?!

a young person with short dark hair, and a yellow t shirt, mural in graffiti alley

below: Is it a man or is it a chicken?  A red headed cigarette smoking, spray painting character by Tuffytats

street art painting by tuffytats

below: This one looks more like a chicken should look, so fowl.

below: An environmental message – “Got mercury?” from a non-profit group trying to raise awareness of the impact of mercury poisoning on indigenous communities.

graffiti on a wall, yellow bird from uber5000, red and turquoise character with devil horns and furry hair

graffiti alley in the winter, snowing, some snow on the ground

below: Good Luck!

street art painting, green background, a red apple sitting on 2 books, an arrow runs through the apple

graffiti alley mural, guitar player, red guitar, also an elicser elliott piece of a person wearing a rabbit hat

below: Another 33wallflower33 vintage woman.

graffiti on a wall including woman in bikini by 33 wallflower 33.

below: Chubby purple cheeks gives a thumbs up

street art painting of a large purple monster face

below: Still reaching out and trying to touch someone…..

old telephone booth in graffiti alley

street art mural, asian woman with purple hair tied up on top of her head with glowing lantern

graffiti on a wall including a red heart with J + J written in the middle

Photos taken January 2025

In the alley after dark

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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