Allentown (Buffalo) street art

Posted on January 10, 2017 by Mary C

The Allentown area of Buffalo is now home to some interesting murals. If you walk around the neighbourhood of Allen Street and College Street, this is what you might see:

below: ‘Voyage’ by Chuck Tingley, 2014. Commissioned by MyBuffaloPride and Loop Magazine and dedicated to Buffalo’s LGBT community and its allies. “In a world of scrutiny, we have the power to embrace our differences and use our inner light to guide us through the darkest of times.”

a mural called Voyage painted by Chuck Tingley on the side of a building in Buffalo, a large multicoloured boy is sitting in a small boat and holding on to a yellow paddle. The sky is rainbow colours.

below: The corner of Allen Street and Wadsworth Street.

intersection in Buffalo with old two storey square front storefronts. wet road, rainy day, liquor store on the corner that is now empty but the sign only half works - only half the letters in the word liquor are lit.

below: Nietzsche (German composer and philosopher) with the quote “Without music life would be a mistake”. When I googled to make sure that that was an actual quote, I found a quote from a letter that he wrote in 1888: “Music … frees me from myself, it sobers me up from myself, as though I survey the scene from a great distance … It is very strange. It is as though I had bathed in some natural element. Life without music is simply an error, exhausting, an exile.” The picture is on the side of a Nietzsche Bar.

street art picture of Nietzsche head and shoulders in black and white along with a quote that says Without music life would be a mistake.

below: It’s About Time, with three red fists on the upper part of the Allen Street Hardware Cafe. One is holding a yellow paint roller and one is holding a yellow spray paint can. The third fist is in the background and is holding either tools or paint brushes or markers? Painted by the Allen Street Street Art Collective (ASSA).

a brick two storey store with a mural on the upper part in red, yellow and black, with the words It's about time. The picture in the mural is three red fists. One is holding a yellow paint roller and one is holding a yellow spray paint can. Another mural is in the background, a car parked on the wet street, a pedestrian on the sidewalk

below: ‘Tribute to Spain Rodriguez’ by Ian DeBeer. Rodriguez was a comic artist who was born in Buffalo and the piece is largely about a fight that he got into in the bar across the street (once the Jamestown, now the Nietzsche).

long horizontal mural drawn like a comic book strip, dedicated to the memory of Spain Rodriguez and painted by Ian DeBeers in 2013, a large woman's face with bright red lips, the word 'she; painted in red, a motorcylce, a man wearing a hat,

a motorcycle, part of a larger mural

below: When this mural was first completed, the grey parts were black. The large picture of the man that stands between the windows on the left and those in the middle, was quite distinct. Now, you might have missed him when you first looked at the picture.

the front of a building is covered with black and white poster sized pictures of people.

below: The pink stripes in the background of the finger-like portions of this mural have also faded considerably since the mural was painted in 2013. “The work we do is not for the faint of heart”.

a mural on the side of a building. On the left is a purple and black drawing of what looks like fingers. on the right are yellow and turquoise stripes with the words, the work we do is not for the faint of heart

blog_the_work_mural_closer

below: The last ASSA mural features an iron fireman. It’s a long horizontal mural with the words Iron and Fireman written in large letters over shapes that resemble flames.

word Iron written in large letters, part of a mural

below: Between the two words is a painting of a black ‘iron fireman’, a robot-like creature shovelling coal to feed the fire. This was the logo for the Iron Fireman, a coal stoker first developed in the 1920’s by Thomas Harry Banfield and Cyrus Jury Parker. A coal stoker mechanically feeds coal into a furnace or boiler – the Iron Fireman was a commercial success in the days when coal was a commonly used fuel.

picture of a black robot figure shovelling coal

word fireman written on large letters in a mural, brick buildings (apartments) behind, cars parked in front.

below: One of the other interesting things about Buffalo is how the architecture is different here, or at least different from what I am used to in Toronto. The building with the green details on the front is the Puritan Building, built in 1893. It has recently been renovated with the Billy Club restaurant on the ground level and three storeys of apartments above. And yes, that is a purple house on the right. Many of the houses in the area are painted in bright and cheerful colours.

mural in the middle gound, two low rise buildings in the background, one is the Puritan building with green details around the windows in the front of the building.

below: She’s almost disappeared.

very faded street art piece of crouched young girl with a pony tail - although it is faded enough that I might be wrong.

below: But he’s as vibrant as ever.

a painting of a man has been mounted in an arched window, covers the window.

a red brick building, side of a store, bottom part has been painted orange, probably to paint over graffiti, but has since been tagged twice, once in black and once in red, a parking lot is in front of the wall, with a small snowbank at the edge.

a door is covered with graffiti stickers.

street art in Havana

Posted on December 31, 2016 by Mary C

Back in June 2015 I spent a week in Havana. The street art that I saw there ranged from scribbles on walls to elaborate murals and pictures. The following photographs cover almost all the street art that I saw.

mural on a wall of a group of people, stylized slightly, obviously cuban

below: A young boy by 5 Stars

a painting by 5 stars of a young boy seated, in a sleeveless white top, black curly hair

street art, large eyes staring straight ahead

below: A variation on a slogan, “just do it”

blog_havana_graffiti_just_do_it

below: yellow faces, holding up a portrait

a small person with a yellow head holds up a large yellow square which in turn is a yellow head

below: Charlie Chaplin and the kid

black and white street art piece of Charlie Chaplin looking around the edge of a door - the door is real. A young boy is with Charlie Chaplin

below: A fish out of water, swimming down the street

blog_fish_street_art_wall

While I was in Havana, the Duodecima Bienal de La Habana was also on and some of what I saw on the streets, including the photo below, probably belonged to that. The Bienal De La Habana is an art festival that occurs every three years (yes, three years even though bienal means every two years!). The next festival will be in November 2018.

below: The little blue signs says “Gabinete del imaginario” which translates to Cabinet of the Imaginary.

a rough wooden cover covers a window, a wall used to be orange and blue but most of the paint has peeled off. On the wall a picture has been mounted. It is a beach scene, two people sitting on an orange beach with orange sky and blue water.

below: Oops I did it again, scribbles on the wall.

scribbled graffiti on a wall, a silly drawing of a boy with the words oops I did it again, some exclamation marks

below: Black and white portraits overlooking the street

a man and a woman talking on a street corner. Beside them is a wall with three black and white murals painted on it. A middle ages woman with a head band and hands on her hips, an older man's head in a white hat and looking upward and last, a man in a white uniform holding a box under his arm.

below: “…no quiero mas el queso” or, I don’t want more cheese. It is signed as Cuba Ecuador 2015 as well as Ratador. So far I haven’t been able to find any information on this artist.

two street art pieces, one is a large rat with a piece of cheese and the words No quiero mas el queso. On the right is a black and white image of a man's head with a number below him. N I 8908202623.

below: “A las almas” To the souls, on one side of the door while a woman rides her bike on top of the world on the other side of the door.

an old green wood door on a building. on one side is a red poster with a black silhouette of the upper part of a man with one arm reaching to the clouds as well as the words a las almas, on the other side of the door is a painting in pinks and bieges of a winged woman on bike riding on top of the globe

below: An eye over number 156

blog_eye_above_door_colours

below: Waves of hair, waves of water

a street art picture of a young woman's head and face, she is looking slightly back over her shoulder. Blue abstract beside her

below: Calling Seth

the word Seth in a word bubble, with the top part of a man's head as he pokes his head around a wall.

face of a man drawn in black, with dabs of yellow, green, and red added to the picture

a wooden cart in poor shape is parked next to a mural of a woman lying on her side. It looks like she is lying on the sidewalk. She is topless.

photos on the wall

There are also a number of political pieces. I suspect that some state are sponsored and some are not.

below: CDR #8 refers to Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (Spanish: Comités de Defensa de la Revolución) which is a network of neighbourhood committees across Cuba. Their purpose depends on what side of the fence you are on. They promote social welfare and report on counter-revolutionary activity or they are a secret police organization. Take your pick.

mural cdr number, portraits of three men wearing green, Che Guevera, Castro and

below: This is the symbol of the Young Communist League in Cuba. In Spanish it’s Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas or UJC. Estudio, Trabajo, Fusil = Study, Work, Rifle. The symbol shows the faces of Julio Antonio Mella, Camilo Cienfuegos and Che Guevera. Mella was a founder of the Cuban Communist Party while Cienfuegos and Guevera were major figures in the Cuban Revolution.

blog_havana_che_fusil

below: A UJC mural, “fieles a nuestra historia ” or Faithful to our History.
blog_havana_che_historia

below: Che Guevera on his own.

a black stencil of Che Guevera's head

many poster of Che Guevera

The next three pictures are of a mural on Callejon de Hamel (callejon is a lane)

colouful mural on a blue building in havana cuba

below: A woman looks out the window above the mural. The words on the beige part say “Puedo esperar mas que tu, porque soy el tiempo.” This translates to, “I can wait more than you because I am time. ” On the red section the words are “Salvador 26 to 95”.

colouful mural on a blue building in havana cuba - a woman looks out from a window above the mural

below: And last, a picture that was definitely a part of the Bienal. ‘Identidad ‘ by Julio Cesar Garcia It is part of a series of photos called Resistencia. The words that accompany it are given below along with a translation – not the best but with my beginner Spanish and the limitations of google translate, you get what you get!

a black and white photo of a man's head and shoulders, wearing a white hat, older man, large picture, on a wall outside

Identidad da inicio a una serie titulada Resistencia. Apelando al uso del lenguaje y el concepto de arte callejero, la serie esta compuesta por retratos de gran formato ubicados, a largo plazo, en varias ciudades del pais. La intention es intervenir muros, edificos, aceras y calles de la ciudad con gigantografias concebidas en forma de mosaico sobre cartulina cromada. Las obras, en relaction directa con todo tipo de publico desede el proceso mismo de su instalacion, tendran un caracter efimero. Resistencia sera una consigna, una actitud, un modo de vida y de hacer el arte.

Identidad is the first in a series titled Resistencia. Appealing to the use of language and the concept of street art, the series is composed of large format portraits located, in the long term, in several cities of the country. The intention is to intervene on walls, buildings, sidewalks and streets of the city with large photos made in the form of mosaics on chrome paperboard. The works [In direct relation with all types of public from the process itself of its installation] will have an ephemeral character. Resistance will be a slogan, an attitude, a way of life and making art.

these walls have eyes

Posted on December 28, 2016 by Mary C

Faces painted, stenciled and pasted on Montreal walls

street art painting on a bright orange door of a man in a suit sitting cross legged with a cup and saucer of tea. red tea cup and red saucer. his tie is flipped up and his hair is weird he is Monsieur Croissant Head

$two paste ups on an old window. on the left is a black and white photo of a young woman. on the right is an abstract of a face in bright primary colours, fractured so she has 4 eyes$

a tesalation of 8 faces, 4 on the left and 4 on the right. they are stacked on top of each other, alternating a white face and goldish brown face. The column on the right is looking upwards, the column on the left is looking down, with nose on the ground.

a large brick wall in Montreal with the bottom part covered with a mural. on the right is an image of a black man in a black hat playing the harmonica. The rest is text and tag like shapes in blues and greens. RIP.

under a balcony with two sets of stairs in front of it, a mural with a blue faced girl as well as some other creatures

On a garage door, three heads, each has a cat on top. On of the cats has a mouse pulling a small red cart.

in an alley, a black silhouette of a woman's head with the words Chlo Row 1861, on a salmon coloured wall, another mural on the next wall in the lane

a mural of a young girl in many colours. A red turtlecap is on top of her shoulder

5 poster of Marilyn Monroe on a wall. The 6th poster has been covered by a poster of a man, Bill W.

A man's face in grey tones surrounded by a rainbow coloured ribbon

a multifaceted face in grey tones by omen, with a small pasteup (or painting?) of a blue owl beside the face

two rows of repeating posters. In browns, faded, with torn edges, and red paint blobs and drips on top of them. The top row is girl's head and the bottom is a young girl looking up

large black and white man's face painted by omen with a small orange face to the bottom left and bottom right - orange faces painted by kashink

two faces are part of a larger mural

fresh paint under pressure, a man is holding a spray paint can. he is old looking, bald, with glasses at the end of his nose, wearing a top with black polka dots, done in grey tones

three mens heads. in the center, a bald man in pinks. on either side of him, the identical green man looking upwards.

girls head in pinks

realistic painting of a man in a white shirt, on a purple background, mural

a quickly drawn face with wild spiky black hair. face in red. a red star to the bottom left

a red head woman, with black bra, and many arms, some are snakes, two hands on her breasts and two hands holding her hair.

black abstract faces on white background, painted in an alley

a face painted on a brown metal wall beside an exterior stair case

a paste up of a black and white photo of a young man that is torn and the bottom half is missing

line painting of a woman's head and face

painted face on a brick wall, pink and yellow

once a black and white face, now blurred into grey

two small stickers of black and white demon faces with horns, and tongues stuck out

brown street art painting of a blad man's head and face with droopy eyes partially closed and wrinkled foreheard and cheeks

cartoon character like woman with yellow hair and a red and bllue suit

a roughly drawn black skull on a green fence, with white holes for the eyes and white outline

large painting of a girl's face with bright blue eyes and purple hair

blog_montreal_face_yellow_scribble_guy

a realistic painting of a woman's head, wearing a black shawl, fingers also in the painting.

mural of a woman's face , touch of turquoise but mostly in pinks and yellows , drawn mostly with lines

a black door in an alley, 911 Ave Mont Royal that has graffiti on it, as well as a painting of a man's face

a white stencil of an older Indian (first nations) man in a feather head dress. A stereotypical picture of Indian chief from old pictures

white line drawing of two men, one short and one tall. The tall man is under a window and looks like he's holding up the window

These photos were taken in June 2015

dancing in the glitter, Paris

Posted on December 3, 2016 by Mary C

I am not sure what they’re really called, or even if they actually have names. I saw these glittery confetti women dancing on a number of walls in Paris last spring. They are part of a series called ‘It’s time to dance’ by French street artist SOBR.

Is she still dancing on the walls?

large size paper paste up of a young woman, standing, with a lot of small glittery pieces of paper scattered around her - wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt with a red heart on it

large size paper paste up of a young woman, standing, with a lot of small glittery pieces of paper scattered around her - wearing a black bra top and shorts

large size paper paste up of a young woman, standing, with a lot of small glittery pieces of paper scattered around her - wearing shorts with a belt, a wide bracelet. The top of her head has been ripped off. She seems to be dancing beside a window

large size paper paste up of a young woman, standing, with a lot of small glittery pieces of paper scattered around her - wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt

Bacon St., Shoreditch

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Mary C

As you can see, Bacon Street is E1 London. It’s another street that runs east from Brick Lane, this time just north of the overground tracks.

London street sign, Bacon St., E.1 with its Arabic counterpart below it. Also, a PANIC sign that is supposed to look like a street sign under that.

below: Two owls, mirror images of each other; “You know the day divides the night and night divides the day. Try 2 run, Try 2 hide, Break on through to the other side”

street art mural of two owls with text, one owl is black on white and the other is white on black. They are mirror images of each other. The text says You Know the day divides the night and night divides the day

below: A portrait, a tribute to Charlie Burns 1915-2012. Charlie, The King of Bacon Street, was the oldest man on the street. He used to sit in the backseat of his daughter’s car and watch the world go past on nearby Brick Lane. The car was parked in front the family business, C.E. Burns & Sons, a second hand furniture store.

large mural portrait of Charlie Burns 1914-2012

below: A pig on Bacon Street! How apt. It seems to have an admirer too!

black and white paste up of a pig below a window, looks like its sleeping on the sidewalk

below: A collection of paste ups on a wall including a life sized young woman with long flowing orange hair by Saki & B where B is for bitches. This piece is tamer than some of their other art as seen on instagram. The greenish woman’s portrait is by georgie, another London based artist.

pasteups on a wall, a tall life sized girl by Saki & B, with long orange hair, yellow tights, black boots and a red dress, a woman's portrait in greenish tones by georgie artist, a phoebe, and a black and white pig,

below: A cat on the phone by d7606.

top part of a paste up by Saki & B along with a dagog cat upright on two legs, holding a phone and receiver.

below: In the bottom corner, a small ‘Rebel’ Phoebe New York

phoebe from new york pasteup with rebel sticker on her

below: Did you know that a serving size is 2010 skulls? A poster left behind by Arrex when he visited London from Portland Oregon.

poster by arrex, or rxskulls, from Portland, Poison, and the nutritional content of it, e.g. calories,

below: I am not sure who painted the long necked white birds, but the portraits on the door are by Paul (Don) Smith and they were featured in a previous blog post.

a mural of long necked white birds in foilage, around a window and beside a door. On the door are two other pieces of street art, a portrait of two different people, a woman on the top and a man below.

four or five pieces of street art beside and above a store front where there is a lot of activity going, moving items, delivering items.

Photos taken September 2016

Belfast street art

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Mary C

Belfast is home to more than 250 murals. Most of them are political or historical in nature and concern the recent “Troubles” in Northern Ireland’s past. But there are other murals in this city, and other street art. This post features some of the apolitical murals that I saw late in September of 2016.

below: A large mural by Smug One on High Court Street (One of his murals previously seen in Melbourne – Smug on Wood Street)

below: Keep Her Lit, keep the furnace in your heart burning, keep the fire alive.

below: These fingers are pointing at you in a mural by EMIC. 3D glasses are available in Sunflower, which is a store across the street. It’s difficult to take a photo in 3D!

below: This blue woman looms over one of the smaller streets in downtown Belfast.

below: Fighting with swords while a dead (or injured) dog lies on the floor. Surreal?

below: The vertical painting in browns is done by KVLR

below: A mural by Kashink who is an artist from Paris. She has painted in many cities around the world and some of her work can be seen in Montreal.

below: A colourful dog by Verz, a local artist.

below: A mural showing streets at night, lights and reflections, by Dan Kitchener

below: One of the hazards of taking pictures of street art is the usual presence of parked cars. They get in the way. A lot. Sometimes you just have to make them part of the composition.

below: And then there are the times when the cars are just in the way and there’s no way around it. This black bird was painted by Spanish artist Sabek. It would be nice to think that the arrow is aimed right at the car roof and that it missed the bird.

below: Continuing the bird and arrow theme is this mural titled “The son of Protagoras” by MTO (French born, now Berlin based). The mural is located in the yard of Northern Ireland War Memorial. Note the markings on the arrows. Protagoras (about 490 – 420 BC) was a Greek philosopher; he was either an agnostic or an atheist.

below: This snake and arrow mural was painted in 2015 as part of the ‘Hit the North’ event when 30 murals were painted in Belfast. Some of the other murals in this blog post were painted then. If you watch this video on youtube you might recognize them!

below: A fantastical dragon creature in purple and orange walks along the pavement.

below: A cockatoo by Dan Leo sits high on a wall, brightening up the side of a building.

below: On the fence beneath the cockatoo is this mural. It seems to be a deer hunt? The woman and her dog are chasing the deer? Or running with the deer?

below: A Faigy mural, The owl doll Millies

below: A wonderful portrait of a man by DREPH. I saw a few slices of bread with feet… The signature on the side of the bread seems to say Artista. The himbad signature on the left goes with the cat in the picture below

below: Himbad cat, wide open mouth and many sharp teeth!

below: Now it’s Puinsai Hawaii at any time.

below: On the Restore Charity Shop, a woman by Emic.

below: ‘LOST’, a man with harp antlers and a pink nose, two lonely whiskers and a grille over his mouth. My apologies for the fact that the quality of the photo is such that the smaller words are illegible. I think that what is lost is dip-py but could be dup-py.

below: More pasteups. A Citizen Nobody poster is surrounded by other pasteups in various states. “The will to consume terrorises you.”

below: Ireland is not full of leprechauns. There is one on this wall but I didn’t see too many others, real or otherwise! There were no pots of gold either. I saw a few nuns though including this one by David Creative.

below: Pull up a mattress and make yourself comfortable.

below: A mural or an ad?

idle tagging, Dublin

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Mary C

On John Street there is a large maroon coloured building. A couple of murals have been painted on it.

At one end of the street is this mural by Marcamix, Evolve Urban Arts.

mural on the side of a building, a Japanese looking woman, a keyboard with wings, in orange and brown.

Beside it, is this longer mural. Unfortunately I’m not who the artist is (or artists are).

large mural on a maroon wall, titled Idle Tagging, a woman standing, a large white cat, plus other creatures,

part of a mural, a woman standing wearing blue skirt and green top and sunglasses. Also a large white sitting cat with one paw raised.

part of a mural, profile of older man, slightly abstracted

part of a mural. what looks like headless man running or walking,

#marcamix

Yeats poem, Sligo

Posted on October 7, 2016 by Mary C

On a wall in Sligo Ireland, written large, is a poem by William Butler Yeats. It is called “When You are Old” and it goes like this:

a mural covers the side of a multistorey building, a woman's head and lines of poetry, When you are old by William Butler Yeats.

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

below: A mural that is a portrait of the poet, William Butler Yeats on the side of house undergoing renovations.

city streets in Sligo Ireland with houses, pedestrians and road. A crane is being used to demolish the top part of a house. On the side of that house, exterior, is a large mural that is a portrait of the poet William Butler Yeats (W.B. Yeats)

Sligo walls, murals

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Mary C

On the walls around the Adelaide Car Park, Sligo Ireland, are a number of small murals.

mural, stylized painting of a person playing a blue guitar with a cloud in the background, yellow sky, and a bottle of something floating beside the musician
on a brick wall, with houses behind, a mural of a man in grey monotone, some blur highlights in the rest of the mural which is a picture of ships at sea
mural on a brick wall in a car park, with houses behind, three stylized women with bright red hair, flowing to their shoulders, all holding bouquets of flowers
a mural of a woman in blue tones, frontal image, staring straight ahead. Two birds are in flight, one on either side of her, flying towards the center of the picture

a woman's face, black hair, looks like she's coming out of the center of a purple flower, a yellow bell, a bird and a bone are also in the picture

two cars parked in the corner of a car park, blocking views of two small murals, one on each wall of the corner. One is a stylized young man's face in blue and yellow.

below: Shligo Shtyle, Nooneboy

text mural, white letters on black that say Shligo Shtyle

from Balaclava to the beach

Posted on September 8, 2016 by Mary C

This is a selection of the street art that I saw back in February when I walked from Balaclava station to the beach (Melbourne, Australia).

below: I can see parts of Mickey and Minnie Mouse in this mural by MTS, 2014

a mural featuring parts of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse including a white glove, part of a bow, a bowtie

the head of a bird with lots of tall feathers on its head, whitish bird on greenish turquoise background, on a wall beside a building with a massage sign hanging above the door.

people wearing backpacks walking down a paved footpath past a building with street art on the side of it.

below: Painted wall on Hot Bargains at the corner of Woodstock Street.

hot bargain store on Woodstock st., with its painted corner

below: Flying eyeballs and one eyed little green guys wearing glasses adorn the wall of an optometrist’s building along with a scientifically correct (and labelled) cross section of the eye. A great way to advertise your business!

mural on the exterior wall of an optometrist's shop showing the parts of the eye in comic form.

below: Two men merged into one. It looks like the original painting was of a man in grey tones. Then someone came along and added their own version in such a way that original eyes now look through glasses and a moustache obscures the mouth. He also seems to be wearing a space helmet, or some sort of headwear with antennae.

a man on a door,