Playing Monopoly in Vancouver

July 3, 2016

Last week these small red houses began popping up in vacant lots around the east side of Vancouver. The one pictured here is located at Hastings and Commercial Drive, and I’ve seen one on Main near Prior, and another at Clark and 1st. When I shared the photo on Twitter a friend pointed out that this is a large-scale hotel piece from the game Monopoly. I didn’t realize this because I’ve only played it once or twice, and it was a million years ago.

It’s a brilliant comment on the state of the housing market in Vancouver. I would love to discover who is behind this clever street art project.

Giraffes and Magnolias in Mount Pleasant

January 25, 2016

This beautiful new mural recently made an appearance in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. It’s the work of Ilya Viryachev, a concept artist and animator in Vancouver.

The mural is HUGE, stretching down an alley running south just off of 8th Avenue near Main Street. It’s bright, beautiful, and full of magnolias, birds, and giraffes peeking out of the foliage.

I want more murals like this, because I am greedy for high quality street art.

A Sign Of The Times by I Heart

July 10, 2015

These are photos of a solo show of stencil work by street artist, I Heart. It was up for two days in June before the City of Vancouver had it painted over.

I’m not sure why they were in such a hurry to erase it from the walls of the Granville Bridge underpass when plenty of previous graffiti had been left up there for years. Was it such a big deal that the artist hadn’t asked permission to do this? I’m sure only The City cared about that. This unexpected bit of street art elevated the space, and gave passerby something to think about, talk about, and interact with.

This was clearly a thoughtful exhibition of work but the City of Vancouver did not deal with it in a thoughtful way. Apparently we are better off with looking at drab grey walls than art.

I would love for Vancouver to have a thriving street art scene the way Toronto does. I think it’s an important part of the cultural landscape, and it’s a way to bring art to the public and make it accessible. I’m trying to figure out how to make this happen.

Art on the Streets of Toronto

April 25, 20142 Comments

Another highlight of my visit to Toronto was seeing how dramatically the street art scene has grown. There was interesting graffiti to be seen everywhere, and I got in the habit of peering down every alley I passed while walking around. Chances were good I would see something I liked.

There are large concentrations of street art in Graffiti Alley, which runs parallel to Queen from about Spadina to Portland, as well as throughout Kensington Market. But everywhere I walked, no matter the neighbourhood, I found something. These are some of the highlights.

Located on Collage east of Spadina

Located behind The Green Room on Bloor Street

Located on Dundas Street West

Located in an alley on Bloor Street in the Annex

Alley off of Queen Street West

McCaul Street near OCAD.

A small part of a huge mural on the side of Sanko on Queen Street West

An alley off of Queen near Dufferin Street

Kensington Market

Graffiti Alley

View the full set of my graffiti photos on Flickr.

I would dearly love to see the Vancouver street art scene grow and thrive on a similar scale. I wonder what needs to be done to make it happen…?

Anser, Crowded Kingdom Show at Hashtag Gallery in Toronto

March 2, 2014

Boris and I arrived in Toronto yesterday afternoon and I already feel like I’ve taken in plenty of interesting art. There is so much more street art here than in Vancouver, and it thrills me to see it wherever we go.

Last night I read about Crowded Kingdom, a show of work by a street artist who goes by the name of Anser. We dropped by to see the show at Hashtag Gallery this afternoon as we were out wandering the cold streets. I really loved the show, and wish one of the small pieces in my price range was still available to buy. Almost all of them were sold out.

Some of the faces are drawn with one continuous line, like the one pictured below. The line work is beautiful and intricate. I could probably stare it at for hours.

On another note, I’m curious to see how many other small storefront galleries like Hashtag are thriving and selling work on the streets of Toronto.

Wearing Hearts on the Street

February 18, 2014

My friend Vivienne has an uncanny ability to find hearts and messages of love around our neighbourhood of Commercial Drive, and she often shares these on Instagram. It got me thinking about leaving more hearts for her to find, which in turn led to an idea for a collaboration we could do together.

I created a couple of heart stencils, three by hand and one using the digital cutter, and bought two cans of spray paint. I was curious to see how well my elaborate heart paper cut work would translate when painted on the sidewalk. We wanted to do this in time for Valentine’s Day, and bring a little more love into the world.

Vivienne and I went out twice last week and added hearts to parts of Strathcona and The Drive. Some of these have already washed away in the rain, because that’s how it goes with street art. It’s not meant to be permanent and the work is at the mercy of the elements. I think a few of the hearts will stick around for awhile, and at some point I hope we’ll go out again and add more.

We decided to title the project #HeartingTheNeighbourhood. If you come across our hearts around town please share them on Instagram and use the tag so we can see.

I hope you had a happy heart day.

A Whirlwind Trip to Seattle

July 8, 2013

A few weeks ago I decided to do a quick trip to Seattle in order to catch Morgan Brig’s new show at Patricia Rovzar Gallery before it closed at the end of June. I’ve admired her work for a few years, ever since coming across the gallery and her work while wandering the streets after Gnomedex in 2009.

These are three of many new pieces of Brig’s latest work. I really like the series of boats on wheels she’s created. Check out more of Morgan Brig’s work on her web site.

It was only a twenty-four hour visit to Seattle and my main stop beside Patricia Rovzar Gallery was the Seattle Art Museum to see the Vogel show.

Fifty Works for Fifty States is an exhibition of works donated to the museum from the collection of Dorothy and Herbert Vogel. Their collection of art is so large that they’ve donated fifty works to one art institute or museum in each of the fifty states. The display at SAM was mixed in with existing work from the collection of a similar nature. The show did not grab me as much as other things in the museum did.

SAM’s displays of their permanent collection are always engaging, no matter how many times I’ve seen them. They even manage to make ceramics compelling, which is an area of items I normally find rather boring. I wandered through previously unseen corners of the museum and came across the two murals pictured below. They were a fun surprise and both play with perspective in interesting ways.

I also found interesting art on the streets, which is something I haven’t found much of on past visits to Seattle. I love the mural of the man in a wolf mask. The leaves coming in from the top corner of the photo are real but blend nicely into the pasteup.

It was a lot of inspiration packed into a short visit, and it was just the thing I needed to get inspired. Thanks Seattle.

Owls on the Streets of Vancouver

December 15, 2011

It looks like the owl craze has hit the streets of Vancouver in the form of graffiti. I found the top one on a wall of the Raja Cinema (aka York Theatre) a few weeks ago before the wall was knocked down. I came across my second owl last night as I was waiting for the bus at Hastings and Abbott Street.

I really like these owls on the streets of Vancouver because they’re cute and clever. I hope more of them will make an appearance around East Van.

Art on the Street

July 25, 2010

I love this raven and tree paste up, as see near Granville Island and Fourth Avenue.

Interesting work by Office Supplies Incorporated.

The coffee cup that says fart. This cracks me up.

Chronicle

June 26, 2008

I’m really looking forward to the upcoming show of collaborative works by Neal Nolan and Eben Bender. He’s one of my favorite Vancouver-based artists. The above shot is one of his most recent pieces (located on Pender Street), and he was also one of 150 Vancouver artists in last Saturday evening’s “Cheaper Show” in Gastown. His works are done with a mix of airbrush, acrylic, inks, and text, with imagery focused on portraiture.

A full set of Eben’s work on display for Chronicle can be seen on Flickr.

The show opens Friday at Little Mountain Studios on Main Street, and runs until July 7th. Both artists will be in attendance opening night.

Chronicle: Collaborative Works by Neal Nolan and Eben Bender
Little Mountain Studios
195 East 26th (One block west off Main.)
Opening: June 27th, 7pm to 11pm

Canvas to the Imagination

Rachael Ashe – Art | Craft | Life

Category: Street art