15 Stunning Toronto Street Murals that you can now find with MapinHood
The next time the mood strikes to discover and appreciate some new art, you don’t have to go to a gallery or a museum because you can just go outside! If you’re an art lover and live in the city of Toronto then we have some good news for you: a new free pedestrian navigation app called MapinHood just released it’s beta on both IOS and Android for Torontonians to use. The app easily lets you search, filter and get directions to nearby city amenities and points of interests. One of those type of tags under ‘points of interests’ are Street Murals.
Learn more about MapinHood here and download the app to check it out!
Today we are going to share with you what we consider to be some of Toronto’s Best Street Murals that bring joy and wonder to all its fine residents. A special thanks goes out to all the lead artists and StreetArtTO for making our home such a vibrant and beautiful place to live in.
Street Mural: Uber 5000 at Graffiti Alley
Address: 160 Rush Lane (the beginning of Graffiti Alley starts at the corner of Rush Lane and Portland Street. Then walk east.)
You are probably familiar with the famous Graffiti Alley, one of Toronto’s iconic backstreet alleys that just might be the city’s most unexpected tourist attraction. Most murals here have a shelf life, being painted over time with new art making it an ever-changing museum of Toronto’s street art.
Street Mural: Equilibrium
Address: 383 Jarvis Street (corner of Jarvis and Carlton)
World-renowned Spanish street artist Okuda San Miguel gave us this vibrant 23-story piece entitled Equilibrium on the Parkside Student Residence building located at Carlton and Jarvis. This was his first piece in Toronto and his second in Canada after another mural in Vancouver that was completed in 2017. Definitely worth a visit!
Street Mural: Unknown
Address: 290 Adelaide St W (corner of John and Adelaide)
This stunning new mural came up recently in late 2019 near the Hooters parking lot downtown. Be sure to take a moment to take in this beauty by lead artist @vizsla_bacon if you happen to be meandering by.
Street Mural: East Chinatown Mural
Address: 232 Hamilton St. (corner of Gerrard St. E and Broadview Avenue)
Another awesome mural in Toronto’s Chinatown East showing a resting tiger, cherry blossoms, floating lanterns, a lucky cat with its paws up and a panda munching on a piece of bamboo. This is only a section of the entire mural, go there to see the rest and we promise you won’t be disappointed!
Street Mural: Sharkwater Pangea Seed
Address: 280 Adelaide St W (corner of John and Adelaide)
This shark tank mural was once again an epic collaboration by lead artist @vizsla_bacon and @cmazulla. The image above just shows the great white but the full shark water mural is swarming with hammerhead sharks!
Street Mural: Birth of Light
Address: 291 Lakeshore Blvd East
Birth of Light is an absolutely gigantic and visually striking mural on Lakeshore by lead artist @jacquiecomrie. Again, Go there to see the full thing! You really can’t miss it if you’re headed east on LakeShore Blvd.
Street Mural: Machu Picchu
Address: 651 Gerrard St. E.
This Machu Picchu mural is one of seven that you can find in Toronto’s East end as part of the ‘Around the World in East Chinatown’ project. This intricate piece was the joint creation of @vizsla_bacon, @kwest88 and @kane.ism. The same parking lot also features a very large mural of the Taj Mahal by Sight, Hone, Water, Equal and Tenser.
Street Mural: Toronto Wall
Address: 101 Spadina Avenue (South side of Strange Love Coffee)
If you need a pick me up and some motivation for the day, take a stroll past this awesome typography mural by @ben_johnston. Anything that portrays Toronto’s name is a sure to be ‘Grammable’, and this variation might have you do a double take before you can fully read out the name.
Street Mural: Sister Cities
Address: 20 Charles St. East (Just South Yonge and Bloor)
The mural was conceptualized and painted in just six days by Frankfurt native Becker, working alongside local artists Alexander Bacon, Quentin Rockford, Christina Mazzulla, and Kyla Buium. It features cityscapes of Frankfurt and Toronto appearing in the reflection of a pair of glasses, illustrating the twinned status the cities have shared for over 30 years.
“Diversity is what Frankfurt and Toronto hold in common, and that very much influenced my concept,” stated Becker. “The vibrant and colorful pallet represents the diversity of people in Toronto and the fingerprint represents the idea that each one of us has an impact in our society.”
Street Mural: Music Mural
Address: 423 Yonge Street
Toronto’s Music Mural is a 22 storey high work of art that depicts the musical history of the city’s Yonge Street. The soaring mural features prominent figures of the local music scene in the 50’s and 60’s. Old legends like Gordon Lightfoot and Ronnie Hawkins are shown along with the go to venues for music back in the day such as Le Coq d’Or and Massey Hall.
Street Mural: Make Good
Address: 835 Bloor Street West
The ‘Make Good’ mural spans the whole side of the building where Studio 835 is located and is filled with gorgeous bright colours. The eccentric design of this mega mural was created by Toronto artist Jimmy Chiale, and has been a staple part of the city’s west end landscape for years.
Street Mural: Owl on Bloor
Address: 280 Bloor Street West
The facade of the old Holiday Inn-turned-@saintgeorgetoronto hotel in Toronto got a much-needed spruce up with an iconic steam punk-looking owl on this 14 storey canvas. Find this epic piece by @jerryrugg aka Birdo in the city’s Bloor Corridor by using the MapinHood app on Android or IOS!
Street Mural: Underpass Park
Address: 29 Lower River Street
Toronto’s Underpass Park is alive with colors and character. This once derelict underutilized urban space is now home to a skate park, basketball nets and yes you guessed it: lots of street art and murals!
Street Mural: Burt’s Bees Mural
Address: 2 Howland Ave (Corner of Bloor St.W and Howland Ave)
Commissioned by Burt’s Bees Canada in partnership with the city’s StreetARToronto (START) program, Nick Sweetman’s mural is a 10-metre-high tribute that hopes to bring awareness to the rapidly declining population of pollinator insects across the world. The mural features a vibrant depiction of Toronto’s skyline, overshadowed by a large sweat bee pollinating a flower, and a vast section of outer space that hangs overhead.
Street Mural: Unknown
Address: 604 Church St. (Alley opposite The New Leaf)
Last but not least, this elegant piece depicts a beautiful woman with her face painted holding a pink flower. It’s hidden away in an alley but it’s just one out of many that make up the Church Street Mural Project.
Find and Tag More Murals with MapinHood
And that concludes our short but sweet mural tour around the City of Toronto. It really does not do justice to all the countless works of art that are out there on show for everyone in the city to see. Do you think we missed some that should be on this list? Is there a mural in your area that you want people to know about? Want to find all the street murals in your city? Great!
Download MapinHood to tag, find or get directions straight to your favorite art pieces in Toronto. You can also follow our social media where we will be highlighting more murals on display in our city:
Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/mapinhood
Twitter — https://twitter.com/mapinhood
Instagram -https://www.instagram.com/mapinhood/
LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/mapinhood/
Feel free to drop us a line on our contact form on www.mapinhood.com or email us directly at info@mapinhood.com for any questions or feedback.
Next time we’ll show you where you find all those back-alley beauties in the city, like this masterpiece by @shalakattack located near Bickford Park.
