Number 50 on Ligovsky Prospekt hides a vast courtyard with old red brick buildings. Rows of these buildings form entire streets. In order to get into this courtyard one has to pass through a low archway, similar to the archway leading to the courtyards of ordinary residential buildings, and for a random person it is a surprise to see the large size of the space.
All these buildings were once warehouses. A few years ago the warehouse ceased to exist, and new tenants appeared in these buildings. The tenant mix is very colourful. There are shops, workshops, offices, cafes and the like. The location is in the city centre, the transport accessibility is very good, the railway station is not far away - in other words, there is no shortage of tenants.
This place is popular among street artists. A few days ago I had a business meeting nearby and I decided to take the opportunity to check the fate of old works and look for new graffiti. I moved along the streets and looked for interesting graffiti. Besides drawings, there were quite often simple tags, but I skipped them and didn't take photos.
The first serious work I saw was a portrait of Emperor Peter the Great. This graffiti occupies two walls, at first you see the main part of the drawing, and after turning round another part of the graffiti and the text "to the founder from his descendants" becomes visible.
Quite a lot of graffiti is done by the tenants or at their request. Door and window mouldings, shutters and garage gates - sometimes these surfaces contain information about the name, profile, opening hours of the establishment, but often there are also interesting drawings. I photographed some of them. Raccoons that look like pandas are dry cleaners. Some of the oldest graffiti is hiding in the far section of the space. The colours have faded, but the drawing is intact. Sometimes there are also inscriptions. For example, "Choose life."
On the central square there is graffiti dedicated to the legendary rock band Alice. The last time I saw this graffiti, it occupied only the left part of the wall. Now another portrait of the band's leader has been added and it occupies the right part of the wall. This graffiti was made by HoodGraff artists by order of fans. Now the fans are planning to order another graffiti dedicated to their favourite rock band and are holding an auction in their social network group to raise money.
At the very end of the walk, I suddenly noticed a portrait of another rock-punk musician. Most of the portrait was covered by a rubbish bin, but the musician's gaze remained intense and penetrating. Lekha Nikonov is known not only as the leader of the band "PTVP", but also as a poet.
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| Smartphone | Google Pixel 3a |
| Location | Saint Petersburg, Russia |
This is my entry for the CCC’s Street Art Contest #193 organized by @digi-me.