Little Robot

I don't know why I think this little guy looks like a robot... I found in Besiktas, 2 miles north of Taksim. 20x10cm.

No Gun

This "No Gun" stencil was also found in Tunel near Taksim (same street as the previous stencil). 20x15 cm.

Fingerprint

Big fingerprint found in Tunel near Taksim. This is actually a pretty good one, think of the work it must have taken to cut all the lines. The inscription below reads "Fişlenme!" meaning "Don't get filed". 40x30 cm.

Street Design Studio

This one was made in Acara Street in Taksim at the corner from the Istiklal pedestrian avenue. On this wall there used to be a stencil of the music band Depeche Mode. All of them are gone now. Lower in the street you can find Alexis' ones. 15x15 cm.

Stars

I saw this one in Cihangir behind the German Hospital (Gunesli Street). It represents 3 big stars. There is another one in the next street (Sogancı street). Done with A4 formatted stencil.

Heart to Brain

I spotted this one in the Tophane district down at the corner of Meclis-i Mebusan boulevard and Salı Pazarı Yokusu. It was done pretty recently I guess because I've been there on scout not too long ago and I didn't see it. I really like the design of this one. The way it runs. 20x20 cm.
If you look well you can see a very small one on the second photo (on the right) representing a small "guy" standing still with a big heart linked to his brain as well.

Jesus - Merry Christmas

I found this one of Jesus on the cross in Kartal Street in Taksim. In this street you could find many many stencils but most of them are gone now. There is a big nice fresco (a wall painting) now at this spot. You can see three other stencils on this photo. One of 645, one of the Chiquita banana and one of the band Kreş.

The Cockatoo and the Octopus

I found this one near Cihangir while going down to Tophane by the back alleys (Findikli Yokusu).
This stencil represents a cockatoo and an octopus with the writing "Même Pas Mal" just below. It's French for "Didn't Even hurt". It's signed by O&C. Is the artist(s) French or going to the French school or just French speaking ? I don't know. This is the second stencil I find with French text.
Above this stencil you can see another stencil of Bruce Lee that I published a while ago.

Against Institutions

I found this one in Tünel near Taksim. You can actually see many stencils on this wall on top of which a big graffiti was done. I will share about those stencils later on. I will also share about this graffiti and more, later. Today's stencil is on the right. It represents a man from the prehistoric era with a lance in his hand. On the side you can read "Kurumlar! Dağılın Lan!" which is actually not that easy to translate (for me). It means :"Institutions! Disperse!" or "move away". A socially engaged message actually done by an anonymous artist but it looks like Osman's work (here, here, here or here).

Euro Apartimani

I found this one in Bogazkesen street near the Galatasaray H.S. It represents Turkish P.M. Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the left and what looks like Russian P.M. Valdimir Putin on the right, but I'm not sure. If someone could enlightened me. 50x40 cm.
In Turkey all the buildings have a name. This one is represented as the old (early 19th century) Beyoglu's buildings of european style.

Weather

I found this little one (15x10 cm) in the Taksim area near the Tünel. In Babylon's street, in Sehbender Street.

Babalar

A while ago, I posted a stencil of the number eight. On the same wall you could see this one with three faces. Who are they ? Three singers considered to be the best singers of the Turkish folk music (mostly Turkish folk and Ottoman classical music, with an arabesque style).













The one on the left is Müslüm Gürses, "Gürses" being a scene name meaning "strong voice". His talent and his special style have put him to a different place among other folk singers. In his songs he mostly expresses sorrow and painful feelings (listen here). He is considered a cult figure in Turkish folk music and has a very dedicated group of fans, most of whom being young, low-income urban people. He is mostly called Müslüm Baba ("Papa Müslüm") among them (wikipedia).

İn the middle, Ibrahim Tatlises (Sweet Voice), also known as Ibo (short for Ibrahim). One of Turkey's most prolific recording artists, hosts a popular television program İbo Show and has appeared in several dozen films. He is the archetype of the Turkish male, real macho man. Known for beating his wife(s).

Third one : Orhan Gencebay is a bağlama virtuoso, composer, singer, arranger, music producer, music director, and actor. Pioneer in Turkish music as he combined Arabic motives with the elements of Turkish classical and folk music. His music includes also psychedelic notions since he's also familiar with rock and jazz music. He also played in more than 30 films.

No Happy Love

I particularly like this one because the one(s) who did it took the time to do a great job. This is a pretty big stencil (about 1m x 1m) and you don't find it every 10 feet around the neighborhood. This one was found in Akarsu sokak near the Indigo bar in the Taksim area. There were some other nice stencils in this street I will share later on.
The French writing underneath the girl's face reads :"there is no happy love" (Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux).

Skull-A-Day Tribute

This one is for my friend Noah Scalin, who created the skull-a-day project. He did, created, invented, one skull, every day, for one year. As the holidays approach, you might be interested in buying his book SKULLS, for you or someone else ;)
I found this A4 formatted stencil of a punk skull in Akarsu sokak near the Galatasaray H.S. by the church. This is actually the church's wall.

Horsiphant

This pink animal seems to be a mix of a horse and an elephant or a tamanoir. I also found this one in the Nişantaşı district. Its size is about 20x20 cm. It was made by Zübide, a young grafic designer. I think this is her first stencil.









Vali Konağı Boulevard









Dersane Street









On the Dolmuş (dolmoosh : minibuses) stop, I had to wait for the minibus to leave to take this photo.











Zafer Street





















Süleyman Nazif Street

La Linea - Kreuzberg

This one represents the little character from the Italian cartoon "La Linea" created by Osvaldo Cavandoli with the writing Kreuzberg. Kreuzberg is both the Turkish and trendy district in Berlin, Germany. The creator of this stencil is Daniel (a german psychiatrist), he actually lives in Kreuzberg in Berlin. You can find them in the Nişantaşı area. It's a pretty smaşş one, about 15x10 cm.









Dersane Street






























Süleyman Nazif Street






"Temiz Şişli" means "A Clean Şişli", Şişli (sheeshlee) being the name of the municipality. Someone wrote "Çişli" (tcheeshlee) on the left side meaning "with pee". Underneath the writing, above the stencil, it says "Kirletriz" (mispelled) meaning "we'll litter".









Vali Konağı Boulevard

Kardeşimsin Alexis

Those stencils are very recent ones and when I first saw them (on the Istiklal Boulevard and adjacent streets) I was wondering about this guy, of who he was. As I took photos I saw a guy 30 feet in front of me taking photos of the same things too. I was like :"there's nothing on those walls, what's he taking a picture of ?". He was taking a picture of the stencils and "posters" of this guy too until I realized they were (he was actually with a friend) the one doing this by gluing those on walls. But they were looking at me suspiciously as I was kind of following them and taking photos too. They just disappeared at a corner before I could ask them what it was about.

I found a website with more photos and the pattern for the sticker or/and stencil to download : http://kardesimsinalexis.blogspot.com/

Interested in photos of the riots, it's on my other blog.

Alexis (Alexandros) Grigoropoulos is actually the reason the Greek riots are happening since December the 6th. 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was deliberately killed (according to the Chief of Police of Athens) by a special guard of the Greek Police, following an altercation between police and a group of youths in the Exarcheia district of Athens, Greece.

The writing below the image says "Kardeşimsin Alexis", meaning "You are my brother Alexis". This is a strong sign in Turkey if you know the relationship Turkey has with Greece, depending of course of who did this.