This image gallery brings together 100 pieces of Montreal street art from 2020 that were created in a studio, then pasted, glued, screwed in or cemented into a public place. It is not necessarily the best of the year because taste is a subjective thing and I was obviously not able to photograph everything. The selection was done partly from my own personal favourites but mostly from those of my followers on Instagram. Of course this list was put together from what I was actually able to photograph, so keep in mind that it may lack some great work that just slipped between the cracks.

The pieces are shown here in alphabetical order of artist name. To ensure that the list wasn’t filled with only work from a few popular artists, I have set a maximum of 4 pieces per person. Collaborations by two or more artists count as one entry.

See also:
– Retrospective of 2020 murals and other painted street art
– Retrospective of 2020 graffiti

Cette galerie-photo présente 100 pièces de street art produites en 2020 à Montréal, créées en studio avant d’être collées, vissées ou fixées dans le ciment dans un endroit public. Cette liste n’a pas la prétention d’être un best of de l’année puisque les goûts sont personnels et je n’ai évidemment pas eu la chance de tout photographier. La sélection s’est faite en partie parmi mes pièces favorites, mais surtout parmi les préférées de mes abonnés Instagram. Cette liste a bien sur été créée à partir de ce que j’ai eu la chance de trouver et de photographier, ce qui signifie que quelques chef d’oeuvres de 2020 pourraient ne pas y figurer.

Les pièces apparaissent ci-dessous en ordre alphabétique de nom d’artiste. Pour que cette liste ne soit pas totalement accaparée par quelques artistes populaires, j’ai fixé un maximum de 4 pièces par personne. Les collaborations entre deux ou plusieurs artistes ne comptent que pour une entrée.

Voir aussi:
– Retrospective 2020 murales et autre street art peint
– Retrospective 2020 graffiti

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Poster by Adi.

One of many different small paste-ups by Adi. This artist has also made it into the Retrospective of 2020 murals and other painted street art.

One of many plant/insect designs by Laurence Bélanger.

A paste-up by Laurence Bélanger.

One of many pasted head pieces by Bodegas.

One more paste-up by Bodegas.

Poster by Bubzee and Kali Spitzer.

A beautiful wheatpaste by Bubzee.

A pasted collaboration between Bubzee and Sage Novak.

A poster by Bubzee and Sage Novak.

A small poster from Cam. Similar variations in different colours have also been found.

This one is the most beautiful of the Black Lives Matter posters put up by Maya Cardin.

One of many small paste-ups by Cess Pool.

Nivanh Chanthara hit the streets of Montreal for the first time near the end of the year and managed to paste between 15 and 20 pieces in the year’s final few weeks.

One more by Nivanh Chanthara.

One more by Nivanh Chanthara.

One more by Nivanh Chanthara.

A typical Montreal citizen in transit, by CSRK. Found in Mile End.

CSRK found in Petite-Patrie.

CSRK inspired by the Covid19 pandemic.

A small wood-up by Flavor.

Laurent Gascon has been coming up with a new broken tile mosaics honouring a local artist every year since 2009. This 2020 mural, his 13th, features Renée Claude, a québécoise singer who passed away from Covid19 in May.

Above 2 photos: Huile d’Olive pasted these posters from the very beginning of the Covid19 pandemic, they were the very first pieces of public art addressing the subject. The posters were made in French or English, in a variation of colours. Huile d’Olive has also made it into the Retrospective of 2020 murals and other painted street art.

Irritated Eye wheatpaste that appeared on St-Laurent shortly after the death of George Floyd, when the subject of police brutality inspired many artists to create.

Junko installed around Mile End a handful of impressive large pieces made of reclaimed materials during the final weeks of the year.

One more creation by Junko made from reclaimed materials.

A set of 2 Know Self wheatpastes coloured on location. These were found in a Mile End alley. The bottom piece was added to the top one after a few weeks.

One more Know Self wheatpaste from a Mile End alley, colour added on location.

One more Know Self wheatpaste from a Mile End alley, painted on location.

A set of pieces by Kyoto Coyote.

Labrona was very active during the first part of the year. This is one of many pasted pieces I found over 2020.

One more pasted piece by Labrona, this one from a series inspired by Picasso. Labrona has also made it into the Retrospective of 2020 murals and other painted street art.

“Wet’suwet’en Strong”, a small paste-up by LMNOPI.

A small paste-up by LMNOPI titled “Water Is Life”.

A small paste-up by LMNOPI titled “Land Back”.

This punny wheatpaste by Lost Claws put up in April was very likely inspired by the Covid19 pandemic (Six Feet Away / Six Feet Under).

This is Lost Claws taking a dig at a street artist whose work is found right next to it (one corner is visible in this shot).

A touching tribute by Lost Claws to his cat which had just passed away.

Something a bit different from Lost Claws. This artist has also made it into the Retrospective of 2020 murals and other painted street art.

Above 8 photos: While the streets of Montreal were deserted at the very beginning of the Covid19 pandemic, Louis Letters decided to take the 36 Days Of Type challenge outside. The 36 Days Of Type Challenge invites designers and graphic artists to create their own versions of the letters A to Z then the numbers 0 to 9. The creations are usually posted on Instagram, but Louis Letters had the great idea of bringing his creations to the street, photograph them in situ and then post them. The photos above show the letters N,O, R, T, U, V, W and X.

A small paste-up by Louis Letters stating “Police Kills”. Ironically, a policeman sitting in his car was watching me as I photographed this piece!

A Black Lives Matter poster by Louis Letters. This artist has also made it into the Retrospective of 2020 graffiti.

A poster by Madame Gilles.

A poster by Madame Gilles.

A small paste-up by Maika.

A small paste-up by Maika.

An installation by Makenoize in a Plateau alley.

A small paste-up by Marine Martinelli put up at the Rouen legal graffiti tunnel. Marine has also made it into the Retrospective of 2020 murals and other painted street art.

A large wheatpaste by Mirov on a Plateau alley garage door.

A tall Miss Me wheatpaste in a Rosemont alley.

Miss Me in Mile End.

A small Missprints paste-up put up when the subject of police brutality was trending.

A M’Os Geez wheatpaste. This artist has also made it into the Retrospective of 2020 murals and other painted street art.

Fay Nix in Hochelaga.

Fay Nix in Hochelaga.

A poster by le Pleurnicheur.

A poster by le Pleurnicheur.

A wheatpaste by le Pleurnicheur.

A pasted piece by Rage5 found downtown.

A pasted piece by Rage5 found in the Old Port.

A pasted piece by Rage5 found on a boarded up Plateau house.

A small paste-up by SciWalkArt. This artist has also made it into the Retrospective of 2020 murals and other painted street art.

A poster by Shame.

A poster by Shame.

Here’s a 50 x 50 tile installation by Shelley Miller inspired by the first wave of the Covid19 pandemic. The colours each represent a different Montreal borough (in percentage of cases), and each column represents a day, for 50 days. It therefore shows how in the early days of the pandemic (left of the piece), the relative evolution of boroughs was quite different, but after 35 days (right of the piece), everything seemed to stabilize. More info from the artist’s account via the above link.

Above 2 photos: two Shifty Cat posters put up near the beginning of the Covid19 pandemic.

A collaboration between Sinister Kid and Sloast.

Sloast in the McGill Ghetto.

A small poster by Stay Beautiful.

A set of 2 small posters by Stay Beautiful.

Stikki Peaches from a run of wheatpastes in June.

A Stikki Peaches wheatpaste of Malcolm X found in Ahuntsic.

A Stikki Peaches wheatpaste of Martin Luther King found in Ahuntsic.

A set of two wheatpastes by Suriani found in Mile Ex.

One more by Suriani in Mile Ex.

A wheatpaste by Swarm spotted in Mile End.

Swarm wheatpaste found in Mile End.

T.B.O.N.S. put up a series of small paste-ups around the Plateau and Mile End. These paste-ups often come as sets, such as the ones shown here.

One more set of small paste-ups by T.B.O.N.S.

Any one of the many dozens of small paste-ups put up by T.B.O.N.S. could have made this retrospective.

Toxic hijacking a cinema poster.

Above 2 photos: Closed and open shots of an installation by Toxic found at the Rouen legal graffiti tunnel.

A small poster by Tshoko, variations exist.

One of many sticker/paste-ups put up by Tshoko in 2020. This artist has also made it into the Retrospective of 2020 murals and other painted street art.

A wood-up by Waxhead found in Mile End.

Another wood-up by Waxhead found in Mile End.

Above 4 photos: Covid19 stickers by Waxhead, found in 4 different colours. Waxhead has also made it into the Retrospective of 2020 murals and other painted street art.

Benny Wilding treated us to a few new fake business signs in 2020, here’s one of them.

One more mock business sign by Benny Wilding. This artist has also made it into the Retrospective of 2020 graffiti (under ‘Cemz’).

There’s a great story around this pasted policeman piece by Zola. She had initially contributed a painted anti-police brutality piece on this garage door for the 2020 editon of Canettes de Ruelle (still partially visible – click on her name above to view original). Unfortunately, someone who clearly disapproved of her message vandalised the door with black paint, calling her a cretin in the process. She cleverly flipped the topic back by adding the pasted policeman. Socio-political street art at its best!

Heads rolled in 2020, particularly that of the statue of first Canadian prime minister John A Macdonald. Macdonald allowed famine and disease to kill many indigenous people and his government forced some First Nation communities to leave their traditional territories, withholding food until they did so. In August 2020 his statue, which had been sprayed with blood red paint many times, was finally toppled by activists. Shortly after Zola immortalised the moment with this poster.

A wheatpaste by Zola found in Rosemont.

A large wheatpaste by Zola found in the Plateau/Rosemont.

An unidentified artist has pasted around Hochelaga black and white photos of various people of the neighbourhood. This is one of almost a dozen by the same artist which I have been lucky enough to find and photograph.

One more pasted piece by the unidentified Hochelaga artist putting up black and white photos of neighbourhood citizens. This one is of a street musician and the piece was actually put up behind where he usually plays to passersby on Ontario street, prompting many of them to photograph the musician playing in front of this photo of himself.

This wheatpaste of George Floyd was put up in Mile End shortly after the murder that sparked the 2020 Black Lives Matter chapter.

Pieces in this style by an unidentified artist have been found here and there in Hochelaga alleys, in Old Montreal and around St-Laurent. Sometimes found as double sets as shown here, but usually as a single piece.

This wheatpaste by an unidentified artist was found in Petite-Patrie.

Wolf wheatpastes have been found around Petite-Patrie. The artist has not been identified but is presumed to be the same one as the piece above.

A beautiful poster found in Mile End. Artist has not been identified.