.
Ambushed, surrounded
in electricals today
Darth and stormtroopers
.
by Scooj
2630. Dean Lane skate park (266)
There is something about the work of Elvs that I find rather compelling. His letters are so very distinct and always easy to identify. I love what he has done in this piece, using a little spaceship to create a ray of light over his writing and offer the opportunity to show off two discrete colour variants, one within the arc of light and the other outside it.
The piece is really clever and I’m not sure I have seen this kind of idea on a wall very often. As always, Elvs has turned out some really tight graffiti writing that speaks volumes to his great talent.
2629. The Bearpit (185)
It is only a few months ago that The Bearpit was a street art hub, and very much a ‘go to’ destination for street art tours and hunting in Bristol. But then the Council stepped in, painted all the walls with anti-graffiti paint, cleared out all the containers and a double decker bus that had been a cafe, but once closed became a squat.
It was as if the graffiti and street art was symbolic of the squallor and so it had to go. In my view it was the chronic homelessness problem in Bristol that was responsible for the decline in amenity value and increase in anti-social behaviour, but the Council know best and have created a sterile space.
Nothing happens there any more. No more artists, no more skateboarders, no more gardeners – it is a joyless place. I wonder where they have shifted the homeless people to. I know a bunch of them live in the underground car park near my work.
One of the last pieces I photographed there was this wonderful wheatpaste by French artist Tian, which was one of a series of wheatpastes he left us in and around the Stokes Croft area last spring. I guess on his next trip to Bristol he’ll have to give The Bearpit a wide berth.
Quagmire
.
A garden no more
fox-dug holes full of water
mud in the kitchen
.
by Scooj
2628. Shoreditch, London (35)
There is a great problem with street art, and that is that there is simply too much of it. I would think that for every piece I feature in Natural Adventures, there are probably two others I have photographed that never make it. That is why going back through my archives is such fun, bringing dormant pieces back to life.
This is a small piece from a trip I made to Shoreditch back in April this year painted by the artist Jaune, who specialises in pictures of waste disposal workers often in miniature like this one. It is great going to London occasionally hunting for street art, because there are many more internaional artists who visit there, compared with the provinces. Jaune I believe is from Brussels in Belgium, but I have never seen any of his work in Bristol.
2627. Barton Street
Continuing with the late release of prisoners from my archive, I bring you this extraordinary piece from April this year by Zase. The commission was one of two pieces that he painted and is at the back of Marlborough House, a student accommodation. Bristol has two universities and a whole ton of students, which is part of what makes Bristol so mixed and interesting, but the expansion of UWE in particular has led to a massive growth in student accommodation and many of the recent developments in the centre have been built by the universities.
I guess it is great to see the university promoting Bristol’s artists with a commmission like this, so I can’t really complain. Zase is a truly gifted artist who seems to be able to turn his hand to pretty much anything and here he has painted a fabulous seascape with racing yachts. I particularly like the pixellated effect of leaving a few bricks unpainted at the top of the piece.
The day after
The milk has been spilt
but I’m not going to cry
dusting myself off
by Scooj
