Month: March 2018

1384. Dean Lane skate park (115)

Getting back into the groove with some more contemporary work. This is a recent piece by Laic217 on the curved wall in Dean Lane skate park. He did a similar black and white piece here in July last year, just before Upfest.

Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2018
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2018

This time his skeleton character, rather than holding a spray can is shouldering a ghetto blaster (which I recently called a boogie box in a previous post)  – booming out the lyrics ‘ice ice baby’ by Vanilla Ice. Seeing this, I just had to go onto YouTube to remind myself of the video, which features a lot of graffiti in it. The video is terribly dated (already) and the song itself so incredibly reliant on a great riff from Queen underpinning the whole thing. It is a catchy tune though.

Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2018
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2018

I don’t think I will ever tire of Laic217’s work – it somehow feels representative of the whole Bristol scene – an overseas artist who has settled here and is really becoming part of Bristol’s new wave which is vibrant and exciting, but sits comfortably alongside the longer established street/graffiti artists. There is room for everyone here.

Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017

1382. St Werburghs tunnel (18)

Photograps taken in St Werburghs tunnel are a real challenge. The colours are yellowed out if you don’t use a flash, and when you do use a flash (a non-sophisticated one like I use) you get horrible reflections obscuring the art. This piece by Fiver (Fiva) looks a bit dreary, but it was far from that in the flesh.

Fiva, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, June 2016
Fiva, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, June 2016

Fiver is an artist I have featured a couple of times this winter, having not seen much from him for quite a long while. This is an old one, full of charm. I believe the character is Donkey Kong of Nintendo fame. A fun piece.

1383. Dean Lane skate park (114)

Back to the more recent stuff now. I am not used to seeing writing from NEVERGIVEUP, who is better known for his bunnies and monsters, so this one in Dean Lane comes as a bit of a surprise.

NEVERGIVEUP, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2018
NEVERGIVEUP, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2018

I can’t really make out what the letters say, probably because I haven’t seen much of his writing before and the style is typically unique. He does like to do things his way and is fast establishing himself into the Bristol street art scene.

Monk parakeet

Screeching green flashes

fly from palm top to palm top

busy nestbuilding.

 

by Scooj

 

  • A native of Argentina, this parakeet is quite at home in Barcelona which boasts the largest European population. Probably not entirely welcome, but suitably exotic.

1380. Upper York Street (11)

I write my posts in batches, getting a few done in advance, when I have a moment to do them. This can be tricky while juggling a full-time job, two teenage children, a cat, a dog, a chameleon, an extremely hard-working wife, housework, an allotment, decorating and so on. Life is full, and it would be impossible to find the time to write two posts a day every day. Doing them in batches also carries economies of scale, where I can process a batch of photographs in one go and writing tends to come more freely once you are on a roll.

Why am I mentioning this? Well, by the time I publish this post on a fabulous piece by Kleiner Shames, I will be on a special short break trip in Barcelona with my daughter, and I wanted to say ‘hello from Barcelona’, but to say this I have had to think ahead and I am saying ‘hello from Barcelona’ from the comfort of my study which all feels a bit artificial really, but is helping me to get very excited about our trip.

Kleiner Shames, Upper York Street, Bristol, May 2016
Kleiner Shames, Upper York Street, Bristol, May 2016

This is a fine piece of writing from one of my favourite Bristol artists who now lives in London. I have posted many of his works on this blog, and each of them is a winner. Concealed in this splash of colour is the word ‘FOIS’…time in French. Most of his pieces have this word, and at first I thought his street art name was Fois.

Kleiner Shames, Upper York Street, Bristol, May 2016
Kleiner Shames, Upper York Street, Bristol, May 2016

This is another one that I have dug out of my archive, because it is simply just too good not to share.

Oh and ‘Hi from Barcelona’ I think I’m having a wonderful time.

1381. Co-Operation Road

I took this picture on election day a couple of years back. The result of this photograph was great, the election result rather less so. I remember it was a gorgeous day, and I had been tipped-off about a whole load of great street art in Devon Road, Easton. I was not disappointed. Then at the top of the road was this beautiful wall piece by Deamze. A really classy piece it is too.

Deamze, Co-Operation Road, Bristol, May 2016
Deamze, Co-Operation Road, Bristol, May 2016

I haven’t been back there for a while now, and don’t know if this is still there. I guess I ought to get myself over to Easton soon to take a look. Deamze at his creative best.

Adam’s rainbow

.

It doesn’t matter

where in the world I see one,

I remember him.

.

by Scooj

1379. Moon Street (42)

I walk past this shutter most days on my way to work and always take a look at it, but never properly look at it. Part of the problem is that the shutter isn’t very generous with its light, especially to the naked eye – it is quite difficult to properly make the piece out. Strangely, photographs do it far more justice, which is slightly counterintuitive. I took this in 2016.

Sled One and Smak, Moon Street, Bristol, April 2016
Sled One and Smak, Moon Street, Bristol, April 2016

It is a lovely collaboration between Sled One and Smak, who appear to have enjoyed their collaborations in the past. The caveman-like character by Sled One is holding Smak’s writing in front of him…an interesting way of bringing the two styles into one narrative. This piece is really very nice, but I suspect rather overlooked. It even seems to be off the tagger’s radar.

1378. Stokes Croft, the Carriageworks (35)

This old one in Stokes Croft is by DNT, most of whose street work ends up in this immediate vacinity. I particularly like this image, because of all the other bits of graffiti around it. It says something about this spot.

DNT, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2016
DNT, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2016

Just to the left is a brilliant wheatpaste of Jodie Foster by french artist Tian, and to the right (cut off) is a piece by Mr Klue and Akarat. I love this tank, so full of movement and smoking guns/spray cans, however I’m not too sure who the piece is about – it might well be a tribute piece to Buzz. This has been tucked away on my archive way too long.

Barcelona

.

Planning our first day

DD and I on our hols

La Rambla to start.

.

by Scooj

  • DD=darling daughter in ‘Netmums’ speak