And then there were three
the rest journeying homewards
sense of bereavement.
by Scooj
Month: December 2018
Inversion
Moisture laden mist
cloaking grey winter-stripped trees
cloud flooded valley.
by Scooj
1925. M32 roundabout J3 (112)
Even when it seems like there is nothing much going on, mainly because of the damp weather, I find that I am rarely disappointed when I go to check a wall to see if there is anything new.
My reward for nipping down to the M32 roundabout a week or so back was this magnificent, and rare, collaboration by Silent Hobo and Logoe. I met this pair painting together about a year ago, and they clearly enjoy each other’s company.
Judging from the ‘Rad Dads’ slogan, I am guessing that this is a message about the status of the artists. I wonder if the depiction in the Silent Hobo half of this piece is a self-portrait (almost certainly) and whether he actually painted this piece with a child strapped to his chest.
Logoe’s writing is distinctive, from the little I have seen, having a sort of joined-up hand writing look to it. Overall I love this collaboration and the sentiments of pride in, and love for their children. Great stuff for the Christmas holidays.
Family walk
Boxing Day ramble
Lantic Bay revisited
as good as ever.
by Scooj
1924. Wilder Street (25)
Smak is an artist who just keeps on giving. This is yet another perfect example of wildstyle writing at its best. Using the same colour palette chosen by Ments, he spells out SMAK in grey and embellished it with reds, pinks and blues.
Smak, unlike Ments, always keeps his pieces perfectly proportioned and they are easy on the eye. He has also included a little mouse making a rather rude gesture to the right. The gesture is aimed at the central piece of this triptych by Sled One, which will make since when you see it in a couple of days.
1923. The Bearpit (172)
It is really great to see Mr Klue back in The Bearpit. For a long time he hardly made an appearance on the streets, and then in the late summer, he started painting a lot, but mostly in the St Werburghs tunnel. Now at last he returns to a spot that he has used before, on the steps down into The Bearpit.
I never tire of his abstract pieces that are so unique to him. They have a wispish dream-like quality with elements disappearing into infinity wrapped up in oval vortices. Mr Klue drafts dozens of these abstract pieces using a humble biro, his preferred sketching instrument. I love this one.
1922. North Street
Happy Christmas folks – a special one for you today…
I have known about this piece for a little while, but just not had the space to get all the way down to the far end of North Street to photograph it until a couple of weeks ago. It is by the extraordinarily talented Muckrock who visited Bristol back in September this year. She was given permission to paint this by Upfest who curate this spot. It had been the site of the Dr Love piece from Upfest which sadly had been badly tagged.
Since I have been aware of Muckrock through this piece and a spectacular one she painted at Dean Lane skatepark, I have followed her on Instagram. OMG she is good, and I think I might be a little bit in love with her talent. It is a pity she lives in America, but I guess it makes her trip to Bristol all the more special.
I absolutely love this GIRL POWER mouth which has so much attitude about it. There is much to admire in the artwork…the creases, shadows and shiny reflections on the lips and teeth. I would love her to come back to the city – maybe for Upfest 2019 (Please).
Happy Christmas
Early excitement
gives way to expectations
of a Christmas feast.
by Scooj
Happy Christmas all.🎄🍾
1921. Cumberland Basin
This is one of two Daz Cat pieces I found on a recent lunchtime walk to the Cumberland Basin. It was good to find this, as I haven’t seen one of his pieces for a little while. This particular spot does seem to be a favourite haunt for the artist.
This cat is so full of expression, I like the little black line across the teeth which ‘suggests’ individual teeth without actually picking them out. A neat trick. The absence of one eye might lead the viewer to conclude that this cat is a bit of a bruiser. Nice work.
1920. The Bearpit (171)
In spite of the Council’s determination to eradicate street art from The Bearpit, there seems to have been a recent resurgence in visits from artists. Nothing like the turnover of a couple of years ago, but any new pieces are welcome. This is a lovely new piece by Nightways featuring a monkey sporting spectacles and a turtle on his hat. An interesting study and something refreshingly different from much of what we are used to seeing in The Bearpit.
This piece though brings me to something of a dilemma I have. I posted a piece by the artist back in August this year – it was a rather nice green monkey piece at Dean Lane. Recently, the artist contacted me through Natural Adventures and thanked me for posting it, but asked me to take the image down because he didn’t like it and he didn’t want people to see it (on a digital platform I guess) as a first introduction to his work.
His exact words are:
Hi, I love that you have made this post about me but I just really don’t like this piece of art that I made. It came out abit of a flop. Can you please take this post down as I don’t want it to be the first thing people see of my work when they type my name into google. Many thanks, nightways
Now, Natural Adventures is a ‘warts and all’ kind of blog. It is also an archive of street art and graffiti in Bristol, some of it good and some of it not so good, but it is an honest record of what is out there. I take pictures of art that I find and write about it, simple as that.
I hold all of the artists in great respect and am in awe of their talent, but as I see it, once they have committed a piece to a wall it is out there to be judged, enjoyed, tagged, photographed, whatever. The question I ask is whether I should respect the polite request of Nightways to take down my post of his work or whether I should politely decline. There is a risk that I might piss him off or a risk that other artists start asking for their posts to be taken down. I’m not sure what to do. Any thoughts?
Natural adventures 