Child-like excitement
Choosing colours of spray paint;
an Aladdin’s cave.
by Scooj
Month: May 2019
2234. North Street
Well, this picture is a bit on the slant isn’t it? Such was my excitement at just admiring this incredible piece by Loch Ness, my photography skills went to pot. Sorry about that. Loch Ness is a bit of a specialist at these long walls, managing to create a psychadelic journey through an unintelligible story, but a story nonetheless.
I think that there is a bit of a climate change and biodiversity story going on. A bird on a healthy tree to the left seems to be interacting with the central bear character. On the right some buildings and clouds, maybe representing emissions, take the eye to a dead or dying woodland.
I will be forever indebted to Loch Ness for the two hour spray paint lesson he gave me in May 2018. From that he gave me the confidence to buy my own cans and give it a go. My experimenting so far has been tricky – this is a whole lot harder than it looks – but enormous fun. I am mostly getting used to the pressure and the caps and thinking about layers for cutting in. I’m also having fun sketching out drafts and ideas, which from a non-artist is rather fulfilling. Thank you Loch Ness.
2233. The Bearpit (182)
Always lighthearted, the work of Nevla is instantly recognisable by his cartoon style and minimal use of colours. Often although not always, his pieces are on the small side and generally speaking are simply sprayed ove other stuff, a bit like a throw up really. To give the piece a bit of defiition he goes round the whole thing with a thick colour line, in this example it is a blue line.
I don’t know if his caption ‘soul contact’ is a wordplay on ‘sole contact’ or not, but it kind of works. His whole style feels very free, and looks like it would be equally at home on the page of a sketch pad as it is on The Bearpit wall. Great to see that some artists are still painting this spot, in spite of a council clampdown.
2232. Moon Street (71)
For the last 11 years there has been a rather mad festival centered around the Stokes Croft area called RaveOnAvon. It is frankly a bit of a booze, drugs and music party that is focussed on three or four live music venues but spills out onto the streets from dusk until dawn. You simply would not believe the mess the following morning. The links between graffiti art and the Bristol music scene are close, and this rather funky piece by Jaksta rather emphasises the point.
You know you are getting old when one of your children actually goes to an event such as this one. I didn’t ask too many questions. Jaksta, a member of the RAW crew, is a brilliant character artist and creates these wonderful exaggerated bodies ina cartoon style that never disappoints. It is also great to see something decent appear on this particular bit of hoarding, because recently it has been a bit trashy.
This was the last RaveOnAvon ever, because most of the music venues’ days are numbered. They are due to be demolished soon to make way for… da da daah… student accommodations. Gentrification will rob us of a major strand of Bristol culture and provide housing, not for those that really need it, but for the ever-growing student population in Bristol. Of course, students need to live somewhere, but I fear this particular growth bubble will burst, and maybe then affordable housing will become available.
2231. St Werburghs tunnel (83)
It has been rather a long time since I saw anything from Eraze. There was a period when he used to do the odd piece in Dean Lane, but I can’t recall anything there for ages, so it was a nice surprise to see this in St Werburghs tunnel recently.
I am more familiar with his character pieces, but this is a fine bit of writing with bright colours on a black background. I rather like the white edging and the way it cuts into the letters. Altogether a rather uplifting and happy piece.
Thursday doors – 30 May 2019
Doors 73 – Bristol doors, various.
Another slightly rushed post this week, a random selection of Bristol doors that might have seen better days, but are all the more characterful for their journeys.
And that’s it for another week.
For more doors take a good look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the mastermind behind Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
by Scooj
Baku haiku
Preparing myself
for a disappointing night;
learned pessimism.
by Scooj
- As a lifelong Arsenal fan, I am used to the upset of disappointing European nights. The best form of protecting myself from any hurt is to enter into the spirit of things with very low expectations. Arsenal take on Chelsea in the Europa Leage final in the rather bizarre setting of Baku in Azerbaijan tonight, and in my mind we have already lost and I am trying to come up with a coping mechanism.
2230. Stokes Croft
Well you have seen a couple of these now in recent posts, so you should be able to tell me the artist’s name. It is of course yet another sensational wheatpaste by French artist Tian who visited Bristol in early May, I think. Once again I am left uncertain who is featured in this stencil paste up, but the detail on the tattoo is incredible.
I absolutely love this one, not only for its technical brilliance, but also for the interesting pose and picture selected and more so the exact spot where the piece was pasted. A window that was already fairly heavily fly-posted and stickered is no dominated by this beautiful woman. One of my favourites of his great portfolio of work. Still many more to come.
2229. The Bearpit (181)
A lovely artist who managed to stay under my radar until last year has become rather busy of late. I refer of course to Nightwayss whose pieces seem to focus around a monkey, either as the central character of a work or by reference.
In this piece Nightwayss has painted a wonderful monkey hanging by its tail and gently scooping at what looks like a large flower. The monkey is set on a black ‘NIGHT’, a great way to combine writing with a character. The modest colours and size of the whole thing emphasise its delicateness in the urban bustle of The Bearpit. I love this piece – a little oasis of peace and calm.
Die Fledermaus
.
My heart uplifted
watching tiny bats flap by
as day becomes night.
.
by Scooj
Natural adventures 