Month: May 2019

2208. Shoreditch, London (32)

An artist whose work I have long admired is London-based SkyHigh. His work is always immaculate with fabulous clean lines and complex designs. Most commonly he spells out his name using a contrasting style for each letter and somehow bringing the whole thing to life. His pieces almost feel like animations as the styles spill over from one to the next.

SkyHigh, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
SkyHigh, Shoreditch, London, November 2018

This one using pink tones with black is in my view one of the best I have seen, each component skilfully laid down to create a magnificent whole. I particularly like it that roughly once a year SkyHigh makes a trip to Bristol, and one of his pieces has lasted for probably a year or more. Always top class.

2207. Shoreditch, London (31)

My visit to Shoreditch, London, back in November last year reminded me of a significant difference between the London and Bristol street art scenes. In London, there is a strong wheatpaste movement, and in some places there is barely a square inch of a wall that isn’t covered with a paste up. In Bristol on the other hand, wheatpastes are a rarity, and are normally provided by visitors to the city such as Face the Strange, D7606, Tian, Losthills and of course qWeRT. The last frequent Bristol-based wheatpaster was Kid Crayon, but he has moved on to spray-painting now. I think Kedals might be the only one doing it at the moment – room for some new entrants?

qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018

This is a little collection of wonderful googly-eyed paste ups by qWeRT which are dotted all over the place in Shoreditch.

qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018

qWeRT’s pieces are always rather cute (a word I rarely use) and endearing, like this one holding up a banner saying simply ‘need more love’.

qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018

I have always liked this form of street art and qWeRT’s work in particular.

Aphids

 

Tiniest fairies

dance in the evening sun

lime green destroyers.

 

by Scooj

 

2206. Allen Gardens, London (3)

Sometimes it is just too difficult to talk about how good a piece really is, because the words used are clumsy and don’t really do the artist justice. This is a case in point. It is a zombie piece (not to everyone’s taste) by JXC, an artist I have come across a couple of times at Upfest.

JXC, Allen Gardens, London, November 2018
JXC, Allen Gardens, London, November 2018

Everything about this is good – an arresting subject, incredible precision and artwork, great colour selection and a level of detail rarely seen on the street. As an observer, sometimes it is just so hard to comprehend how these guys do this with spray cans, I am left in awe. As you can see, I rather like this piece which I photographed in London back in November last year.

JXC, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
JXC, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
JXC, Upfest, Bristol July 2016
JXC, Upfest, Bristol July 2016
JXC, Upfest, Bristol July 2016
JXC, Upfest, Bristol July 2016

2205. St Werburghs tunnel (81)

Diced Mango is an artist reasonably new to me, having only been aware of his street pieces for about six months or so. He has become rather busy lately and his letters are appearing in various spots around the city.

Diced Mango, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2019
Diced Mango, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2019

This piece, from January this year was in St Werburghs tunnel and shows how the artist plays with shapes and shadings to make the letters look like they are twisted a little. Clever stuff and it gives me ideas for things that I can try out at home. Several more to come from Diced Mango soon.

Regime change

 

The long knives are out

May’s early September comes.

The nasty party.

 

by Scooj

2204. M32 roundabout J3 (143)

Yet another wonderful, happy piece from Soap which I have uncovered from my January archive… it must have been a busy month to overlook this piece. Without question these are happy mouths, and in recent times have softened.

Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2019
Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2019

The colours are magnificent and I think the way that Soap has laid them down is rather clever and beautifully done. In my mind I am trying to work out the layering and sequence that the colours were laid down in. What I can say is this is an accomplished piece, and another belter from Soap.

2203. St Werburghs tunnel (80)

It is not often that you see a nicely painted van in Bristol, even though there are a great many vans with spray paint on them… sadly most of these are fairly rubbish throw ups or tags that frankly are untidy.

Rusk, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2019
Rusk, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2019

This is a lovely piece of 3D writing from Rusk which appeared near the entrance of St Werburghs tunnel recently. Since I took this picture, the other side has been sprayed by Soker, so this is one classy van. I have not seen writing like this from Rusk before, nor have I seen any kind of scenery work like this, so this is a bit of a collector’s item. Nice to witness the versatility of this great Bristol writer.

Thursday Doors – 16 May 2019

Doors 71 – Some Bristol doors from Hotwells – 16 May 2019

These are a series of door pictures that I took back in March on a slightly chilly, dull day as I recall. Hotwells is an area that lies on the hillside sandwiched between the floating harbour and River Avon to the south and Clifton to the North. In years gone by it was a very fashionable area reknowned for its hot springs. At the height of its popularity there was even a funicular railway that transported the well-heeled Bristolians from Clifton Village down to Hotwells and back (it is one hell of a hill).

The Clifton railway is a whole other story and maybe I should keep my powder dry to do a Thursday Doors just on that… watch this space.

So, no more guff from me… here are the doors.

313 or 16? Door, Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019
313 or 16? Door, Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019
313 or 16? Door, Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019
313 or 16? Door, Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019
A rather tired green door, Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019
A rather tired green door, Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019
Red and white door (the colours of Bristol City football club), Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019
Red and white door (the colours of Bristol City football club), Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019
This fancy window/door establishment has seen better days, Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019
This fancy window/door establishment has seen better days, Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019
It's all in the detail on this door, Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019
It’s all in the detail on this door, Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019
A bit of a lean?, Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019
A bit of a lean?, Hotwells, Bristol, March 2019

So there we have it for another week. For more door (not Mordor) mayhem take a jolly good look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the brains behind Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.

 

by Scooj

 

Tour guide

 

Gratification

from helping others to see

what they had not seen

 

by Scooj