Month: June 2020

2990. St George skate park (10)

Another artist who has been really busy lately is John D’oh whose running commentary on all aspects of the coronavirus epidemic has given us a record of events through the medium of street art. This way of capturing contemporary events has been a major aspect of art through the ages, and although much of the art is ephemeral some remains and helps to tell future generations what happened in the past and where they came from. John D’oh’s stories are important ones to tell.

John D'oh, St George, Bristol, June 2020
John D’oh, St George, Bristol, June 2020

This lovely stencil on the side of a ramp at St George skate park, celebrates the fabulous and unrelenting hard work of NHS workers through the pandemic with more than a little nod to Wolverine of X-Men fame. Slightly sinister, slightly edgy but with a great heart. A nice piece from John D’oh.

2989. M32 roundabout J3 (215)

Ahh! This is the second piece from the eight artist paint jam on the M32 roundabout recently. Four Polish and four Spanish artists lined up and sprayed the long wall on a gorgeous sunny day at the end of May. This piece is from the superb Laic217 who has sprung back into life over the last three weeks or so.

Laic217, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2020
Laic217, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2020

I was lucky to witness Laic217 in action and grab a quick chat while he was about half way through this fabulous skeleton piece. The picture above gives you a feel for the full length of the wall on the southwest side of the roundabout.

Laic217, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2020
Laic217, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2020

There are many features in this piece that fans of Laic217 will recognise… the ghetto-blaster, spray can, a skull and excellent tones to create the fabric of the skeleton’s clothes. So nice to see so much of his new work in a short space of time. worth waiting for.

Laic217, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020
Laic217, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020

Poland 2 Spain 0

2988. Brunel Way bridge (34)

Unfortunately the photographs of this fine stencil by Madderdoit simply don’t do the piece justice, which is a pity because this is the first piece I have knowingly seen from this Bristol artist. How did that happen?

Madderdoit, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2020
Madderdoit, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2020

The column piece features a woman wearing a blue face mask, which is I’m sure to become an iconic symbol for the year 2020. I see some similarities in technique to Stephen Quick’s work, which is of course a good thing. I love surprise pieces like this one, they keep me interested (not that that is difficult). I’d love to see more from Madderdoit.

2987. Brunel Way bridge (33)

So far, since the lock down restrictions were first eased, there seem to have been an extraordinary amount of collaborative sessions, I guess because artists have missed each other through the lengthy coronavirus isolation. In this case the artists combining their talents are Varo and Saik.

Varo, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2020
Varo, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2020

Varo is an artist I met for the first time a couple of weeks back when he was painting alongside his Spanish compatriots during a paint jam on the M32 roundabout. I haven’t posted any of his work before, but that is all going to change from this moment forward. This is a nicely done piece spelling out VARO and has a natural, organic feel to it.

 

Saik, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2020
Saik, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2020

Saik is no stranger to Natural Adventures, but it has been quite a long time since I posted anything by the artist.  This piece of graffiti writing is really nicely done, nice and tidy with an interesting fill in shades of green. An unexpected and interesting collaboration under Brunel Way.

Thursday doors – 11 June 2020

Doors 110 – even more graffiti/street art doors (groan…)

I promise that I will get back to some ordinary doors soon, but I am rather enjoying my archive graffiti doors at the moment so might persist just for a couple more weeks if that is ok with you.

In my last Thursday doors post I think I had broken into 2017, so I will kick off there. Enjoy…

Inke, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Inke, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Laic 217, Moon Street, Bristol, May 2017
Laic 217, Moon Street, Bristol, May 2017
Andrew Burns Colwill, Gathorne Road, Bristol, May 2017
Andrew Burns Colwill, Gathorne Road, Bristol, May 2017
Kin Dose, Stokes Croft, Bristol, September 2016
Kin Dose, Stokes Croft, Bristol, September 2016
Talmo and Miel, North Street, Bristol, June 2016
Talmo and Miel, North Street, Bristol, June 2016
Deamze, Kings Square Avenue, Bristol, April 2017
Deamze, Kings Square Avenue, Bristol, April 2017
Copyright, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Copyright, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Decay, Wilder Street, Bristol, April 2017
Decay, Wilder Street, Bristol, April 2017
Boogie, Moon Street, Bristol, July 2017
Boogie, Moon Street, Bristol, July 2017
Louis Masai, North Street, Bristol, July 2017
Louis Masai, North Street, Bristol, July 2017
Oze Arv, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Oze Arv, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
D7606, Charles Street, Bristol, July 2017
D7606, Charles Street, Bristol, July 2017
Bex Glover, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Bex Glover, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

So another Thursday doors draws to a close, I hope you enjoyed it. See you next week.

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors and you really ought to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.

 

by Scooj

Flood

.

A long time ago

back in 1882

the Frome burst its banks

.

by Scooj

 

Read about Bristol Floods

2986. M32 roundabout J3 (214)

I love making discoveries. Finding things that were meant to be found, but only by those who are looking. This drawing is one such discovery, in one of the tunnels of the M32 roundabout. There are a trio of other pieces by the same artist not far away. Regular readers will know that I am particularly fond of paste ups, and when they are by an artist unknown to me, they are that little bit more special.

Jarvis, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020
Jarvis, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020

I think the artist is called Jarvis, but that is as much as I know about them.  The crown on the top of the signature indicates to me that this artist understands street art culture and is deliberately being a part of it. The piece itself, roughly A4 size, is vibrant and striking. The colours and elements are simple and bold. A red figure in profile, the sea, the sun, the moon and a possible reference to Bristol, a hot air balloon. The wheatpaste is set on a jaunty angle and seems to have been torn from a pad at the top edge. I like this paste up very much and it feels like we might be seeing the emergence of another Bristol street artist. I’ll post the other three pieces soon, and will be on the lookout for more.

2985. Dean Lane skate park (321)

It took me a second trip to this wall in Dean Lane to get some decent photographs. The first effort was marred by a large shadow cast across the left hand side of the piece, and that simply wouldn’t do. The stunning work is a collaboration between 3Dom and Sepr.

3Dom and Sepr, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2020
3Dom and Sepr, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2020

The easing of restrictions from lock down a couple of weeks back led to an upsurge in high quality pieces, and it has been difficult to keep on top of them, this though is one that is likely to stay for a while. The writing is by 3Dom and the elephant and mouse by Sepr.

3Dom and Sepr, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2020
3Dom and Sepr, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2020

I have seen similar writing from 3Dom before, there was something very similar on the side of a van I recall. It is easy to forget that he is as talented at graffiti writing as he is at free-form street art. The elephant and mouse is typically humorous and warm from Sepr, who has a talent for telling great stories with his art work. This collaboration is a real gem.

3Dom, Raleigh Road, Bristol, January 2018
3Dom, Raleigh Road, Bristol, January 2018

2984. Turbo Island

Clearly, this piece is more about the subject than it is about the artist, however as a chronicler of street art in Bristol I reserve the right to acknowledge and praise the artist Hazard for painting such a poignant and striking piece for #blacklivesmatter.

Hazard, Turbo Island, Bristol, June 2020
Hazard, Turbo Island, Bristol, June 2020

This is yet another wonderful and uniquely Bristolian piece from this brilliant artist. How lucky to have had two new pieces from her in recent weeks.

Hazard, Turbo Island, Bristol, June 2020
Hazard, Turbo Island, Bristol, June 2020

Of course, the Bristol BLM demonstration has hit the headlines at the weekend for the pulling down and throwing into the floating harbour of a statue commemorating Edward Colston, a Bristol slave trader. This lawless act has caused consternation at the highest levels of government, but I have to say it was completely understandable and rather predictable. The Bristol constabulary were amazing in the way they dealt with the demonstration and prevented anything flaring up by keeping a light touch approach to policing. One really has to ask what a statue commemorating Colston was doing in the centre of town in this day and age in the first place.

Without denying our history (a dangerous avenue) perhaps it is time to have a review of our commemorative monuments in today’s context and to mothball or place into historical museums statues that are inappropriate today.

2983. M32 roundabout J3 (213)

This is the first in a series of Several posts from a big paint jam on 30 May 2020 which involved four Spanish artists and four Polish artists, all of which I think are resident in the Bristol area. I got very lucky indeed when walking the dog to see all the artists in action and stopped to chat with a few of them. I returned a few days later to photograph the completed pieces.

Hire, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2020
Hire, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2020

The first piece from this paint jam is by Hire, who has appeared on Natural Adventures countless times. I stopped with him for some time for a chat and asked him how he manages to get such fine detail on his work. He showed me the sketch he made for this piece and said that this style suits him and that if he were to try other styles or street art rather than writing that he would struggle.

Hire, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020
Hire, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020

I have been labelling his work as being Gothic in style, but he corrected me saying it wasn’t really gothic writing at all… oops. I guess it is perhaps reminiscent of medieval swords, spikes, halberds etc or at least it is to me. This is a lovely piece of graffiti writing, spelling HIRE, set on a cloudy purple background with some day glow green spots for decoration. A really nice piece from Hire.

Poland 1 Spain 0