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Under the weather
post lockdown immunity
just not up to scratch
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by Scooj
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Under the weather
post lockdown immunity
just not up to scratch
.
by Scooj
Some walls simply blow you away, and it can be difficult to do them justice with words alone, and perhaps less is more in such instances. This three-way collaborative wall in Nelson Street is by Kin Dose, s,w,a,l.t and Stiiv (or Swick) (not to be confused with our own calligraffiti writer Stivs), the latter two who were visiting Bristol as guests of Upfest. It is always a real pleasure to have these ‘spill-over’ extras from the festival.
The Tiger is by Kin Dose, and makes the most of his ‘airbrush’ approach to spraying, managing to create an extraordinary sense of depth in the fur and hairs of the creature. A stunning piece, which on its own would satisfy, but, wait for it… two more beauties sit alongside.
The middle piece is from s.w.a.l.t and is a miracle of portrait work in greyscale augmented with graffiti writing, in the style of Pichiavo. This portrait is probably my favourite piece of the year so far. Simply stunning.
Rounding off this beautiful wall is a robin perched on a fragmented branch, by Stiiv (Swick). There is life and character in this little robin, and as with Kin Dose’s Tiger, the fluffy feathers give this piece real depth. A beauty.
Perhaps take a moment, not to read my words, but to enjoy this wall.
Visiting artists are always welcome in Bristol, and certainly the city does tend to draw a great many of them, probably due to its well known and mature graffiti sub-culture. Recently we have been graced by the presence of an extraordinary artist, Posea, who visited Bristol from his home in Sheffield.
This piece in Sparke Evans Park was part of a paint jam, I think, for Turoe’s birthday a couple of weeks ago. The character piece is so different from the hand and lighter piece he painted in Dean Lane around the same time, demonstrating the versatility of this amazing artist. Here we see a man in a bear mask, with a crazy duck on top, with a double-barrelled shot gun. All rather sinister, but exquisitely painted and finished. It would be great to see more of his work.
Doors 188 – Porto doors (Part 2)
Following on from last week, I bring you another instalment of doors from Porto for your enjoyment. The three days I spent in this glorious Portuguese city will keep me going on Thursday doors for quite a while yet, so grab a chair and make yourself comfortable.
These doors are from the North bank of Porto from the Ribeira district up to Porto Cathedral, a walk that is not too far as the crow flies, but takes you up countless steps, and is more than a little exhausting, but rewarding on reaching the cathedral.
So that’s it for another week, may I wish you a happy weekend, and see you next time.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
by Scooj
Once again, the famous curved wall in Dean Lane gets a makeover by Ceus, who seems to have really taken to Dean Lane for his artwork. It will be interesting to see if he will start to spread his wings (literally-metaphorically-artistically), further afield and starts spreading his talent along the M32 or in the tunnel etc.
You can be sure that when Ceus paints, he will be turning up the dial on his colour selections and creating a piece of beauty. His letters spell out Ceus and feature the pair of wings we see in much of his work. It would be quite interesting to introduce Ceus to Tom Miller and Paul Monsters… what an explosion of colour that would be.
When you are familiar with the street art scene in a place, it is amazing how quickly you notice something slightly out of the ordinary, a new artist for example, and how that piece immediately fires up one’s curiosity. This was one of those pieces. I knew the second I saw it that it was not by a Bristol artist, but rather annoyingly I had no clues who the artist might be – it turns out that one of my fellow street art photographers/chroniclers had a bit of luck and unintentionally discovered the pairing that collaborated to create this striking piece.
The piece is one of those Upfest ‘spill over’ pieces that are a real bonus for Bristolians, where we get to see free art on our streets beyond the confines of Bedminster. Both Ansley Randall and Britt (paints a lot) were in Bristol for Upfest, and both had travelled from America, which gives you some indication of the draw of the festival.
The eyes are by Britt and the design and patterning by Ansley Randall. The overall effect is superb, and this really is a rather special piece. I don’t know if these two artists have collaborated before, or whether they hooked up at Upfest and gave it a go, but however the piece came about, I am pleased that they did it, and they chose a great wall to decorate too. Added benefits of Upfest keeping us all happy.
A gallery of magnificent script writing from Logoe
All photographs by Scooj
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A sign of the times
moderates join unions
protecting workers
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by Scooj
After a reasonably long absence, Laic217 has treated us with another of his skeleton pieces at Sparke Evans Park. Laic217 is one of those artists whose work I make every effort to photograph and post on Natural Adventures, and I would say that my gallery of his work is probably my most complete gallery of any artist.
This one looks like it is a tribute piece to Holls, and carries several themes that Laic217 uses in his work. The ghetto blaster, the brick wall and the folds of material in the hood and hat, all identify this piece as a Laic217 production. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of a skeleton out spraying. This is another fine piece from Laic217.
A recent visit to Bristol by Goldie and Posea was enough to draw some of Bristol’s best artists, 3Dom, Dibz and Shade One, together to create a magnificent collaborative wall in Dean Lane, a couple of weeks ago. The end result is something quite magnificent and a wall that will last long in the memory, and might well remain in situ for quite some time, as there will be lots of respect for it.
The left-hand side of the wall is propped up with this wonderful portrait piece from Shade One. I don’t know if I might be imagining it, but recently Shade One’s style has moved from a cartoony style to a more photorealistic style, and he seems to have raised his level considerably.
The left side of the wall features three artists, Shade One, Goldie, with the writing (SAKUKO) and 3Dom with the fantasy and rather fantastical landscape of mushrooms and snail thing. I understand that the two pieces of graffiti writing are names of two of Goldie’s children.
The 3Dom snail with a house for a shell is crazy and imaginative, but I have seen him paint this house a few times before, and I wonder if there is some significance to it. The snail is magnificent, and the eyes are beautifully painted – I’m not too sure what it all means though.
The second piece of Goldie Graffiti writing spells out CHANCE, the name of his daughter, and is in a style more reminiscent of his writing in St Werburghs tunnel a few months ago. There is a flag sticking out of the ‘a’ with the word bleu on it – another mystery of the piece.
The right-hand side of the wall is rounded off with some superb writing from Dibz and a hand with a lighter by Posea. Both of these elements are superbly painted, as you’d expect, and the flame from the lighter acts as a bridge between the two halves of the collaboration.
I don’t know much about Posea at all, other than that he comes from Sheffield and judging from his Instagram feed is a hugely talented and productive street artist. This hand holding a lighter is outstanding, but the flame takes it to another level. Since I photographed this piece, I have seen another of his pieces in Bristol which is equally impressive. I hope he can return soon to share the joy again.
An awesome collaborative wall.