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‘Our’ turn to host it
book chat and wine consumption
hide in the study
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by Scooj
Month: April 2024
5942. Dean Land skate park (703)
My initial irritation with finding this piece – I had come to find something else (I think a piece by Hire) that I hadn’t yet photographed and that had only been on this wall for a few hours – was quickly replaced with the joy of seeing another fine piece from visiting artist Zaenone.
Zaenone’s pieces can be broadly described as having chunky letters ZAEN, with character bookends, although occasionally he omits the characters. The sumptuous reds of the letters occupy much of the space of the piece and smack you in the face. The strength of the colours is offset and counterbalanced by the two wizard characters augmenting the whole thing perfectly. It is always a pleasure to find Zaenone’s work, even when painted over other artist’s recent work – it is a jungle out there.
5941. M32 roundabout J3 (563)
I think that Hypo and his friends are particularly partial to this spot on the M32 roundabout, and I say that because many of his pieces have been painted here. This one was painted alongside Hemper and Turoe, two legends of the Bristol graffiti writing scene.
Hypo hasn’t gone for the symmetry that we often see with his letters, or at least, not as obviously. There are some great colours in the vibrant piece, and some classic drips and spots by way of decoration. I am not fully convinced by the 3D drop shadow, which looks a little conflicted in one or two places. Overall though this is yet another cracker from Hypo.
5940. River Avon (60)
There is an artist in Bristol, who occasionally hits the walls of the city with his curious creations, often in chrome. I am talking about Blimma Blamma, at least I think that is what he is called (he/she doesn’t sign his/her work).
This piece includes some letters, which I can’t make out and a character,, customarily wrapped up in clothes with only his face poking through. There is something endearing about the characters and mysterious about the work, which leaves one guessing what the story is. I think I need to do a little more research on the enigmatic Blimma Blamma.
The Magus
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A young man in Greece
magical awakening
entrancing story
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by Scooj
5939. Coach and Horses
The wall on the Coach and Horses is one of the best ‘outdoor galleries’ in Bristol and often hosts some really classy work that tends to remain untagged for reasonably long periods. It probably doesn’t have the same turnover as some of the more accessible or popular walls, which means we can enjoy the artwork for longer. This collaboration is by Smak, Sled One and Oust.
Smak needs no introduction on Natural Adventures, being something of a staple over the years. This is a finely crafted and executed piece of writing that spells out SMAK. The colour palette is is perfect, and offset by the appearance of a black and white stripe design on some parts. The writing is wonderfully intricate without being over-fussy – clean crisp and classy.
We don’t get to see enough of Sled One’s genius on our walls these days, so everything we do get to see, we ought to be grateful for. In this central panel, Sled One has painted a cat toasting a mouse on a stick over a fire, surrounded by barbed wire. There is a story here, but not one I can tell you. There is a mixture of styles, which is a bit unsettling. The cat is approaching photorealistic, but the mouse is most definitely cartoon, which confuses my brain somewhat. Brilliant artwork.
The right hand side of the collaboration is some unusual writing from Oust. The letters are more like constructions, with hints at industry and engineering. I haven’t come across Oust’s work before, so am a little unsure if his style is always like this or that this is a one-off. I guess Oust was visiting, and took the opportunity to paint with friends/acquaintances. There are some great colours and ideas in the piece which is full of contained energy. Fabulous collaboration.
5938. Brunel Way (266)
Trawling through my archives in search of a particular piece definitely has some extra benefits, which mainly consist of unearthing ‘lost’ work that was either by an unknown artist at the time or simply got left behind due to the volume of photographs coming in each week. I was so pleased therefore, to stumble on this lovely wheatpaste by Abbie Laura Smith from last summer during my last rummage.
The small paste up, looks like it is slightly out of focus, but that is due to the double line outline of the portrait. I love the way that Abbie Laura Smith has placed this colourful piece on a colourfully tagged column, almost disguising it, and as I have said before, the placement of paste ups is just as important as the artwork, and she has smashed both elements with this one. I am so pleased to have been able to share this, albeit ten months late.
5937. Greenbank (114)
This is a throwback piece to last June, which has remained dormant in my archives, because at the time of photographing the piece the artist was unknown to me. Since then, the artist’s identity has emerged and is known as j9449j, which is a bit of a mouthful. This is great news, because I have several more pieces in the archives to share and I really like their work.
The abstract piece hints at a rural landscape, certainly there are some organic forms in the piece. This artwork is so original, at least in the context of street art, that it is difficult to assess against any normal criteria or conventions. For example the small additional piece to the right works perfectly as a counterbalance to the larger piece on the left, There are some lovely shapes and patterns and a carefully thought out colour palette. Enjoyable and unusual stuff from j9449j.
5936. Cumberland Basin
One of the great joys of the last six months has been the thriving partnership between Mote and Mr Crawls. Rarely do you get the chance to watch on as two artistic talents arrive at a confluence and thrive as collaborators, while maintaining their individual identities.
This collaboration, on the ‘wet wall’ on the north side of the river underneath Brunel Way features two toothy monsters set on a chrome background (a strong feature of their recent work). On the left, Mr Crawls has a go, and smashes it, at painting a monster, which is a bit of a departure from his birds. The purple-faced monster, in spite of the array of sharp teeth, looks gentle enough. On the right Mote has created a monster, also with sharp teeth, in which the fill patterns give the piece away as one of his. As I have said before, they tend to bounce ideas off one another, and you can see how they have both shared an approach to painting the eyelids. So much fun from these two.
Dare to dream
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Tightest league in years
with seven remaining games
victors one of three
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by Scooj
Natural adventures 