Fade, Dibz and Noise, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024
Fade and Dibz have found themselves a new painting partner, whether by design or by accident, I am not sure, but Noise has joined the duo for this colourful wall in Dean Lane. I like it when collaborative walls carry a theme, and in this one the theme is the colour scheme, shared in different styles and proportions by the three artists.
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024
First up is a wonderful piece of writing from Fade, which I think spells out PERKS, which is an amazing shout-out to DJ Perks, one of Bristol’s great writers. The clean letters are nestling on top of a yellow bubbly base.
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024
The middle of the triptych, is a shout-out to Reks by Dibz, and not something I know to much about. The orange and gold letters are so sharp you could cut yourself, and the dark purple drop shadow is the perfect accompaniment.
Noise, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024
Noise has been making a lot of noise recently, and he doesn’t seem to show any signs of slowing down. The writing is not quite so crisp as his collaborators, but the letters are characteristically chunky and follow the red and gold convention for the whole wall. It is great to see an artist clearly enjoying his craft. A fine collaborative wall.
Saor and Andy Council, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024
Sometimes you see a piece, and it takes your breath away… this was one such piece. Absolutely everything about it is perfect, and it is, by some margin, my favourite piece of the year so far. In case it wasn’t obvious, it is a collaboration between Saor and Andy Council – not something I saw coming, but their styles very well together.
Saor and Andy Council, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024
Starting with the buffed wall – If you’re going to do a serious statement piece it is always worth buffing the wall with an appropriate colour and the grey in this instance works well with the overall colour palette. The subtle soft pinks, maroons and greys are bought to life with some bright and vibrant greens, classy stuff indeed.
The writing is by Saor and is as ever so crisp and tight – no thick borders, only sharp edges. The character, a Vaughn Bode lizard, is by Andy Council and true to his composite style, is made up of pipes, vents and architecture, including the Clifton Suspension bridge all stitched together. This is a masterpiece collaboration by two brilliant artists.
Doors 263 – Doors from Highgate, London, November 2023 (Part II)
The trip to my old stomping ground of Highgate Village in November last year, where I spent my teenage years, was both surprising and nostalgic. Naturally in my youth one door seemed to be much the same as another, and I never looked beyond their functionality, so ‘discovering’ these Highgate doors as an older and wiser person was more than a passing pleasure.
This second selection of doors hints at the time of day, early afternoon, as the low autumn sun was casting shadows, and the light was fading. There is no theme to the doors this week, just another eclectic display captured during an hour-long walk. I sound the whole thing a slightly ‘out of body’ experience, struggling to get to grips with the fact that I walked these streets most days of my life to and from school.
I hope you enjoy this week’s doors as much as I did.
There is a bonus story about the Highgate Pantry, which used to be Wylies Bakers Shop, when I lived there. A school friend and I used to run the school Zoological Society, which was a very grand name for a brick out building where we used to house small pets, such as rabbits, mice, gerbils, rats and an Axolotl called Wobert. We looked after school pupil’s pets during the holidays too sometimes.
Feeding the animals was always a bit difficult and supplies would run low, so we hatched the idea of asking Wylies bakery if they had any leftover food which we could use to feed the pets. To our utter surprise, they were more than happy to give us ‘stale’ bread, buns, pastries and the like at the end of the day in a large brown paper sack. So roughly twice a week we’d collect our sack to feed the animals. Naturally, being teenage boys with a creative streak, we’d select out the best buns for ourselves, which we’d eat and share with school friends, the rest went to the small mammals. For a couple of years, the Zoological Society became very popular indeed.
Pink doors of the Highgate Pantry (formerly Wylies Bakery), Highgate, London, November 2023Prince of Wales pub and doors, Highgate, London, November 2023Woolaston and Pauncefort Almshouses doors, Highgate, London, November 2023Yellow door, black door, green door, Highgate, London, November 2023Two black doors, Highgate, London, November 2023Red panelled door and fanlight, Highgate, London, November 2023Fine blue door, fanlight and portico, Highgate, London, November 2023Modern door, Highgate, London, November 2023
Another week draws to an end. More to come from Highgate 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.
The wonderful thing about art is that you can create situations or landscapes or portraits and so on that are utterly fictional, unlikely, impossible, weird and that you are in control of this creative universe. Alternatively, some artists try to capture real life either through accurate representations or abstract interpretations. Bean has painted something verging on the weird side with this piece.
Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, April 2024
The character, who is wearing a rather curious hat, is holding his, or somebody else’s severed legs from which blue gloop is gushing. I’ll not attempt to interpret the piece, which is exceptionally painted in Bean’s trademark two-tone colour cartoon style. An entertaining and curious piece.
Biers has been rolling out a good deal of wonderful writing/character combination pieces over the last year or so, and is deeply embedded in a rich vein of form. This piece is painted along the narrowest stretch of cycle path and getting pictures, even with wide angle capability, is tricky at best.
Biers, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2024
The WD40 letters are filled with a magnificent blue patterning, with some awesome designs floating on rippled blues. The character is Courage the Cowardly Dog, from a cartoon series screened in the late ’90s early ’00s, which passed me by completely – I was too busy trying to be a grown up. Set on a deep red background, this is a classy piece of work from Biers.
In Batesian mimicry, named after the English naturalist Henry Walter Bates, a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a predator.
Natural adventures 