Bolton road is a small alleyway branching off the Gloucester Road in the St Andrews area of Bristol. This always seems an unlikely place to find street art, but this is Bristol, and you never seem to be too far away from something a bit special.
Tucked over to one side of the Bearpit, near the Premier Inn Hotel, I found this rather nice collaboration between Jee See and Mr Klue. In this piece we see the typical styles of each of these street artists. Mr Klue treats us to his swirling patterns in rich purples and lilacs, while Jee See offers a stencil of a girl with a revolutionary Castro look about her – a stencil I have seen repeatedly about Bristol.
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Meaningless jargon
in the Westminster bubble
fails to touch real lives.
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by Scooj
Interminable
rain, eroding memories
of warm summers past.
by Scooj
This wonderful scene was created back in October by Sled One, in conjunction with a piece by Ments which I wrote about a little while back. It seems that Sled One has an endless energy and talent for conceiving and executing some of the most imaginative street art in Bristol. His style is quite cartoony and injected with humour, and as I have said before, there always seems to be a story going on in his pieces.
I’m not sure what the story is, but it includes one of those really irritating toy clockwork monkeys with clashing cymbals which is beautifully portrayed. In addition, the wisps of steam from the cup of tea are masterfully painted. There is some real quality about this piece. Sled One never seems to disappoint. This is in my view exceptional street art.
Any readers who have not encountered this story on my blog before, I recommend you take a quick look at the first entry ‘an Ill Wind‘ to provide some kind of context. As you can see, this is the 28th excerpt from my 1988 journal, and it will appear meaningless without some context setting. The full catalog of chapters so far is in the ‘Falkland Journal, 1988’ category on the left of this page.
Monday 13 June 1988. Koei Maru 30
Spoke to Drin on the radio. JB is at this moment on the Right (one of the Falkland Islands fisheries patrol vessels), trawling. It looks very much like I’m on my own. I spent two hours talking to the Fishing Master. He and I now are in good form – he is a good man and cares for his crew. The contract should have included a certain amount of input from him. It was worked out by imbeciles who knew little about the fishing operation. I understand that now.
I have just been watching Crocodile Dundee, but at the critical moment have been cut off – a subtle lunch hint I think.
Spent the evening with Sato (gold tooth) and Naganuma and we watched a couple of porn videos. They became boring very quickly – the only interest I have is trying to understand why the hell people perform in such videos…are they desperate for money? or exhibitionists? very strange.
Tuesday 14 June 1988. Koei Maru 30
40 days to go!
I can’t believe that this is all I had to write on this day! wrote to Louise and Deb.
Prepared for fishing. Did some ace drawings I reckon.
Wednesday 15 June 1988. Koei Maru 30
Stand by at 0200 hours – what a nightmare. I hardly slept at all before and I had difficulty afterwards. False alarm, the sea was too heavy, so we moved to the southeast (Zone II).
Spoke with Drin and some idiot on the Falkland Right. People really piss me off sometimes.
Oops I think it was Dave ‘intense’, the one who I didn’t know.
I have arranged for Mr Ikido to deal with the problem of trawlers and traffic – delegation, that is the key to power.
Smoking still – I wish I would stop, but the day drags on so.No smoking before 1200 hours but maybe 4-8 after that. I am looking forward to going home, not least because I’ll be able to stop. (Something that took a further twelve years to conquer!)
No more pictures today. I think that stand by tomorrow is at 0300 hours. Bed early tonight.
I am watching a Japanese TV drama (It’ll last for hours) about blackmail – they really go in for these ‘video dramas’.
My spots under my stubble are still flourishing. I feel fairly ugly at the moment, but my spirits are high.
Thursday 16 June 1988. Koei Maru 30
What a bloody day. Quite exciting really, but very tiring and bloody annoying when the bastard Fishing Master holds you responsible for all the problems.
Caught this amazing monster fish, like a giant goby or blenny and called Cottoperca gobio – yellow, green and gold with a beautiful dorsal fin. See photos.
The whole long-lining process is a bit of a miracle. A production line for the set – really primitive, but thoroughly effective.
Saw a whole bunch of gentoo penguins, loads of albatross too – a real wildlife day. It would be great if I didn’t have to bloody do something! 30 more days of this – I may go bananas!
I’m so bloody tired I feel like a zombie – I may if I’m lucky, grab 6 or 7 hours sleep tonight. I pray for bad weather!
BONKERS.
Friday 17 June 1988. Koei Maru 30
Another long hard day. Some very interesting things coming up, so I was happy. I got some corals, with any luck I could get them home to Deb, or add them to my collection.
I am still motivated by marine life – there were loads of echinoderms and possibly crinoids today, as well as some ace fish, but none of it what the Fishing Master wants. He and the crew are restless.
A penguin was gaffed up.
The sea was rough today and waves were pouring into the factory deck.
I am once again very tired and want to go to sleep, but I’m sure that, like last night, I won’t find it easy.
Roll on July!
On the 15th October 2016 The Bearpit played host to an international exhibition entitled ‘Resiste’. The exhibition featured the works of the Assembly of Revolutionary Artists of Oaxaco, Mexico. I will cover this exhibition in more detail in a forthcoming post, but today I will focus on the participation in the exhibition by Bristol’s magnificent Aspire.
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Crisp, dry leaves yield to
soggy slippery mush. Rain!
enough already.
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by Scooj
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Standing in cold car
parks, shivering and choosing
which cars to test drive.
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by Scooj
This is a small piece by the wonderful Bristol street artist Face F1st whose works are always centered on a styalised face each one with a different decorative feature. In this one he has placed a small octopus on the face’s head. This is a political anti-Brexit piece which is articulated clearly, and the octopus represents the Brexit narrative ‘brainwashing’, which appears to be stifling any intellectual debate about what kind of Brexit British citizens might want (in particular the 48% who voted against).
Natural adventures 