Neither warm nor cold
this Summer breeze shakes green leaves;
sounds of ocean waves.
by Scooj
Author: scooj
I am Stephen. I live in Bristol, UK. I decided to shorten my profile...to this: Wildlife, haiku, travel, streetart, psychogeography and my family. Not necessarily in that order.
319. North Street, Coop Pharmacy
This is the first of many posts I will be making from an artist known as RIP. This is a ‘cheeky little one’ that RIP seems to be very fond of. He is a stencil artist based in Stoke-on-Trent, but obviously a frequent visitor to Bristol, and in particular North Street. The stencils are often, but not always, political and are sprayed in the ‘tolerated’ illegal spots.
RIP is an active member of SSOSVA (the Secret Society of Super Villain Artists) (or not so secret now…) an international collective of artists founded in 1921 by Silent Bill – or so it says on their website. Other members I have featured include Dice 67 and John D’oh.
I don’t know why I haven’t posted RIP’s work before because there is a lot of it around. Don’t be surprised to see a rash of posts in the coming weeks.
318. Leonard Lane (8)
A trip down memory/Leonard Lane. Some of my earliest posts were from this incredible little alleyway that defines the boundary line of the old City. It is full of little treasures, and this is one of them. A beautiful bear by Stewy. This bear has suffered the indignity of having several additions scribbled on it, but thankfully was given a bit of a makeover a couple of months ago. It is not in pristine condition, but then again very little of the street art in Leonard Lane is.
Stewy is a master stencil artist who specialises in creating stencils of well known people, and in this street is a work he did of DJ Derek before he went missing and passed away. The lane is also strewn with a menagerie of Stewy animals, perched and placed along its length.
Hope fading
The elves are leaving
Middle Earth never to come
back; my sad heart weeps.
by Scooj
317. Leake Street tunnel, London (2)
I think that most of the posts about the pieces I photographed in Leake Street on 4 July 2016 are going to be quite short. I say this because I am having difficulty researching the artists, and it is a world unfamiliar to me. I guess also, because I have a Bristol bias, I am lazier about finding out more about London-based artists. Is that a bad thing?
This rather charmingly grotesque piece is by Woskerski – I would guess a Polish immigrant, who like all Europeans, is most welcome in our country. I cannot express my shame at what our nation has decided to do, and how some sectors of our society think it is ok to behave in the way they have since the referendum. I will always stand shoulder to shoulder with Europe and seek greater integration, collaboration and understanding.
The piece was sprayed as part of the #do1cancer campaign to raise awareness and money for Colchester Hospitals Charity.
316. M32 J3 Roundabout (14)
There is little doubt in my mind that the brightest rising star on the street art scene in Bristol is Sled One. His work, both the wildstyle writing and his freestyle characters are second to none, and yet I feel there is still so much more to come from this extremely talented young artist. My son tells me he is a good skater too, which obviously adds to his credibility as a street phenomenon.
This writing demonstrates his incredible range. His shapes vary from piece to piece. He seems to have an incredible capacity to see what he wants to create and then go and do it. I find this piece really compelling, and just by looking at it you can see the quality shining through.
Osprey
Pinnacle of the
food web, master of the sky
eagle deity.
by Scooj
315. Leake Street tunnel, London (1)
Serendipity.
Fortune favours those who go in pursuit of dreams (or something like that). My new role took me to London Earlier this week, and I spent a night in an hotel in Vauxhall. I don’t know much about the street art scene in London, other than that there is a lot in Shoreditch and in Camden Town. I keep a close eye on the London Calling blog to keep pace with the astonishing stuff that hits the streets of London.
I had heard about a tunnel in Waterloo that had loads of street art in it, so I went off in search of it. It took a while to find, because I didn’t really know what I was looking for, but find it I did, and I was staggered. Here were dozens of works on the walls and ceilings along the entire length of the tunnel. Aladdin’s Cave, no messing.
I was in for even more luck – my trip coincided with a very recent festival that had been held (at the weekend?) in support of raising funds for the #do1cancer graffiti jam. The walls were festooned with fresh pieces with a cancer theme. This is the first of my posts from Monday 4 July. Please read the link above, as it puts this festival into context.
This extraordinary piece is by Gnasher (David Nash), who uses spray cans to produce hyper-real art – just amazing. This piece looks like an enormous blow up of a photograph. Big respect indeed.
You can find out more about this incredible artist from his excellent website. Together, the #do1cancer campaign has raised awareness of how cancer can impact on our lives, and is actively raising money through the support of graffiti artists and graffiti enthusiasts. Admirable stuff.
Heart of London
On shingle beaches
exposed by the ebbing Thames
history revealed.
by Scooj
314, North Street, Standard (2)
A little while ago, Jody created this beautiful detailed piece, which was very quickly adopted as the Upfest Twitter icon, only recently replaced by Cheo’s design. Jody’s work has an incredible realism and then tosses the realism into a surreal setting.
At last year’s Upfest he produced an incredible work of fingers dripping with oil, and here we have this delicate image of two hands making a heart shape, and encompassing a moth. Full of symbolism? Maybe.
This work is very memorable and located at the heart of North Street, where its predecessor was this Christmas piece by Cheo. I guess the wall will be repainted at this year’s festival, but as I discovered recently with the Inkie piece (Best thing since sliced bread), not all the street art in the area will be over-painted.
Natural adventures 