scooj

5838. Brunel Way (254)

j9449j, Brunel Way, Bristol, February 2024

This is a great occasion. I have been trying to find out who this artist is for absolutely ages (I know I am not alone) and at last their name ‘j9449j’ appeared as a tag on an Instagram post a week or two back, and we are no longer in the dark. What this also means is that I can release a whole bunch of their work from my archives which has been itching to be posted.

j9449j has a very distinctive collage style with plenty of shapes, symbols and plants, bound together with clever use of colour ‘patches’. The work is original and quite unlike anything else we routinely see in Bristol. How nice it would be to actually meet j9449j and find out more about their art, style influences and so on. This is the first of many posts (retrospective and future) I hope.

Thursday doors – 22 February 2024, Montefalco, Umbria, Italy

Doors 253 – Montefalco doors, Umbria, Italy (Part III)

My doorscursion in Montefalco, a small hilltop town in Umbria, continues with a descent from the town square, in a south-westerly direction towards the Porta di Sant’Agostino. The town is a sleepy and dusty place which had an unusually small number of tourists, which always makes the experience (as a tourist) so much more pleasurable. It also means that there is no need to be self-conscious when photographing doors, because there is nobody about to judge you.

I think that I might have one more set of doors from this wonderful place, but that will be for next time. In the meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this week’s selection:

Low arched door, Montefalco, Umbria, Italy, July 2024

Door within a larger doorway, Montefalco, Umbria, Italy, July 2024

Door set high above the pavement, Montefalco, Umbria, Italy, July 2024

Grand door on a hill, Montefalco, Umbria, Italy, July 2024

Arched door and steps, Montefalco, Umbria, Italy, July 2024

Ghost door with an arched window, Montefalco, Umbria, Italy, July 2024

Barely visible ghost door, Montefalco, Umbria, Italy, July 2024

A pair of utilitarian doors, Montefalco, Umbria, Italy, July 2024

I rather wish I was back there right now, and away from the seemingly constant rain here in Bristol… will it ever stop? More to come from Montefalco next time, before perhaps returning to some English doors for a little while. May I wish you a pleasant and restful weekend.

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

Cloudburst

Ominous yellow

a dark cloudy prelude to

opening heavens

by Scooj

5837. M32 roundabout J3 (554)

Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024

I mentioned a little while back in a Minto post that we were likely to see a lot more of his work, and indeed that is exactly the case. There is something quite unique in the way that Minto combines his letters with characters or scenes to build up a story, and this one is a very green story.

The letters spell out, unsurprisingly, the word MINTO, and contains three or four faces sort of organically melded into the letters. To the right, the end face reminds me of the faces on the trains and other vehicles in the Thomas the Tank Engine books, but maybe that is just me. This is a nicely thought out and painted piece from Minto.

5836. St Werburghs tunnel (407)

Face 1st, Zake and Chill, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2024

It is great to see the PWA crew continuing their high-energy and frequent collaborations into 2024, although I dread to think how much money has been spent on spray paint by the team already this year. This is a tidy collaboration squeezed into the end wall of St Werburghs tunnel, united by a chrome and blue colour scheme. The piece, painted on a common background, is by Face 1st, Zake and Chill.

To the left Face 1st with a couple of happy ‘rag doll’ girls, one of them falling from the sky, contributing both fun and movement to the collaboration. In the middle Zake has painted one of his characteristic faces, full of texture and depth created by clever use of light and dark shading, and Chill rounds off the piece with a cartoon character, looking a little worse for wear, painted in his illustrative tattoo style, and rounded off with a couple of little birds in the corner. Great work from PWA.

5835. M32 Cycle path (251)

Slakarts, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

This is not the first time that Slakarts has painted this flaky board, and I suspect it won’t be the last time either. I think it would be fair to say that Slakarts is now a rather occasional painter of Bristol’s walls compared with a couple of years ago, and this is a bit of a pity. I guess that it means he has less time to paint, which implies that he is busy with other things, which is probably a good thing.

The stylised cartoon face that Slakarts has painted is rather more colourful than some of his earlier versions, but the same basic design remains, which is comforting in a way, perhaps more so knowing that he is capable of painting other things too. The flaky nature of the board makes pieces painted on it look rather old, but in actual fact this was quite freshly painted. I’ll be hoping for more from Slakarts as the year unfolds.

5834. M32 roundabout J3 (553)

Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol February 2024

On return from a week out of Bristol, the first piece I came across was this double-header by Stivs, which was a bit of a treat. A few days later, I was lucky enough to run into Stivs, on the other side of the roundabout and he told me that before he wrote STIVS, he used to write CRAP or variants of it, and that these two pieces are in recognition of that.

It looks like Stivs is enjoying some dayglo colours, giving his formal calligraffiti style letters a bit of a 1980s vibe. The first piece, I think, reads KRAP, which is slightly amusing because the word is at odds with the fine writing. Another artist who has done something similar in the past is Turoe, with his shite/shyte pieces.

The second piece is perhaps a little easier to read. I am glad to see that my dog’s rear end has managed to make it into the shot, just as a reminder that he is with me 99% of the time when I am photographing street/graffiti art. I expect lots more to come from Stivs this year, especially as he now lives a little closer to this spot.

Lifebelt

On the horizon

reduced hours, then retirement

getting my life back

by Scooj

5833. Peel Street Green (27)

Mr Klue, Peel Street Green, Bristol, February 2024

Mr Klue has definitely woken from his winter slumbers and is doing what he does so well, and decorating the walls of Bristol with his unique abstract ethereal letters. I am not too sure though that I have ever seen a piece of his on this wall before, and it is nice to see him break away from the security of his favourite spot in the tunnel.

I suspect that Mr Klue has a large stock of blue, green and white tints, as his last three pieces have all had very similar colour schemes. The letters spell, as usual, KLUE, but are so very well disguised. I am guessing, and hoping, that this early year flurry of pieces extends well into 2024.

5832. M32 roundabout J3 (52)

Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024

There was no stopping Hemper during the Covid period, but now things have returned to relative normality, his productivity has fallen back considerably, which makes it extra special when he does get out and paint one of his stunning burners.

This is a wonderful piece of graffiti writing bursting with colour and energy, spelling out the letters DRAPE, which I am guessing is a shout-out, rather than a tribute. Each letter in this piece has been given a different colour treatment and fill patterns. There is lots to look at and enjoy in this skilfully pulled together writing.

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