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New kid on the block
both wary and curious
beware of the dog!
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by Scooj
Sleek
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.
7652. Dean Lane skate park (923)
Dibz and fade have been knocking out collaborations with unstoppable pace recently, and I must confess it is stretching me just to be able to keep up with their activity.
This is an outstanding collaboration where both artists have contributed to the final offering. The letters spell addict, and I am guessing reflects their obsession with graffiti writing. A stunning fill and cosmic background show off their talent perfectly.
7651. M32 roundabout J2 (25)
Another stencil from the production line that John D’oh seems to have been preparing over the winter and which is fast filling up the column space in this area underneath the M32.
This one is poking a bit of fun at the authorities who have by and large completely failed to suppress the Bristol street art scene. A sleeping policeman sitting on a fold-up chair has the words “Street art isn’t illegal until they catch you”, which isn’t technically correct, but the point is made. A lighthearted piece from John D’oh.
7650. M32 roundabout J3 (771)
I was very pleased to find this piece by Corupt, because the fine piece by Kid Krishna that had occupied this space had been here for a very long time and the wall definitely needed a refresh, and got one courtesy of our Hungarian friend.
Using his alter ego of STICK, this is a wonderfully colourful piece of graffiti writing, with the distinctive letter shapes that Corupt likes to use, such as the club shape at the base of his ‘i’. The fills are beautifully arranged both in base colours and reversed out shapes and patterns. A classy piece of writing.
7649. Greenbank (186)
Mr Draws has been reasonably quiet this year, and I hope that is an indication that he has other fulfilling elements in his life. I have always liked his work and have been interested with his developing ideas around environmental and other social justice issues.
Here Mr Draws gives us a large Fresian cow with the words ‘Trust issues’ to the left. It is all a little ambiguous or deliberately cryptic, and I am not certain what it all means. Mr Draws has included pixels which is a popular theme in street art and very much a part of a style from artists such as Aspire. A curious piece.
Asre
A gallery of wonderful character faces and writing from Bristol’s Asre.
Instagram: @azre_returns
All photographs by Scooj
7648. Cumberland Basin
There is a lot of flesh in this combination piece by Stivs, an artist who is not afraid to push the boundaries when it comes to scantily clad characters. Whatever one’s views about such things, the artwork is striking and skilfully presented.
Cat woman as you might not have seen her, although DC Comics did portray her in very tight catsuits, often with little left to the imagination – Stivs has just taken things to the next level. Stivs has given Cat Woman a couple of playful tattoos saying BAD CAT, and he has corrupted the initials ACAB (All Cops are Bastards) to ACAT, just because he can. D and S in calligraffiti-style bookend this character. Great work from Stivs.Cumberland Basin
7647. Dean Lane skate park (922)
This is a rather fun collaboration between Hire and Zake in Dean Lane. I can’t remember if these two have collaborated before, they probably have, but this is still a bit of a treat from the writer and the character artist.
On the left, Hire has written his letters in a rather compact block, which is quite unusual, as he typically spreads his letters out a fair bit. The fills of orange and light blue have been nicely done and work surprisingly well together. A deep drop shadow is bordered with a drippy pink line with light highlights woven in.
I’m not too sure what to say about Zake’s character piece, as it is all a little bit strange. A bald man with a huge mouth and multiple teeth has a little finger puppet attached to the end of his long tongue. The puppet character, which looks like some kind of lizard monster is spraying pink ‘vomit’ over Hire’s piece, thus creating his drippy pink outline. A great read-across between the two pieces in this collaboration.
7646. M32 roundabout J2 (24)
Where to start? There is so much to unpick in this political stencil piece by John D’oh. I’m not sure that I can offer too many of my own thoughts that the piece provokes, but I am sure that they are shared to varying degrees by many.
The action of Israel (the state of) depicted by death handing over a flower to a small innocent child holding a teddy bear is very powerful and rather moving. The faux reassurance hiding behind the violence is what comes across most strongly. I could write an essay about this, but I am resisting the temptation and am time-limited. John D’oh doing what he does best.
7645. Dean Lane skate park (921)
Over the last year or so, Cheo seems to have upped his game (if that is at all possible), certainly in the frequency of his wall decorations. Cheo is a very talented artist who has been part of the ‘establishment’ in Bristol, but never lost his contemporary edge, and appears to be equally happy with his commercial work and his ‘graffiti’ art.
This piece in Dean Lane is in a narrow section and quite difficult to photograph – where would I be without a wide angle facility on my phone? The character in the piece, wearing a LIDL T-shirt has been spraying (one assumes) a CHEO throw up in green and blue. He is holding a spray can out of which a rather surreal scene unfolds… a pink blob character, complete with a plunger stuck to his head and smoking a cigar. What!? Great work from a master craftsman.
Natural adventures 