3440. Frome side (7)

There are some pieces that will have very limited audiences, and this is one of them. Soap has painted one of his trademark smiley mouth-skull pieces on the back of a pillar under the M32 overlooking the River Frome. The only way of getting to see it is by dropping down under the motorway and walking along the reinforced bank of the River Frome. It can’t even be seen from the overlooking M32 Spot.

Soap, Frome side, Bristol, December 2020
Soap, Frome side, Bristol, December 2020

One might ask why paint something that so few people will see, but that might be missing the point a bit about the motivations behind why graffiti and street artists do what they do. It tends to be for the love of doing it. This is a particularly nice example of his mouthy face, with a lovely yellow background and sharp lines with some nice fills. The white highlights work really well to give it that 3D lift. A great column piece.

3439. Cumberland Basin

As gentrification in the city picks up pace, traditional graffiti hot spots are becoming fewer and fewer – there is often a stay of execution while hoardings go up around a development, but eventually these come down revealing pristine new student accommodations or other unaffordable housing, inappropriate for the communities that live near these developments. One of the knock-on effects is that the turnover of street art/graffiti on the remaining walls has increased considerably. This wall in the Cumberland Basin is a great example of a wall that is changing more and more frequently.

Slakarts, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2020
Slakarts, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2020

Slakarts gives us a double-vision version of his smiling three-quarter profile mega-tag in this happy piece alongside Rezwonk, just to the right. Slakarts has been turning these out on a reasonably regular basis over the last six months or so but they all face the same direction – it would be interesting to see if he could replicate them looking the other way. There is something quite seductive about this piece – it is unusual and set in a vibrant context. Expect more like this before too long.

Sunset

.

Look at the sky dad

I might have ignored the cries

and been the poorer

.

by Scooj

3438. St Werburghs tunnel (219)

There are a bunch of writers in Bristol who have one thing in common, they write the same letters in roughly the same letter style, but add creativity in the colour selections and fill styles that they choose. Phour is one such artist, and this is a recent piece of his from St Werburghs tunnel.

Phour, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2021
Phour, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2021

The tunnel is a great place for rainy day painting and there is a rich seam of, in the main, great graffiti and street art. In fact the only problem with the tunnel is the light conditions, which mean that photographs from there never do the artwork justice, with a lot of orange and yellow polluting the images. With a little adjustment, I managed to get as close as possible to the true colours of this Phour piece. Nice letters, nice 3D work and a very good background. Good to see.

3437. L Dub (21)

It would appear that lockdown impacts on different artists in different ways. Some will hunker-down, and they disappear from the scene for a while, others are liberated and seem to go crazy, hitting walls with refreshed vigour. Falling into the latter category is Slim Pickings (TES) who has been out and about a lot over the last month or so.

Slim Pickings, L Dub, Bristol, January 2021
Slim Pickings, L Dub, Bristol, January 2021

We know what to expect from Slim Pickings’ pieces – sharp crisp lines, reliably solid fills and unbounded 3D shading. It is all here with the addition of a couple of little white highlights. Great stuff. Looks like he might have had a small issue with his yellow paint, especially just to the right of the ‘S’. Good to see his work at L Dub.

Thursday doors – 21 January 2021

Doors 135 – back to the archive for some street/graffiti art doors

Things are very busy at work and the streets are wet. This means that my opportunities to get out and find some new doors are significantly depleted. So it is back to the archive. These photographs first appeared on Natural Adventures in April and May 2020 (even though some of them were taken long before that). Enjoy.

Tian, The Bearpit, Bristol, May 2019
Tian, The Bearpit, Bristol, May 2019

Stik, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
Stik, Shoreditch, London, November 2018

Mr Cenz, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
Mr Cenz, Shoreditch, London, November 2018

Zabou, Shoreditch, London, August 2016
Zabou, Shoreditch, London, August 2016

Artistic/badly painted door, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020
Artistic/badly painted door, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020

Object... Jamaica Street, Bristol, May 2020
Object… Jamaica Street, Bristol, May 2020

Daz Cat, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2020
Daz Cat, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2020

Nevergiveup, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2020
Nevergiveup, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2020

Kid Crayon and DNT?, Stokes Croft, Bristol, May 2017
Kid Crayon and DNT?, Stokes Croft, Bristol, May 2017

The Krah, Montpelier, Bristol, September 2018
The Krah, Montpelier, Bristol, September 2018

Feek, Ashley Hill, Bristol, July 2019
Feek, Ashley Hill, Bristol, July 2019

Nevergiveup, Leonard Lane, Bristol, July 2019
Nevergiveup, Leonard Lane, Bristol, July 2019

So that’s your lot for the week, a week in which the world seems a safer and more reliable place.

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

Poet

.

Amanda Gorman

such great dignity and poise

inauguration

.

by Scooj

3436. M32 Spot (101)

The most common phrase I have used when writing about the work of Face 1st is “I will never tire of the work of Face 1st” and that phrase is as true now as it ever has been. Big or small, throw up or intricate piece, it just doesn’t matter, his art chimes for me, and he and those like him, are the engine room of Bristol graffiti art.

Face 1st, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2021
Face 1st, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2021

The new(ish) ramps at the M32 Spot are proving to be quite a fertile ‘canvass’ for our artists and Face 1st has painted this back board with one of his characteristic winking girls with hair made up of FACE. I love everything about this. There is an element of Marine Boy anime in those eyes.

in writing that last sentence I got distracted by Marine Boy. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, take a trip down memory Lane with typing Marine Boy into YouTube. Enjoy.

3435. Dean Lane skate park (382)

Another artist having a bit of a spree at the moment is Dott Rotten, whose work is in the top division. Take a look at this piece of graffiti writing from a week or two back and tell me that it isn’t out of the top drawer. This is an artist who is at the top of his game and seems to be enjoying it.

Dott Rotten, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2021
Dott Rotten, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2021

The writing with his familiar SPOILT letters is nicely worked with two shades of blue, perfect orange outlines and some superb trademark bubbles. The whole piece is lifted up with a deep red 3D shading. This is great graffiti writing.

Free West

.

The Trump tyranny

at long last comes to an end

time to call a cab

.

by Scooj