The milk has been spilt
but I’m not going to cry
dusting myself off
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.
2626. Town somewhere
I cannot for the life of me remember where this lovely framed philosophical offering from #DFTE actually is. I know it is in town, and probably on a wall that doesn’t have too many other street/graffiti art pieces, as #DFTE tends to stay away from the regular spots. I took the picture way back in March, and my brain is so useless that I struggle to remember what happened yesterday, let alone back in March.
The guidance presented here says ‘Love in such a way that the person you love feels free’. I’m not too sure I am on the same page as this one, because it might be making the assumption that love could be a form of imprisonment and I am not sure that that is what love is. Smothering love maybe, and perhaps that is what this is about.
I am annoyed that I can’t remember where this is, because one of the great skills of installation artists like #DFTE is that placement is a key element of the work.
2625. M32 roundabout J3 (182)
My search through the archives continues with this lovely piece from February 2019 by Warp. I found this one on the back of research that I was doing for the piece I posted by him a couple of days ago, I hadn’t been able to read the letters or signature and so it was languishing forlornly in my March 2019 folder.
This is another classy piece of graffiti writing from Warp, clean, crisp and in the company of the fabulous Smak (left) and Jaksta (right). I wonder if I have any more of his pieces in my folders…
A nation decides
Democratic vote.
Pencil crosses in the box
unbearable wait.
by Scooj
2624. St Werburghs tunnel (118)
As you can probably guess from the last post, I have been having a bit of a rummage around in my archive of 2019. Regrettably there are so many great pieces that haven’t made it into Natural Adventures, many of them because at the time of taking the photograph the artist was unknown to me and I try not to post too many ‘unknown’ pieces.
From back in February 2019 this might be one of the earliest works I have from Conrico but it is a really cracking piece of writing, beautifully designed in a cartoon style and nicely set in a coastal scene with the sea, a beach and palm trees – it is details like these that mark it out as a Conrico piece. Nice to see a reference to ‘the Monday Club’ a loose crew that is now well established in Bristol.
2623. M32 Spot (55)
On one of the ramps of the M32 DIY skatepark is this rather sombre looking face, unmistakably the work of Slakarts. This picture was taken way back in January, before I knew who the artist was, and it has been languishing in my archive ever since. This is liberation day. It is also election day and the results will map out our national journey for the next five years… I fear the worst.
Slakarts paints using broad black outlines with solid fills to create his trademark faces which are often coloured with muted tones. The works are modest, both in creation and design and there is often a sadness or strangeness in the faces – this piece in particular feels peculiar without an iris or pupil in the eye. More to come from Slakarts.
Thursday doors – 12 December 2019
Doors 91 – Llangorse Lake, Wales
Last weekend we made a trip across the Severn Estuary to see some friends who recently moved to Wales. This was our first visit, and I am sure not our last. After lunch we went for a walk along the southern bank of Llangorse Lake and, of course, I managed to turn the whole thing into a bit of a doorscursion. I hope you enjoy these doors as much as I did.
Next week I will probably do a round up of my favourite doors of 2019, but until then, I wish you all a fabulous week.
In the meantime, you might like to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
by Scooj
The nightmare before Christmas
An election called
in the run up to Christmas
the work of a fool
by Scooj
I am dreading the result of the election. All forecasts have the Tories ahead. I am not sure how much more of Conservative values this country can stand. The poorest and disenfranchised have been conned into voting Tory (many for the first time) on the ‘get Brexit done’ agenda. A self-destructive act, like turkeys voting for Christmas.
How have these people become marginalised? How have they become poorer? How have they come to despise the established elite? One thing you can be pretty sure about is that it has been more to do with ten years of a Conservative government than it has been to do with 40 years in the EU. The cunning conflation of issues and deliberate anti-Europe narrative pushed by Farage and the ERG for many years has created a construct that people want to believe.
We have had decades of similar deceit from similar people on the issue of climate change. There was a time when climate change scepticism was trendy, particularly in Tory ranks, and these people were proud of that status. Where are they now? They were wrong then, they are wrong now.
2622. Lambeth High Street, London
Anyone who knows a little bit about street art might recognise this wonderful mosaic piece in Lambeth, London as the work of the French artist Space Invader. Finding this piece a couple of weeks ago was absolutely accidental. I was walking from Westminster to Lambeth with my manager for an early Christmas lunch and informal team meeting. On the walk we were chatting and I was talking about street art (inevitably) and how you can stumble across pieces just by keeping your eyes open. I had barely finished the point when we looked left, and there down Lambeth High Street was this magnificent beast. She was really chuffed that we had found something and seemed impressed that I knew who the artist was and other stuff. I had no idea that there was anything here, and had also been saying that the area looked a bit barren in street art terms.
I believe that this is quite an old piece dating back to 2013, but it is on a road I have never been to before and being in London it was utterly off my radar. I must say that I got a pretty warm glow finding it, especially as I haven’t seen all that many Space Invader pieces. I think that this is a Pac Man piece made with large tiles and you can see the scale from the bricks just to the right. A gratifying find.
2621. M32 roundabout J3 (181)
Meeting artists is pretty much always a real pleasure, and a couple of weeks back I got lucky when I met Warp for the first time while he was painting this piece. During the course of our conversation he explained that he has two street personas, Warp (his more commercial tag) and another name that he writes under. He explained that he had been somewhat forgetful and sprayed this Warp piece, when he had actualy intended to paint a different piece under his other name.
The writing here is seriously good. All the elements have been executed with care and precision. The fills in the letters, the deep 3D red fill, superb slim black lines outlining the letters and a clean yellow surround, all of it neat and crisp. I haven’t seen too many pieces by Warp, but those that I have seen are all of the highest quality. I hope to bump into him again sometime.
Natural adventures 