Nature carries on
without any regard for
human suffering
Human suffering
is alleviated by
observing nature
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.
2828. M32 cycle path (54)
Ryder has stamped his moniker all over Bristol, either with the letters RYDER or with his ‘R’ character. Because his work is everywhere, it is sometimes difficult to know whether you have already photographed a piece or not, and that was the case with this one on the M32 cycle path. While I might have photographed it, I haven’t posted it until now.
The obvious thing to comment upon is the dynamic and free-form fill that Ryder has used – not solid, but rather more organic, like the kind of fills you might see from Ugar (what’s happend to him recently?). The whole thing is unusually subtle from Ryder, but look closely and you’ll see that it is a real gem.
2827. St Werburghs tunnel (160)
Elvs has spend a lot of productive time in St Werburghs tunnel this winter and created a crop of stunning pieces. I’m not sure about the significance of the bunch of grapes, but the leaves are more like those of an olive tree rather than a grape vine (#onlysaying).
Set on a yellow background, and sticking to his tried and tested formula of letter font and shapes, Elvs has a horizontal grading through the piece from pink to dark pink to brown. He has cleverly incorporated black 3D shading on the top half of the piece and yellow outlines at the bottom. This is another fine piece, but I have to say that I don’t think the yellow background does the whole thing any favours.
Some good comes of it
Social distancing
leads me to the allotment
two years neglected
by Scooj
Following the deaths of my father and father-in-law over the last two springs and all the ensuing emotional and practical baggage (plus a smattering of unhelpful weather), it has been almost two years since I went to my allotment. Somehow I’ve not yet been kicked off.
I visited it yesterday and I have my work cut out for me this spring (if allowed to go there) it is covered on grass and brambles. My son has volunteered to help me get it sorted, because he needs distractions from the probable boredom ahead. It felt good to see it again, and I got all my seeds out today to prepare for a new season.
2826. M32 roundabout J3 (200)
Figuring this one out might be a challenge for those unfamiliar with Bristol artists, because the word VODKA might have little meaning and certainly isn’t a name we see here. Regular readers will all have seen an awful lot of work by this artist in Natural Adventures and so might be familiar with the letter shapes and style.
It is of course by Soker and a gentle nod to artist Vodka (@ren_jeffys). It is a beautifully conceived and executed piece down on the M32 roundabout. Soker has been on fire over the last month or so – it will be interesting to see if he continues as the Coronavirus restrictions grow.
2825. Dean Lane skate park (295)
Another triumph for Turow One on the famous curved wall in Dean Lane skate park. There is something rather pleasing about the greyscale graffiti writing topped with a vibrant pink and lilac drippy splodginess. The writing is deliberately made to look kind of messy and drippy, but all the elements of skillful work are there.
I think that Turoe One might be topping the chart in Bristol as being the most productive astist in town just at the moment, with perhaps the exception of Face 1st who is in a league of his own. Since the weather has improved a little, the turnover in Dean Lane has increased, and this wall in particular has seen a fair amount of action. This is a classy piece of graffiti writing from a confident and accomplished artist.
Vinyl unleashed
Turntable restored
after a very long break
LPs and singles
by Scooj
2824. Alfred Street (1)
Photographing street art is a bit of an artifact of my desire to explore and innate curiosity. Last weekend I went to the recycling centre – we continnue to clear out our home, but like a plate of spaghetti, the residual never seems to diminish. I decided o take a different route out and was rewarded with a few walls on Alfred Street that I have never been aware of. The pieces there are not new, but are utterly splendid.
Front and centre is this magnificent (citron crested?) cocatoo by Aspire. I can honestly say that I think it is the best piece I have seen from this artist, maybe ever. There is something about the composition, its weirdness, toadstools and alien spaceships and this unphased cocatoo, that simply blows me away. Aspire moving to London was a real pity for us in Bristol, but what a treat to be able still to find ‘new’ work by him. More to come from this hidden spot.
2823. St Werburghs tunnel (159)
There are an increasing number of topical pieces appearing on the streets at the moment, and if nothing else, street artists are fantastic chroniclers of the social, political and economic landscape. There is plenty of material out there to inspire their work at the moment, although it is unclear whether they will be able to physically paint. I suspect that some will continue.
This piece by Face 1st in the tunnel perhaps epitomises and encapsulates our fears in graphic form of the terrible Coronavirus. Britain is in shock this morning when all that we hold sacred, our ability and desire to socialise, has been taken away. We are not yet commanded to remain in out homes, but it is only a matter of time. The death rate in the UK is disturbingly high and the next three months or so are goinng to be very testing.
Throughout, this blog will continue come what may…I have so much archive material that I can at last share with you all.
Antisocial
This grumpy old man
has been preparing for years
social distancing
by Scooj
