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.

2237. M32 Cycle path (27)

Another tremendous piece of writing from Smak along the M32 cycle path from a few weeks back. In some of his more recent pieces I have noticed that he is going for this style of blocking out letters in different ways, along similar lines to SkyHigh, and here, the M and A in particular are outstanding.

Smak, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2019
Smak, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2019

All the letters are blended and yet individual, clever work, but for me the jewel in the crown is the box around the A and circle around the M which make this piece extra special. I had difficulty photographing this piece, because it was very bright every time I visited, and the way the light falls in this alleyway makes photography really tricky. Yet another outstanding work from Smak.

2236. Dean Lane skate park (213)

Tight. That is the best word that I can think of to describe this amazing piece of wildstyle writing from Dibz. He is the master of executing the most complex of pieces from the sketches and drafts in his black book. This wall was painted in the very good company of Cheo (to the left) and was nicely prepped with the brick-red wash which offers a very clean finish to this work.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2019
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2019

With a vanishing point adopted for the shadowing, the piece stands out really nicely and the blue background adds interest and depth. I don’t think I have ever seen a piece from Dibz that isn’t technically excellent.

2235. M32 Spot (41)

Silent Hobo manages consistently to paint these amazing character pieces on the tall thin upright concrete pillars under the M32 motorway. This latest arrival of a Bristol youth gathering is wearing a yellow t-shirt overa shirt with collar (is that a thing?). Best of all is his fetching Jacques Cousteau red woolly hat – I want one of those… really.

Silent Hobo, M32 Spot, Bristol, May 2019
Silent Hobo, M32 Spot, Bristol, May 2019

You can just about make out another Silent Hobo character on the adjacent side of this pillar that I posted a little while back. I know I’ve said it pretty much every time I write about Silent Hobo, but he is brilliant at capturing a youth mood, without glamourising it. These are not ‘snowflakes’ but ordinary urban people caring about ordinary urban things, like in this case music (base head) and probably drum and bass at that. Always great to see a New Silent Hobo piece. I believe he has done some cricket world cup pieces in milennium square… I’ll have to take a look.

Shades of pink

 

Child-like excitement

Choosing colours of spray paint;

an Aladdin’s cave.

 

by Scooj

2234. North Street

Well, this picture is a bit on the slant isn’t it? Such was my excitement at just admiring this incredible piece by Loch Ness, my photography skills went to pot. Sorry about that. Loch Ness is a bit of a specialist at these long walls, managing to create a psychadelic journey through an unintelligible story, but a story nonetheless.

Loch Ness, North Street, Bristol, May 2019
Loch Ness, North Street, Bristol, May 2019

I think that there is a bit of a climate change and biodiversity story going on. A bird on a healthy tree to the left seems to be interacting with the central bear character. On the right some buildings and clouds, maybe representing emissions, take the eye to a dead or dying woodland.

Loch Ness, North Street, Bristol, May 2019
Loch Ness, North Street, Bristol, May 2019

I will be forever indebted to Loch Ness for the two hour spray paint lesson he gave me in May 2018. From that he gave me the confidence to buy my own cans and give it a go. My experimenting so far has been tricky – this is a whole lot harder than it looks – but enormous fun. I am mostly getting used to the pressure and the caps and thinking about layers for cutting in. I’m also having fun sketching out drafts and ideas, which from a non-artist is rather fulfilling. Thank you Loch Ness.

Loch Ness, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Loch Ness, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Loch Ness, Jessop Underpass, Bristol, December 2017
Loch Ness, Jessop Underpass, Bristol, December 2017

 

2233. The Bearpit (182)

Always lighthearted, the work of Nevla is instantly recognisable by his cartoon style and minimal use of colours. Often although not always, his pieces are on the small side and generally speaking are simply sprayed ove other stuff, a bit like a throw up really. To give the piece a bit of defiition he goes round the whole thing with a thick colour line, in this example it is a blue line.

Nevla, The Bearpit, Bristol, May 2019
Nevla, The Bearpit, Bristol, May 2019

I don’t know if his caption ‘soul contact’ is a wordplay on ‘sole contact’ or not, but it kind of works. His whole style feels very free, and looks like it would be equally at home on the page of a sketch pad as it is on The Bearpit wall. Great to see that some artists are still painting this spot, in spite of a council clampdown.

2232. Moon Street (71)

For the last 11 years there has been a rather mad festival centered around the Stokes Croft area called RaveOnAvon. It is frankly a bit of a booze, drugs and music party that is focussed on three or four live music venues but spills out onto the streets from dusk until dawn. You simply would not believe the mess the following morning. The links between graffiti art and the Bristol music scene are close, and this rather funky piece by Jaksta rather emphasises the point.

Jaksta, Moon Street, Bristol, May 2019
Jaksta, Moon Street, Bristol, May 2019

You know you are getting old when one of your children actually goes to an event such as this one. I didn’t ask too many questions. Jaksta, a member of the RAW crew, is a brilliant character artist and creates these wonderful exaggerated bodies ina cartoon style that never disappoints. It is also great to see something decent appear on this particular bit of hoarding, because recently it has been a bit trashy.

This was the last RaveOnAvon ever, because most of the music venues’ days are numbered. They are due to be demolished soon to make way for… da da daah… student accommodations. Gentrification will rob us of a major strand of Bristol culture and provide housing, not for those that really need it, but for the ever-growing student population in Bristol. Of course, students need to live somewhere, but I fear this particular growth bubble will burst, and maybe then affordable housing will become available.

2231. St Werburghs tunnel (83)

It has been rather a long time since I saw anything from Eraze. There was a period when he used to do the odd piece in Dean Lane, but I can’t recall anything there for ages, so it was a nice surprise to see this in St Werburghs tunnel recently.

Eraze, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2019
Eraze, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2019

I am more familiar with his character pieces, but this is a fine bit of writing with bright colours on a black background. I rather like the white edging and the way it cuts into the letters. Altogether a rather uplifting and happy piece.

Thursday doors – 30 May 2019

Doors 73 – Bristol doors, various.

Another slightly rushed post this week, a random selection of Bristol doors that might have seen better days, but are all the more characterful for their journeys.

Tagged door, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2019
Tagged door, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2019
Lakota back door, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2019
Lakota back door, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2019
Just a door somewhere in Bristol, March 2019
Just a door somewhere in Bristol, March 2019
Doors, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2019
Doors, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2019
Important notice, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2019
Important notice, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2019
Warehouse doors, Gardiner Haskins building, Bristol, March 2019
Warehouse doors, Gardiner Haskins building, Bristol, March 2019
Warehouse doors, Gardiner Haskins building, Bristol, March 2019
Warehouse doors, Gardiner Haskins building, Bristol, March 2019

And that’s it for another week.

For more doors take a good look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the mastermind behind Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.

 

by Scooj