.
A sleeping city
no traffic, happy birds chirp
even the jays pause
.
by Scooj
Thursday doors – 23 March 2023
Doors 214 – Bristol street art and graffiti doors
A quick one today, as I will be in an all-day meeting in London. This post was prepared last night. To make things easier on myself, I am recycling doors that have already appeared on Natural Adventures in my street art posts. I hope you enjoy this selection from February to May 2022:
OK, so this is not a door, but it had once been a garage entrance, so it counts as a ghost door
This stunning piece isn’t painted on a door, but in a ghost window – I felt it was worth sharing anyway.
There is a ghost door at the top of the steps.
These ghost doors, above, were once magnificent gateways for the Bristol tram system, long since gone and very much missed. The original doors were then converted to windows, except for the middle one of five and then eventually they were all bricked up when the building was vacated, and remained that way for decades.
That’s it for another week. I hope I get time to complete my Croatia doors next time. May I wish you all a wonderful weekend ahead’
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
5093. St Werburghs tunnel (359)
It was a quiet walk with the dog, there wasn’t much new to look at in the tunnel, except for this lovely piece, that probably says BEN, although I can’t see it myself, by Benjimagnetic. Perhaps I should have asked him, because I bumped into him while he was painting it.
I’m not sure what the phrase “There’s gaps in your galaxy” means, but it must have some relevance. The design work in Benjimagnetic’s writing is superb and the layers of patterns and shapes disguise the letters brilliantly. Although this is a small piece, it is a little gem, and still there in the tunnel last time I looked (two days ago).
5092. Greenbank (75)
I love artists who visit Bristol and leave behind something a bit different, and wow, this piece by Olek McBolek is definitely a bit different. What’s not to like about a smoking seal sipping on a cocktail?
The seal is nicely presented with good perspective, and the composition is hilarious (a word I don’t use very often). It is the smoke in the large red space that definitely catches the eye though. I’m not quite sure what it spells, but it looks like there is a P or a D, a U or L or an E and an H or a K. Make of it what you will, or just enjoy a seal having a fag.
Dasco
A gallery of incredible graffiti writing and character work by Dasco, who will be remembered for the outstanding pieces he painted in Bristol before returning to Spain.
All photographs by Scooj
Twinned
.
The day of judgement
for liars separated
by the Atlantic
.
by Scooj
5091. Sparke Evans Park (65)
Not many artists are painting the long wall at Sparke Evans Park these days, since the arrest of an artist about six or seven months ago. Slowly but surely people are drifting back to the wall, but unusually for Bristol, having to keep their eyes peeled and wits about them at all times. This is a great pity, because this would be a perfect candidate for a legal wall. There is no tagging here, and the colourful wall is an added attraction for people who use the park for recreation. It has become a bit of a ‘wall of fame’, well respected and curated in a self-policing manner.
This far end of the wall was recently painted by Face 1st and Soap in one of their PWA pairings. To the left, Face 1st continues to explore different ways in which he can slice a face up. Very rarely for the artist, he has not tried to work in the letters FACE into the piece, rather he is focussed on the task in hand, the slicing.
Soap too continues to explore a theme he has been enjoying recently, spelling out his name with the ICE King for an ‘A’ and a Face 1st face for the ‘A’. Although the colours the artists have chosen are a little muted on a dull day, they are nonetheless attractive and have been beautifully worked into both pieces. Great to see something new on this wall.
5090. M32 roundabout J3 (457)
I have said in recent posts featuring Zake that his work is getting ever more adventurous and zany, well this piece on the M32 roundabout pretty much supports my assertion. This is Zake pushing boundaries and having fun.
This piece was painted as part of a PWA crew paint jam, and combining with the crew has certainly nudged his work along, perhaps being inspired and encouraged by his friends. The face is huge and green and slightly unsettling, due to the absence of pupils. Zake’s mastery of light and shade conveys real depth and creates definition of features. This is an excellent character portrait from Zake – where to next for this artist? Whole bodies? Photorealism?
5089. M32 Spot (159)
I took these pictures a short while ago, but held back on publishing a post because I couldn’t work out who the artist was. It took me a long time to work it out, but I got there in the end. I’m not sure I have seen his work before in Bristol, but it is clear that Saik0134 is a hugely talented artist, and is welcome back anytime.
Painted on one of my favourite walls in Bristol, this portrait/writing combo stands out from the crowd. The bright lettering and striking portrait are real attention-grabbers. Even though the piece is not painted on a buffed wall, it doesn’t seem to matter too much, with the piece occupying nearly all the space. The letters spelling SAIK are nicely done in yellow and orange with light blue drop shadow, but for me it is the portrait that is the trump card.
The eye is drawn immediately to the woman’s glasses, reflecting the light, a clever street art technique, and she is beautifully painted in shades of blue and grey. This is a fabulous portrait piece, and I would love to see more from the artist in Bristol, or anyone else for that matter. This artist is not to be confused with another who used to paint in Bristol called Saik One.
5088. Purdown (54)
This piece seems to benefit from being framed by the snow and the heavy grey sky. It is by an artist I haven’t come across before, Sam Brentnall, and my first impression is a good one.
The stylised dog heads stacked on top of each other create a strong and colourful pattern, and the whole unusual composition is fun to look at. It looks like the black outlines have been painted using marker pens rather than spray cans, and this seems very much like the work of a studio artist who is exploring possibilities with street art. I sincerely hope to find more street work from Sam Brentnall this year.
Natural adventures 