2859. Cheltenham 2019 (30)

My Dog Sighs, a hugely popular and talented artist from Portsmouth was extremely busy at the Cheltenham Paint Festival last September. His main project, painting a small lorry (yet to be posted) was accompanied by a number of smaller pieces dotted around town. This ceramic tile was one of those ‘extras’.

My Dog Sighs, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
My Dog Sighs, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

The little everyman character was hiding near the entrance to a car park. The shattered and fragmented tile has the word ‘broken’ across the top and everyman is looking a bit sad. This is an imaginative piece and characterises the influx of art that festivals bring in addition to the sanctioned and legitimate works.

Genius?

 

Somewhat overused

the term genius should be

offered sparingly

 

by Scooj

 

Yesterday’s haiku from which the last line was taken to create the first line of today’s:

 

Look on the bright side

for a Pythonesque Cliché

somewhat overused

2858. Cheltenham 2019 (29)

One of the upsides to the Covid-19 lock down is that I get to catch up a bit on my inexhaustible archive material, and the next five posts are all from the Cheltenham Paint Festival that I visited in September of last year. This wonderful Disney influenced genie from Aladdin is by Nol.

Nol, Painnt Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Nol, Painnt Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

Nol is a real festival favourite and I have had the pleasure of meeting him on a couple of occasions at Upfest. His cartoon monsters in bold colours with solid fills are real crowd-pleasers and he is capable of producing small pieces to entire building walls with his characters. A gentle giant of a man whose work is greatly admired and who is popular in the street art community.

2857. St Werburghs tunnel (165)

This beautifully proportioned REZER from Rezwonk was painted alongside frequent painting buddy Nightwayss in St Werburghs tunnel about two or three weeks ago. Crikey, so much has happened since then, it is unimaginable.

Rezwonk, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
Rezwonk, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020

Like so many of the talented street artists in Bristol, Rezwonk’s work is always on point, and even his throw ups have a touch of class to them. The overall design is great and looking closely at the letters it looks like the ER at the end might have been switched to RE or even something else. I expect there will be a creative outburst when all this is finally over.

Glass half full

 

Look on the bright side

for a Pythonesque Cliché

somewhat overused

 

by Scooj

Yesterday’s haiku from which the last line was taken to create the first line of today’s:

 

Preparing the ground

life will never be the same

look on the bright side

2856. Dean Lane skate park (301)

This is what can happen when two outstanding writers combine their efforts. This supreme collaboration is by Dibz and Shade One, painted in Dean Lane on the same day that Rusk, Soker, Inkie and Hemper painted on the other long wall back in March. A red letter day indeed. The whole collaboration is set on a clean blue background with a magnificent silhouetted cityscape running horizontally through the piece.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020

On the left is an absolutely faultless piece from Dibz as we have become accustomed to expect. The fills are really subtle, dradig from a lighter blue at the top to a slightly darker one at the bottom, and the letters have just the right amount of accents in red to set the piece off nicely. This is what great graffiti writinng looks like.

Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020

On the right we have some equally high-class writing from Shade One, an artist I know relatively little about. In this piece I particularly like the tiny ‘cracks’ in red through the letters and the stellar accents on the first and last letters. Magnificent. I am not too sure what the letters say, nor their significance, it looks like JOBE or TOBE. The only other post I have made from this artist was an Upfest piece from 2018.

Shade One, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Shade One, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

 

2855. St Werburghs tunnel (164)

This is the second piece recently painted by Rapt in St Werburghs tunnel of at least three I know about from March. The Newport artist paits alongside Elvs and his style is characterised by the upside down T and the very clear lettering.

Rapt, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
Rapt, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020

All the basic elements of a developing writer are here, a nice design, imaginative background, nice fills with some creativity. I look forward to seeing the artist develop all of these skills. I believe alcohol might have been involved in the general concept of the piece.

Seeds of change

 

Preparing the ground

life will never be the same

look on the bright side

 

by Scooj

Yesterday’s haiku from which the last line was taken to create the first line of today’s:

 

Each moment savoured

each crumbling of every clod

preparing the ground

 

 

2854. York Street (2)

This is a wonderful old piece (2014 I think) from Zase, that I have only just photographed. Due to thee Covid-19 lock down, this wall is clear of any parked cars in front of it and this is the first time when I have been passing on foot that I have been able to get a clean shot.

Zase, York Street, Bristol, March 2020
Zase, York Street, Bristol, March 2020

The whole thing is unmistakably by Zase and the 3D writing in the middle, which you’d normally expect to spell ZASE actually spells A&M, which is the name of the garage A&M Motor Services in York Street.

Zase, York Street, Bristol, March 2020
Zase, York Street, Bristol, March 2020

On the right of the piece is a pretty graphic crash-crumpled car, slightly on the macabre side, and on the left a rather snazzy Mercedes and dashboard. I think that this is an absolutely stunning piece and has weathered really well over the years with only a little bit of tagging.

Zase, York Street, Bristol, March 2020
Zase, York Street, Bristol, March 2020

This area is crammed with amazing work from Zase who lives nearby. We are very lucky to have him in Bristol. I think it is high time I produced a gallery of his work… watch this space.

2853. Dean Lane skate park (300)

Another nice piece of graffiti writing from a resurgent Turoe One, nice and heavy on the chrome. Turoe One is a highly versatile writer who explores different styles and scripts and colours so that if he were writing something other than his name, it could be a challenge to identify his work. Does that make sense?

Turoe One, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Turoe One, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020

This photograph was taken during March and was probably my penultimate trip down there before lock down happened. I can walk to the North Bristol spots from home and have been able to check them out, but Bedminster is a bit of a hike, so I’ve not seen whether there is much new there, but I doubt it. I’ll continue to trawl through my archives.