.
A long time ago
back in 1882
the Frome burst its banks
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by Scooj
2986. M32 roundabout J3 (214)
I love making discoveries. Finding things that were meant to be found, but only by those who are looking. This drawing is one such discovery, in one of the tunnels of the M32 roundabout. There are a trio of other pieces by the same artist not far away. Regular readers will know that I am particularly fond of paste ups, and when they are by an artist unknown to me, they are that little bit more special.
I think the artist is called Jarvis, but that is as much as I know about them. The crown on the top of the signature indicates to me that this artist understands street art culture and is deliberately being a part of it. The piece itself, roughly A4 size, is vibrant and striking. The colours and elements are simple and bold. A red figure in profile, the sea, the sun, the moon and a possible reference to Bristol, a hot air balloon. The wheatpaste is set on a jaunty angle and seems to have been torn from a pad at the top edge. I like this paste up very much and it feels like we might be seeing the emergence of another Bristol street artist. I’ll post the other three pieces soon, and will be on the lookout for more.
2985. Dean Lane skate park (321)
It took me a second trip to this wall in Dean Lane to get some decent photographs. The first effort was marred by a large shadow cast across the left hand side of the piece, and that simply wouldn’t do. The stunning work is a collaboration between 3Dom and Sepr.
The easing of restrictions from lock down a couple of weeks back led to an upsurge in high quality pieces, and it has been difficult to keep on top of them, this though is one that is likely to stay for a while. The writing is by 3Dom and the elephant and mouse by Sepr.
I have seen similar writing from 3Dom before, there was something very similar on the side of a van I recall. It is easy to forget that he is as talented at graffiti writing as he is at free-form street art. The elephant and mouse is typically humorous and warm from Sepr, who has a talent for telling great stories with his art work. This collaboration is a real gem.
2984. Turbo Island
Clearly, this piece is more about the subject than it is about the artist, however as a chronicler of street art in Bristol I reserve the right to acknowledge and praise the artist Hazard for painting such a poignant and striking piece for #blacklivesmatter.
This is yet another wonderful and uniquely Bristolian piece from this brilliant artist. How lucky to have had two new pieces from her in recent weeks.
Of course, the Bristol BLM demonstration has hit the headlines at the weekend for the pulling down and throwing into the floating harbour of a statue commemorating Edward Colston, a Bristol slave trader. This lawless act has caused consternation at the highest levels of government, but I have to say it was completely understandable and rather predictable. The Bristol constabulary were amazing in the way they dealt with the demonstration and prevented anything flaring up by keeping a light touch approach to policing. One really has to ask what a statue commemorating Colston was doing in the centre of town in this day and age in the first place.
Without denying our history (a dangerous avenue) perhaps it is time to have a review of our commemorative monuments in today’s context and to mothball or place into historical museums statues that are inappropriate today.
2983. M32 roundabout J3 (213)
This is the first in a series of Several posts from a big paint jam on 30 May 2020 which involved four Spanish artists and four Polish artists, all of which I think are resident in the Bristol area. I got very lucky indeed when walking the dog to see all the artists in action and stopped to chat with a few of them. I returned a few days later to photograph the completed pieces.
The first piece from this paint jam is by Hire, who has appeared on Natural Adventures countless times. I stopped with him for some time for a chat and asked him how he manages to get such fine detail on his work. He showed me the sketch he made for this piece and said that this style suits him and that if he were to try other styles or street art rather than writing that he would struggle.
I have been labelling his work as being Gothic in style, but he corrected me saying it wasn’t really gothic writing at all… oops. I guess it is perhaps reminiscent of medieval swords, spikes, halberds etc or at least it is to me. This is a lovely piece of graffiti writing, spelling HIRE, set on a cloudy purple background with some day glow green spots for decoration. A really nice piece from Hire.
Poland 1 Spain 0
Wood pigeon
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Incessant cooing
accompanies my deep thoughts
productive duet
.
by Scooj
2982. M32 Cycle path (62)
The more I look at this piece from Cort (Padi) the more I like it. On first inspection it all looks a bit untidy, but I don’t know, there is something that really attracts me to it. Cort pretty much always has strong letters that aren’t particularly over-disguised but are designed differently from piece to piece. In this one he has changed the customary CORT for KOORT, which is a playful thing to do and gives him scope for messing about with different letter shapes.
Painted alongside the multiple skeleton piece by Laic217, Cort’s work acts as a perfect foil to Laic217’s because the style and content is so different. I think it is the red colour contrasting with the grey that works so well for me. A nice piece.
2981. Dean Lane skate park (320)
This is the first of several new pieces from Soge, who seems to have been really busy since the lock down restrictions eased. His style is similar to his compatriot Hire’s, but perhaps slightly less jagged.
Soge has knocked it out of the park with this piece. The SOGE writing is incredibly detailed and decorated with stars and bubbles. The background is a perfect colour for the main colours of the piece and the whole thing is very easy on the eye. You can see a little 2020 hidden in the letters too.
Something a bit new, or that I haven’t been aware of before is that Soge has started to include characters with his work, and to the right of this piece is a little Beaver with a speech bubble saying ‘I love furlough’. I’m not sure why the beaver has an axe with a bleeding blade, but it adds a little bit of edge to the cute character. This is a really nice piece from Soge.
Eighteen
.
Eighteen years ago
at eleven seventeen
our boy changed our world
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by Scooj
* I am quite pleased with this board I painted this morning for my son’s eighteenth birthday… before he woke up. He was very happy with it. Proud moment for a proud dad who has seen his little boy grow into a man.
2980. Brunel Way bridge (33)
I managed to catch this piece literally minutes before it was painted over. The artists were on site having a quick smoke before getting started. I am pleased to have made it in time because even for the high standards expected from Rezwonk, this is an outstanding piece.
Spelling out REZER, the piece is painted using a gorgeous palette of red, orange and yellow tones set on a white and orange background. To describe the fills fully would take way too long, but suffice it to say that there is a lot of craftsmanship involved and they are beautifully done. Linger for a while and study each letter. Magnificent work.
Natural adventures 