.
It is fortunate
Bristol is end of the line
Scooj sleepy sleeper.
.
by Scooj
* On heart-stopping moment of waking up in my destination station.
Tag: Bristol
2434. Upfest 2018 (156)
Deuz is another artist who was at Upfest 2018 who didn’t appear in the Upfest official programme, which is always a bit troublesome for me because I have to do my own research rather than rely on others. Deuz is a French artist who cut his teeth by writing graffiti on the streets of Marseille in the 1990s. He went on to study art and now his work is largely portraits of Africans, his ‘faces’ that were inspired by hip hop culture.
I don’t know who Nina Gabriel is but then again I can’t know everything. I would hazard a guess that she is probably a musician. The nicely worked greyscale piece was in the back yard of the Steam Crane, which since Upfest 2018 looks like it might have changed hands, and these hoardings have since come down, which is a pity.
Exposure
Handkerchief lawn mowed
canine created craters
visible to all.
by Scooj
2432. Upfest 2018 (154)
Before this piece, I had never seen any by Hoakser before and although he is a well-known artist in his own right, I don’t think he has had much of a presence in Bristol. He comes from Birmingham, has been spray painting since 1998 and he is entirely self-taught, which gives me great hope. Hoakser has a very nicely presented website which is well worth a visit.
I am pleased to see that this fine character piece has a tangible reference to the Simpsons which was a central theme for Upfest 2018. I am guessing the scene is a bit of a self-portrait or possibly a portrait of King Robbo to whom this is a tribute piece. Nicely done.
2430. Upfest 2018 (152)
I think that this is the fifth stencil/wheatpaste by About Ponny that I have posted from Upfest 2018 and in my mind every single one of them is a belter. In each it is both the skill of the work and positioning and the extraordinary content that makes these outstanding wheatpastes.
About Ponny has a knack of portraying human pain and suffering without sentiment or compassion. These are raw pieces which strike at your heart and made even more effective by their low-key sitings. I had not been aware of About Ponny’s work before Upfest 2018, but on the back of these have become a big fan.
About Ponny, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
About Ponny, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
About Ponny, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
About Ponny, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
2429. Upfest 2018 (151)
I felt it was probably time to pick up on a few more Upfest 2018 pieces starting with this beautiful Whale and Gannet work with a very strong environmental message from Adelle Gough. The text says “You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop”.
I like the style Adelle has used for this piece very much, and it has quite an illustrative feel to it, like it could be the cover of a children’s book on plastic waste or something like that. There is a narrative in the piece that is clear to see, with tin can plastic binding caught around the gannet’s neck.
Adelle likes to call Stroud her home, but appers to do quite a lot of travelling around the country. She has a fine website Green Bow Tie Works that houses a gallery of her works and there is an interesting profile/biography of the artist which outlines her love for nature and the natural world. Whale pieces always go down well with me.
Book club
Making myself scarce
ladies howling with laughter
Prosecco and gin.
by Scooj
Bro Jo
.
His loyalty stretched
picks country over brother
dignity intact.
.
by Scooj
On the news that Jo Johnson the Prime Minister’s brother has resigned as a Government Minister and from the Conservative party. This has not been a good week for Boris. Perhaps a little humility might help.
2428. M32 roundabout J3 (166)
In the dim foot tunnels of the M32 it is very easy to miss pieces as the walls tend to be very congested with tagging and bombing. It is the job of a hunter to keep eyes wide open and try to see everything. I had actually walked past these two faces by an artist new to me, Rinsulin, before doing a comedy about turn and taking another look.
The pair of colourful 3 eyed-skulls look rather better in photographs than they do in the tunnel and although naive in appearance are nicely thought out. I would guess that Rinsulin is reasonably new to street art, but I mugight be wrong about that.
It is unfortunate that both pieces have been tagged by Apeks, a nobody whose contribution is negligible, but i have to say that overall I rather like the colourful and anarchic faces that have a style all of their own.
2427. St Werburghs tunnel (97)
Just when you thought the Rezwonk/Decay partnership couldn’t possibly get any better, they pull this one out of the hat (see what I did there?). This is a remarkable and thoroughly enjoyable collaboration painted brilliantly in the style of Dr Seuss’ Cat in the Hat.
The left hand side of the collaboration is by Rezwonk where the writing almost takes second place to The Cat, Thing 1, the kite and flower pot and the general setting of the piece. I believe this piece to be utterly outstanding and is right up there with my favourite pieces of the year.
The Cat in particular is so well painted, like he has stepped straight off the page of a book, Thing 1 also is incredibly faithful to the book. Surely this can’t have been painted with spray cans alone?
The right hand side of the collaboration is by Decay who has introduced the character Sam I am from the book Green Eggs and Ham. He also included the goldfish in his bowl from Cat in the Hat.
Decay has gone for a simple piece of writing in his usual (2019) style which acts as a fabulous backdrop to everything else that is going on with the piece. Fortunately the colour schemes used are not polluted by the horrible light conditions in the tunnel, and the photographs of the piece have come out OK.
Thoroughly brilliant by this pairing – Bravo! Bravo!
Natural adventures 