In the night
they came with their swords
and stole dreams
in the night
buccaneers of my tired mind
left me with nothing.
by Scooj
Tag: Bristol
1601. St Werburgs city farm
There are quite a few of these large rocks dotted around Bristol, I think originally strategically placed to stop people illegally parking on curbsides. Several of them have been brightened up by the brilliant artist Rowdy. Best known for his toothy crocodiles, this artist has a knack for turning the mundaine into something interesting.
Seeing the world through a different lens is a skill. Helping others to see your visions is a gift, and one that Rowdy exploits with ease. This rat, I’m sure, is a favourite with the thousands of visitors to the city farm, young and old alike. I’ll see if I can dig out some more of his ‘rock works’.
1600. Moon Street (50)
So here he is again, same spot different rabbit. Not long ago I posted a lovely orange bunny by Nevergiveup in this exact gateway. He is such a busy artist that when he runs out of walls, he simply goes over one he has done before, buffing over his own work.
I have said it before on this blog that I love these creatures that he populates the city with, and at risk of becoming a bit repetative, I will continue to post them… because I can.
1599. Raleigh Road, Tobacco Factory (13)
Well now, here is another fabulous stencil by Stephen Quick, and due to its location in a car park is almost impossible to photograph, so I will rebrand these images as ‘arty’ on account of the fine reflections on the shiny black bonnet of the annoying car parked in front of the piece.
Once again Stephen Quick spoils us with an image of an iconic figure in the shape of Totoro. The piece is called ‘I bet you’re Totoro and is a direct reference to a massive manga film I have never seen, made in 1988, ‘My Neighbour Totoro‘. Exposing my ignorance even further, I am not sure who the lady in the picture is, but I am sure she is probably famous. I am not very good with Iconic references and usually do really badly on those online quizzes you see from time to time. Now ask me something about natural history and I am onto a winner.
This is a really fabulous and intricate stencil and I know that Stephen spends many hours preparing for these pieces. Maybe one day he could give me some basic tips for my ambitions one day to join the ranks of Bristol street artists.
1598. Moon Street (49)
Standing cheek to cheek with one of Laic’s acid house skeletons in Moon Street is this little character by an artist that I don’t know but who I am calling BTW until I know any better. I recently posted another of their pieces in The Bearpit that featured this same half-mutilated character.
It is a funny thing, but I didn’t notice the bone when I first photographed these pieces, probably because the upper half of the character has enough going on to distract the eye. There is something about the work of BTW that reminds me of a kind of Charlie Brown meets Southpark thing going. Of course that might only be me. Nice little piece.
1597. St Werburghs tunnel (30)
Members of the PWA (Pirate Wall Art) crew have been rather active of late, none more so than Face 1st. In this collaboration he is joined by his friend soap and this piece is opposite some writing, featured in an earlier post by Sikoh.
When Soap and Face 1st get together, they quite often create one of these vertical collaborations, with the distinctive mouths of Soap on the top and beautiful face underneath by Face 1st.
There are a couple of nice touches on the work. The hair of the girl is made up of wiriting that spells out Face, and forms the lower jaw of Soap’s mouths. There is a little slogan ‘peacefully writin’ art‘, picking up on the crew name. I am always delighted to find work by these two.
1596. St Werburghs tunnel (29)
Another piece from the gathering at St Werburghs at the end of May is by one of my favourite Bristol abstract artists Mr Klue. This work sees the return of the crazy top hat and headless figure with a shirt and very long tie.
I have always been very struck by the calmness and meditative quality of Mr Klue’s pieces, in part generated by the subtle colour selections but also by the gentle shapes and soft edges. I haven’t seen much from the artist for an absolute age, so seeing this and another one in the tunnel in one visit was really something special.
1595. St Werburghs tunnel (28)
I can only tell you very little about this magnificent piece in St Werberghs tunnel. It is by dmunk13 who was painting with six other writers, mostly from Bristol, a week or two back. He has an Instagram account and from that it looks very much like he is a tattoo artist who, like so many others, hits the streets from time to time.
I think this is a really wonderful piece in so many ways. The colour selection works well for me. The combination of skilful 3D writing together with a fabulous crow head, wearing an orange beany, and why not. The letters are disguised and I think spell out MUNK, but not necessarily in that order. There is more writing in the cloud, which I think mirrors the 3D writing. Finally what self-respecting piece with a character doesn’t have it holding a spray can. This crow is gooood!
Deamze
A collection of street art/graffiti art by Deamze
All photographs taken by Scooj
1594. Dean Lane skate park (143)
On my way home from my spray art lesson in the Upfest shop garden with Loch Ness, I made a quick diversion into Dean Lane because not to do so would be negligent. There were one or two new pieces, but best of all was bumping into Slim Pickings as he was finishing off a piece. The subject of this post is actually an old one of his from December last year which I thought I’d share, now that I am building an understanding of his work.
When Slim Pickings writes, and he has been spraying for 30 years, he sticks to the same motif with clean simple lines. The letters are TES (thank heavens I got there in the end – Slim Pickings put me through the ordeal of guessing the letters). He gave me plenty of tips about 3D work and told me that often, when he decorates the letters with patterns and the like it is often because he has some spray cans with a little bit of paint in them to finish off.
Because Slim Pickings works with the same letters, he knows exactly how much paint of each colour he will need. Kind of handy if you are travelling light. Besides being a really nice guy, I think his work makes complete sense to me and is always tidy and clean. Hats off to the man who until a couple of months ago was off my radar…d’oh.
Natural adventures 