2442. St Werburghs tunnel (98)

Not long ago, this rather fun collaboration appeared at the farm end of St Werburghs tunnel. It is painted by Daz Cat on the left and CD on the right and while I am familiar with the former, I have never come across CD before this and another collaboration between the two. Perhaps he was just visiting Bristol.

Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2019
Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2019

I am used to seeing cats and dogs by Daz Cat, but even though I know he has done giraffes before, this is the first one I have seen and whaty a nice tidy piece it is too. There is an interesting ‘fairy tale’ type character in the centre of the piece nestling in the curled neck of the giraffe. A curious image, but rather compelling.

CD., St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2019
CD., St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2019

On the right hand side is a rather tight piece of a grimacing face having a smoke, with excess smoke wafting around the whole wall. The colour pallette is nicely balanced and it is amazing how well light blue and pink work together – I used to have a light blue fleece with pink trim that I bought in Jasper, British Colombia and it was my favourite item of clothing for many years. I can’t put my finger on it, but there is something about this work that I really like – maybe it is the rather surreal nature of the piece, I don’t know. A nice introduction to CD’s work.

2424. Dean Lane skate park (245)

What a lovely surprise, two of my favourite artists collaborating on one of my favourite walls, and look at all that orange. This collaboration went up on the wall where the Inkie piece had been for quite some while and which had become a bit tagged, so it is nice to refresh the wall.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2019
Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2019

On the left Face 1st has painted one of his faces with hair that spells out FACE. I have noticed that several of his recent pieces have taken this portrait format with this rather more obvious writing in the hair, and it is something the artist is obviously playing with at the moment.The colours and fill patterns are wonderful but that winking girl is irresistable.

Daz Cat, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2019
Daz Cat, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2019

On the right, is a stunning gold cat from the prolific Daz Cat. I wonder if he is continuing the theme from his piece at the M32 roundabout of gold v chrome, the colours of this piece might suggest that. The writing ‘a cat’ is suitably chrome. Different styles, but together this girl and cat make a lovely pair. More please.

2410. M32 roundabout J3 (160)

I might have said it recently, but I’ll say it again just in case, Daz Cat has been really productive lately and he is stretching his repetoire of work through original ideas and collaborations and it is a pleasure to watch.

Daz Cat, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2019
Daz Cat, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2019

Rather kindly, Bristol City Council have buffed a few walls on the M32 roundabout and one of the first to occupy the new clean space was Daz Cat with this entertaining pair of cats painted on either side of an entrance to one of the pedestrian/bicycle underpasses. On the left is a gold cat speaking the word ‘chrome’.

Daz Cat, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2019
Daz Cat, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2019

On the right of the tunnel is a chrome cat saying the word ‘gold’. This appears to be a cat conversation with each calling out the other’s name. It is a lovely idea nicely executed, and what fun Daz Cat must have had painting this blank canvas. With any luck the council will buff a few more walls on this roundabout, enabling a bit of a refresh. I fear that this was not their intention, but hey ho.

2389. M32 Spot (46)

Daz Cat is knocking himself out with some really wonderful and creative work at the moment and this fine lion column piece at the M32 Spot is a prime example.  The quote at the bottom would have remained a mystery to me, but luckily Paulh121 wrote up this piece on his instagram feed and had this to say (sorry Paul for borrowing your words, I hope you don’t mind):

‘Ye Are Many They Are Few Ye Are Many’ and so says @dazcatgraff and indeed so did English poet Shelley back in 1819 when the poem ‘The Masque Of Anarchy’ from which this quote has been taken, although it wasn’t published until 1832.

Daz Cat, M32 Spot, Bristol, August 2019
Daz Cat, M32 Spot, Bristol, August 2019

The piece itself is full of movement, emotion and I might say rage, perhaps a commentary about the terrible times we live in, and the catastrophic and selfish Prime Minister who will lead us to misery for the many and prosperity for the few. Even if the piece has nothing to do with that, it at least inspired me to say it.

2374. M32 roundabout J3 (158)

It is always most satisfying to witness great collaborative partnerships, and in Bristol there are quite a few of these, for example; SledOne and Smak, Laic217 and Cort, Rezwonk and Decay, Kid Crayon and SPzero76 and here we have another pairing who seem to enjoy each other’s company, Kool Hand and Daz Cat.

Kool Hand, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2019
Kool Hand, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2019

Kool Hand is not as prolific as I would like him to be so I don’t get to see too much of his work. What I like about his style is the clean lines and solid fills and of course the subject of his pieces which pretty much always seem to be animal-related. In this piece a crocodile is spraying the initials KH, and why not.

Daz Cat, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2019
Daz Cat, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2019

Daz Cat is another artist whose work I’d like to see a lot more of. Unusually, in this piece we see the full body of a cat, fully clothed with a neckerchief, lilac shirt and green trousers. The cat seems to be in a meditative pose, and looks a lot gentler than some of the cats Daz Cat paints. A nice collaboration from this pair at the M32 roundabout.

 

 

 

 

2343. M32 roundabout J3 (152)

It’s great to see these two artists working together, and this is one of a couple of collaborative walls I have seen from Kool Hand and Daz Cat recently. Interestingly both artists tend to paint caricatures of animals in not entirely dissimilar styles, although Kool Hand’s work is a bit more of a line and solid fill approach where Daz Cat also uses shading.

Kool Hand, M32 Roundabout, Bristol, July 2019
Kool Hand, M32 Roundabout, Bristol, July 2019

On the left is a rather grumpy looking dog, perhaps a Bulldog of some kind sprayed by Kool Hand. It is nice to see another addition to his orangutans and crocodiles, and I am enjoying seeing his work develop further.

Daz Cat, M32 Roundabout, Bristol, July 2019
Daz Cat, M32 Roundabout, Bristol, July 2019

On the right is the piece by Daz Cat, and guess what… it is a cat, and although I have seen him deviate from his feline preference once or twice, most of his works are cats. His trademark thing is the little shape on the cat’s forehead, which in this piece gets a rather interesting fill. Both artists have well and truly woken up to the summer painting season and are pretty busy right now, which inevitably means there’s more to come.

2320. St Werburghs tunnel (88)

Another artist who seems to have spent the winter in hibernation is Daz Cat, but he has certainly woken up recently, and this rather uplifting pun-message (have a mice day), and perhaps slightly less uplifting image is a recent piece from St Werburghs Tunnel.

Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2019
Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2019

What is interesting about this one is that Daz Cat has shown time and time again that he can paint these great cats, and dogs too sometimes in his wonderful style, but judging from this piece, I think a bit more practice on his mice is needed.

Now that I have started trying to spray paint myself I know how difficult it is so it is perhaps a bit rich for me to be too judging of other’s work. Perhaps this is why theatre critics don’t act or direct.

2172. M32 Spot (40)

I had seen this nice column piece by Daz Cat several times, but kept forgetting to go back to photograph it. By the time I sorted myself out, someone had slapped a poster in the middle of the face. This is a dilemma for a street photographer. Do I leave it as I found it, as if it were a tag, or do I remove it? I tend to leave it as it is as this somehow feels more authentic to me. It is how it is when I saw it.

Daz Cat, M32 Spot, Bristol, April 2019
Daz Cat, M32 Spot, Bristol, April 2019

Having said all of that, it is a pity that the grubby poster is there, because the piece is a nice one. Also I am embarrassed by the quality of the photograph which is way out of focus, so I think I am going to have to return to photograph it again, and maybe I’ll get lucky and the poster will have blown away.

1921. Cumberland Basin

This is one of two Daz Cat pieces I found on a recent lunchtime walk to the Cumberland Basin. It was good to find this, as I haven’t seen one of his pieces for a little while. This particular spot does seem to be a favourite haunt for the artist.

Daz Cat, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2018
Daz Cat, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2018

This cat is so full of expression, I like the little black line across the teeth which ‘suggests’ individual teeth without actually picking them out. A neat trick. The absence of one eye might lead the viewer to conclude that this cat is a bit of a bruiser. Nice work.

1696. The Bearpit (159)

Although he specialises in cats and dogs, Daz Cat also occasionally produces these somewhat surreal pieces that contain his styling and preferred colours and so are unmistakably his work.

Daz Cat, The Bearpit, Bristol, June 2018
Daz Cat, The Bearpit, Bristol, June 2018

I’m not too sure what is happening here – monsters or mutant cats or dogs…who knows? for me there is a ‘War of the Worlds’ thing happening here, but I think that is probably my fertile imagination extrapolating the piece a little too far. Fun work from Daz Cat.