Tag: Daz Cat

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.

1628. M32 Spot (25)

I seem to have posted a lot of work by Daz Cat recently, perhaps he is going through one of those productive phases that street artists seem to go through – perhaps a bit of time on his hands just now.

Daz Cat, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2018
Daz Cat, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2018

A cat in a shirt, who’d have thought? I like Das Catz’s work a lot, it always has a bit of edge, and the characters, mostly cats and dogs, often have a little menace about them. In this piece, there is something compelling about the buttons on the shirt, my eyes are drawn to them. The piece simply wouldn’t balance properly without them.

1616. The Bearpit (155)

One of the things I admire about street artists is that they tend to have a distinctive style that they carry through all of their work – this becomes more obvious when you group their works together in galleries, which I have started doing with Aspire, 3Dom, Mr Draws, Andy Council and Deamze.

In this case the work of Daz Cat has such a strong expression that even when his work doesn’t feature a cat or a dog, it is still utterly unmistakable – this is one artist who doesn’t need to sign his work.

Daz Cat, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2018
Daz Cat, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2018

This piece ‘Haven’t a clue what’s going on!’ is a little unusual and slightly unsettling, but nicely conceived and very nicely executed. I wonder if the sentiment is expressed about the Council’s stance to restrict the street/graffiti art in The Bearpit…of course it might have nothing to do with that at all. Another nice piece from Daz Cat.