Tag: Deamze

768. Waterloo Place (1)

There are two artists in Bristol who are performing at the top of their game at the moment, Deamze and Voyder. Deamze consistantly turns out superb wildstyle pieces and absorbs styles and characters into his pieces with ease, but it is Voyder who, in my opinion, is hitting a new level with his work.

Deamze, Waterloo Place, Bristol, April 2017
Deamze, Waterloo Place, Bristol, April 2017

This bright collaboration can be found on the wall at the back of the Sofa Project in Old Market. It is so, so good that it really does have to be seen in the flesh. There is a consistent thread of the colour scheme and a diagonal line through both pieces that cuts through the writing, and with which both artists have treated the line as a breaking point in the work – so thought out and skilful.

Deamze, Waterloo Place, Bristol, April 2017
Deamze, Waterloo Place, Bristol, April 2017

I would like to focus a little – which is hard to do with two such immense pieces – on Voyder’s half of the collaboration, because I think this is the best piece I have seen from him, ever. The neon line zig-zagging through the Lichtenstein influenced brush strokes is masterful. Look at the shadows and the light that radiates from the neon. Just amazing.

Voyder, Waterloo Place, Bristol, April 2017
Voyder, Waterloo Place, Bristol, April 2017

Voyder has mastered his technique, and I don’t quite know where he goes from here. He has just been getting better and better with every piece and I consider him to be the king of writing in Bristol right now. If you don’t agree, just get down and take a close look at this piece. The best collaborative piece of the year so far as far as I am concerned. Love it (just in case you hadn’t figured that yet).

Voyder, Waterloo Place, Bristol, April 2017
Voyder, Waterloo Place, Bristol, April 2017

756. Cowmead Walk (1)

This is a fabulous collaborative wall by Deamze (on the left) and Sepr (on the right). I found the wall quite by chance on my wanderings and it is always so rewarding when you come across something as impressive as this. There is also a moment of anguish and doubt that questions your knowledge of the street/graffiti art spots in your patch.

Deamze, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, December 2016
Deamze, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, December 2016

I don’t quite know why I haven’t posted it before. Probably because I have a backlog the size of a small planet and this one just got stuck there for a while.

Deamze, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, December 2016
Deamze, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, December 2016

On the December day that I took these pictures, there was a gentleman with several little dogs that kept running backwards and forwards in front of me. I hope they don’t distract too much. The Deamze wildstyle piece is of the high standard turned out by the artist, and the pink colour selection stands out really well against the green background.

Sepr, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, December 2016
Sepr, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, December 2016

The Sepr end of the piece is an entertaining scene, which looks to be of mice cleaning the component parts of a head. This is a theme I have seen before from Sepr, and he has mastered the stretching out and dissection of the head really well. The shadows add a perspective to the whole piece too.

Sepr, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, December 2016
Sepr, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, December 2016

Although the two halves of the piece do not tell the same story, they are coordinated and complement each other well. Great work from two of Bristol’s finest.

720. M32 cycle path (7)

Same place, same artist – here is another reasonably recent piece by Deamze in one of his favoured spots. This is one of his monochrome pieces, which is in the wildstyle plus cartoon character theme that he often adopts.

Deamze, M32 cycle path, Bristol, January 2017
Deamze, M32 cycle path, Bristol, January 2017

His monochrome works are really clever, using only shading and black to create a fully functional piece. A bit like watching black and white TV…remember that?

Deamze, M32 cycle path, Bristol, January 2017
Deamze, M32 cycle path, Bristol, January 2017

I have no idea who this cartoon character is but can be pretty sure that Deamze has done it justice.

 

 

718. M32 cycle path (7)

It is clear that Deamze really favours this spot for his pieces, and I have seen several different ones here over the last few months. This is a bright piece, in his typical widlstyle format, with a character popping up at the end. In this case it is a beautiful Felix the Cat.

Deamze, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2017
Deamze, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2017

I admire very much the way Deamze recreates cartoon characters with such accuracy and sharpness, and his range seems to have no boundaries. All good really.

Deamze, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2017
Deamze, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2017

695. The Bearpit (51)

This is a remarkable and really well sprayed piece on one of the stairways of The Bearpit by Deamze. Quite often Deamze will write his name or some other word and incorporate a cartoon character. This time he has really gone to town, and been a little political too (which of course I love).

Deamze, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2017
Deamze, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2017

His chosen characters, Dennis the Menace and Minnie the Minx are from the famous British comic strip the Beano. Deamze has recreated these with absolute perfection.

Deamze, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2017
Deamze, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2017

The whole piece spells out ‘exist resist’ and carries the taglines ‘question authority’ and ‘Government is theft’. I have a feeling that the unending austerity, pressure on schools and the health service, compounded by the significant economic impacts that leaving the EU will impose, will lead to a great deal of protest in this country in the coming years. I hope future protests will be as peaceful and colourful as this.

Deamze, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2017
Deamze, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2017

I cannot say enough good things about this piece. The location is also well thought out, to be able to accommodate the long words but also with a footfall of predominantly sympathetic eyes passing it every day.

Deamze, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2017
Deamze, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2017

It is work like this that makes my pleasure a pleasure.

 

 

 

666. Norfolk Place (1)

This is a rather old piece from Deamze, but I was down there very recently, and it is still looking in good nick. I have to say though that this is not my favourite piece by this artist. I feel the colours are all wrong for this location. It feels to me a little drab and lacking in vibrancy.

Deamze, Norfolk Place, Bristol, August 2016
Deamze, Norfolk Place, Bristol, August 2016

It happened from time to time. I can’t ‘love’ every piece I see. Technically this is a great piece…it just doesn’t do it for me. It is utterly untagged and respected though which shows the high esteem in which Deamze is held.

Deamze, Norfolk Place, Bristol, August 2016
Deamze, Norfolk Place, Bristol, August 2016

637. Richmond Road (4)

I came across this wall quite by accident. I was looking for somewhere to park in the Montpelier area – a challenge in itself, so that I could investigate some garages which I had checked out on Streetview.

Sepr, Richmond Road, Bristol, January 2017
Sepr, Richmond Road, Bristol, January 2017

I noticed some scaffolding and early stages of spraying of a tribute to DJ Derek, more about him here and here. The first day I visited nobody was spraying – maybe they had gone home for the day, so I returned the following day.

Deamze, Richmond Road, Bristol, January 2017
Deamze, Richmond Road, Bristol, January 2017

This time two artists were working on the piece. Obviously I stopped for a quick chat – one was Sepr, I didn’t speak to the other, but it might have been Deamze. It was good to ask about the piece, and to meet Sepr, who is, like my daughter, the owner of a panther chameleon.

Sepr, Richmond Road, Bristol, February 2017
Sepr, Richmond Road, Bristol, February 2017

The piece is a really fitting tribute to the great, and very much missed, DJ Derek by two of the very best street artists in Bristol. And what a wall too. The right hand side of the collaboration, the protrait, is by Sepr and is quite unusual because most of his work is rather more cartoon-like and creative, let’s say.

Sepr, Richmond Road, Bristol, February 2017
Sepr, Richmond Road, Bristol, February 2017

The portrait is a good likeness to DJ Derek, and I am sure it will remain here for quite some time.

Deamze, Richmond Road, Bristol, February 2017
Deamze, Richmond Road, Bristol, February 2017

On the left hand side, we have some very recognisable writing from Deamze spelling out the words ‘One Love’ without any wildstyle disguise. I am guessing, but I don’t know that this might have been one of many catch phrases that DJ Derek was known for.

Deamze and Sepr, Richmond Road, Bristol, February 2017
Deamze and Sepr, Richmond Road, Bristol, February 2017

Everything about this tribute is good, the artists, the wall, the quiet location. It is great to honour important Bristol figures in this way.

 

 

634. Raleigh Road vector (6)

It has been a little while since I last posted a Deamze piece, and somehow that just doesn’t seem right for this blog. It is possible that I have posted more of his pieces than any of the other Bristol street artists…but I am not counting.

Deamze, Raleigh Road, Bristol, February 2017
Deamze, Raleigh Road, Bristol, February 2017

This wonderful piece in greens and browns is on the hoardings next to the recent Voyder bones work. The wildstyle writing is as intricate and clean as you’d expect from a Deamze piece, and on the right hand side he features a cartoon hog (?) holding a little creature in its grip.

Deamze, Raleigh Road, Bristol, February 2017
Deamze, Raleigh Road, Bristol, February 2017

I’m sure I ought to know who the cartoon character is, but on this occasion I am stumped. Many of the cartoon characters that Deamze chooses to paint are from 1980s TV cartoons, but I was doing other more important things, and missed out on this TV toon culture. Perhaps somebody knows who it is.

Deamze, Raleigh Road, Bristol, February 2017
Deamze, Raleigh Road, Bristol, February 2017

I like always to photograph the D at the start of his lettering, just to compare the style from one to the next.

558. Old Bread Street (9)

This is a piece I photographed back in 2016, as are most of my posts at the moment…something that I fear will be happening for quite some while yet. It is a fine wildstyle piece by the irrepressible Deamze (Tom Deams) whose website is here, and is essential reading for those who want to understand why people choose a name and spray paint it.

Deamze, Old Bread street, Bristol, September 2016
Deamze, Old Bread street, Bristol, September 2016
This piece, on a purple background, is typical of his work, with beautifully constructed shards, shapes and colours coming together to form the whole. The geometric precision comes across as being effortless, but is technically brilliant. It is always great to find these.

Deamze, Old Bread street, Bristol, September 2016
Deamze, Old Bread street, Bristol, September 2016

544. M32 Roundabout J3 (26)

Another nice piece by Deamze on the M32 roundabout wall, on the St Pauls side, from back in July 2016. It is quite an unusual piece, rather stylised and reminiscent of stained glass.

Deamze, M32 Roundabout, Bristol, June 2016
Deamze, M32 Roundabout, Bristol, June 2016
It is not my favourite piece by Deamze and I can’t put my finger on why that might be. Possibly the background colour clashes a bit with the colours in the piece. Or maybe it is missing a cartoon character popping out somewhere. Technically beautifully worked though.

Deamze, M32 Roundabout, Bristol, June 2016
Deamze, M32 Roundabout, Bristol, June 2016