Frail unpretentious
flower too small to notice
too fair to ignore.
by Scooj
Tag: Environment
Close your eyes for a moment
Hear the tide ebbing,
seaweed pops and crackles and
bright water gurgles.
by Scooj
189. Cheltenham Road, Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party cafe marks out the northern border of the Stokes Croft area for street art. It is also a great place to start a tour of all the wonders in the area. This is a lovely commission by Alex Lucas adorning the front right hand side of the building. I presume it is a March hare, given its boxing gloves.
Unfortunately the piece and many others nearby have been obscured by red spray, really calling into question the whole debate about art, street art, commissions, illegal, graffiti, tagging, vandalism and so on. It will be very difficult to clear this piece up – maybe she’ll get a commission to replace it (please).
186. The Bearpit (10)
This ‘throw up’ (a very quickly sprayed freestyle piece) was crafted by Decay on the same day (Friday 8th April 2016) that I wrote about this piece.
It is very simple and also very powerful, Decay could have a career in logo design! The initials DK obviously have driven his ‘Decay’ moniker. This is a nice crisp striking piece in one of the tunnels at the Bearpit.
Unfortunately, this has been ‘taken out’ in the words of Decay as have nearly all the Bearpit tunnel pieces by a Bristol tagger called DBK. It is a pity, but this is what DBK does, and all the other artists know this and, I guess, just put up with it.
185. Stokes Croft, Pop up Shop
This playful commission was painstakingly crafted between the 5th to the 11th of April 2016. It is unmistakably the work of the brilliant Alex Lucas, and adds to the overall wealth of her pieces in the Area. It is great that so many small local businesses commission her work. Her stamp is fast becoming part of the Bristol USP.
These hares, painted and marked onto shutters, will I’m sure, become a local reference point. Looking carefully, you might also catch a glimpse of Mrs Scooj walking past the triptych with an umbrella.
I managed to have a quick chat with Alex a couple of times while she was working on this piece, and was struck by how approachable and incredibly nice she was…it must get very tiresome having people interrupt your work and ask inane questions, but at no time did she make me feel unwelcome, in fact completely the opposite.
Alex did disclose that shutter work is a bit of a pain and rather difficult, but she has done a great job with this. I really look forward to her next commission.
Alex Lucas, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2016
Alex Lucas, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2016
Alex Lucas, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2016
Alex Lucas, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2016
Alex Lucas, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2016
Alex Lucas, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2016
179. Hotwell Road, Esso Garage (2)
An emergency fuel situation led me to fill the car up at this garage in Hotwell Road recently. I might have annoyed queuing customers a little, because I hadn’t seen the mural before and snapped a couple of quick photographs. I was a little saddened that it had replaced one of my favourite Andy Council pieces that I posted about in August 2015.
This environmental piece is by 45 RPM, a Bristol artist, and was commissioned by the Body Shop as part of their ‘Enrich not Exploit‘ campaign. Three other street artists were also commissioned to create works in Brighton, Birmingham and Manchester.
I am always a little suspicious of business campaign commissions like this one, but I think the Body Shop is one company that has strong ethical and sustainable values that I can live with. This is not greenwash, it is more like influencing.
It is an unusual piece, but I am really beginning to like it.
Modern Green Man
Shaped from the earth and
hiding in a suburban
garden; I saw you.
by Scooj
Lifer
Job in the balance
twenty six years of service
counts for nothing now.
by Scooj
25. Topless
There may be one or two visitors who are reading this blog for the first time. To provide a little context, it would be worthwhile having a quick read of the first entry ‘An Ill Wind‘. In short this is a faithful digitisation of a journal I kept when working in the Falkland Islands and South Atlantic in 1988. Enjoy.
Wednesday 1 June 1988, Montevideo, London Palace Hotel
Summer isn’t here at last. It is clearly Autumn, the plethora of leaves littered by the London plane trees tell the story well enough. Got my camera past the dock gates – took some Montevideo piccies, but not many. It is quite nerve racking using a camera, each picture may be your last.
Since this is a stick in page, I may as well put in some misfits.
I was mightily pissed off by all on the KM30, they were not helpful at all. I think there is a conspiracy against me.
Iguazu is out for me, it seems that it must be for eight days or nothing. I can’t give up the time.
We went to the el Fogon a restaurant (still there, I just checked on google) for lunch and also for supper and then on to a topless nightclub.
What an experience! It was like watching an American film- the two uninterested dancers weaved and twisted out of time to the music on podia which allowed a maximum half-stride in any direction. After a while at the bar, Jim and I were approached by a call girl/prostitute who couldn’t understand why we were at the club if we didn’t want a girl. Were we gay? No.
Basically it was a knocking shop and although Jim and I want to return, I think it could be a mistake. Nonetheless it was an experience and life is made up of experiences.
Thursday 2 June 1988, Montevideo, London Palace Hotel
Fun, fun, fun – Jim and I bought leather jackets. His was much nicer than mine, but was also more than double the price. Mine was US$75.
I have decided to get another like Jim’s but at US$185 (£100) it is a little on the expy side.
Jim has decided on the jacket and Iguazu, lucky thing, meanwhile I am to be left, festering in Monte. I’m so glad he has been here up to now.
Nicer weather, clearer skies.
Friday 3 June 1988, Montevideo, London Palace Hotel
Shaved again – I’ve got those lumps and spots once more – it is definitely shaving that produces these infections. Will I ever be free of them?
My jacket, the more I look at it the more I feel is cheap. It will be ok for a ‘rough and tumble’ in the UK, but I am only proud of it because it is Uruguayan.
The sun is at this moment pouring into my hotel room, a seemingly impossible feat given the angle of the room, window and sun.
I am quite pissed off that Jim is going on Sunday, I have enjoyed his company – being alone will be quite boring, but perhaps I’ll meet someone or something – things usually work out alright in the end.
We went again to the topless bar (called Baires). What a seedy dump. Once again we were both approached – in my case by a girl called Giselle? Anyhow we kept a stiff upper lip, refused all approaches and thought ourselves very cool for being so good. I think Jim could quite easily be tempted if I wasn’t here, but if I wasn’t here then he wouldn’t be here at all, so all’s well.
Saturday 4 June 1988, Montevideo, London Palace Hotel
A sunny day to wake up to.
Today we went wandering and Wandering. La la la. Jim cocked up on the money front and I bailed him out with US$100. I have worked out that he owes me on the basis of $1.83 dollars to the pound: £54.65 + £8.21 for the other money I lent him, giving a total of £62.86.
Went to the boat and took a hook and line (snood). Watched a German league football match on the TV.
Bought a gourd for Deb and a leather notebook, perhaps for Emily.
Lovely day all day. Jim and I went out onto the hotel roof.
After a very pleasant meal at Otto’s – a more exclusive restaurant than el Fogon we pootled on to the show below:
It was really seedy – it included a ‘free’ drink in the £1.60 entrance fee. What a laugh. The film was a very cheap British Caligula Caesar film, terrible. The strip was more like modern dance performed entirely without interest. The girls and bloke can’t earn much more than about a tenner a day. It was a real gas. Jim and I then went off solemnly to our hotel rooms.
Spent
Exhausted after
those nocturnal exertions;
waiting for the rain.
by Scooj
Natural adventures 