A collection of street art from the Bristol street artist Kid Crayon
All photographs taken by Scooj
Kid Crayon
Tag: Kid Crayon
1671. Moon Street (52)
This is a recent ‘quick one’ from Kid Crayon…utterly fantastic. It is also just a quick one from me too.
1643. Upfest 2018 (5)
Kid crayon is a favourite Bristol artist of mine and his contribution to Upfest this year was straight forward and fun. I’m not too sure what the crocodile, triangle and cake are all about, but I’m sure they have some kind of meaning. The piece also carries birthday wishes for Meg.
I think Kid Crayon had seen the forecast for Sunday and had managed to complete his piece by early Saturday afternoon. I managed to swing by when he was painting and chatted for a short while. It is one of the great things about Upfest that you get to see works in progress and figure out how these artists go about their work.
1612. M32 Spot (23)
I’m really pleased that I photographed this column piece by Kid Crayon when I did, because I returned last week and it has been really badly tagged. It is a great ‘brain dump’ kind of piece with all sorts of themes and ideas going on. Almost like a collage.
The identity card is a theme that Kid Crayon has used some years ago on a wheatpaste tucked down a side street – it was one of the first pieces of his that I found. Everything else here seems a little bit surreal and eclectic.
I think that rather than try to interpret the work it is far wiser to just look at it and admire it. I’m not sure if it is deliberate or not, but the guy in the red bucket hat looks a lot like KC himself and I wonder if it is a self-portrait. All good from one of my fave artists.
1508. Millpond Street (4)
Here’s another EAT crew (SPZero76 and Kid Crayon) collaboration on the side wall of Domestic Drain Services. Maybe once or twice a year, this company invites artists to paint the walls in return for free paint – or so I understand.
One wall was painted by Paul Monsters and featured on this blog a little while ago. This wall has been crafted into a comic strip which was described by Keith Hopewell, AKA SPZero76 on his Instagram account as follows:
‘This comic tells the tale of a race to find the Holy Grail in a post apocolyptic giant robot wasteland. Biker woman vs the pigs of doom (and their herder). Who will find the treasure first?’
The biker woman and robot wasteland are by SPZero76 and the pigs and their hereder by Kid Crayon. I still find this pairing of artists a little unusual, because their styles are so different, but somehow they pull it off every time they work together.
I particularly like the book end characters – Biker woman and the pig herder who reminds me a little of Woody or Andy his owner from Toy Story. The whole piece is crazy, imaginative and inspiring. I love it when these two get together, you just never know what will happen.
1443. Dean Lane skate park (118)
Sometimes in life things come together to create a story. Some stories are good and others not so good. This wonderful piece by Kid Crayon provides the perfect backdrop to a good story.
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2018
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2018
Some of you who read this blog regularly will know that I recently lost my father and although we were not especially close, he was my father and that means something. Going back to work was a struggle so I made sure I kept up my lunchtime walks as a kind of mindfulness opportunity. On this day, 20 April, I decided to visit Dean Lane to see if there was any new work there, which is pretty much a certainty if I am honest. As it turned out, the place was really busy, with several artists at work.
Some of the artists, including Kid Crayon, were there to mark 420, the long standing campaign to legalise cannabis (now perhaps you see what his artwork is all about). I spent a long while photographing all the works in progress and having a great natter with the artists. Realising I couldn’t spend all day there, although it would have been fun, I set off back to work.
Then I had one of those moments where an inner mini me took over and marched me back to Kid Crayon. As I approached him I apologised for my cheekiness and asked him if he could do something really special for me…I asked if he would spray a little tribute for my dad on this piece. Kindly he said he would…if he remembered. I thanked him and went on my way.
The next time I saw the piece was on Instagram, posted the next day (but pictured on the evening of completion) by Street Art Bristol (see above). And there in the bottom left corner is the tribute. I welled up when I saw this, lots of emotions going on. However there are a couple more twists to the tale. I also saw several other Instagram posts taken which showed the piece had been dogged (some people have no respect) probably only hours after the picture above was taken. I asked Street Art Bristol if he could send me a clean copy of the piece and explained why it was important to me – he did so without hesitation for which I am hugely grateful.
I managed to make it down to Dean Lane later on the Saturday (the day after it was completed) and to my surprise, somebody had restored the piece – I don’t know who, It might have been KC or somebody else, but it is great to know there are some good guys out there. If you look at the featured image at the very top of this post, you can make out some of the white markings of graffiti under the green background.
I have always liked Kid Crayon’s work, indeed it was largely down to him and JPS that I started blogging about street art in the first place. Through the kindness of Kid Crayon, this was my little way of marking the passing of my father. RIP Gledders.
1344. The Bearpit (123)
Once again I have been doing a little bit of cleaning up of my archives, and I came across this rather unusual Kid Crayon piece from Kid Crayon last July. I am finding that Bristol art from July is often under-represented in my posts, because they get hijacked by Upfest and will remain unshared and unloved in my July folder.
This piece reminds me very much of the wheatpastes he used to do and which I used to take great pleasure in hunting down when I first became interested in all this malarkey. A classic Kid Crayon work.
1274. The Bearpit (117)
In the partial light of one of the tunnels leading out of The Bearpit a little while back, there was this rather lovely collaboration between Kid Crayon and Ugar. I had caught up with Ugar a few days later and he talked about his collaboration partner most fondly and touchingly called him Crayon Kid. Well it works for me.
It is not often that Kid Crayon takes to writing, but I guess this was one of those days. What is lovely about his piece here is that he has included his signature crayon, which has been missing (and much missed) of late.
I am really enjoying finding Ugar pieces around the place. As a relatively new entrant into the Bristol scene, his work adds to the incredible diversity of street art that the city has to offer. He mostly works with the letters of his name, although not always, and here gives us an UG, beautifully filled and decorated. Nice collaboration.
1252. M32 roundabout J3 (60)
I don’t know an awful lot about Lopes…I think I have sen his name once or twice around Bristol, but can’t be sure. His burner here is nicely executed, but it is the Kid Crayon character to the left that makes this wall.
I am not sure if this was a deliberate collaboration or if Kid Crayon added his work afterwards. I suspect the latter. However it came about, the KC character with his funny accent in the speech bubble adds so much to the writing of Lopez, bringing the most out of it by drawing attention to it.
This is a witty and fun piece and so very typical of the understated brilliance of Kid Crayon. Perfect.
1235. Upfest 2017 (119)
At the Ashton Gate Upfest site, which was opened up for the first time in 2017, there was a very long wall running down the entire side of the stadium. Certain sections of this wall were allocated to crews, who sprayed together to create their pieces. This one is by Kid Crayon who was joining up with the Lost Souls crew and Eat.
I am a big fan of Kid Crayon’s work, and it was his wheatpastes that originally stoked my interest in Bristol street art in the first place, so I have a lot to thank him for. This is a wonderful and colourful piece of a big fish in a sardine can. I don’t know the meaning of the piece, but I know I like it a lot.
Anything to do with fish tends to tick my box, so street art with a fish is a bit of a bonanza.
Natural adventures 