Well, here is something a little different from Nightwayss down at the M32 Spot. One of the columns transporting us to a warm skateboarding scene, an appropriate piece for this spot which is a DIY wet-weather skate park.
Nightwayss, M32 Spot, Bristol, August 2019
These columns are such a difficult place to paint a meaningful story, but Nightwayss does it with great skill and assurance, and just for good measure he includes one of his monkeys (as if he wouldn’t). This is a refreshing and wonderful piece from this prolific Bristol artist.
In my archives I have some other pieces by this artist, Slakarts, but for some reason have not posted any of them until now. I would say that this piece is not typical of the other pictures I have by the artist.
Slakarts, M32 Spot, Bristol, August 2019
The column piece is beautifully thought out, with a queue of stylised figures, each holding the one in front like they are doing a conga. I will make my own narrative up for this one preferring the idea that they are in an orderly line to tell Boris Johnson what ann utter **** he is… just saying. Look out for more from this artist (archive stuff) on Natural Adventures.
It has been a long while since I last posted anything by Object…, but that might be because he has been very busy with retrieving boards from The Bearpit and running events at the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft gallery in Jamaica Street.
Object…, M32 Spot, Bristol, August 2019
Object…’s work often looks pained and tortured, but especially so in this instance The disfigured fingers have a grotesqueness to them and in a strange way, I find the piece a little upsetting. Of course I don’t know the context of the piece, but it feels terribly troubled. Object… is very good at this challenging kind of artwork.
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
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.
Zake pretty much owns these columns under the M32, and what is amazing is that so many of them are still there after more than a year – a tribute to his work perhaps. In this piece, one head is being consumed by another which looks devilish/vampire-like.
Zake, M32 spot, Bristol, July 2019
I do like Zake’s work very much, especially the faces created out of three or four tones of paint, however this one misses the mark ever so slightly for me, there is something not quite right about the teeth in the top head that I find distracting. I think I am being a little picky because this is a good piece, but just not one of his best. Looking forward to more from Zake.
It has been a little while since I last saw a piece by Zake, and this little gem is exactly what we’ve seen from him before except for one thing… hair. He really has nailed the format of these column pieces and this one is rather special.
Zake, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2019
I have looked at it a lot, and can see it in two forms. One as a woman with voluminous black hair, and the other as a woman with a hijab. Both are beautiful. It is great to see the artist return to the spot where I first became aware of him.
The M32 Spot is an interesting location. It is sited under an elevated section of the M32, the main artery into Bristol from the M4 motorway. There is a DIY skatepark which is used by skateboarders, predominantly when it is wet (a barrier to skating), but most of the time is fairly quiet. It is also a bit of a graffiti/street art hotspot.
In addition to the skatepark, there is a fenced-off area through which a concreted section of the River Frome is channelled via a culvert under the city and which eventually discharges into the New Cut. I have never quite worked out how to get over the fence to this section of concrete, unlike many graffiti/street artists who have plastered the walls with their work, so my pictures a limited to long-distance shots like this one through the fence railings.
Stupid Stupid Meathole and Panskaribas, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2019
It is a pity that this collaboration between Stupid Stupid Meathole and Panskaribas is so inaccessible, because it really deserves to be seen by more people than the very few who would bother to look here.
The piece features one of Stupid Stupid Meathole’s grotesque worms, this one with two heads, looking like it is being ridden by a couple of Panskaribas’s characters. The whole thing is badged as a Reseau collaboration, and it is possible that there is a third artist involved (the boxes) but I am not sure. I’ve yet to meet these artists, but it is only a matter of time I guess. What would we do without zoom lenses?
