Another piece I managed to snap on a recent work trip in Birmingham on my way to the station, this time by the brilliant Annatomix, whose ‘origami’ style animal pieces are so distinctive.
This gorgeous magpie or maybe blue jay certainly brightens up an incredibly bland street in Birmingham. Annatomix is running a campaign against exploitation of her and other artist’s art, and is limiting her street work to commissions, so I am guessing this might be quite an old piece. Stunning though.
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Magpie pair nesting
deep within our garden hedge
local terrorists
.
by Scooj
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Raining clumps of moss
hurled from roof tiles by magpies
hungry for insects
.
by Scooj
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Still Sunday morning
sleepy neighbourhood awakes
to magpies calling
.
by Scooj
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Swifts take the high notes
the air thick with sparrow chirps
and magpies squawking
.
by Scooj
Every now and again, I like to delve into my archives to see if there are any pieces that somehow were overlooked at the time, and I am always surprised by what I find. The next few posts are from 2016 and include this beautiful magpie by Aspire.
Aspire was one of my favourite Bristol artists in Bristol, and his depictions of birds in particular struck a chord with me as a trained naturalist. For a few short years, his work brightened up our streets before he packed his bags and moved to London, where I am told the streets are paved with gold. Fortunately, Aspire does return from time to time, but I miss his portfolio of stunning birds and their surroundings. As well as being a superb portrayal of a magpie, we also see evidence of his pixel clusters, something of a trademark for the artist. Those were the days!
Kosc really is an extraordinary talent, especially as, under a different name, he is a graffiti writer with an utterly different style. Pieces like this are serious business for Kosc who is fine-tuning his skills for these photorealistic portraits and writing.
Picton Lane is a wonderful Bristol backstreet in Montpelier that plays host to some classic pieces, of which this is one. I remember seeing it as a work in progress a long time ago, but didn’t get back until quite recently to enjoy it as a finished piece. I am full of admiration for the piece. It is so good, and I am not sure that I would be doing it justice by waffling on like I usually do, and I am doing right now.
Kosc has reached a new level this year, and it is difficult to know how much higher he can take it. I wonder whether he should do a street art festival circuit to get better known outside Bristol, but that takes a lot of commitment. This black and white face is just awesome.
The tiniest tinge of colour is provided by the magpie’s tail, but it is enough to lift the whole piece just that little bit more. It is Kosc’s attention to detail that makes this piece sing. An absolute beauty.
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This commonplace bird
in any other country
might seem exotic
.
by Scooj
It might be a little bit of an over-statement, but judging from the amount of work by Dun Ssum in this particular spot he could arguably be crowned king of L Dub. Not only is there a lot of his work there, but it is all really creative and imaginative.
In this piece we see a beautifully painted magpie collecting gadgets that look like the old Sony Walkman (remember those) but might be something different altogether. Dun Sum usually tries to conceal his name into his pieces and in this case he has woven it into the lower part of the bird’s nest. A fine piece on a large wall at L Dub.
Momentarily
a huge mischief of magpies
fills the sky above.
* On seeing the largest group of magpies I have ever seen, I counted at least 25.
