5646. Nottingham

Kid30, Nottingham, November 2023
Kid30, Nottingham, November 2023

A short while ago, I had a team meeting in Nottingham and decided that It would be wise to travel up the evening before, because it is a bit of a schlep from Bristol and I would have been late for the start of the meeting if I travelled up on the day. I have only been to Nottingham twice before, and remember little of both trips. On the day of the meeting, I got up early and took an aimless walk to see if I could find any street/graffiti art and some doors for Thursday doors. It was a very productive walk on both counts.

Kid30, Nottingham, November 2023
Kid30, Nottingham, November 2023

I found this outstanding shutter piece by Kid30 near Sneinton Market (I think) and although I haven’t seen much of his work, I am familiar with him thanks to a couple of visits he made to Upfest in Bristol. Kid30 specialises in deconstructing cartoon characters, and then stitching them back together again in a random assembly. In this fabulous piece I can find Top Cat, Krusty the clown, Bender from Futurama, Pluto and the Pink Panther. Not a bad collection in one piece really. Look out for more from this lightening visit to Nottingham.

5477. Cheltenham 2023 (9)

SkyHigh, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023
SkyHigh, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

Each time I think that SkyHigh can’t possibly up his game, he manages to do so with what appears to be ease. I can’t imagine he has too much headroom for improvement, but hey, this is SkyHigh we’re talking about (no pun intended).

SkyHigh, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023
SkyHigh, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

This large piece is a perfect mash-up of characters, letter fonts and styles, seamlessly joined together to spell out SkyHigh in several combinations. The inclusion of Mickey Mouse, Pluto and Donald Duck add a sense of fun to the piece as well as being a bit weird with some additional eyes thrown in for good measure.

SkyHigh, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023
SkyHigh, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

One of the awesome things about the piece is how SkyHigh manages to compartmentalise each element as tight as tight can be, and yet there is a fluidity that makes sense of each of the components into an impressive whole. This is as close to graffiti writing perfection as you can get.