Another quick one this morning from DFC1848 underneath the M32. I retrieved this one from my archives too. It is a wonderful character column piece, carrying a great message.
From the first shot, you can get a sense of this spot, which is bisected by the River Frome. I hope to get into more of a rhythm tomorrow.
Although I came across this garage shutter piece by Daz Cat when I went to photograph pieces from the Bristol Mural Collective paint jam in Lucky Lane, I have a feeling that it may have been painted some time earlier, but I am not really sure. Well, there you have it… I just checked his Instagram account, and it was indeed painted at the paint jam.
The unusual piece features a blue-faced cat-girl clutching a gold medal, having come first in the rat race. I expect that the smartly dressed appearance is a reference to that, and the rats relate to a more literal interpretation of the phrase. A fun piece from Daz Cat on a tricky surface.
I took a short journey into my archives to find this small collaboration, something I rather like doing from time-to-time, as there are so many fantastic artworks that never make it into this blog. These pieces were painted in Dean Lane way back in December 2020.
To the left is an iconic mega-tag piece featuring one of Pura Decadencia’s mouths, complete with vampire teeth and and very long tongue. I really like her straightforward design that remind me a little of the Rolling Stones logo, filled with mischief. Pura Decadencia paints only occasionally, and I was encouraged by her recent piece in Brunel Way, and hope she’ll bring more of her artwork to Bristol before too long.
Mono, who I believe is no longer living in Bristol has been concentrating on her illustrations and animations that are really fantastic. This is a creative and imaginative piece of a rat (?) smoking a joint. The rat’s tail stems directly from its head, there is no body. The piece as a whole feels slightly provocative and edgy, which is sometimes so easily forgotten with a majority of rather more sanitised street/graffiti art. Altogether this is a fun collaboration decorating utility boxes, which deserve to be painted.
As part of a collaborative wall, this is something rather different from Kosc, but the high quality of the piece is there for all to see. Taking a break from his writing, which he seems to have been enjoying of late, Kosc has created this amazing rat skeleton character.
There is more than a little menace about this rat, brought about by its posture and open mouth. You can tell that Kosc enjoys the anatomy of the creature and clearly has a good understanding of skeletal structure. There is some complementary artwork from Saor, whose part in this collaborative wall was just to the left, that cuts through the rat’s tail. Fabulous artwork from Kosc.
.
Palindromic verse
rats live on no evil star
they’re all around us
.
by Scooj
* Prompted by spotting two large rats on my dog walk today.
It turns out that Nightwayss’ birthday celebratory paint jam corralled a great number of artists and channelled some extraordinary creativity. It is a long time, for example, since I last saw a piece from Laic217 that didn’t feature a skeleton or emaciated character.
In this wonderful piece, the Laic217 has painted a weed smoking, trippy rat, complete with a bucket hat, hoodie and trainers. This is a wonderful little character and contains a nice call out to Nightwayss too. The ‘Mc Trash’ MacDonalds paper cup in the background is a classy touch that adds a bit of commentary. Great work from the man.
This it the third and final post from this outstanding wall down near Temple Meads station, this section being by Acer One and Sepr. I kind of wish I had posted the whole wall in one go, but I didn’t and there is no point in crying over spilled milk.
Acer One has had such a busy year so far and has collaborated with so many different artists as well as doing solo pieces. Here he has written Hood, which is the first part of the full phrase Hood Rats. The collaboration which included Rowdy and Andy Council had a bunch of rats, including this rather sweet clockwork rat by Sepr. Sepr is another artist who has had an outstanding year so far, but his work has quietened down recently now that his band is back in rehearsal, preparing for the easing of restrictions, and of course there is also his day job as a tattooist.
This wall presented a dilemma for me. It is one contiguous collaboration piece and I could have presented it as that, however my photographs were compromised by extraordinarily bright sunlight and I could only get decent shots of sections of the piece rather than the whole, and so I have split it into separate posts of which this is the second.
This panel in by Andy Council and Acer One who collaborated several times very successfully over quite a short period this spring. The two rats are by Andy Council and show his composite approach to creating creatures, where the whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts. The geometric writing from Acer One has completely stumped me, and every time I try to decipher it my eye goes funny and the pattern goes flat – it looks like it might say A2. I am fully expecting chapter and verse from Paul H on this one (no pressure Paul).
The final effect is a stunning one and there is still more to come from this wall just across the road from Temple Meads Station.
I can’t think of a time when I have seen so many John D’oh stencils in such rapid succession including several that I have missed in recent weeks. Many have been about the Government’s inept handling of the coronavirus outbreak, this one however is more about the impacts on people.
Rats have commonly been used by Banksy and many other artists in their work and here a rat is used to illustrate the ‘rat race’ with the words ‘After COVID-19 I am not sure I can join the rat race’. Another nice work recording the impacts of the pandemic on Bristol society.
If there are any silver linings to the Covid-19 pandemic, and I say this fully recognising the horror that faces us all, one would have to be that Mother Earth can take a breather from carbon outputs, chronically stifling air quality, disturbance of species and habitats and rabid consumption that we have all become so accustomed to… a temporary turning down of the global dial. Another silver lining is that with fewer opportunities to photograph street art and fewer pieces being painted, I have an opportunity to delve into my archive and bring you some wonderful work that has been dormant on my computer files for a while. This is a resource I will be dipping into for as long as it takes. A trip down memory lane.
First up from June last year is this rat piece from Bad Tast, an artist I posted about not too long ago showing a collaboration with Soap in St Werburghs Tunnel. I don’t know if Bad Taste sprays anything other than rats, but it is an accomplished piece and practiced style and a welcome addition to Bristol street art.
Natural adventures 