Coming back down to earth from five posts about Upfest pieces I find myself back in the old Bearpit, and confronted by this absolutely brilliant and slightly chilling grayscale piece by Laic217.
Laic217, The Bearpit, Bristol, May2017
The image conjures up so many thoughts and ideas, perhaps of a menacing figure, but also maybe one that needs care and love.I think it captures so brilliantly the judgements we make about others based upon their appearance, location or demeanour. I really love this piece. Yet another from the ever-productive Laic217.
I am still working through a gigantic backlog of images from a wonderful late Summer spree in Shoreditch. This is a really great piece by Fanakapan in the amazing Rivington Street – a street with loads of superb walls.
Fanakapan, Rivington Street, Shoreditch, August 2016
Fanakapan never ceases to impress with his mastery of chrome and helium balloon reflection works. It is a technique he has refined and he now owns it. Boom. If I were being brutally honest though, I would say that this is not his best work, it seems to lack some of the freedom of other pieces he has done. Maybe the space is a bit awkward. It is very good nonetheless.
Working two days a week in London has given me the opportunity to see some incredible street art in and around Shoreditch and Camden Town. It is interesting that the assemblage and style of art is really quite different to that in Bristol. In Shoreditch, for example, there are a lot, and I mean a lot, of paste ups, many more than you would see in Bristol. In London, there are also pieces by artists who would only ever visit Bristol for Upfest, but spray all over the place in their home City. One such artist is the incredible Shok 1 whose unicorn skull in Bristol is a memorable piece.
Shok 1, Fournier Street, Shoreditch, September 2016
Here in Shoreditch we find a humorous piece by Shok 1. The ‘two fingered salute’ from an x-ray hand is quite brilliant. His style is so unique, that even the most unobservant viewer would be able to recognise his work.
Shok 1, Fournier Street, Shoreditch, September 2016
Finding this piece was really exciting, especially as I don’t know my way around the Shoreditch ‘hotspots’ the way I do in Bristol, so pretty much everything is an unexpected surprise. To find this was thrilling.
As regular readers will know by now, I have recently taken on a new job for six months which involves being in my native London two days a week. This week, instead of staying in a lonely sad hotel, I stayed with my lovely sister and family in Stoke Newington. Ever the opportunist, I realised that this would afford me an opportunity to snap some London street art. Hurrah! This is between Finsbury Park station and my sister’s house.
Muretz, Blackstock Road, London, July 2016
This is a spectacular mural by a Sao Paulo-based artist ‘Muretz’ (Mauro Golin), which was painted when on a flying visit back in March this year. There is more about this and one other work on the excellent London Calling blog. I cannot hope to cover London works in the incredible way that London Calling does, so I won’t try to duplicate.
Muretz, Blackstock Road, London, July 2016
I think that one can predict Brazilian artists will feature skeletons in some of their work, as death is celebrated in a way quite different to the somber conventional ways in the ‘West’. I love this. It is witty and simple. A bit like Stik meets Banksy…or something. I love the way the character appears to be sitting on the steps of the house.
This is a lovely work, and I feel thrilled at coming across it. On a slightly off-topic note, I wonder if the Green Grocer is always open…the sign would suggest it is.
Natural adventures 