Tag: Skull

913. Bedminster

Another fine skeleton and flame piece from the inexhaustible Laic217. This time in cooler blues and less of the fiery furnace approach. This is a nice spot, and perfect for the kinds of works that Laic217 likes to do.

Laic, Bedminster, Bristol, July 2017
Laic, Bedminster, Bristol, July 2017

The tracksuit is rather special, and I guess representative of things that the artist is familiar and comfortable with. I wonder if setting fire to spray paint is something that people actually do for a bit of a laugh, but it looks rather dangerous to me.

Laic, Bedminster, Bristol, July 2017
Laic, Bedminster, Bristol, July 2017

Laic217 is certainly becoming more and more expert at producing an expressive skull, giving it a plasticity that allows expressions and maybe even emotions. The eyes here are rather good too. A nice piece.

895. The Bearpit (78)

So the most prolific Bristol street artist, Laic217, continues to spread his love all over the city. This one is at the bottom of the steps on the north west side of The Bearpit. The story here is not entirely clear, but the bug spray would appear to be killing the bugs inside the skeleton’s head.

Laic217, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2017
Laic217, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2017

Laic217 is really perfecting these skull characters, and telling loads of stories on the way. There are emergent themes in his work: skulls and death generally; insects; bucket hats and spray cans. Few of his pieces don’t have two or more of these things.

Laic217, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2017
Laic217, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2017

You won’t have to wait long for another Laic217 post – I have several waiting in the wings.

892. Moon Street (32)

Once more we see a pairing of Laic217 and Cort on this hoarding panel in Moon Street. Unfortunately I arrived to photograph it just a little too late, and the Cort half has been dogged with a throw up. This is an all too familiar sight in the Stokes Croft area and can at times be really frustrating, and indeed has driven some artists away from the area, which is a real pity.

Laic217, Moon Street, Bristol, June 2017
Laic217, Moon Street, Bristol, June 2017

The Laic217 half of this collaboration features a rather menacing skull wearing a red bucket had with horns sticking through the top. the word ‘inferno’ stitched into the brim of the hat suggests that this may indeed be Satan.

Laic217 and Cort, Moon Street, Bristol, June 2017
Laic217 and Cort, Moon Street, Bristol, June 2017

Another nice piece from these artists and another weekly (at least) dose of Laic217.

I have just noticed that the shadow on the pavement in the bottom picture looks a little like it could be the shadow cast by Satan.

870. Raleigh Road, Tobacco Factory (10)

It is always great to see artists emerge from their studios and create wonderful public pieces like this one. In this case the young artist is Liz Clayton, a graduate artist from University College Falmouth who is now living and working in Bristol.

Liz Clayton, Raleigh Road, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, June 2017
Liz Clayton, Raleigh Road, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, June 2017

I have heard great things about University College Falmouth and I believe Louis Masai went there too. I have a niece studying there now and she seems to rate it very highly, and what a gorgeous part of the country to be a student in.

Liz Clayton, Raleigh Road, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, June 2017
Liz Clayton, Raleigh Road, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, June 2017

This is a striking piece and reminiscent of Mexican art celebrating Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead), which I am sure is entirely deliberate. This is a great stencil piece by Liz, and it is fortunate to have pictured her while she was working on it. I hope to see more of her public work.

Liz Clayton, Raleigh Road, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, June 2017
Liz Clayton, Raleigh Road, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, June 2017

 

 

824. Dean Lane skate park (56)

Well it has been a few days, hasn’t it? this is one of the best Laic217 pieces that I have seen. I think he is moving on to a new level, and he has worked this wall perfectly. As tribute to the quality of this piece, it has remained untagged and intact for at least a fortnight, which shows the respect from other artists.

Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017

Although I have seen this theme before (fire from a spray can) from other artists, I think he has excelled with this, in particular I like the way he has shaded the reflected light on the face and head of the skull, grading from white/yellow to purple/black.

Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017

I still have many more recent pieces by this most prolific artist in my archives, and I will unapologetically post them all. Really fabulous work.

813. Moon Street (31)

Laic217 seems to enjoy finding new spaces to spray his exceptional works. Moon street is a street familiar to graffiti artists, but I don’t believe these doors have has anything more than tags on before.

Laic 217, Moon Street, Bristol, May 2017
Laic 217, Moon Street, Bristol, May 2017

I particularly like this skull by Laic217 as it incorporates the Clifton suspension bridge, Bristol’s most significant landmark. Note to self…publish a special post containing works with the suspension bridge.

Laic 217, Moon Street, Bristol, May 2017
Laic 217, Moon Street, Bristol, May 2017

The picture is somewhat enhanced, in my view, by the fact that the doors would not close properly, adding another dimension to this piece.

792. Dean Lane skate park (47)

This is not the first time that I have seen a collaboration wall between these two. Some time ago I posted a piece by Laic217 from Moon Street, but left the Cort piece out, which was on reflection a bit unnecessary. This time I have kept Cort’s half. I know little about Cort apart from these two pieces mentioned.

Laic217 and Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017
Laic217 and Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017

Laic217 again seems to be experimenting with his grayscale work, with just a touch of accent colour in his signature. I have noticed too that in shared walls like this one, Laic217 always seems to occupy the left hand side – is this a thing for street artists? is it like having a preferred side of the bed?

Laic217 and Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017
Laic217 and Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017

I like this collaboration a lot, and am pleased to have got a clean photograph of it, something that is getting more and more difficult to do in Bristol.

The missing Cort photos from March 2016 are below…

Laic217 and Cort, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2016
Laic217 and Cort, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2016
Cort, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2016
Cort, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2016

758. Armada Place (10)

Well this is a bright wall from Laic217 and Hire. Regular readers will be familiar with the work of Laic217, as I tend to feature a piece by him almost every week, however this is the first work by Hire that I have posted.

Laic217, Armada Place, Bristol, April 2017
Laic217, Armada Place, Bristol, April 2017

I think that this is another of those painting together walls rather than a collaboration per se. There is an element of sequence between the two pieces, but the main link is the background wash selected, and the skeleton spraying on the Hire piece.

Laic217, Armada Place, Bristol, April 2017
Laic217, Armada Place, Bristol, April 2017

No major surprises from Laic217, but consistent with his progress over the last year, the quality of his pieces improves with each work.

Hire, Armada Place, Bristol, April 2017
Hire, Armada Place, Bristol, April 2017

I know very little about Hire, except that I am certain I have pictures of other work he has done in my archive. I will try and dig some out if I can. This is a lovely wildstyle piece, with some similarities to the style used by Dibz. A great combination.

Sorry to say that I returned a few days later and the whole thing has been obliterated with this:

Throw up over Laic217 and Hire, Armada Place, Bristol, April 2017
Throw up over Laic217 and Hire, Armada Place, Bristol, April 2017

744. Moon Street (29)

Quite by chance I came across Laic217 spraying over one of his old pieces in Moon Street on my way to the ‘paint jam’ on 8 April. This was indeed a bit of a red-letter day for me, and I hadn’t even arrived at The Bearpit yet.

Laic 217, Moon Street, Bristol, April 2017
Laic 217, Moon Street, Bristol, April 2017

I have been really wanting to meet Laic217 for some time, because his work is so different and distinctive and he is so incredibly prolific at the moment. Now was my chance to say hello and ask him a few questions.

Laic 217, Moon Street, Bristol, April 2017
Laic 217, Moon Street, Bristol, April 2017

He seemed to know who I was (probably from my Instagram account), so I didn’t need to explain too much why I was interested in his work. He implied that he tries not to be influenced by other artists or what people write about him, preferring instead to plough his own furrow. He tends to spray alone and does not belong to any local crew. I picked up an accent which to my untrained ear sounded German.

Laic 217, Moon Street, Bristol, April 2017
Laic 217, Moon Street, Bristol, April 2017

When I asked him how can he be so prolific, he stated what I suppose is obvious, he said “It is what I do and I love to do it”. This is another skull face and bucket hat combo (I was glad to see he sports such a hat) with a gold tooth, joint, brick wall behind sun glasses and shattered smiley. It is all there and all absolutely wonderful.

Laic 217, Moon Street, Bristol, April 2017
Laic 217, Moon Street, Bristol, April 2017

652. King Square Avenue (3)

Such is the prolific nature of Laic217, I am having real difficulty keeping up with his work that just keeps popping up all over Bristol. It seems to be about one a week at the moment, which is kind of crazy.

Laic217, King Square Avenue, Bristol, February 2017
Laic217, King Square Avenue, Bristol, February 2017

This piece is in a quiet side road off Stokes Croft, a site frequented by Epok and Deamze, but this sits comfortably in their company. Laic217 gathers several of his regular themes into one with this piece, the acid house influence, the toking smilie, the bucket hat, the skull and the brick wall.

Laic217, King Square Avenue, Bristol, February 2017
Laic217, King Square Avenue, Bristol, February 2017

He posted his black book draft of this piece on his Instagram feed, and the only variation from the draft is the colour of the LCD display, which was lilac in the draft. Much better as green. More to come form the busy Laic217. I forgot to say how much I like this piece…there I’ve said it now.