On a shop front in North Street, there is this tiny micro-stencil by John D’oh. It is really beautiful, and something of a departure from his more political art. Saucy, and I love it.
460. North Street
Tag: Stencil
452. Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare (5)
Even if you haven’t seen the film series – ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street‘ you will almost certainly have seen representations or images of Freddy Krueger, the villain of the piece. If you haven’t, then here he is in all his nightmarish glory. This is a magnificent stencil piece by JPS (who else), that faithfully conveys the Krueger character.
445. Dean Lane skate park (21)
Since I’m on a run of posting about artists that I know little about I thought I’d include this understated work by Jee See on one of the ramps at Dean Lane skate park. There are other works by Jee See scattered around the city in the bearpit, in St Werberghs tunnel and in Montpelier, but he remains elusive on the Interweb.
Many of his pieces feature a girl’s face, sometimes in revolutionary garb, and there is something very compelling about the artwork. I can’t put my finger on it, but it feels edgy and interesting. More from this local artist to come.
437. Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare (4)
Tucked away on the left hand side of the Tropicana as you enter, is this wonderful stencil of the Weird Girl (Cynthia) from the Tim Burton film Frankenweenie. It is a beautiful piece by the talented German artist PZY.
Her work bears many similarities to the work of JPS, and perhaps it should come as no surprise that they are partners. Quite a lot of stencils by both of them are to be found at the Tropicana.
I really love this piece. It has such character, weirdness and a tiny bit of menace. You can find more of her fabulous work on her Facebook page which is worth a look.
To Dom
Tears of a grieving
mother, stained in red tribute
where he used to skate.
by Scooj
- I was deeply moved today when I met a lady roughly my age spraying a cardboard stencil tribute to Dom. I stopped to ask her who Dom was. She told me through her tears that he was her son, aged 21, who died two days ago on a basketball court. Too tragic for words. Sometimes life is just so very tough. Such sadness. As a boy Dom used to skate here at Dean Lane skate park.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/university-basketball-captain-died-after-11976867
421. University Road
I have held on to this one for a very long time, because although I suspected it, I was never one hundred per cent sure that it was by JPS. Well it is…although I had to check back on his Instagram account to be absolutely certain.
The featured image is the earliest photograph, taken in August 2014, and the cleanest version that I have. The Charlie Brown character has been defaced a couple of times since, and I am fairly sure that the last time I saw it, it was pretty much ruined.
It is one of my top ten stencils and was really the first introduction I had to photographing street art. I think I love everything JPS does, and I have so much more to share.
I seem to have in my mind that I read an article about this piece and that it made reference to Banksy’s successful New York tour, hence the ‘I love NY’ tag. I wish I could recall the article, because I doubt the sharpness of my mind.
419. North Street hoarding (5)
This little alcove, created by the side of a shop on one side and a hoarding on the other is a favourite haunt of John D’oh’s. Hardly a week goes by without a new stencil from this productive agent provocateur appearing in the immediate area.
His works are often political, and here we have a statement about homelessness which frankly is difficult to disagree with. The expression of this issue through graffiti art is surely representative of a general groundswell of opinion that things just aren’t great at the moment for those who drop under the radar of our bullish Government. Casualties…collateral damage of ‘Britain being open for business’. Shame.
392. York Street, Weston-super-Mare
For me, the best bit of going to Weston-super-Mare is knowing that it is the home of JPS, and it really doesn’t take very long to find some of his works about the place. It is largely thanks to JPS that I have taken such an interest in street art in the first place. His pieces in Frogmore Street and at the ‘Arches’ on Gloucester Road, were among my first posts.
His stencils are witty and often contain wordplay but have their real strength in their technical execution. JPS often references popular culture, TV and films in particular, and here he features a life-size Batman, and wonderful pun. I have seen images of this piece all over digital media, so it was a real pleasure to find it for real. I love it that the wall has been repainted and rendered (?) around this work – big respect.
On this particular visit to W-s-M I took many photographs of JPS works and I am mindful that I might have to do a bit of a compilation post, although I really don’t like doing that. I’ll have to have a think.
391. Upfest 2016 (35)
At the far west end of North Street in the Rising Sun pub garden there was a host of SSOSVA (Secret Society of Super Villain Artists) gathered under a covered area. There was a real party atmosphere going on, some very loud music and clearly all the artists were having a ball.
RIP is a stencil artist I have come across many times before although I am only familiar with his small single layer witty stencils. This piece was something of a pleasant surprise for me, to see a multi layer stencil, and a really rather classy one at that.
It is interesting that the more that you see of an artist, the more depth you get to discover. The range of styles and techniques can be incredibly broad from studio to street…just another aspect I love about the whole street art/graffiti scene.
387. Upfest 2016 (31)
I used to play five-a-side football with someone called Karl Read, but it wasn’t this Karl Read. This one is a stencil artist from the South Coast and created this amazing portrait in one of the key locations for Upfest. Last year, the wall was home to Robers Wass’ beautiful fox.
There is something about the tones and lines that reminds me a lot of Copyright’s work, of which there is quite a lot in the area, and at first I thought it might be one of his, but then I looked closer.
Once again, one of the real pleasures of being at the festival was to be able to see the artists at work. In this instance, Karl was working with some really large pieces of card that were not entirely cooperating.
The more observant viewer, and one that gets to this final sentence, might spot a reflection of the author of this post (that’s me) in the glass door in the feature image. Vanity publishing!
Natural adventures 