Tag: The Bearpit

1824. The Bearpit (165)

Another archive piece, this time by the lovely Jee See in The Bearpit featuring his ‘seismic’ writing and a character with jagged stripe under the eye. I love the words Brizz Graff making an appearance – a love for the City and for graffiti. Like minds.

Jee See, The Bearpit, Bristol, January 2018
Jee See, The Bearpit, Bristol, January 2018

I met Jee See last week and although I had met him once before it was really nice to consolidate the friendship. He is a real gentleman and interesting guy. I am working on persuading him to take me out spraying some time (when I have practised a bit) – I know he reads my posts, so there is no escaping me. Loads more of his work in archive.

1822. The Bearpit (164)

I have left out quite a few rabbits by NEVERGIVEUP, not deliberately but just because there are so many of them everywhere. This is one from back in January in The Bearpit, at a time when artists were still coming down here and creating great art. Council interventions have been driving the good ‘legal’ artists away and now it is only taggers that tend to spray down here.

NEVERGIVEUP, The Bearpit, Bristol, January 2018
NEVERGIVEUP, The Bearpit, Bristol, January 2018

NEVERGIVEUP is very fond of his rabbits and has in fact recently set up a new Instagram account under the name @followmyrabbits in which he posts his work from around Bristol and far beyond. This is a nice gold one that lasted a long while.

Heavy hand

 

Writing on the wall

says ‘nobody wins the war’;

graffiti plays out.

 

by Scooj

 

The words were scrawled up on a wall of The Bearpit, walls which Bristol City Council keep on painting only to be tagged moments later. The City Council in their zeal to tidy up The Bearpit (for whatever reason) are not bringing people with them. Their ‘ban it’ mentality is leading to a degradation of a space that only two years ago was vibrant, colourful and tidy. In trying to tackle problems such as addiction and violence and homelessness and graffiti and skateboarding, the clampdown is using the ‘clean up’ of The Bearpit as a deflection of its own failings and those of the Government in these years of austerity, and is wrongly conflating these issues.

Homeless people are not necessarily addicts. Addicts are not necessarily graffiti artists. Graffiti artists are not necessarily skateboarders. Skateboarders are not necessarily violent. Violence is not necessarily practiced by homeless people. And so on…

Work with the people who use this space.

Nobody wins the war.

1803. The Bearpit (163)

This is just the best, best, best cheeky piece I have seen in ages. Beautifully simple but incredibly engaging. You’d have to have a heart of stone not to have a little smirk on your face seeing this on your way to work in the morning.

Face 1st, The Bearpit, Bristol, October 2018
Face 1st, The Bearpit, Bristol, October 2018

I have said before how much I am enjoying the diversification of Face 1st’s work these days, and this piece has to rank high among my favourites. He told me the day after he painted this (when I was buying a couple of small originals from him) that he started off doing full length figures 18 years ago before conbcentrating on the faces that he paints.

Face 1st, The Bearpit, Bristol, October 2018
Face 1st, The Bearpit, Bristol, October 2018

It is very rare to see any kind of nudity in Bristol street art, which is quite strange really, because it seems to be quite common place in other street art hot spots around the globe.

1778. The Bearpit (163)

Things have really slowed down at The Bearpit recently and most of the walls are becoming congested with fly posters and tagging. It has got a whole lot worse and more trashy since Bristol City Council came down hard on the street art scene and buffed all the walls – unintended consequences and all that…

DNT, The Bearpit, Bristol, September 2018
DNT, The Bearpit, Bristol, September 2018

In among all the sleezyness is this really classy piece recently sprayed by DNT. It is a floral tribute piece to a friend of his, Derek Williams, who passed away, I guess recently. In a touching Instagram post he says that Derek was one of the first people he met when he arrived in Bristol in 1990 and treated him normally. There is a big back-story there of which we only get a glimpse.

DNT, The Bearpit, Bristol, September 2018
DNT, The Bearpit, Bristol, September 2018

As tributes go, this is a really heartfelt and carefully crafted piece and from the Autumn colours to the whole tone of the piece you can see it is a labour of love. Lovely tribute.

1770. The Bearpit (162)

The conscience of our city is given a voice or at least a ‘visual voice’ via the prolific and passionate work of activist Object… . Without doubt, Object…’s work is moving, angry and political in equal measure and his ‘tortured’ figures represent pain and suffering of others.

Object...,The Bearpit, Bristol, October 2018
Object…,The Bearpit, Bristol, October 2018

In this piece the figures are in conversation with one or both saying ‘or you could handle it with some compassion‘. I’m not too sure to what this refers, but I think the message could be read on several levels, from the personal to local to national or even global level. We are living through hard times and compassion is taking a real beating. I’m sure these lurches to the right will come to an end, but for the time being we must endure them and push back wherever possible.

1750. The Bearpit (161)

I have had this piece in my archives for a little while now, and what is amazing is that the piece is still intact in one of the tunnels of The Bearpit, or at least it was last week, and has remained undogged since early August. The piece is by Tommy Fiendish – occasional visitor to Bristol.

Tommy Fiendish, The Bearpit, Bristol, August 2018
Tommy Fiendish, The Bearpit, Bristol, August 2018

Tommy Fiendish has made a little video of a version of this piece, entitled ‘will I take him out now your grace?’ which, if you are a fan of Terry Gilliam should tick your box. I do like his work which tends to have a subversive of humorous streak and is perhaps a little more visually challenging than much of the stuff you see around the place. All good.

1702. The Bearpit (160)

We had a wet day in Bristol a couple of weeks back, and it looks like Object…took refuge in the tunnels of The Bearpit, and painted several of the boards there in a single session, featuring monsters and explosions.

Object...., The Bearpit, Bristol, August 2018
Object…., The Bearpit, Bristol, August 2018

This piece is typical of the artist with a strong undertone of politics and representation of the disadvantaged and tortured body parts of animals and people. I continue to enjoy his pieces which always seem to portray outrage and pain.

 

 

1696. The Bearpit (159)

Although he specialises in cats and dogs, Daz Cat also occasionally produces these somewhat surreal pieces that contain his styling and preferred colours and so are unmistakably his work.

Daz Cat, The Bearpit, Bristol, June 2018
Daz Cat, The Bearpit, Bristol, June 2018

I’m not too sure what is happening here – monsters or mutant cats or dogs…who knows? for me there is a ‘War of the Worlds’ thing happening here, but I think that is probably my fertile imagination extrapolating the piece a little too far. Fun work from Daz Cat.

1678. The Bearpit (158)

Mr Draws is an artist I have always rather liked. His work always brings a smile to my face…it is bright and cheerful, simple and striking and it has a habit of cropping up anywhere in Bristol.

Mr Draws, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2018
Mr Draws, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2018

This is one of his faviurite spots in The Bearpit, and this quick one uses the space perfectly. Never too sophisticated, but always really easy on the eye. Mr Draws has plans to leave the UK for Germany soon, but I’m not sure if that is still going ahead. If so, I will surely miss his cheerful work – I still have loads in my archive that will keep me going for a while.