Tag: Top Cat

5923. Nottingham

Kid30, Nottingham, March 2024
Kid30, Nottingham, March 2024

I have made two visits to Nottingham in the last six months or so, but only found this shutter piece opposite the station, by Kid 30 on the second trip. On the first visit, the shutter had been up. Sometimes visiting city centres on Sundays or light mornings/evenings is the only way to see shutter pieces – I caught this one early in the morning before the shop had opened.

Kid30, Nottingham, March 2024
Kid30, Nottingham, March 2024

In this mash-up piece, Kid 30 has combined the cartoon characters of Cat in the Hat, Homer Simpson (I think), The Pink Panther and Top Cat, seamlessly stitched together in an entertaining way. I am a big fan of Kid 30’s work and would love to see him paint at Upfest again, and perhaps get a chance to meet him and talk about his work.

5646. Nottingham

Kid30, Nottingham, November 2023
Kid30, Nottingham, November 2023

A short while ago, I had a team meeting in Nottingham and decided that It would be wise to travel up the evening before, because it is a bit of a schlep from Bristol and I would have been late for the start of the meeting if I travelled up on the day. I have only been to Nottingham twice before, and remember little of both trips. On the day of the meeting, I got up early and took an aimless walk to see if I could find any street/graffiti art and some doors for Thursday doors. It was a very productive walk on both counts.

Kid30, Nottingham, November 2023
Kid30, Nottingham, November 2023

I found this outstanding shutter piece by Kid30 near Sneinton Market (I think) and although I haven’t seen much of his work, I am familiar with him thanks to a couple of visits he made to Upfest in Bristol. Kid30 specialises in deconstructing cartoon characters, and then stitching them back together again in a random assembly. In this fabulous piece I can find Top Cat, Krusty the clown, Bender from Futurama, Pluto and the Pink Panther. Not a bad collection in one piece really. Look out for more from this lightening visit to Nottingham.

5086. River Avon (40)

Werm. River Avon, Bristol, March 2023
Werm. River Avon, Bristol, March 2023

This magnificent piece by Werm was painted some time ago, but the light conditions were never right each time I photographed it, with dappled sun and shade being the main culprit. Recently, on an overcast day, I managed to catch it in its full glory. The wide-angle setting on my iPhone has also made capturing pieces in narrow spaces a whole lot easier.

Werm. River Avon, Bristol, March 2023
Werm. River Avon, Bristol, March 2023

Werm has come so far in a relatively short space of time, and this is a really high-quality graffiti writing and character combination. The intricate letters, spelling WERM are perfectly balanced with a superb Top Cat character, an absolute favourite when I was growing up. I am glad I persisted with this fine piece from Werm.

4096. Alpine Road

I have always known that when looking for street art, it always pays off to walk round an extra corner or walk further than you were planning, because there are so many gems out there off the beaten track. I found this glorious mural by Gage Graphics on a trip to Greenbank. My dog wanted a longer walk, so I went on a bit of an exploration and was lucky enough to find this piece.

Gage Graphics, Alpine Road, Bristol, November 2021
Gage Graphics, Alpine Road, Bristol, November 2021

It was also interesting walking into Easton from a different direction and visualising how it all joins up. The mural takes up two sides of a corner building and seems to be a bit of an urban Bristol scene, identifiable by the Clifton suspension bridge, with some cartoon characters and fantasy shapes.

Gage Graphics, Alpine Road, Bristol, November 2021
Gage Graphics, Alpine Road, Bristol, November 2021

I do believe Top Cat makes an appearance as well as Jerry the mouse peering from a or, which all seems a little incongruous to me, but might have been a special request for the commission.

Gage Graphics, Alpine Road, Bristol, November 2021
Gage Graphics, Alpine Road, Bristol, November 2021

On the shorter side of the building there appear to be two little seating areas, with a dog playing a guitar and a small speaker system cleverly painted onto the gas meter box. A wonderful new and fantastical piece for Bristol by Gage Graphics.

3496. St Werburghs tunnel (224)

Elvs is another very consistent artist whose work continues to brighten up our Bristol walls. With this recent piece he includes a fabulous character which some might recognise from the TV cartoon series Top Cat, I think it is Brain or Fancy.

Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2021
Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2021

The writing is vertically striated with three colours, pink, purple and yellow and spells out ELVS as you’d expect. The whole piece is framed nicely on a blue patterned background bounded with a yellow border. A fine piece from Elvs.

1804. New Stadium Road (9)

Top Cat, the most effectual Top Cat…

One of the most enjoyable cartoons of my youth was Top Cat, and seeing this piece by Deamze sent me into a long and deep reminiscence, which culminated in watching quite a bit of Top Cat on the Interweb. I was saddened to see the updated productions, which really weren’t a patch on the originals.

Deamze, New Stadium Road, Bristol, October 2018
Deamze, New Stadium Road, Bristol, October 2018

The chrome sets this piece off really well and the dustbin looks perfect, especially in this rather grubby setting. Deamze’s writing is in his really tight angular style, bookended by the bin and TC himself.

Deamze, New Stadium Road, Bristol, October 2018
Deamze, New Stadium Road, Bristol, October 2018

The character is nicely sprayed, as you would expect, but is difficult to capture on film due to the glare glancing into the tunnel. The pieces in here are always hard to photograph. I guess it is best to come here on an overcast early evening. Great nostalgic piece from Deamze.

1497. Dean Lane skate park (127)

It is interesting how much a wall can change in a short space of time. In the last month, this wall has changed at least four times. This incarnation was a practice run by Jee See, whose Instagram handle is Goshiku Chavu (G C…get it?) which means ‘thank you’ in Japanese…I think) for a piece that he created here a day or two later (and which I have missed I think).

Top Cat by ?, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2018
Top Cat by ?, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2018

In this piece he has painted probably the lagrest ‘Seismic’ I have seen from him. Now, I’m not too sure what the Top Cat thing is all about, but I love him to bits. I don’t think that Jee See created him, it just isn’t his style, and it isn’t clear which was here first.

Top Cat by ?, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2018
Top Cat by ?, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2018

I don’t even know who the TC is by, there is no signature and there are several artists in Bristol capable of creating cartoon characters of this quality. The whole thing is rather nice, a little bit weird and now utterly gone.