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Three – nil victory
both efficient and stylish
title still in sight
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by Scooj
Tag: UK
5992. Brunel Way (271)
Although she doesn’t paint walls all that often, Pura Decadencia nearly always makes an impact when she does. Her unique bubble writing style combined with vampire teeth sinking into letters and long tongues makes her work instantly easy to spot.
Pura Decadencia’s work is most endearing; despite the potentially gruesome theme and blood drops, there is something that is gently and warming about her work. Perhaps it is the bubble letters, or the bubbly background, I don’t know, but the bitter-sweet presentation works very well indeed. Nice work.
5991. Cumberland Basin
The tragedy of Bristol Mural Collective paint jams is that all too often the pieces go unsigned and so many of them fail to make it into the pages of Natural Adventures. Fortunately, this piece by Ejits was signed, but she is also an established street artist, and I recognised her work in any case.
This cheeky little character piece is cleanly painted onto a graffiti wall, with part of a Klashwhensober piece behind it. Technically, it might have been polite to paint out Klashwhensober’s piece rather than leave half of it, but I don’t think he is the kind of writer who minds all that much. The adorable character has, it would seem, dropped a fart of toxic gas as described by the skull and crossbones in the ‘speech’ bubble.
Match day 36 (before)
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Near season climax
one last chance to see the boys
on London-bound train
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by Scooj
Busy
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Nectar festival
bright yellow flowers entice
bee does what bees do
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by Scooj
5990. Sevier Street (3)
It would appear that 3Dom ‘owns’ this spot in Sevier Street, opposite the Better Food supermarket, as there has been one of his pieces here for a very long time and which has been left untagged and respected. The refresh is a showcase of just how skilled and creative 3Dom is.
It is difficult to be sure what the story to this magnificent piece is, but you can be sure there is a story. Often 3Dom’s work conveys a deep sense of loss for the natural world and I get that kind of vibe here. The character, a surreal portrayal with a large green head and single eye, is gently holding a fragile planet Earth on the end of a stick, while sitting on the folds of a hole in the universal vista. The paintwork and finishing is utterly awesome, although the unfolding story leaves me with a rather sad and wistful feeling.
5989. Cumberland Basin
The return of Minto to Bristol has, without doubt, been a highlight of the last six months as his unique graffiti writing style has significantly impacted on the already wide spectrum of styles on offer. Although Minto doesn’t follow a fixed formula, there is a lot that is distinctive about his work, in particular, it is often vertically quite compressed.
This dazzlingly colourful piece seems to have a trainer theme going on, with at least three trainers depicted in the MINTO lettering. There are also a couple of characters peering over the top of the letters, something that Minto builds into much of his work. This is a fine example of his work and an outstanding piece.
5987. M32 roundabout (569)
Sometimes you see a piece, and it takes your breath away… this was one such piece. Absolutely everything about it is perfect, and it is, by some margin, my favourite piece of the year so far. In case it wasn’t obvious, it is a collaboration between Saor and Andy Council – not something I saw coming, but their styles very well together.
Starting with the buffed wall – If you’re going to do a serious statement piece it is always worth buffing the wall with an appropriate colour and the grey in this instance works well with the overall colour palette. The subtle soft pinks, maroons and greys are bought to life with some bright and vibrant greens, classy stuff indeed.
The writing is by Saor and is as ever so crisp and tight – no thick borders, only sharp edges. The character, a Vaughn Bode lizard, is by Andy Council and true to his composite style, is made up of pipes, vents and architecture, including the Clifton Suspension bridge all stitched together. This is a masterpiece collaboration by two brilliant artists.
Thursday doors – 2 May 2024 – Doors from Highgate, London
Doors 263 – Doors from Highgate, London, November 2023 (Part II)
The trip to my old stomping ground of Highgate Village in November last year, where I spent my teenage years, was both surprising and nostalgic. Naturally in my youth one door seemed to be much the same as another, and I never looked beyond their functionality, so ‘discovering’ these Highgate doors as an older and wiser person was more than a passing pleasure.
This second selection of doors hints at the time of day, early afternoon, as the low autumn sun was casting shadows, and the light was fading. There is no theme to the doors this week, just another eclectic display captured during an hour-long walk. I sound the whole thing a slightly ‘out of body’ experience, struggling to get to grips with the fact that I walked these streets most days of my life to and from school.
I hope you enjoy this week’s doors as much as I did.
There is a bonus story about the Highgate Pantry, which used to be Wylies Bakers Shop, when I lived there. A school friend and I used to run the school Zoological Society, which was a very grand name for a brick out building where we used to house small pets, such as rabbits, mice, gerbils, rats and an Axolotl called Wobert. We looked after school pupil’s pets during the holidays too sometimes.
Feeding the animals was always a bit difficult and supplies would run low, so we hatched the idea of asking Wylies bakery if they had any leftover food which we could use to feed the pets. To our utter surprise, they were more than happy to give us ‘stale’ bread, buns, pastries and the like at the end of the day in a large brown paper sack. So roughly twice a week we’d collect our sack to feed the animals. Naturally, being teenage boys with a creative streak, we’d select out the best buns for ourselves, which we’d eat and share with school friends, the rest went to the small mammals. For a couple of years, the Zoological Society became very popular indeed.
Another week draws to an end. More to come from Highgate next time.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
by Scooj
5986. Brunel Way (270)
The wonderful thing about art is that you can create situations or landscapes or portraits and so on that are utterly fictional, unlikely, impossible, weird and that you are in control of this creative universe. Alternatively, some artists try to capture real life either through accurate representations or abstract interpretations. Bean has painted something verging on the weird side with this piece.
The character, who is wearing a rather curious hat, is holding his, or somebody else’s severed legs from which blue gloop is gushing. I’ll not attempt to interpret the piece, which is exceptionally painted in Bean’s trademark two-tone colour cartoon style. An entertaining and curious piece.
Natural adventures 