The week ahead looms
my spirits gloomy and low
there’s no va va voom.
by Scooj
Tag: UK
2126. Spring Hill
The day I found Banksy’s ‘Rose Trap’ turned out to be rather special for another reason. I had taken a detour from my normal route in to work , and rather than try to return to my normal route, I decided to just meander a little in the right direction. It was a great deceision because only 100 meters or so from the Banksy was this stunning piece by ATM.
I have known about this lynx for some time, which I think it was actually painted in November 2016, but I never managed to find it. Sometimes life just catches up with you, and good intentions fly out of the window. In a way, finding a piece like this without intent is somehow extra rewarding… it is like receiving a gift that you weren’t expecting.
The sensational piece is nestled at the bottom of a very steep and narrow cobbled lane that leads up to Cotham. On his twitter feed at the time, ATM wrote:
Bring back the Lynx! We need top predators for healthy ecosystems #rewilding #streetartbristol #lynx #ecosystem
This tweet I think tells you how much ATM cares about wildlife, and he uses his art to raise awareness and get people thinking about the world around them.
It is unfortunate that the patches (presumably covering up tags) weren’t properly colour-matched with background, but great that someone cares enough to keep this piece in great condition. Let’s hear it for the lynx.
2125. St Werburghs tunnel (71)
Well it appears that Kleiner Shames has been back in town, and left us with a most beautiful FOIS at the farm end of St Werburghs tunnel. His distinctive style and colour palette seems to draw heavily on the Art Deco style combined with a kind of 1970s/80s freedom.
His metallic spray paint used for the central lettering is a nightmare to photograph in the tunnel – if it is in shade it is one colour, if it is in the light another and pictured from the front it goes from dark to light. Irrespective of the trickiness of trying to get a nice picture, it is always, always great when Kleiner Shames comes ‘home’.
White goods
Electronic peeps
displace natural birdsong
dysfunctional world.
by Scooj
2124. Thomas Street North
I have been writing about and photographing Bristol street art for about four years now, and I suppose I like to think that I know quite a lot about the contemporary scene. Now when you talk to people about Bristol and street art or graffiti, the conversation pretty much always starts like this:
“oh, Banksy, he is from Bristol isn’t he?”
To which I reply
“yes he is, but there are a whole ton of brilliant and talented street artists in Bristol who are not Banksy”
Generally the point I am making when I do this is that Bristol is not a ‘one trick pony’, and that 99.9% of the street art in Bristol is not by Banksy, “come and take a look at the vast array of talent on offer”. Some shrug their shoulders “m’eh” they say and look for some other iconic brand to schmooze with. Others open their eyes and enter into the secret garden that is Bristol street art. Welcome.
A digression.
I didn’t even know about this Banksy piece until about a fortnight ago, and found it while I was fannying about on Google streetview. What this goes to show is that I have so much more to learn, and I am open to that, completely. The piece is called Rose Trap and must be quite old. It is protected by a piece of Perspex and sited outside a residential back gate, such an inauspicious place.
The piece is so typically mischievous, as you’d expect from Banksy. I know little of the history of this little gem, but I expect there is quite a lot of information about it on the Interweb.
Finding this treasure is one of the little perks of this hobby (is it a hobby or an obsession? Is there something in between that sounds a little more cerebral?). Banksy.
2123. Stokes Croft
A new Mexican cantina has opened up in Stokes Croft called Masa and Mezcal where the old MEATliquor use to be. The cantina looks rather nice and has a fresher feel than its predecessor. Because this is Stokes Croft, it wouldn’t quite feel complete without some street art about the place, and this building has always had art and tags.
Who better to adorn this new outlet than Bristol’s Jody. Here he gives one of his beautiful portrait pieces which blends into the graffiti that pre-existed on the wall in a thoughtful and sensitive way, giving the whole thing an air of credibility rather than whitewashing and starting afresh.
This is a piece that will be missed by many, because although it is new, it looks like it has been here for ever. Very beautiful, very clever.
2122. The Nova Scotia
Anyone who can tell me what is going on here (other than the artist himself) deserves a medal, because it is wild and complex. Tom Miller has an exquisite touch and fertile imagination, a potent combination for creating vibrant and sometimes provocative street art.
Tom Miller left this piece unfinished for quite some time with a little note in the bottom right hand corner saying ‘work in progress’, but I have to say that the only difference I can make out between the unfinished and finished version is his signature.
The piece is in two very distinct and contrasting halves. On the left are several faces looking a bit like masks and typically distorted in a surreal way that Tom Miller does so well.
On the right hand side are two large intertwined and rather frightening dog heads and just above them a series of smaller ones. There is real threat and menace here which seems to be at odds with the unsuspecting mask faces to the left. A truly dream-like or even nightmarish piece from Tom Miller, executed with enormous skill.
2121. M32 roundabout J3 (134)
It is always great fun to see how street artists can play with each other’s work. For example, this piece is not a collaboration, it is an add-on. The original work was a RAW collaboration the centrepiece of which was this fabulous character by Jaksta.
Turnover on this wall has been unusually high this spring and when ‘the monday club’ a group of artists including Nevergiveup, Tasha Bee, Soap, Run Z and Zake set about painting here, Nevergiveup worked around Jaksta’s piece almost like a respect thing, his bunnies leaning in towards the character, together with a carefully, thoughtfully resprayed background.
Often Jaksta’s characters are well known film stars or personalities, but I’m not sure I know who this is. What we have here is two pieces for the price of one… and some more bunnies for the collection.
Killing time
Bloody massacre
slow hours, minutes and seconds
writhe in agony.
by Scooj
2120. Lawrence Hill roundabout (7)
Although I haven’t posted much from Oner for a while, it doesn’t in any mean he hasn’t been productive. On the contrary his work seems to be ubiquitous, and a day barely passes by without seeing something by him.
This is a rather good piece in one of the tunnels of Lawrence Hill roundabout. Real care has been taken with this to create nice clean lines, excellent shadows and clever accents that give the letters a rounded 3D appearance. Oner is an interesting artist who seems to enjoy bombing and quick throw-ups, but when he takes his time he can create works of high class, like this one. Very nice.
Natural adventures 