I long for the spring
the lengthening of the days
and the warming sun.
by Scooj
Tag: UK
1889. Shoreditch, London (7)
Wowzer, this is a wonderful piece by Sr.X in Shoreditch on the wall of the Village Underground. I have seen work by the artist before in London, but didn’t know that he was Spanish and the Sr stands for Senor. I found this out by reading the informative blog by Jenikya, which features this and other pieces I will need to know about for my own posts, which is most helpful.
It would appear that I got lucky as the piece was reasonably new and only painted at the beginning of November. This has humour and a strong retro feel to it. I think I would include the word ‘zany’ and perhaps even reference Terry Gilliam, the illustrator and animator (and film director) from Monty Python as a possible influence.
This is a huge piece, an impressive wall and for a day-tripper a wholly satisfying work that would have been worth the trip to London on its own.
1888. Shoreditch, London (6)
I had to go to London a couple of weekends back for an important event at the Science Museum on a Monday morning, so I travelled up on the Sunday to stay with my sister in Stoke Newington. I arrived early on the Sunday (I had planned this) and decided to walk from my sister’s to Brick Lane in Shoreditch. I walked for more than fifteen miles over about five hours and took just shy of 500 pictures. I was treated to some astonishing street art, and this is the first of several posts from that trip. I hope you enjoy these pieces as much as I did.
This first piece was one of several huge murals by pairs of artists on a theme of connections or connectivity organised by Global Street Art. This was a pairing of Lovepusher and Mr Cenz. I have never seen the work of Lovepusher before – he painted the ‘Future’ 3D sphere – but Mr Cenz’s work is very familiar and can be found all over the Shoreditch area.
I am a little out of my depth with London artists or the London scene and leave the detail about these pieces to bloggers much better placed to do it such as London Calling. I will post more from this wall at a later date.
Homeless
Baccy tin open
in front of her cold crossed legs
shelter for small coins.
by Scooj
1887. Dean Lane skate park (177)
So here he is again, popping up in Dean Lane, the man with the best graff name ever, Stupid Stupid Meathole. Here he presents us with yet another grotesque image all pink and fleshy with eyes and teeth.
I don’t think that his subjects could be described as monsters, rather they resemble human body parts that have been placed in a blender and scrambled for a moment or two before being slapped onto a wall. A very different and creative idea going on here. All good fun.
1886. Dean Lane skate park (176)
It is big, and pink and bold and probably the largest ‘Seismic’ that I have seen from Jee See (Goshiku Chavu). This simple but impactful piece is on one of my favourite walls in Bristol in Dean Lane skate park.
Jee See already knows that I am a big fan of his work and his relentless pursuit to find walls to leave his work and messages. He is always pushing the boundaries with his themed work and also on his Instagram feed which hosts so many photoshopped images and sketches. Seismic!
1885. We the Curious (2)
It is great to see that VisitBristol (the local tourist authority) is putting its weight behind the creative arts, in particular street art, by commissioning this mural on one of the walls of We the Curious (formerly @Bristol). The idea behind the mural is to increase visits to the city over the Christmas period to boost tourism as this little YouTube video shows.
The artists chosen for the commission are Cheo and Silent Hobo, both of whom have featured on these pages many, many times before. Here they combine to produce this sumptuous Bristol-themed Christmas mural with a whole ton of identifiable Bristol icons.
The left hand side of the mural is mostly the work of Silent Hobo and features the aquarium, the ice rink, the cathedral and harbourside among other things and in the foreground we have a few bristol carol singers representing the two (rival) football teams.
On the right Cheo’s mural includes the Clifton suspension bridge, the zoo, the Christmas market, the M Shed and Isembard Kingdom Brunel (the greatest ever Englishman). The whole thing is surrounded with a golden frame and the whole thing is rather delicious.
Given that street art and graffiti are part of the USP for Bristol, I would love to see VisitBristol and the Council do more of this kind of thing in recognition of the street artists who bring free art to the city rather than locking it down, for example in The Bearpit.
#MerryBristmas
1884. The Bearpit (169)
Even though it is becoming more difficult to find clean walls to work on in The Bearpit, and the Council are taking more of an interest in artistic activities, some of Bristol’s finest are still able to make their mark. This is a fine piece by Nevla.
What makes this quite unusual for a Nevla piece is the inclusion of colour. Most of the work I have seen before has been two or three colours only. I don’t know if this is a budget driven thing or a fast getaway thing, but this time he seems to have branched out a little. His cartoon style continues to keep up a happy and light-hearted perspective in this little corner of Bristol.
Thursday doors
Door 54
At the far east end of North Street, Bristol, is the colourful Steam Crane pub, which during Upfest plays host to several walls in its beer garden/back yard. There is a little side passage just to the right of the pub which leads you directly into the yard, and the wall on the right is always crammed with great street art.
On entering into the yard, the far left-hand wall is also given over to a large piece for Upfest. Along the back brick wall however, there is no street art, except for this cheeky little red squirrel by Bristol’s Stewy, whose stencils can be found all over the city.
The door is plain, but the whole scene – the grey timbered facade, white door and squirrel – seem to come together in a pleasing way.
The squirrel is a stencil that Stewy has used many times about the place but it doesn’t matter how many times you see it, it always charms.
Here are some Upfest pieces from the walls of The Steam Crane:
by Scooj
Loads more amazing doors at: Thursday Doors – Norm 2.0
Home at work
Unusual sound
baby cries in the office
to mixed reactions
a human reminder in
a sterile environment.
by Scooj
Natural adventures 