.
Last words to colleagues –
‘armageddon outta here’;
pained groans and laughter.
.
by Scooj
Context is all – the office conversation as I was packing up to leave was about the terrible and declining state of the world, of everything.
Tag: UK
1133. Upfest 2017 (98)
Rob Wass took a lot of care and attention in producing this piece, and was out on both days, dodging the showers like everyone else. Some of you may remember his beautiful fox from Upfest 2015 which shares the same distinctive characteristics with this beautiful tree.
Simplicity splashed with carefully selected colours leaves us with a very pleasing piece that generates a sense of calm and connection with our environment…I think I am a fan of his work.
1132. Upfest 2017 (97)
My guess is that this is a cheeky little unofficial piece by Whysayit at Upfest this year. To my reasonably trained eye this looks like an opportunistic ‘quick one’ from an artist beter known for his ‘marginally less than legal’ tags and graffiti art all over the City.
It is a nice piece executed in his square style, which looks like it was put up in a bit of a hurry. I suspect he saw a free board at the festival and took his chance to make his mark, and why not? Festivals run the risk of being too clinical and up their own backsides with ‘corporate’ pieces – it is only when we have some real local street/graffiti artists that we remind ourselves what this is all about. Thank you YSAE.
The wall
Those days can happen,
when you don’t know what to do
when you hit the wall.
by Scooj
1131. Upfest 2017 (96)
Perhaps better known for his smaller pieces, stencils and wheatpastes, this large blue face by Beastie came as a bit of a surprise to me at Upfest, so much so that I didn’t even know it was by him when I photographed it.
This was a striking piece that stood out and grabbed the attention and would appear to have an environmental theme to it too. It is interesting that this year’s Upfest appeared to have quite a lot of large portraits, many in single shades of one colour – maybe it is a thing or maybe just coincedence.
Looking forward to seeing what direction Beastie takes with his street art as his work is always interesting.
League
.
In the sun
the boys play football
the sky blues
play at home
against the claret and blues;
Sunday league football.
.
by Scooj
My first shadorma.
1127. Camden Town, London.
Somewhat reminiscent of Banksy’s work or Unify or JPS, this lovely piece by Dotmaster Is just about perfect for this wall. Situated under a camden council sign stating ‘bill stickers will be prosecuted’. The corny old joke suggests that graffiti under the sign should read ‘Bill Stickers is innocent’ but the joke is a hundred years old.
This beautifully executed piece presents us with a naughty child spraying that most sacred of images, a heart, on the wall. A picture within a picture. I love this and pretty much everything about it, but I know little or nothing about the artist, but his biography on his website gives you a flavour. I love his comment:
‘There is NO subculture ONLY subversion.‘
1126. Hanbury Street, London
It is impossible not to marvel at the work of Dan Kitchener, and the incredible atmospheric cityscapes he produces. One of the other things that he works on are his ‘speed paintings’ which are insanely brilliant photorealistic pictures – I strongly recommend that you take a look at his Instagram account to check these out.
I took these pictures last year when I was working two days a week in London and used my overnight stays as an opportunity to go to Shoreditch or Camden Town to check out the street/graffiti art.
This amazing piece by Dan Kitchener was actually hiding a little secret, which is pretty much invisible until you get close up to the piece. In amongst the cars and lights in this street scene there are three masks by Gregos.
Ther masks are different sizes and have three different expressions. Dan Kitchener has sprayed over these sensitively, but I am not sure if this was some kind of collaboration or if the masks had been there and Dan Kitchener simply sprayed over them at a later date. I’m not sure it matters too much, because on this wall you have such unbelievable creativity and two for the price of one.
All good.
1125. Cheltenham Road, Library (1)
Now this is a beautiful recent piece by Jody, and make no mistake I rate this extremely highly. I am however slightly conflicted by its placement. As part of Government public spending cuts, Local Authorities have had to make some difficult choices. Closing under-used libraries has been one way of reducing costs, and generating income from sale of the land. This hoarding has been erected around the building site that was formerly the library.
I am not particularly conflicted about any of that though, my issue is that the construction firm have gone out of their way (it seems) to avoid attracting graffiti to the hoardings (in an area where hoardings quickly become ‘decorated’). As part of this, they have commissioned two great street artists to complete panels, of which this is one. I suppose what bothers me is that it is that the message this sends out is that these boards are ok for some artists, but not for others. Who decides? On what grounds? How do the artists feel about this? It all feels a little uncomfortable.
Putting all of that aside though, I think that this is absolutely stunning, and I consider this piece by Jody to be as good as any other I have seen of his. He does beautiful women’s faces to perfection, and I like the way the hair morphs into a smokey cloud.
What a treat for me to be able to walk past this every day on my way to work. It will be interesting to see how the graffiti community treat this. Jody is held in high regard, but there are some taggers out there who have no respect and they may take exception to this hoarding being for the select few and not the many.
I will update this post if anything happens.
Clowns
Beneath the costume
we are not so different
you the clown and I.
by Scooj
Natural adventures 