I have only managed to capture a fraction of the Recent John D’oh stencils as he tends to spray them at spots I don’t visit too often (something better change). The last time I looked at this column there was a Pekoe sketch, so I know that this stencil isn’t very old.
John D’oh, M32 Spot, Bristol, March 2021
As we are accustomed to seeing, John D’oh once again combines his political commentary with humour in this case ridiculing Rishi Sunak for his astounding 1% pay increase for nurses after all they have done and achieved for the nation in the last year. Yet another jaw-dropping moment from this ‘compassionate’ administration. At this moment I ought to say that it is not only nurses. As someone who works in the public sector, I have been on the wrong end of a pay freeze for ten years which was lifted last year and I received a 2% rise, but we are now back to a pay freeze. Meanwhile MPs and bankers (the architects of the banking crisis) have seen their salaries increase very nicely thank you. Respect to John D’oh for calling out these people.
Relatively speaking, Rezwonk has had a quiet twelve months. Prior to the first lockdown a year ago, there was no stopping him and his collaborations with Decay and Nightwayss were a regular occurrence… it felt like barely a week would pass without at least one new ‘REZER’ gracing a Bristol wall somewhere. He has been missed, so seeing that he appears to be ramping things up again is pleasure to my eyes.
Rezwonk, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
This recent piece was part of a collaborative wall that was long overdue on this particular site which hadn’t changed for an eternity. This is a beautiful and technically accomplished piece in which he revisits his theme if incorporating rivets in to his letters, as if this were some large metalwork sculpture. The colours work nicely and there is a special something that makes it rather compelling. Great work, keep it up.
Doors 143 – April Fools’ Day – some central Bristol doors.
Some of you may have seen reports of unrest being reported in Bristol over the last week or two. Such is the nature of the press in the UK at the moment that you’d think the whole of the city was in flames, and violent protesters lurk on every corner. It just isn’t like that.
There have been four protests now where citizens have taken to the streets to object to the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill which is passing through parliament right now. This bill along with others coming from the hard-line right-wing Home Secretary Priti Patel seeks to restrict human rights further and by doing so, cement central control over the people she is there to serve. The first protest ended with violent exchanges which is so deeply sad, because of the damage it did to the purpose of the protest.
You get what you vote for, and sadly it seems that people who voted for this Government have been happy to see our public services brought to its knees through the policy/ideological choice of austerity; our exit from a powerful trading partnership and the freedoms to work in and participate fully as citizens of Europe; a clamping down on our right to protest peacefully; a reduction in our overseas development budget at a time when wealthy countries should be stepping up and not stepping back; an Australian-style immigration system proposed to keep ‘illegal’ immigrants out of the country unless they have documentation that their lives are at risk (impossible for people whose lives are at risk… think about it); a perfunctory recognition that climate change is really important because we are hosting the COP 26 conference in Glasgow this year, not forgetting that many serving in this Government were climate sceptics only a few years ago, and some still are; a jaw-droppingly incompetent response to the Covid-19 pandemic with more than 126,000 people who have died from this deadly disease and a clown at the helm with nothing more important to himself than himself.
I would love to say at this point that I am only joking and that the above paragraph is an April Fools’ Day piece, but it isn’t, it is real, and it is our future. It is no wonder some people want to protest, and it is no surprise that this Government want to suppress any kind of objection or resistance or anything that might expose them as anything other than brilliant. Unfortunately they have Rupert Murdoch on their side and the full weight of his media holdings which makes it much easier for them to sway public opinion.
Oops… I appear to have gone off-topic, but I feel much better for sharing. I hadn’t intended to ‘go there’ but it just started to spill out. The point I was going to make was that the protests have ended up in one street, Bridewell Street, which is only a stone’s throw away from where all these doors are. Most of these doors are now entrances to pubs or restaurants where once stood banking and finance establishments. Our city centres are ever evolving and a further evolution is set to take place as many businesses leave their offices and commercial premises in favour of ‘working from home’ models.
I hope you enjoy my doors more than my rant, but both would be doubly satisfying… here they are:
Blue door, Clare Street, Bristol, March 2021
Stunning door surround, Clare Street, Bristol, March 2021
Boys door, St John’s Steep, Bristol, March 2021
Metal and leaded window door, Bristol, March 2021
Carved wooden door and ornate surround, Clare Street, Bristol, March 2021
Garage door to Electricity House, Christmas Street, Bristol, March 2021
That’s it for this week, and I’ll try to steer clear of politics in the future – have a wonderful Easter/Passover weekend.
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.
Aah, such deep joy. This is my favourite collaboration of the year so far. For me it simply speaks of spring, of life, of happiness. The colours are strong and vibrant and the execution of the two elements of the collaboration by Billy and Sepr is so natural and so very easy on the eye.
Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
On the right of the piece is a classic Sepr character holding an old wired telephone handset stating that ‘it’s for you’ and expecting at any moment to hand the phone over. The colours are magical and the green shadow is outrageously bold but somehow works brilliantly.
Billy, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
To the left is a visual interpretation of what is being heard in the earpiece of the telephone handset. ‘Hello, this is spring, can I help you’ says Billy’s half of the mural both in words and visually. A rural landscape with a lamb and daffodils and a spring rainbow are contained in a speech bubble. This is magnificent and I would challenge even the coldest hearted critic of street art not to find some happiness in this piece.
Billy and Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
I’ve not seen these two collaborate before, but if this is anything to go by I sincerely hope it is not the last time.
I am going to be honest with you. My excitement at finding this collaboration piece by Nugmoose and Mudra was a little offset by the rather creepy and unsettling nature of the images. Nugmoose likes to experiment with alien forms and Mudra’s work is always pushing creative boundaries. The result in this case is decidedly odd, and the location slightly dingy.
Nugmoose and Mudra, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2021
Having said all that is it great that these two, and Slakarts too, have hit upon a friendship that is highly productive just at the moment. In this piece, Nugmoose’s figure is being drawn towards a hand clutching some flowers. The monster appears to have lost its eyes and is navigating its way forward using the sense of smell. Is that what is going on here? A weird piece, but a nice one to have found.
For an artist relatively new to Bristol, Pura Decadencia has certainly been busy exploring the city and leaving her distinctive paw print in different locations, one or two I’ve still yet to find.
Pura Decadencia, Redcliffe subway, Bristol, March 2021
I actively sought out this piece, I think from an Instagram feed, because it was located at a subway I had only ever been to once before and I felt it was time I paid it a visit. I am glad I did. There is something quite compelling and sensual, in a vampire kind of way, about her work, and this one illustrates the point with sumptuous lips, a long tongue and fangs. Lots of fun.
Consistent with the theme of so many posts on Natural Adventures this year, this piece is by yet another debut artist on this blog, and one I know practically nothing about.
Skronius, Purdown, Bristol, March 2021
Skronius would appear to be off the radar of most Bristol street art commentators and I wonder if the artist is new to the city or new to painting in the streets altogether. Skronius has an Instagram account, but only 3 posts and six followers (at the time of writing), so it is difficult to provide much background.
From the look of this piece, I would guess that Skronius is no stranger to the art world with some really nice shading and textures in this piece that help to lift the cat-like robot character. I’m not too sure what the relevance of the bees and honeycomb are, but they help to fill the white gaps around the central focus. There is a lot to like about this unusual piece which is technically nicely done and I look forward to seeing more from the artist over the coming months.
One of the incredible things about the Bristol street art scene is that it big and growing. The recruitment into the current cohort seems to be much more rapid than the attrition and loss. Some of the artists who started out in the 80s are still painting now, and Teao One is one of them, although I must confess that this is the first time I have posted anything by him, and as is always the way, since I met him just before he painted this, I have met him again and seen more of his work. Perhaps he has come out of dormancy.
Teao One, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
Teao One asked my advice about where he could paint this, because he didn’t want to paint over anything new, which I thought was pretty decent. Unfortunately his piece wasn’t shown similar respect and didn’t last long at all, which is a pity because it is a fine piece of writing with some great colours, shading and outlines. Look out for more from this veteran.
I think that Sepr is probably my favourite character artist in Bristol, and let me tell you that the bar is very high, so this is praise indeed. The last few weeks have had me purring because he has been very productive indeed. I guess that he is making the most of lockdown and I suspect that his frequency of street work will drop once things move to a new normal.
Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
This piece was painted as part of an ASK collaborative wall, but sadly has already been over-painted. The subject of the piece is a paintbrush combing his pink hair and looking rather cool, in spite of his half moon spectacles. Sepr has a very special talent for making the inanimate animate and his style has an interesting retrospective feel about it. You can see how his tattoo design style maps across onto walls to create these interesting pieces. I love this.
This is a very nice piece from Mr Draws from a couple of weeks back. I was passing by when Mr Draws was painting it and I think I gave him a fright when I told him the Dibz piece underneath it had been dedicated to his mother-in-law. Fortunately it was not a tribute piece, but a birthday celebration… it is not the done thing to go over a tribute.
Mr Draws, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2021
It is great to see Mr Draws looking so well and up-beat these days and he seems to be enjoying his painting a lot. It is always interesting to see a work in progress to get an understanding of how the piece comes together. Here Mr Draws has drawn his outline and is filling it in horizontal rows.
Mr Draws, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2021
The finished product is a bright and colourful ‘DRAW’ in four colour bands and a rather special red 3D shadow. The piece really benefits from good wall prep too which was probably left over from the Dibz predecessor. An uplifting work.
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