Tag: Urban

Thursday doors – 30 July 2020

Doors 117 – back to the old graffiti doors from my archives

Wow, a really busy week for me with the rest of my team all away on their hols and only me to man the fort. So a quick rummage around in my archives it will have to be this week.

Dabuten Tronko, High Street, Bristol, July 2018
Dabuten Tronko, High Street, Bristol, July 2018
John D'oh, North Street, Bristol, July 2018
John D’oh, North Street, Bristol, July 2018
Nevergiveup, Moon Street, Bristol, June 2018
Nevergiveup, Moon Street, Bristol, June 2018
Laic217, Moon Street, Bristol, August 2018
Laic217, Moon Street, Bristol, August 2018
Nol, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Nol, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Annatomix, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Annatomix, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
qWeRT, Stokes Croft, Bristol, July 2018
qWeRT, Stokes Croft, Bristol, July 2018
Andrew Burns Colwill, Westbury Hill, Bristol, August 2018
Andrew Burns Colwill, Westbury Hill, Bristol, August 2018

OK, so it’s not a door, but I figured that this trompe loeil window by Andrew Burns Colwill was worth including.

Silk Crystal street art, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Silk Crystal street art, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Gretl, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Gretl, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Louis Masai, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Louis Masai, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Louis Masai, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Louis Masai, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Piet Rodriguez, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Piet Rodriguez, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Another week gone in this crazy and unsettling time. In the UK we are due to have a few decent days of sunshine which always brings about a collective improvement in mood. May I wish you all a great week ahead.

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors and you really ought to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.

 

by Scooj

3086. M32 roundabout J3 (241)

The last time I posted something by this artist I had mis-identified him as Taboo… how wrong could I be? It is actually by Whos, and although his style is somewhat similar to Taboo’s it is very clear that this says WHOS.

Whos, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020
Whos, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020

I have a rather soft spot for this piece. The letters feel very home-made if you know what I mean and the simple black pattern running through the middle of all the letters has a charm about it. Some might walk past this without even noticing it, but not me, I like it and look forward to finding more from Whos.

3085. M32 roundabout J3 (240)

Minto is an artist who at one time lived in Bristol but like so many others before him moved to London. From time to time he returns to Bristol and recently he brought Tizer with him for a couple of days.

Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020

This was the second of two pieces that Minto painted over two days at the M32 roundabout and I was fortunate enough to be there when he was painting both of them. This is certainly a festival of colour and a beautifully designed piece, but, and I don’t mean to be too picky, I don’t really like the colour combinations. I could do with losing the brown/bronze and the bright green… it all comes over as a bit of a colour hotch potch. Maybe like Hemper he was using up dregs to give us this diverse piece.

Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020

Of course it goes without saying, I am perhaps focussing on the wrong thing, because the finished piece is so obviously by an enormously talented artist and actually looks pretty good. Of the two pieces he painted over the two days, I think I prefer his first one (yet to be posted).

3084. Cowmead Walk (3)

Beautiful to behold but difficult to photograph is this excellent middle section of a new collaborative wall by Sepr and to its left is a 3Dom piece already posted and to the right a Feek piece yet to be posted.

Sepr, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, July 2020
Sepr, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, July 2020

This is definitely one for the animal lovers, with a character cat, mouse and canary, key components of a cartoon caper. I am not fully clear what the story here is, but the cat seems to be holding a ladder for the canary with a key to its cage resting on its ‘ear’  and a screwdriver which it is using to undo the hinges of the cage door. Meanwhile a mouse has trapped its tail in a cheesy mouse trap.

Sepr, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, July 2020
Sepr, Cowmead Walk, Bristol, July 2020

the red backdrop contains a shelf with a menagerie of small animals in various containers, beautifully painted as a subtle background to the main event. This is a brilliant piece from Sepr which brings to life his illustrative skills and story-telling ability. Great work.

 

 

3083. M32 roundabout J3 (239)

When people say to me ‘I didn’t recognise you at first with your beard’ I know that I haven’t seen that person for at least five months, and that was the opening of my conversation with Decay recently at a paint jam at the M32 roundabout recently.

Decay, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020
Decay, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020

Not only was it good to catch up, but it was also amazing watching him bring this piece together. One of the first parts that he added was the large splatters of grey paint, using a rather interesting contraption attached to the cap.

Decay, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020
Decay, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020

Decay works so effortlessly and with such mastery of his lettering that witnessing this piece coming together was like watching something magical unfold. I believe it to be one of his finest pieces to date and that is a very high bar indeed.

Decay, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020
Decay, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020

There is a lot going on in this piece, but somehow it looks very simple. Perhaps the lack of black outlines for the letters adds to the simple feel, but the complexity lies in the shades of grey and shadows and the injections of colour and shapes. I love this piece, top notch.

3082. Cumberland Basin

Sled One is simply knocking out great pieces at the moment, all of equally high quality and imaginatively pioneering. This sausage on a mobile phone is such a great example of his creativity… a sausage? who’d have thought it?

Sled One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2020
Sled One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2020

Of course this is a mash up of writing (SLED) and a character, something that Sled One is a master of. Other writers will often add a character to the side of their work, but they rarely synthesise them into the piece itself. He has a rare talent. It is so good to see Sled One hitting the streets so frequently and it is worth making hay while the sun shines, because he can go quiet for extended periods (work demands probably). Sausages.

3081. M32 roundabout J3 (238)

This piece was photographed during a crazy purple patch of brilliant artists hitting the M32 walls a couple of weeks back and I just so happened to be fortunate enough to see them at work two days running. On the second day, when I took these pictures, I had returned to the roundabout to photograph the finished pieces from the day before and was treated with finding a whole ton more artists at work. It doesn’t happen often but when it does it is so rewarding.

Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020
Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020

I managed to introduce myself to Hemper for the first time and although I have seen him painting before, I’ve not really had the opportunity to say hello. When I arrived Hemper was about half way through this freestyle piece. It is something rather different and resembles slightly a stained glass window.

Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020
Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020

Hemper was using up dregs from cans hence the explosion of colour, and sprayed the colours first, before carefully going over each colour with the black outline to create this wonderful effect. A great piece on a great day.

3080. Brunel Way bridge (50)

Ments has been taking an experimental new direction over the last six months or so with a new kind of organic wildstyle writing.  A blending of curved shapes and shades loosely coming together to form cryptic letters.

Ments, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2020
Ments, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2020

I would have to say that this piece has utterly won me over and I think it is one of the best pieces I have seen from Ments in a while. If these shapes and shades were worked in chromes, greys and whites, there would be a liquid metal feel to it, but no, he has gone for a full colour version of molten metal and it is fantastic. It has been worth the wait to see this new direction for Ments, and I have another new one to share with you soon.

3079. Brunel Way bridge (49)

Under Brunel Way, alongside the River Avon is a popular wall (a supporting slab of concrete) that has featured many times on Natural Adventures. Occasionally the curved end of the wall receives some artistic treatment and in this case it is from Daz Cat, another busy artist since late May.

Daz Cat, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2020
Daz Cat, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2020

In this piece we are treated to another full length body cat character, rather than the cat face that we are more accustomed to seeing. This full body approach allows us to see the full scope of talent that Daz Cat has to offer, and the rather elderly-looking cat is wearing a rather nicely painted red outfit with blue trimmings. An enjoyable piece for sure.

3078. M32 roundabout J3 (238)

This fine piece by Soker was a part of the graffiti writer paint jam from a week or so back. I do think that there is a lot to be said for prepping a wall beforehand for artists of a certain calibre such as Soker, that makes a kind of statement that this work is worth proper treatment – some might view this as taking the edge out of graffiti and I would understand that, but I like it.

Soker, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020
Soker, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020

This piece is on the face of it wonderfully simple, until you take a look at the orange fills with blue drips and the use of five colours graded horizontally in the letters. The purple spots just add something special (Imagine the piece without them). Great work from a graffiti master.