Came across this building completely painted up the other day down on Fairfax Street in the centre. Know nothing whatever about it, anyone got any ideas?

Detail shot…

Meant to blog this during the week but didn’t get chance. Still, last Saturday was the fundraiser for the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft down at Jester’s on Cheltenham Road, and it was a really fun night.

Turned up and checked out the pieces nest to Jesters i’d seen being started earlier in the afternoon. Looking pretty cool, and still being finished off. Long day!

In the venue, Clayton Blizzard was doing his thing. Really like this guy, kinda like a modern day west country Billy Bragg. Jumped into the crowd at one point and did a crazy song completely acappella as well, which was pretty darn impressive. Go check him out if you get the chance, next Bristol gig’s at The Croft on 23rd May.

Stepped outside for a mo to try to get shots of the pieces on the side of the building next door. Really difficult with those bars in the way, should go back and try to put together a chopped up one at some point.

Bit of detail for you through the bars, Epok and Flx.

Still at it late into the evening…

Back in to enjoy the bands. Can’t remember what these guys were called but they were as cool as they were bonkers. Bluesy and dark Tom Waits style songs about vegetarianism.

Next up the Ruckus Collective, sometime readers of this blog and one of the best new bands i’ve seen for a long, long time. Funky, jazzy, rocky, dubby, all thrown together with some seriously talented musicians and some top Mc’ing. You have to go and see these guys. Been to see them again already since last Saturday on the strength of this gig.

The venue was great for this event, and throughout the night they were projecting PRSC related photos from, i imagine, Chris Chalkley’s massive collection. Forgotten how much good stuff there had been around Stokes Croft over the years, looks like Sickboy was the first person to hit those regularly repainted Jamaica Street boards judging from one photo. Even saw myself up there at one point, trippy.

With the crowds gone, tried to get some more photos of the pieces outside, bit dark, but not dreadful. Here’s Haka’s piece (the complete artist line up for this was Haka, Soka, Flx, Epok and Sepr by the way).

Another attempt at a decent photo of the pieces down that pathway, it’s not gonna happen is it…

A wicked night, roll on the next one!

Heard talk of this print a while ago now, it’s been an idea 18 months or so in the making, but today have just seen a very nearly finished version of a cool new print from Let Them Hang that will feature, well, this view of these buildings…

The idea behind it is to celebrate 40 years in the printing trade for Paul, the chap who runs the Screen One print house on Jamaica Street, Bristol (the building on the right there).

Hoping to be able to bring you more about this very soon, it’s a seriously exciting piece and is going to spark some real interest, i can tell you…

A story sent in by good Mr KRS here, and one that’s probably got legs…

In common with pretty much everywhere in Bristol right now or over the last few years, the area around Cumberland and Wapping Roads (down by the Louisiana for those that know it) is currently getting redeveloped.

About a week ago the boards around the old gaol and the derelict buildings by it were finished and given a loving coat of white paint, a style of work reminiscent of those blank canvasses art shops do sell. So, unsurprisingly, people started using them as that.

For reasons best known to themselves though, the developers had someone on hand ready to paint out whatever went up with more white paint. So, people came back and painted more. These photos are of that point in this vicious cycle, but would imagine that the same cycle is being repeated on an almost daily basis

Originally here apparently was one of ‘them spermy things’, i suspect a C’est Bon eye on a stick, that’s been painted over. Looks like one of those ghosts to the left of the board too has been put up then painted out. Quite why someone’s painted a stick dood saying ‘not funny’ i don’t know, but maybe a response to the painting out.

Same spraycan, different and more random message.

Pretty clear what this one is saying innit…

Don’t recognise the style on this one, but it’s been badly painted out anyway. If you’re going to paint it out, at least do it properly!

So, what i don’t get, is why the developers are engaging themselves in such a pyhrric battle here. It’s most likely an approach inspired by the somewhat uninspired ‘broken windows/zero tolerance’ theory (an interesting counter argument to this approach is here for those who may be interested), but even then it misses the most obvious solution.

Bristol is full of great street artists. Lots of the city is getting painted by these people at the request of the site owners. The public seem to support this happening. So, why not offer these boards up as another PRSC style blank canvas? It’ll save time, money, heartache, brighten the area up and above all, most likely stop other graf going over the top of it.

No idea why they don’t take this approach, may give them a call to find out…

First of may events over the next week this, tomorrow (Thursday) night sees the opening of a new show at Guerrilla Galleries on Gloucester Road, and it’s looking pretty sweet. Here’s a bit of a teaser for you…

First up a bunch of work by Dosar. Took a while to find a canvas with a clear tag on it. So long in fact, entirely forgot to get a photo of the pieces themselves, duh! They’re really good though, will try to grab a shot another time to show you all.

There’s a bit of one of the Dosars on the top left there. The main three here though are by Slam, another London head. Tidy. Bit of a crap photo though annoyingly.

So, four really lovely pieces from Acerone of the TCF, all of well known people if you’re into those scenes, this one’s of Million Dan.

This one’s of a break dancer, didn’t catch the name.

Previewed on Let Them Hang before, this is a lovely China Mike. As it says on that site “It’s so tight it hardly looks like a painting, but it is; gouache, pen, and indian ink on card”, to which i can only add it looks better in the flesh.

Another China Mike, yet again so much better in the flesh. One of the best pieces in the show to my mind, but it’s so varied, you’ll have your own too…

Remember how Cheo turned a paint pen into an airbrush at Weapon of Choice a few months back? Well, he’s done it again, and this is a really ace piece, makes a change from the usual bright and colourful stuff too.

Thought this was pretty cute too…

Always with the different packaging approach isn’t he, you’ll have to go along to see what’s in these ones!

Now these surprised me, Lokey, on very fine form indeed…

…another couple in the same vein. Tidy.

Everywhere these 45RM owls now, aren’t they. Here’s some for this show, hanging out with a couple of their turtle friends too. No little owl canvasses this time round though sadly…

Is there anyone now without numbers in their name? These are by SPZER076, very, very tight pieces.

Loved these doods especially…

Another major painter up and down the Gloucester Road/Cheltenham Road/Stokes Croft at the moment, Sepr.

Those aren’t eyeballs, they’re skulls. Cool. Go check out his work in ‘Start the Bus‘ on Corn Street too if you’re in the area too.

More and new Simon Mills, he’s going to be prettying a bit next to the gallery soon too i hear.

There’s always got to be one name you forget when taking photos hasn’t there? Dammit. Really nice piece though.

These are very cool, of the De Beauvoir Estate in Hackney by ICB1(again with the numbers in the name!). Funny pieces, they’re small, but look better and more atmospheric from afar than close up. Reminded me of Xenz’s ‘Cities in the SKy’ pieces in a way.

For those of you still chasing down any Nick Walker piece you can lay your hands on, here’s a Vandal print for you. To think you could buy a hand sprayed canvas triptych of one of these for £150 for the set not three years ago. Bonkers.

This one had just been unwrapped, and was hard to get a good shot of through the glass, but a beautiful Mr Jago silk, one of the best i’ve seen. Doubt it will stay unsold for long…

Next to it, again through the window, a Flx piece in a totally different style from his other work. It’s of Fela Kuti, and the text behind it is the lyrics of his song ‘Water No Get Enemy’. It’s wicked, and to see the whole thing, you gotta go up there and see it for yourself.

So, there you have it. Cheba’s got some bits that will be there for the show apparently, a couple of stencil based pieces and a board, but they may not be dry yet as this is written.

This may also be the last show at the current Guerrilla Galleries, as the summer could see a change of venue. So, if you’ve not been along to check it out yet, then this show’s a great one to give you just that excuse.

Mentioned last Friday or so that there were more new pieces going up along the Gloucester Road at the moment, got a chance to check them out at the weekend.

This is pretty cool, an Andy Council piece on Paeckert Butchers (technically Cheltenham Road, just)

Head a bit further up the Gloucester Road, spin round and you’ll catch this big 45RPM owl quietly minding its own business

Bit further up and on the right this time, a big Ziml piece on the awesome veg emporium that is Alex’s Fruits.

and finally, Cheba gets the Pound Saver, pretty much opposite the big piece on the flyer i blogged last week.

Edit: And Song gets the other half of it, knew it wasn’t just Cheba!

Will keep you posted as and when more turn up!

Phewf, the Bank Holiday weekend’s not even over, and already there’s more Bristol graf goodness to be taking yourself along to!

First up, there’s the new show at Guerrilla Galleries this Thursday (8th May), featuring loads of different artists, including Cheo, China Mike, Deadgirl, Ghostboy, Mr Jago, BS51, Lokey, 45RPM, Sepr and many more. Going to be bringing you preview photos of that one in advance all being well, check back here in a couple of days…

The very next day, Friday the 9th May, there’s a night down the Thekla that, amongst other things, will bring you live painting from Lokey, Cheba and Nikill, check the flyer.

If you’ve still got anything left, then head on over to the Tobacco Factory on Saturday the 10th May where, as part of a wider load of events Cheba, Lokey (and possibly Cheo too) will be doing yet more live painting from 3pm til 7pm. Weapon of Choice resident Betamax will be on the wheels of steel for that one too. Can’t think of many better ways to spend a Saturday avo.

Speaking of Weapon of Choice, that’s rolled around again this month too, the following Tuesday 13th May, usual bizniss, this time Seza and Soker doing the honours with the paint pens.

Ain’t Bristol cool?

By the way, for those of you after some work by the ever painting Mr Cheba, his wicked little print, Chebastein, is now available from Tangent books too..

Should have blogged this before really, but sure those of you in Bristol would have heard about it anyway.

There’s a fundraising night on tonight for the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft project, down at (the new) Jesters on Cheltenham Road.

There’s going to be bands, fun, cavorting and general goodness, as well as some live painting and, i hear, an auction of some pieces too.

Wandered past earlier today, and bumped into Flx, who was painting the building next to Jesters along with Sepr, (i think) Soker, and others. Early stages when i saw it, but was looking like turning into a pretty cool piece already. Will go back and get a shot when it’s finished too…

This was a shot taken around 1pm ish, i think…

And these two must have been around half 2 or so…

It’s been needing to be done for ages this one…

Whilst i think of it, here’s the only piece of note that was done on this same wall, a Ghostboy from back in 2004, photo taken early 2005…

If you’re in the area tonight, head on down!

So, am back from the opening night of the ‘Not A Penny’ show, and damn was it good. Many people met, many discussions had, and some art viewed too. It was a crazy night, let me tell you about what i can…

Got there later than intended, and saw the first of the shutter pieces i’d heard were being done. A big 45rpm owl…

checked the queue at, what, 6:45pm. Bonkers.

Went and met some mates on Jamaica Street round the corner, found these Cyclops, S.W.A.T. and LPA bits on Hillgrove street, bonus. Have seen ‘LP’ in the same style round before, not ‘LPA’ though, will do more digging, is distinctive. Not seen a new S.W.A.T. for a while too, at least not knowingly. Old skool tag tho…

Joined the queue, check how long it was. It got longer before the doors opened!

and really, within a minute, or maybe two, of the doors opening, this was the queue to buy pieces. Does anyone else think this has got a bit out of hand of late?

So, stepped outside into a courtyard style place, and saw this SPQR piece on the wall, free advertising huh? Love the image though, lots.

The rest of this space wasn’t exactly shabby either though…

So, to the rest of the pieces. Not necessarily going to cover everything here, as covered some of them in the preview blog, so here’s what wasn’t around before, starting with good Mr Graham Paris.

Next to him, Herr Das Mudwig. Couple of prints as well above, that i’d love to bring you, but, for various random Mudwig reasons, i can’t right now. He’s the artist, innit.

Above that, on this wall of Wet Sshame, some lovely Eko pieces. Watch these Wssk people people, it’s real Bristol art, long very underecognised. Who in the queue when this was taken was queueing for this stuff?.

I think, if memory serves, another Kunstterroist.

A Motorboy print, summing up the theme of the show i guess, despite the fact he’d put loads of work into making it happen…

Cyclops, meets Joy Division, meets Disney. Ace.

This is the Sweet Toof that you only saw the very edge of yesterday, the other two big pieces are in that post if you wanna check them out.

But this is what pretty quickly happened to them once the doors opened…

Some Will St Leger pieces there…

As mentioned before, my very favourite SPQR piece. Ace idea. But having heard the guy’s story tonight, it reconfirmed my thoughts on the current art scene.

Some K-guy, the bottom piece is marble you know, for those of you who live in Clifton.

K Guy again. Yeah kids, we don’t need them guns…

Not the image for the show, but certainly the sign for it, by SP38.

Cyclops and Mau Mau meet. Pretty cool huh? To be fair, any meeting with either of them is gonna be pretty cool…

SP38 again.

Guy Denning again. Getting photos that weren’t ruined by glare was almost impossible. Here’s one that worked.

Realised i missed getting a photo of this last night, a big old Rowdy. For those that know Bristol, it’s the view from the Kingsdown flats, Armada Place to be precise. Funny thing is, he’s included the derelict buildings (to the left), but missed off his own hugely visible piece that’s been on them for yonks. Also missed off the Xenz piece that’s on the bottom left wall there, but who could recreate that?

Now these were freaky. Evol and Pisa from the sign, i think, but hell, correct me on the name, and far more besides if you would.

(Text L to R) ‘Hello, i was your mother’, ‘Hello, can i shit your hat?’, etc. Those crazy artists huh?

Here’s a Cyclops piece, on top of a Lucie Akerman light box. The Cyclops piece was £2,750. It sold within minutes.

This piece was a bit odd, apparently by a somewhat unknown collective originating in Nottingham. Forget the name, but this piece was titled ‘Can Can (Can’t Can’t)’. It certainly raises far more questions than it answers. It also plays with the concepts of style, culture and, i think, correct me if i’m wrong, Wednesday. It’s certainly up there with the outer reaches of the avant garde.

Bit steep perhaps?

There was an upstairs too, but not that much going on there really. Other than toilet queues.

A shot of the back half from some stairs, including the Guy Dennings there to the right a bit.

Another random crowd shot.

The Will Barras pieces. I got chatting to a mate about them. They got sold. C’est la vie…

Edit: Bit of an update, didn’t cover in this post originally the C215 work, but it’s caused a bit of debate, cos it was getting pulled off the wall as it was bought. Apparently, this was because keeping track of which was which got difficult in the busyness of the buying queue, nothing else was taken down on the night or since, so it’s all still there for you to see.

Edit part 2: Photo now gladly removed, see comments below!

And finally the SPQR print that, it seems, sold out on the spot.

A bonkers night. You have to go and see this show. Apparently pieces were getting pulled off the wall as they were bought though (Edit: see explanation above). Didn’t see any of that myself, it was all still there that i saw, but still, go see it. Go check out the new pieces on the Gloucester Road too that stem from it.

Hell, just go and bloody enjoy the free street art in this city dammit. This show has caused people from across the country to come and check it out. People across the globe are watching it. So let’s all just enjoy what we have going on here.

Cos it’s really rather good.

Mentioned yesterday that the ‘Not A Penny’ show was going to leave some loveliness behind it in the area, and here’s the first part of it. A massive piece done a couple of days ago on the side of ‘The Flyer’ on Gloucester Road.

Here’s a long shot from across the road

Looks even better closer up…

Another angle, helped by the sun coming out.

Some detail for you, Rowdy, Cyclops and Sweet Toof

A crocodile stalking the city by Rowdy

Whilst Pure Evil brings this pearly king and a cat all the way from Shoreditch. ‘Live East, Die Young’, love it.

The piece extends up the lane a bit too, here are three Cyclops eyes

and i’m guessing a Sweet Toof or Cyclops head and teeth, this time with brain…

Apparently there could be more done to the piece, but the doods in the Flyer aren’t sure they want more doing. These guys are unstoppable though, someone’s bin across the road’s been hit by Cyclops and Sweet Toof. Another one for ebay?

There’s an old paste up opposite too, quite funny

But this bit, nothing to do with the other pieces and reasonably old, is funniest of all, ‘NO MORE INHERITETED WEALTH’. An apt message for May the 1st i guess, but dood, a dictionary’s not much more than a can of paint, and when used together, they can really add a certain something to your message…