The last commission 2016 was a fun one… painting this camper for Bristol-based Quirky Campers, a camper van hire company looking to do something different. These guys hire out campers for you to explore your nomadic side and sniff out those beautiful corners of the UK in style! This one is called “Leon”, and will blend well in the woods and forests off the beaten track. Just remember where you park it…
At the end of 2016 I managed to sneak a couple of last-minute jobs… one of them was for The Hashery, a brand new eatery in Cardiff. The 4 owners were still in the build process, and were looking for “Street Art” inspired murals for their walls. They had an idea of colour schemes and content, but gave me pretty much free reign to design something within those boundaries. They wanted a female portrait mixed with messy “Graffiti”, which led to me throwing paint at the walls and getting loose! Super fun!
Once the 2 walls were finished, I was asked to do another interior wall to tie in with the others, and an outside wall in a prominent city-centre location. Bonus!
Go check them out when you’re in town… Burgers, Cocktails and Mussels on the menu. 🙂
I was approached by The Heath Hospital and the contracted Architects working on the new build in the Noah’s Ark children’s hospital to create a large Jungle mural in the brand new outdoor courtyard. It was tough to find the right balance of “not too kiddy’ and ‘not too scary”. I looked at lots of ideas including classic animations such as The Jungle Book etc for inspiration, but wanted to do something a little outside of the usual “jungle” box, which tends to have lots of vines and banana leaves. I eventually found some inspiration looking at more tropical jungle landscapes, with vibrant colours and softer styled animals, which was given the green light… and Hey Presto! If you ever find yourself in the Noah’s Ark hospital at The Heath, go check it out.
Well, that was fun! After a month of planning, painting, building, promoting, stressing, more painting, hanging, lighting, and last minute problem solving, we finally opened the doors to the Peaceful Progress “Light vs Dark” exhibition. We had people travel down from London, Nottingham, Kent, Cambridge, Birmingham, Carmarthen, and all over Cardiff to the opening night. A great mix of people and great positive vibes. It was amazing to have so many people turn up despite the weather being… and I quote a friend of ours… “Biblical”. I mean biblical in the sense that we half expected Noah to float by on his Ark, it was that wet!
Some Thank-you’s are in order. Firstly to Paul Allen, who has done an amazing job documenting so much of it, and also lending me the equipment to time-lapse around 3 weeks of painting in the space. This is all for a film project based on Peaceful Progress and centred around the show… but thats all a bit under-wraps for now. Watch this space. Thanks to the DJ’s who came from London, Birmingham, Cardiff and Berlin to rock the space and create great vibes! JSTAR, Tom Porridge, Brain, Dan Jose, Rich Roast and Kevs. Thanks to David Gardiner and Steve Dubs for the lighting. Thanks to Alex Kidd for helping whitewash the space at the beginning, and lending us the decks, and thanks to Gorilla Audio for help with the PA. Lastly, thanks to everyone who came and checked the show and made it such a great night!
It was a long journey, with a lot of personal energy thrown at it, Both physical and mental. The main aim of doing the show was simply to make it all about painting for fun, spending the time to create something for ourselves, and not driven by money. The Boiler House is a community-interest company, and is not-for-profit, so all proceeds were put back into sustaining the space for future non-commercial use. This was all about the mission. But its also good to back to reality, and creating new work for the people who have been so patient waiting for me to get this exhibition off my chest.
Here are some pics, taken before the opening by the talented Paul Allen. Enjoy.
Peaceful Progress and The Boiler House are proud to present… LIGHT VS DARK. With entertainment provided by DUB in the PUB DJ’s, Dan Jose (#Unity) and JSTAR.
A monumental Graffiti Exhibition celebrating 18 years behind a spraycan through the eyes of Peaceful Progress. Over 1500sq ft of wall painted at The Boiler House Graffiti Gallery in Canton, Cardiff, plus new work on canvas.
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Entertainment on the evening will be provided by the mighty DUB IN THE PUB. Good vibes Reggae, Ska and Dub. The original Party-starters providing Off-the-cuff Dancefloor Bangers throughout the night.
Plus… Special guest JSTAR.
Prolific Bass Music Producer & DJ and all round good egg JSTAR played at the original Boiler House venue in Llandaf North 6 years ago at the sold out Fair Play Festival. Nowadays the bass-culture junky does official remixes, (over 60 productions for Madness, DJ Vadim, The Black Seeds, Ari Up, Mark Ronson, Major Lazer & more ); and DJs globally from Mexico to Manchester, Denmark to Delhi. Currently tours with MC Soom T, as well as with Spikey Tee and MC Honey Brown.
“Jstar is an original don. Early DJ that helped inspire the Major Lazer crew! Bad man!” Diplo
“always good to have a J-Star moment … like it.” Daddy G (Massive Attack)
http://jstarmusic.com/
https://soundcloud.com/
On the evening: Food provided by the Shabbanackle, Visuals, Party Caravan, Giveaways, and a general Block-Rocking atmosphere!
FREE ENTRY – The Boiler House, Unit D, Paper mill Rd, CF11 8DH. 5pm – 1am. Kids welcome early.
Hope to see you there. 🙂
This was a cool little job for the guys at The Perch, a Swansea bar in the centre of town. The original Artwork is by Irish artist Terry Bradley, whose work is very Prohibition era and Docklands-inspired. Normally for these sort of commissions, i’d work on a primed surface, however the bar has some really nice exposed brick and we thought it would be better to incorporate this in to the wall, as it all seemed to fit together really well. This is the second Bradley mural in the space… Was happy to add to the ongoing collection.
Every now and then you need a good excuse for a road trip. Well, I didn’t have a good excuse, so instead I settled for a mission to Kent for Skore’s birthday BBQ. After spending a day and a half sorting out one of my caravans and getting it roadworthy, then to find out the brake lights were knackered just before leaving for the 4/5 hour journey in the slow lane, I forked out a few quid for a trailer board and off we go. 2 nights sleeping on Skore’s drive like a king. Well, it was either that or cuddle up with Merc or Crok on a sofa, but that wasn’t gonna happen.
Arrived at about 10 pm, to a place where street lights have yet to be invented. A pitch black reverse into Skore’s mini driveway and its beers and bed to warm up for the big day. Happy to say i slept well, and woke up to find out why Skore was happy for me to arrive early, as he’d prepared nothing and clearly needed help. Cue BBQ fixing, shopping, potato salad making, P.A assembling, toilet fixing (or not), and general sorting ready for the 3pm start.
From then on, it all gets a bit hazy. Enter the biggest band of misfits, reprobates, degenerates and drop-outs Graffiti has to offer, with a few family members for good measure. Good food, good company, good music and a top night had by all! We had big plans for painting on Sunday, with plenty of writers all up for the crack. As if that was gonna happen. Instead 2 of us just about managed to squeeze out a bubbly little number in the midst of a hangover, before preparations for the long trip home, back in the slow lane.
Good times! 🙂
Another year.. another Green Man festival. This is the 11th year we’ve been involved in the event, and a nice local one for us. Peaceful Progress runs and organises various things alongside our sister company Alternative Events, such as the Solar Stage, The Peaceful Progress cafe and Salon Mirela. The Graffiti walls are our longest standing gig with GM, here’s a few shots of this years wall painted in a continuation of the watercolour / experimental vibe.
Scorpions kickboxing gym in Bridgend recently got in touch to add some colour to their gym which is having a bit of a facelift. A great facility running sessions for all ages, it was a pleasure to come and brighten up the grey walls. I was careful to not make any mistakes… didn’t want to be on the business end of a roundhouse kick.
Sinstars crew has recently had its 25th birthday! What better way to celebrate it than to drive for 5 hours, carry tons of paint and ladders and emulsion across the countryside to a wall thats in the middle of no-where, stand in the baking hot sun with no shade for 2 days pulling 12 hour shifts up ladders, not talking to your friends all day or night because you’re either too busy or too knackered, and hoping its there in the morning to get photographs, then drive home for another 5 hours with nothing to show for it other than a few pics on a camera.
That’s what Graffiti is all about! 🙂
