A ‘world-class’ line up of street artists the likes of which Bristol has never seen before have gathered this week to paint a huge mural together – at the city’s Ikea car park. Some of the best and longest-standing street artists in the world, including artists from Paris, New York and London, as well as from Bristol, have been brought together by drum n bass pioneer Goldie, to paint a 200ft long mural on a wall in the furniture store car park.
The work is a celebration of the 30th anniversary of Goldie, Kemistry and Storm starting the MetalHeadz record label, which cemented drum n bass as one of the foremost new musical genres of the 1990s. The line-up of artists includes drum n bass pioneer Goldie himself, alongside the Tats Cru from New York, and Mode 2, the London street artist, who now lives in Paris, who was one of the very first European street artists in the mid 1980s.
The work is so huge it will take days to finish, and it has given all the street artists from the 80s and 90s onwards who are gathering in Eastville, the chance to catch up. “Goldie has put together a roster of artists which I would say is world class,” said Jody Thomas, one of the Bristol artists taking part. “You have some people here who are my childhood idols, a few people here who I’ve painted next to.”
Jody has been given one of the key parts of the mural – portraits of Kemistry and Storm, who founded MetalHeadz with Goldie. He said it was particularly poignant to paint Kemistry, who died in a tragic accident in 1999, as Sunday would have been her birthday.
“This is very much a memorial to her, it would have been birthday in the week just gone,” said Jody. “We have this huge theme across this wall, it’s 200 feet wide and 20ft high,” said Jody. “This is the culmination of months and months of preparation. Goldie has put together a roster of 19 artists which are pretty much a dream team of guys who have been around since the 80s,” he added.
“We’ve got Mode 2 – he is someone who is sainted in the street art world, he’s known worldwide, he does these fantastic characters. It’s been amazing to talk to him and watch him. I’m a bit of a nerd, so I get a chance to see how people are doing things., and look at their caps and what paint they are using. It’s been really wonderful,” added Jody.
Goldie explained that the theme of the work is the Wizard of Oz, but with a street art twist.
“I wanted to do a Wizard of Oz style theme, because we’ve all been on this journey, this Yellow Brick Road, while the world’s going mad,” he said.
“We’re doing a Bristol skyline on the end, it switches to a New York skyline, which is why Tats Cru is here from New York. I’ve been affiliated, I’ve been part of that crew since I was 18, they took me under their wing, little naïve me when I had lots of hair, and now I have no hair,” Goldie added.
Goldie said Bristol will always be a special place for him. “I come to Bristol every year, I’ve been coming to Bristol since I was 18, to do graffiti and hanging out with the Wild Bunch before they became Massive Attack. It’s a cultural city, always has been, and it’s very close to my heart,” he said.
“My record label is 30 years old this year, so we just wanted to celebrate that independence, with a label that’s got integrity and has been going for a very long time. For the young uns coming that discover MetalHeadz, it’s like when people discover Motown, they are like ‘what’s this Motown music?’ and they’re opened to a whole bunch of different stuff.
“It’s a very big tree, the drum n bass tree, the jungle tree – lots of branches, and we’ve got a very big trunk in that tree, and the roots of it,” he added.
Other artists on the wall this week include Inkie, Dibz, Cheo, Soker, BG, Mike22 from Bristol, along with the likes of the Chrome Angelz crew, including Mode 2 and Zaki.
The gathering in Bristol this week has been organised by Goldie, and assisted by Steve from Upfest, who prepared the huge wall at Ikea. “It’s a coming together of souls, you know,” said Goldie.
“We’ve all known each other and some of us haven’t seen each other for ten years. I’m touring non-stop, so why do I want to be painting a wall in the rain when I could be indoors, sleeping? I’d rather do this, it’s really important,” added Goldie.
“I think Bristolians they’ve got such an arty place. There’s a lot of real art and real soul. It comes up from. They are either nuts, or they are great artists,” he said.
“Street art is no longer the dirty word that it used to be. It’s like drum n bass music, it’s why they go hand in hand, people want to celebrate their music, and when they want the remix, they come to this drum n bass, because they want a little bit more power in it, a little bit more oomph.
So it is with graffiti, when they want it to look really cool, they come to the graffiti artist,” he explained.