Tuesday 10 February 2015

MINTO's Facebook and Instagram feeds.

You can also view my Facebook and Instagram profiles at: at: https://www.facebook.com/theartofminto  and https://instagram.com/instaminto
where I can be contacted for commissions and enquiries. Cheers!



World famous Lakota Nightclub Project





Some photographs of recent pieces I have created in Bristol this year. The Lakota lettering and surrounding hills were the only elements I painted in the second image adding to a production wall painted in 2009 by other artists living in Bristol. Lakota is a Jamaican family owned nightclub synonymous for dance music events and attracting worldwide talent in this scene. I compiled my research through pod-casts and online searching for a greater understanding of the Lakota tribe and their place in our history before creating some of the work you can see here. 

Moon St, Central Bristol. UK


Moon Street, St Pauls, Bristol by MINTO January 2015


A freestyle mural painted on the famous Bristol dance music venue Lakota. 

BUZZFEED'S article on Bristol's current street art scene

Wednesday 22 October 2014

This summer in 2014 film documentary maker Rob Weitz  created a time lapse as a tester piece for future video work. http://vimeo.com/89443041 Bristol UK.

Saturday 6 October 2012

Thursday 20 September 2012

My new Biog has just been completed as I prepare for my first ever solo show on the 18th of October 2012 in Clifton, Bristol. It reads..


Gregor Minto

Born in Edinburgh in 1975, Gregor moved to Bristol in the early eighties. His fascination for graffiti art came after encountering Barton Hill’s ‘Dugout’ Community Centre in 1988, a well-known Mecca for street artists. This art form is still a major contributing factor to his work today.

Gregor went on to study Media Production at Plymouth College of Art and Design. During this period he founded the Small Time Rockerz (STR CREW) with other artists from London, Leicester and Bristol. This led to several large collaborations and further developed his own identifiable style under the name Boneidol (or BONE for short).

Returning to Bristol on leaving art school, Gregor saw a clear opportunity to raise the profile of serious graffiti artists in the city. Organising events at The Cube Cinema, Gregor began showcasing a number of now well-established artists, along with scratch DJs, animators, photographers, VJs, music producers and filmmakers. These events pulled in performances from the likes of DJ’s Madcut, Uppercut, Quest, G Pirelli,Trixta, Sickboy, Nick Walker, Inkie, The TCF Crew, China Mike, General Midi, Tom Oldham, Milan Spasic and Shirley Hopkinson.

As well as being an organising force in the Bristol cultural scene, Gregor has participated in major national events, painting live at Sprite's Urban Games in 2000, to more recent events such as Awesomefest and Upfest along with commissioned work for Channel 4, charities and group shows. Most recently, Gregor was invited to contribute to the 'See No Evil' graffiti project, painting giant pieces in the centre of Bristol that were featured on BBC national news.

Aside from his more traditional live graffiti work, since 2000 Gregor has developed a personal painting style he calls ‘Instinctivism’. Combining elements of abstract and impressionist theory with freestyle graffiti, this style employs imagination and instinct without the use of preliminary sketches. With no preconceived idea of the end result, Gregor freestyles through the piece until it is finished to his satisfaction. Due to the non-linear nature of this work, some pieces can take up to five years to complete.

"To freestyle is to learn at speed and not to worry about over or underworking a piece,” Gregor says. “I instinctively make marks of varying speed well into the piece, leading to a more considered, deliberate approach towards the end. Understanding the relationship between neighbouring tones and exploiting the frequent accidents that occur help me to steer the piece.

“People often come up with many different interpretations of my work when they examine it - and I hope each piece inspires playful, energetic discussion between them all. Enjoyment of the intrigue that this style offers, I think, is the key to its longevity.”

Tuesday 31 July 2012

The Probability of a Putt Prawn

This painting began with instinctive mark making and over the course of five years gradually became the painting you see here. Back in 2005, fellas paraded around with mullet hair do's and tribal tattoos. In Probability of a Putt Prawn it is the prawns who have the power to hypnotise the people.
There is a limited run of only 50 prints available here, all signed by the artist. All printed on William Turner Hahnemule 310gsm paper with 300 year archival inks.

Monday 30 July 2012

Orca

Same dimensions as the Probability of a Putt Prawn (300mmx800mm with a 65mm border) and printed in the same stock, Orca houses my style of painting, which was born while collaborating with Sam Shaw (STR crew) back in 2001. This style I like to call `Instinctivism'- which describes itself pretty well really. Instinctive mark making without any preconception of where it's going to end. When the painting clicks in my mind and says DONE, I stop. I tend to focus on neighbouring colour schemes and often paint in negative to leave useful shapes behind. Instinctivism is a combination of Abstract, Impressionist and Graffiti art movements. For me, Instinctivism enables me to really enjoy the painting process, like freestyling on the microphone, free running or jamming in a band..you don't know what to expect when you're doing it but enjoy the process nonetheless.

Saturday 28 July 2012

Instinctivism Piece


Instinctivism piece


The Critic


When God told the chickens the sky would fall down












Wabi Sabi Predators

Wabi-Sabi is a Japanese term given to the beauty of imperfection, something that creates the feeling of melancholy, a soulful feeling. The term nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: that nothing lasts, nothing is finished and nothing is perfect.  I began by simply darkening the bottom and chose to paint the top part in negative leaving the original white of the canvas to describe solid shapes, while building up the bottom part in ever lighter shades. Then marine life and birds started to appear.