On previous visits to the M32 skateboard park, I have noticed that the river Frome flows in a valley adjacent to the ramps and benches used for grinding and jumps. The slow moving river lies behind a tall metal fence, and that tall pillars which substitute for canvas extend beyond the fence and along the course of the river, suspending the concrete vault of curving motorway above like a ceiling. Those pillars, as if in a cathedral, had been painted upon, and the structures traversing the river and maintaining its width against implosion were also decorated. There seemed never anybody in this enclosed space, no matter how busy the skateboard park was.
I enquired of the skateboarders how to enter the space, and was advised that to enter is to squeeze through the metal bars of the large fence. Here artists have left some traces of themselves and maybe their innate core beliefs, describing themselves as ‘sad boys’, or ‘rowdy boys’, exclaiming plaintively ‘love, love, love….what is it good for….absolutely nothing’, a desparate isolationist parody of a popular anti-war song. The colours and designs are bewilderingly elaborate yet stark, fantastical creatures proliferate and sentences, comments and exclamations are laid entirely bare upon a backbone of cement and concrete.