Month: January 2017

599. Old Bread Street (10)

This guy just gets better and better. It has been really interesting watching how Laic217’s work has developed over the last eighteen months or so, and being able to pick up on some of his motifs and styles.

Laic217, Old Bread Street, Bristol, January 2017
Laic217, Old Bread Street, Bristol, January 2017

In my view, this is his best piece of wildstyle writing to date, and the purple cat sets it off brilliantly. I love the fish bone logo on his jacket. The inclusion of the brick wall adds texture, and has been used in some of his previous works.

Laic217, Old Bread Street, Bristol, January 2017
Laic217, Old Bread Street, Bristol, January 2017

It looks like Laic217 spent a bit more time on this piece, and the clean finish indicates that it was time well spent. It has been a very busy period for the artist, and I have a couple more recent pieces to post soon. Really great stuff from a rising star.

598. Upper York Street (5)

It has been a little while since Kleiner Shames packed his bags and set off for London to make his fortune. So it is with some cheer that he returned to Bristol at some point over the New Year period to remind us just how good his work is.

Kleiner Shames, Upper York Street, Bristol
Kleiner Shames, Upper York Street, Bristol

This piece is on the intersection with Upper York Street and Wilder Street and is in great company with other pieces by Deamze and Whysayit. The wildstyle writing spells out Fois (which for a long time I thought was the artist’s name – d’oh).

Kleiner Shames, Upper York Street, Bristol
Kleiner Shames, Upper York Street, Bristol

This two-tone work is actually quite simple in its construction, that is, there is no shading or over-the-top elaboration, but it disguises the writing really cleverly. I do like his work and hope this trip back to his home town is not just a one-off.

597. James Street (1)

Once in a while, you feel that you might be witnessing something rather special, and so it is with the art of Tom Miller. I would be the first to concede that his surrealist style isn’t to everyone’s taste, but what he has to offer, both on canvass and on walls, is very different, refreshing, challenging, intelligent, busy and bright. I think and hope he will go a long way.

Tom Miller, James Street, Bristol, January 2017
Tom Miller, James Street, Bristol, January 2017

He was busy painting this new wall on New Year’s Eve and into New Year. Dedication to his craft.

Tom Miller, James Street, Bristol, January 2017
Tom Miller, James Street, Bristol, January 2017

I am not entirely sure what the piece is depicting, but it looks a little like Buddha with a whole load of things going on around him and a rather nice little hut ion his head for a hat. Miller’s pieces are always bursting with energy and weirdness. Lots of body parts and face parts adorn his subjects. There is meaning to all of this I’m sure, but it is probably deeply rooted in the artist’s sub-conscious.

Tom Miller, James Street, Bristol, January 2017
Tom Miller, James Street, Bristol, January 2017

A wonderful new landmark on the Bristol street art trail, slightly off the beaten track, but worth the walk.

596. Upfest 2016 (90)

I really like this beautifully designed piece of work from Mike Powis. The colours work well and there is something really pleasing about the subject – to me at least. It doesn’t come as a surprise that Powis is an illustrator and graphic designer, and this comes across loud and clear in this work.

Mike Powis, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Mike Powis, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

I couldn’t find out much about him, but his Upfest biography (autobiography) reads: ‘Illustrator, graphic designer, hunter gatherer, gas mask vandal, excessive coffee drinker, mural creator, brush pen ninja, workshop director, marker mass murderer, terrible short story writer…’  That probably sums it up.

595. Upfest 2016 (89)

This is an unusual piece by the artist Codefc. When I first saw the piece from a distance I thought it was something to do with Start Wars, when it is in fact a stencil of film/video cameras stacked together. The black and white stencil is set off beautifully by the gold background, which I think is a technique he uses a bit.

Codefc, Upfest, Bristol, July2016
Codefc, Upfest, Bristol, July2016

Codefc did some really interesting works in Rio for the Olympics, and you can see some of this on his website. Other than that, there is little biographical information out there about him, so I don’t have much more to add.

594. Upfest 2016 (88)

This is a rather fun piece from an Austrian artist, originally from Graz, called SizeTwo. He is largely a self taught artist who is constantly striving to improve his skills. As part of his road to improvement, he has moved to Berlin to ‘broaden his horizon’.

SizeTwo, Upfest, Bristol, July2016
SizeTwo, Upfest, Bristol, July2016

His work, I have just taken a look at some of it on the Interweb, is highly accomplished, and I hope that he will be returning to Upfest next year, so we can get another glimpse of his work. I do like a monkey in a spacesuit – it seems to be a common theme for street artists, and this is at least the third I have posted.