Decay is totally excelling at the moment, and it seems to me that each new piece he produces is better than the last. In the last year he has entered into a world of colour selections that might at one time have been unimaginable. This new piece is on the hoardings in North Street, curated by Upfest.
Decay, North Street, Bristol, May 2019
Not the easiest piece in the world to photograph and looking at the hazards around it, probably not the easiest to paint either. I truly believe Decay has found a new level in his work, but he needs to slow down… I’m having difficulty keeping up!
There is a rather fun thing going on in Bristol at the moment, and it is the rise of Reseau, a loose crew with Panskaribas at its heart. Reseau pulls together several artists who enjoy painting together, but each time the composition of the collaboration seems to shift around a little.
Stupid Stupid Meathole and Panskaribas, Sandbed Road, Bristol, May 2019
This collaboration is full of fun and positivity and on the left is a Stupid Stupid Meathole sandwich with a Panskaribas filling. The Panskaribas character holding a flower appears to be dancing and really ticks all my boxes, and the worms by Stupid Stupid Meathole have a rather cuddly and bemused appearance.
Stupid Stupid Meathole and Soap, Sandbed Road, Bristol, May 2019
On the right is a sensational Soap character with a beautifully intricate patterning, so beautifully done. I am really enjoying the freshness that Reseau is bringing.
Doors 72 – Doors from Camden Town from November 2017
I am now scraping the residues from a very deep and rather empty door barrel. I had a choice… not to post any doors today, or get something old out of the door quickly and efficiently…I went with the latter.
Here are three doors from a street art hunting trip to Camden Town, London back in November 2017:
Thursday Door, Camden Town, November 2017Wheatpasted door, Face the Strange (top) and CodeFC (bottom), Camden Town, November 2017A rather plain and neglected door, Camden Town, November 2017
So there you are. I’ll leave you to decide whether this post was worth it. I am (in case you hadn’t noticed) a bit of a creature of habit, so to do this was more comfortable than missing a week.
Maybe I’ll have time to do something a little more imaginative next week.
For more doors take a good look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the brains behind Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
Aah… Moon Street, one of the last remaining strongholds for street/graffiti art in the Stokes Croft area. Gentrification has arrived and is accelerating and it won’t be too long before most of these walls are gone and replaced with yet more student accommodations. The entire city is being overrun with these, surely the bubble has to burst at some point.
Anyhow, here we have quite an unusual and rather lovely little piece by Face 1st in one of his favoured spots.
Face 1st, Moon Street, Bristol, May 2019
I think that this might have been a bit of a practice, because since he painted this apple in Moon Street, I have seen it (on Instagram) as part of a collaboration elsewhere in Bristol… I must hunt it down, one of many that I haven’t yet found. Face 1st’s characteristic girl’s face is incorporated as part of an apple which appears to have been sliced and has ‘stuff’ brains maybe falling out. A slightly macabre scene and unusual for Face 1st who normally paints such charming faces. Nice to see him pushing the boundaries.
On the M32 roundabout we have yet another wonderful Cort and Laic217 combination. These two really do seem to enjoy painting together and somehow that personal chemistry comes across, even though their styles are completely different.
Cort, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2019
The Cort writing is so typically in his style, with unusual shaped lettering combining straight lines with curves and some rather tasty fillings too. The whole thing is set on what looks like a brick wall where the render has started to flake off, a great effect.
Laic217, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2019
To the right is the Laic217 writing bookended with characters in one of his favoured red colours. For me this piece is the epitome of everything that Laic217 brings to his pieces, some great writing, great textures and skeletal characters with an element of menace about them. Nice to see a little shout out to Ryder on the right hand side of the piece too.
Laic217, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2019
I could sit and look at Laic217 pieces all day. I don’t think I necessarily share his fascination with death, acid, bucket hats or brick walls, but I appreciate how he conjures up these extraordinary pieces. A rich and magnificent piece.
Wow, just wow, another wonderful paste up from Tian down in Stokes Croft. This one features a boxer, but I fear I don’t know which one. I have Googled Muhammad Ali, it might be him; Apollo Creed, it’s not him; Joe Foreman, it might be him when he had hair; Joe Frazier, I don’t think it’s him. And there my knowledge of boxers dries up… any ideas?
Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, May 2019
The wheatpaste itself is a beautiful stencil using his preferred yellow/sepia tones, I just don’t think I can get enough of his work and rather joyfully I have a whole load more to post over the coming weeks.
This was one of so many pieces created during a paint-jam in St Werburghs tunnel a couple of weeks ago. Happily I can report that they are all still there, but with the turnover in the tunnel being quite high I expect that they won’d last much longer. This piece is by Rusk, a RAW stalwart.
Rusk, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2019
I must confess to being slightly troubled by this piece, because there is something about it that just isn’t quite right for me. I hold Rusk in very high regard indeed and in fact in my view he is the most conscientious graffiti writer I have met. I think my problem (and I am really nit-picking here) is with the grey lines across the bottom of the letters, they just don’t appear to match up across the piece. Having said that, I am using Rusk’s own work as a very high benchmark against which to measure. It would take me a hundred years to get this good.
Natural adventures 