Month: October 2020

3237. Alfred Street (7)

This wall has been something of a treasure trove since it was painted at the Raw Wax paint jam at the back end of August. It is great to have a business in Bristol, in this instance Dare To, that welcomes street artists to decorate its walls, particularly in this rather dreary industrial estate.

Ware, Alfred Street, Bristol, September 2020
Ware, Alfred Street, Bristol, September 2020

This piece is by Ware who is one of the RAW artists that seems to paint less regularly than some of the others in the crew. Such rarity adds value, and it is great to see a piece of intricate writing like this. The character is the Cheshire Cat from the Disney adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Each piece in this particular wall is composed of writing with a character and it is so worth a visit.

Making it up

.

Unable to hear

quite as well as I once could

filling in the gaps

.

by Scooj

3236. Jamaica Street (23)

Tucked away in a doorway on Jamaica Street is the third of three recent pieces in Bristol by London-based artist Nathan Bowen. All three have been roughly the same size and in portrait orientation, which is quite unusual for street art, most of which is in landscape.

Nathan Bowen, Jamaica Street, Bristol, September 2020
Nathan Bowen, Jamaica Street, Bristol, September 2020

The scribbled cartoon character is holding a sign with the words ‘I am a Man’ on it. I don’t know what this piece might refer to nor whether it has any political significance but I really like it. I am a fan of Nathan Bowen’s unique style and would surely love to see him hitting the walls of Bristol more often. Pitu about the rather useless ‘plus’ tag in blue, but it goes with the territory.

3235. John Street (7)

Regular readers of Natural Adventures will be very familiar with this artist although may not have seen anything even remotely like this from him before, indeed I am not too sure I have. It is by Nevergiveup or Followmyrabbits – he has several names, and I think he might also go under the name of Eldey.

Nevergiveup, John Street, Bristol, September 2020
Nevergiveup, John Street, Bristol, September 2020

The battle of Britain is beautifully commemorated in this mural featuring a spitfire and Union flag and Polish flag. Nevergiveup is Polish and of course Poland was an ally during the second world war and many Poles joined the RAF and became fighter pilots – there is a story being told here. The piece has a lot of movement going on and the spitfire itself is really well done – such an unusual piece for Bristol and from this artist. Great to see.

Second wave

.

Inevitable

inexorable advance

coronavirus

.

by Scooj

3234. M32 roundabout J3 (256)

The work of Benjimagnetic is so very distinctive, but as I mentioned before, I find it very tricky to decypher the letters in his writing. The density and compactness of the work with so many intricate lines and patterns make it hard to pick the letters out.

Benjimagnetic, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2020
Benjimagnetic, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2020

Sometimes with certain artists, your eyes become accustomed to their style and you become better at translating or working out the words, but I have a total fail when it comes to Benjimagnetic. My guess here would be ‘B, X or M, R’. The letters do not matter too much, the colour selection is great and those white-bordered angular shapes, so unique to the artist, are superbly done. A nice piece.

3233. Brunel Way bridge (60)

All this time I have been labelling thissprawling spot Brunel Way bridge, but it is rather more like a fly-over. No matter, bridge is what I have called it, so that it is what it is called. At the southenr end of the site there is a little little hot spot of stencils by Remko of which this is the second that I have posted.

Remko, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2020
Remko, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2020

The Einstein stencil is perfectly suited to a column, although I’m not too clear what the robot thing is all about. Maybe it is a comment on the AI future that we are facing, maybe not. As far as stencils go, this is rather unusual and it looks like the lines may have bee augmented with a Posca pen or something similar. Fun and original art from Remko.

Pitch Perfect

.

My guilty secret

a cappella trilogy

dad and daughter time

.

by Scooj

3232. Brunel Way bridge (59)

It is always good to return to my old favourites from time to time, keeping Natural Adventures grounded and not obsessed with high-end pieces, which could be very tempting but nowhere nearly as representative of the Bristol scene. The beating heart of graffiti and street art lie in the hands of people like Mr Draws and Face 1st – the unsung heroes of our city.

Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2020
Mr Draws, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2020

This is a piece from a short while back  by Mr draws that has a rather lovely feel to it. The colour fills are rather interesting and unruly, but somehow work really well and the whole thing, spelling out DRAWS, lifts nicely off the wall and the vibrant colours make it nice and lively. A decent piece that many might ignore and walk past.

3231. St Werburghs tunnel (194)

I was lucky enough to meet Frank Riot as she was working on this fabulous tribute piece to a friend of hers who had passed away a couple of years ago.

Although he hadn’t started his contribution at that point, the whole thing was actually a collaboration with Stivs albeit not necessarily painted at exactly the same time. Frank Riot is from London but had come to Bristol specially to paint this tribute. I chatted with her for a little while as she was working on the bottom half of the design using a lot of masking tape to get those superb straight lines.

Frank Riot WIP, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2020
Frank Riot WIP, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2020

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see her or Stivs completing the piece, but returned a couple of days later to check it out. It has turned out wonderfully well and the huge contrast between the artist’s styles somehow doesn’t seem to matter too much.

Frank Riot and Stivs, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2020
Frank Riot and Stivs, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2020

Frank Riot is a designer and that comes across clearly in her work Whereas Stivs is a specialist in beautiful Gothic type script graffiti writing. This wall usually has a high turnover, but I hope this tribute piece receives a little bit of respect for a while, it certainly deserves it.