.
Made the decision
and paid a large deposit
kitchen improvement
.
by Scooj
Month: August 2021
3903. Upfest 2021 75×75 (50)
Another fabulous Upfest 75×75 mural, and another beast to photograph… well, I suppose it is in a car park so parked cars are something of an expected irritation. The fun mural is by Georgie Webster, a Bristol-based artist who likes painting animals, the male nude, butts and more (according to her website).
In this piece Georgie Webster has painted a festival of roller skating and dance, from the waist down. The legs are full of variety – is that a pair of grraffe legs? – and vibrant colours, something of a speciality of the artist.
It was a pity that I haven’t yet been able to get a good photograph of the whole wall, but I think you can get the idea from the pictures posted.
I particularly like the little the little guinea pig, which was hidden behind a car and took me several attempts to photograph it because the car was so close to the wall and I had to hold the camera out to one side between the wall and car. The whole mural is a splash of colour and a statement of joy, and a little view of the world from the bottom half, which makes a refreshing change.
3902. M32 roundabout J3 (343)
Here we have another classy piece of writing from Benjimagnetic on the roundabout. Although he is going through a simplification of his rather busy and frenetic style, the work is so unmistakably his.
The colour selectionsare rather nice, with the pale blue border and 3D shadow working well with the red letters. The shapes of the letters are rather pleasing, and the shadings, both blue and red are very nicely crafted. Another fine piece of graffiti writing from Benjimagnetic.
Banksy holiday
.
Cave time in garden
dusting off my spray paint cans
a rare occurrence
.
by Scooj
3901. M32 Roundabout J3 (342)
This is an absolutely wonderful piece from Oma, and her first appearance on Natural Adventures. Oma’s style is something so refreshing and different in Bristol and definitely feels like the work of a studio artist transitioning onto the street – I don’t know if that is the case or not, but that is how it comes across to me.
This portrait depicts an elderly man (an unusual subject in street art) using a magnifying glass to look at something. You can see the shading influences of Zake in this piece, which is no surprise as Oma usually paints alongside him and I believe he is coaching her along the way. The colours and bold and stand out, but it is the overall subject and style that I find fascinating. I am so looking forward to seeing a whole ton more work from Oma.
3900. M32 Cycle path (138)
As if things weren’t busy enough on the streets of Bristol, I take a week’s holiday, and the turnover of pieces has been phenomenal. Possibly the pick of the bunch (but I am biased) is this door piece from Laic217.
Laic217 seems to have settled into a pattern of painting that I can just about keep up with, roughly a couple per month, which seems sensible to me. This piece is perhaps a little more unsettling than some of his skeleton pieces, because of the satanic references. The face is a design idea I have not seen from Laic217 before, but it has a horror film feel about it.
As always the execution of the piece is first class and the detail in the character’s coat, the creases and yellow cord, are fabulous. The blue smoke too is nicely done. Laic217 keeps on turning out brilliant work, no fuss, no bother.
The crossing
.
Makes a dash for it
from one side to the other
caterpillar tracks
.
by Scooj
3899. M32 roundabout J3 (341)
An artist who seems to be going from strength to strength with his superb caligraffiti is Stivs, who I always think is slightly underrepresented on Natural Adventures, a situation that I must remedy.
I went back to this spot yesterday to re-photograph this gorgeous piece, because my original pictures are slightly out of focus. I haven’t processed the new pictures yet, but when I do I will replace the originals. The brush-stroke calligraphy spelling out STIVS is sensational, and the colour selections of black and red will always draw attention. A very fine piece indeed.
3898. Upfest 2021 75×75 (49)
Another artist whose work I very much admire and who is no stranger to Upfest is Envol, and he returned to Bristol to paint one of his distinctive pieces just off North Street. I was lucky enough to meet him while he was painting this and he stopped for a while for a great chat. It turns out that he is good friends with Fanakapan, another very talented London artist and one who has also painted at Upfest in the past.
While I managed to photograph the piece as a work in progress, by the time I came back to photograph the final finished piece it had been vandalised, along with several other Upfest murals, by some misguided (and probably ill) idiot. Thankfully the piece was fully restored and is as good as new.
Envol creates these sharp and clean pieces incorporating parts of the body with abstract shapes and patterns, and sometimes disrupting them with white space. They are quite surreal, and at times remind me a little of Giorgio de Chirico fused with Matisse’s cut outs. Beautiful to look at and thought-provoking. This piece is another fabulous contribution to Upfest’s 75×75 event.
Hunger
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Golden rule broken
shopping on an empty tum
massive shopping bill
.
by Scooj
Natural adventures 