Month: September 2021

3958. Upfest 2021 75×75 (65)

There is something rather special about this Upfest 2021 75×75 piece and once one understands the context, the whole piece falls into place in one of those ‘of course’ moments. If I told you that the artist, Martin Glover, is deaf and that the piece is called SIGN, you can probably work out that the hands spell out SIGN in the signing alphabet. Clasping the little finger (S), touching the middle finger (a,e,I,o,u), fists G and two fingers on the palm N – three fingers is M.

Martin Glover, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, September 2021, Upfest 21
Martin Glover, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, September 2021, Upfest 21

The piece is therefore not only rather clever and informative, but it is technically very nicely painted, and all around the edge there are hands signing in yellow. I expect the whole thing spells out a message, but I don’t know what it is.

Martin Glover, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, September 2021, Upfest 21
Martin Glover, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, September 2021, Upfest 21

There really is no limit to the creativity that street art offers both the artist and the viewer, and this piece simply proves that. It is a shame that it is tucked away in a corner of the Tobacco Factory car park where not many people will have the chance to see it, but it is worth the effort to seek it out if you are up for it.

3957. Dean Lane skate park (429)

This is another wonderful piece by Flava136 in what has been the latest in a sequence of very welcome visits to Bristol recently. The photograph not only features the outstanding work of the artist, but also a couple of bags of rubbish. Now I am all for people tidying up this grubby corner of the skate park, but not finishing the job by taking the rubbish away and simply abandoning the rubbish bags (spoiling my pictures) is a bit useless really. There are bins not more than 30m away from this spot.

Flava136, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2021
Flava136, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2021

The superb work of Flava136 is the most overt writing I have noticed in his work before, such is the cryptic nature of his style. Clearly you can see an F, an L and an A, after that I think that there is a V in the monster’s teeth and an A at the end, with a little H inside it (maybe). Great to look at and so damn neat and tidy (contrasting with the bin bags).

3956. Cumberland Basin

One of the great things about living in Bristol is that it has enormous credibility with street/graffiti artists from all over the country and indeed the world, and so visits from some of the greats are not uncommon. Even so, it was rather a surprise to come across this exceptional piece of floral writing from Curtis Hylton on the long wall at Cumberland Basin a couple of weeks back.

Curtis Hylton, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2021
Curtis Hylton, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2021

I haven’t seen writing like this before, and it is a real privilege to see it right here in Bristol. Spelling out SAME (Curtis writes under the name Samer), the floral patterns and colours blend seamlessly painted on a cosmic cloudy backdrop. Utterly breathtaking work from this super-talented artist.

Fan’s joy

.

Unashamedly

crowing after derby win

Arsenal my love

.

by Scooj

3955. Dean Lane skate park (428)

I had a great chat with Nightwayss while he was painting this piece, and for a change, the dog wasn’t spooked and sat quietly while we chewed the fat. What I didn’t realise at the time, and I blame my dumbness entirely, was that this piece was being painted as part of PWA paint jam alongside Zake, Face 1st and Soap. Zake was also painting, but Face 1st and Soap were sitting on a slope watching the others paint. Stupid me didn’t recognise them, and although I spoke to them, It has been such a long time since I last saw them and I thought they were strangers. They must have thought I was being very rude not saying hi like I normally would with acquaintances.

Nightwayss, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2021
Nightwayss, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2021

Nightwayss has found a rich vein of form at the moment, not only in the frequency with which he has been painting but also with stretching his creativity. In this piece, Nightwayss has written Night in a very stylish anamorphic graffiti style, with some lovely shading. To the left is one of his lovely monkeys, which these days is not a given in every piece he paints. Fine work from a lovely, decent bloke.

3954. Brunel Way (122)

Today I bring you a couple more miniature murals from the king of columns under Brunel Way. Maybe (@maybepaints on Instagram) first appeared on my radar back in April this year, although I think one or two of his earlier pieces had been around for a little while. As time has gone on, not only has Maybe been very productive, but he has also been creative and bold.

Maybe, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2021
Maybe, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2021

The first piece in this post is an ice cream kissing faces concept. The idea of two contrasting forces coming together in a yin and yang manner is a gift for Maybe, and he has done a brilliant job achieving a witty and enjoyable spectacle here.

Maybe, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2021
Maybe, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2021

On a column not too far away is this square face-off, with four pairs of faces in contrasting colours. Maybe has created a lovely effect which is enhanced with the dark vertical shading down the middle, which provides a little bit of depth to the piece.  All good and so much more to come.

1996

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Grand kitchen clear out

the builders start on Monday

‘best before’ shockers

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by Scooj

3953. Upfest 2021 75×75 (64)

I think that the first thing I should say at the start of this post is that I know nothing about the artist of this curious piece for Upfest’s 75 walls in 75 days event. Certainly the piece is striking and unusual, and the artist, George J Harding, is more used to painting canvasses than walls, but it all comes together nicely in a rather unconventional way.

George J Harding, Stanley Street, Bristol, September 2021, Upfest 21
George J Harding, Stanley Street, Bristol, September 2021, Upfest 21

I have taken a quick look through George J Harding’s work and although there are a couple of street art pieces on his website, they don’t much look like this. I think he has gone for a creative freestyle approach, and by the look of it, did it quite quickly. It is great to see fine artists hitting our walls though and enjoyable to see the crossover in action.

3952. Felix Road (2)

I will begin this post with an apology – the photographs aren’t up to much because of the parked cars, and I don’t think that is ever going to change, so this is the best we can hope for. I found this extraordinary piece by 3Dom while I was hunting down Alex Lucas’ wonderful mural on the Easton Business Centre.

3Dom, Felix Road, Bristol, July 2021
3Dom, Felix Road, Bristol, July 2021

I had to do several double-takes with this mural, because of its rather interesting content. On first inspection it might look like some innocent patterns and flowers, but look more closely and you might recall some of your reproductive biology lessons from school. The whole piece is an homage to the creation of life, presented as a growing shoot.

3Dom, Felix Road, Bristol, July 2021
3Dom, Felix Road, Bristol, July 2021

The ‘flowers’ represent eggs in the process of being fertilised, although you have to look pretty hard to see evidence of this, but it is possible to make out little sperm cells doing their best.

3Dom, Felix Road, Bristol, July 2021
3Dom, Felix Road, Bristol, July 2021

I’m sure that most passers-by probably won’t appreciate what is going on in this mural and the location is an interesting one, being on the perimeter wall of a children’s adventure playground. Initially I raised my eyebrows, but then thought that celebrating the gift of life where children play is probably the best place to site a mural of this nature.

3Dom, Felix Road, Bristol, July 2021
3Dom, Felix Road, Bristol, July 2021

The root end of the shoot is rather more overtly phallic, with additional layers of symbolism. The planed earth is ejecting a stream of sperm which spells out freedom (3Dom) and the shoot of the plant is growing out as if from a seed. As I said, this is an extraordinary piece, and well worth a closer look if you find yourself in the area.

3951. River Avon (18)

Yep, even more from Eman, a Bristol graffiti artist who appears to be tireless in his pursuit of happiness. Eman has painted a lovely old-school flat-capped character on the long wall that runs alongside the River Avon, opposite the paintworks. There are several of his pieces along this stretch which he obviously favours.

Eman, River Avon, Bristol, September 2021
Eman, River Avon, Bristol, September 2021

Eman is developing, and at the moment his characters are reasonably simple in their composition. The cartoon design is bounded with a black outline and the fills are solid with a little shading around some of the leading edges to lift the piece. Over time, I expect to see him add more depth and detail to his work, because this is an artist who doesn’t like to stand still.