6291. Upfest 2024 (46)

Hannah Adamaszek, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, May 2024
Hannah Adamaszek, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, May 2024

One of the first pieces I saw being painted at Upfest this year was this wonderful, relaxing piece by Hannah Adamaszek. As is usually the case, she was accompanied by her friend and artist Stephen Quick, who was making use of his height to help out with some of the harder-to-reach parts of the mural.

Hannah Adamaszek, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, May 2024
Hannah Adamaszek, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, May 2024

Hannah Adamaszek manages to create a great sense of calm and wellbeing in her pieces, which usually feature people in relaxed poses or situations. She has done an outstanding job of capturing the movement and colours of the water in which the subject is swimming.

Hannah Adamaszek, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, May 2024
Hannah Adamaszek, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, May 2024

I think I have seen one of her pieces in Leake Street tunnel, otherwise I have only seen her Upfest and Tobacco Factory pieces, but they are enough to satisfy my appetite for her work. Great mural.

6290. L Dub (55)

Dun Sum, L Dub, Bristol, August 2024
Dun Sum, L Dub, Bristol, August 2024

Dun Sum is an artist I’d love to see more of in Central Bristol, but he tends to stick to his home territory of Lawrence Weston. Whether it is graffiti writing or his fantasy character pieces, he brings an originality which is hard to better.

Dun Sum, L Dub, Bristol, August 2024
Dun Sum, L Dub, Bristol, August 2024

This extraordinary piece of writing shimmers as if it were molten metal… an incredible effect. The letters spell out Dun Sum and are filled expertly. To me, this looks like the graffiti version of the Terminator character who can morph from solid to liquid. The downside to painting in L Dub is that footfall is incredibly light, and so few people will ever get to see this outstanding work.

6289. Muriel Alleyway (6)

Tanith Gould, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, August 2024
Tanith Gould, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, August 2024

Bristol’s smallest street art festival took place at the end of July, organised by Rtiiika, in Muriel Alleyway, Brislington. This is an alleyway which has a couple of dozen garages backed onto it as well as garden back walls, which make fabulous canvasses for street art and murals. The spot has has a few pieces painted along it in a fairly sporadic fashion, but this event ensured that many of the available well/garage spaces were painted. Most of the artists were part of the Bristol Mural Collective, including Tanith Gould, who has painted this exact wall previously.

Tanith Gould, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, August 2024
Tanith Gould, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, August 2024

I love Tanith Gould’s illustrative style, which includes, I guess, quite a lot of symbolism and meaning. She has virtually replicated the hands that were here before, but the surrounding decoration is rather different. There is something very calming about the piece, which I really like. Below is her earlier piece from July 2021, for comparison.

Tanith Gould, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, July 2021
Tanith Gould, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, July 2021

Peggy

A gallery of amazing floral murals from the Bristol-based street artist and tattoo artist Peggy.

Instagram: @misspeggybrown

Website: misspeggybrown.com

all photographs by Scooj

Peggy, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2024
Peggy, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2024

 

Peggy, Leonard Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Peggy, Leonard Lane, Bristol, November 2023

 

Peggy, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Peggy, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023

 

Peggy, Dean Lane Bristol, September 2023
Peggy, Dean Lane Bristol, September 2023

 

Peggy, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023
Peggy, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023

 

Peggy, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2023
Peggy, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2023

 

Peggy, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2023
Peggy, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2023

 

Mudra and Peggy, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023
Mudra and Peggy, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023

 

Peggy, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023
Peggy, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023

 

Peggy, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2023
Peggy, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2023

 

Peggy, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2023
Peggy, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2023

 

Peggy, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2022
Peggy, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2022

 

Peggy, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2022
Peggy, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2022

 

Mudra and Peggy, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2022
Mudra and Peggy, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2022

 

Peggy, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2022
Peggy, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2022

 

Peggy, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022
Peggy, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022

6288. Lower Ashley Road (9)

Taboo, Lower Ashley Road, Bristol, August 2024
Taboo, Lower Ashley Road, Bristol, August 2024

It is rare for new hoardings to remain unpainted or untagged in Bristol, and no sooner had these gone up around a new development site, than they were decorated with several throw ups including this fine anti-style graffiti writing and character combination piece by Taboo.

Taboo, Lower Ashley Road, Bristol, August 2024
Taboo, Lower Ashley Road, Bristol, August 2024

Taboo has been reasonably quiet lately, so this piece came as a very welcome surprise. As you can see it is a birthday tribute piece to Ffion, and includes a cute portrait of Simba from the Lion King Disney film. The writing, which is really on-point, spells out TABOO, of which the lion cub makes up the first ‘O’. I love the pink inside the second ‘O’, adding just another layer of interest.

6287. M32 roundabout J3 (615)

Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024

Stivs is something of an enigma, you never really know quite what you are going to see from him next. He is both an accomplished portrait and scene artist, as well as an exceptional calligraffiti writer. In this piece, he has created a wonderful cartoon book style portrait.

Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024

I took this photograph on my second trip to the wall, because the sun wasn’t quite right on my first visit. Unfortunately, by the time I returned, YSAE and Solar (one of them) had tagged it. At least they were respectful enough not to go over the portrait itself. The piece is called (I presume) ‘moody boys start wars’.

Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024

The artwork itself is exceptional, and it is one of the best renditions of comic-book style artistry I have seen, and at scale too. I have included a photograph I took on my first visit, which has no tags, but bright vertical strips of light where the sun has caught the wall and corresponding shadows. Phenomenal stuff from Stivs.

6286. New Stadium Road (57)

Whysayit, New Stadium Road, Bristol, August 2024
Whysayit, New Stadium Road, Bristol, August 2024

This is rather a special piece from Whysayit, because it is unusual to see anything by him quite as big and bold as this one, and to see his work on a (partially) buffed background. The anti-style letters spell out YSAE (why say), which stand out really well.

Whysayit, New Stadium Road, Bristol, August 2024
Whysayit, New Stadium Road, Bristol, August 2024

Although nicely finished, there is something quite raw about this piece, especially in the translucency of the orange colour, a colour, along with yellow, that can (depending on the brand of paint) be rather thin. I don’t know if he was running out of paint, or whether it is a feature, but the tail of the letter ‘E’ is finished off in white, in throw up style zigzags. The letters are finished off with a rather nice 3D drop shadow in dark blue with vertical green stripes and a clean white border. A very nice example of Whysayit’s work.

6285. M32 Cycle path (274)

Pekoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2024
Pekoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2024

This amazing portrait piece by Pekoe is simply perfect. It appeared shortly after the far right riots that flared up recently in the wake of the stabbing of three girls in Southport. I won’t share my thoughts on the riots here, but I suspect that my feelings are consistent with the vast majority.

Pekoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2024
Pekoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2024

Pekoe has her own way of answering back at the far right thugs, by hitting them where it hurts, their ego, with a speech bubble that puts down fascism in a single blow, “hot girls hate fascists”. The words alone are enough, but she accompanies it with one of her fabulous portraits. The right piece in the right place at the right time. Bravo Pekoe.

6284. St Werburghs tunnel (437)

Dirtygypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2024
Dirtygypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2024

Oh what a beauty from Dirtygypo in the tunnel. He has been writing all over the place with his characteristic letter style, but I am still no closer to having any idea what his letters spell out. The only way out of this particular conundrum is to bump in to the artist at some point and ask him.

Dirtygypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2024
Dirtygypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2024

This is a really colourful piece with each letter element containing a different colour fill, and there is a special treat in the letter that looks like a reverse ‘t’ with a mosaic of colour shapes creating interest and variation. This, like his other pieces, is lively and vibrant and a very welcome contribution to the Bristol street/graffiti art scene.

6283. Sparke Evans Park (101)

Pl8o, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2024
Pl8o, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2024

I haven’t seen an awful lot from Pl8o for quite a while, so it was really great to come across this recent piece in Sparke Evans Park. There is something rather different about Pl8o’s work that helps it to stand out from the crowd, and I think that can be attributed in part to the aesthetically pleasing letters P L 8 O… it just kind of works.

Pl8o, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2024
Pl8o, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2024

This is a bit of a cheeky one featuring a character who makes up the letter ‘P’ and who happens to be doing a fart. This is quite a common theme with street art characters and usually provokes a chuckle or two. The point about this piece is that Pl8o draws attention to to the gaseous emission with the text “is it art, or is it fart”. Great fun and skilfully done.