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Life before pasta
is unimaginable
what did people do?
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by Scooj
Author: scooj
I am Stephen. I live in Bristol, UK. I decided to shorten my profile...to this: Wildlife, haiku, travel, streetart, psychogeography and my family. Not necessarily in that order.
3752. Cumberland Basin
It is a funny thing, that I don’t fully understand, but consistently, whenever I post Ments pieces on Instagram they just never get as many likes as other artists’. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that these complex organic pieces don’t translate very well onto the small screen of a mobile device. In the flesh, these are always magnificent.
I love Ments’ work, it is always carefully considered and technically challenging and while it might not be to everyone’s taste it is consistently of the highest quality. In this one Ments presents us with his disguised writing in fairly angular lines, softened by the ‘marble’ decorations. A very nice piece indeed.
3751. Brunel Way (112)
Another wonderful column piece from Maybe under Brunel Way and one in which he has combined his faces theme with his more recent cosmic theme to great effect. I have said before in posting Maybe’s work, that I like street art like this because it is a little different and another legitimate form of artistic expression.
I would love to know the secret behind the technique used to create the the planets and stars, the shading on the planet surfaces is particularly nicely done. Maybe’s work just goes from strength to strength.
3750. M32 Spot (116)
Ooh! a mouthwatering, commentary collaboration piece by 3Dom and Sled One taking up a large stretch of the Skate Spot wall at the top end of Stapleton Road. This spot is often taken up by ‘top end’ art work and is favoured by the ASK crew, and when you see something like this it is easy to see why.
The first time I passed by, Sled One was still painting his half of the collaborative wall while 3Dom had departed and was due to return later or the following day to tidy up. We stopped and chatted for a while before he continued with the piece. His work is extraordinary and his talent is there for all to see.
The two halves of the collaboration represent a stark contrast between the choices we have as citizens of planet earth. We can work with the planet which is reflected in Sled One’s contribution or we can destroy it through the pursuit of material wealth and greed. It is interesting how the choice of colours can set a tone or a mood and Sled One’s ‘mother earth’ character is full of positivity and hope. The only out is in.
3Dom got the short straw and his half of the piece is a portrayal of capitalism and greed where the earth is to be divided up like a cake for profit. The cigar-puffing pig is brilliantly painted and instantly creates a sense of disgust and loathing. Dark satanic mills be here.
What an outstanding collaboration of contrasts from two of Bristol’s top street artists.
3749. Brunel Way (111)
I got rather lucky with this piece, managing to time my walk perfectly to be able to catch up with the artist mid way through painting it. The very large piece is by an artist I had never met before and didn’t even know about, Vents137. For an artist who specialises in painting trains, this was something of a departure (no pun intended), but very impressive nonetheless. Vents137 wasn’t at all happy with the colours though and just wanted to get it finished quickly, and he was very quick.
The piece is a classic writing and character arrangement with the letters spelling out VENT and the character taking the form of a hooded robot kind of thing, reminding me a little bit of a Snub23. It is all quite unlike anything I am used to seeing in Bristol and I hope that Vent137 takes to the walls more often.
Yet another debut on Natural Adventures from an experienced artist. How on earth am I expected to keep on top of all of this, I ask you? Great piece that unfortunately didn’t last too long.
Andrew Burns Colwill
A gallery of street murals from the brilliant Bristol artist Andrew Burns Colwill
All photographs by Scooj
3748. Upfest 2021 75×75 (3)
I have a feeling that this was the first of this year’s Upfest 75×75 pieces (75 walls painted in 75 days in lieu of a full blow street festival over a long weekend) and is by the magnificent artist Will Barras who is no stranger to Upfest.
There is a lot to love about this piece, in particular the local references to rock climbing, spray-painting and of course the moonlit Clifton suspension bridge. The night scene is painted very cleverly in muted colours to give it that dusk or nighttime feeling which works so well, and the mural seems to suck the light away from its surroundings.
The perspectives and energy of the cyclist seem to create a sense of energy and movement. There is a lot of dynamism in the piece, in spite of its dark tones. Replacing the Caro Pepe piece that existed here before was always going to be a big ask, but Will Barras has risen to the challenge and given us something unusual and rather special.
3747. M32 roundabout J3 (328)
I am thoroughly enjoying this relatively recent design format from Face 1st, and I think that this is roughly the fifth or sixth piece that I have seen in this style. One of the pleasures of taking an interest in street art is watching how each of the artists evolve their styles and subjects… what they practice and what they choose to discard. Few things on the street/graffiti art scene remain static.
This piece appeared a couple of weeks back, quietly and quickly and unusually not as part of a collaboration with PWA friends. The block letters spelling FACE are filled with the dynamic (crazy) blue hair belonging to the smiling girl, whose omnipresence is at the heart of all of Face 1st’s work. I like the darker tones of the piece, which seem to work really well. Another beauty.
3746. Upfest 2021 75×75 (2)
Adding to the challenge of keeping up with the turnover of street art in Bristol has been the recent unveiling of Upfest’s 75 new walls painted in 75 days. Not only is this a huge undertaking by Upfest, in what has been a very disrupted two years, but is a major challenge for me to keep up with. At the time of writing I have seen about eight or nine new pieces with several more on the go.
Any regular readers will probably recognise this massive mural as being by Bristol artist and designer Mr Penfold. In this piece he has gone large, but that rather suits his style of big bold designs and colours.
This particular wall is one that has hosted some amazing pieces and this is yet another one in that series. I have to say that this one went under my radar and I didn’t know that Mr Penfold had painted it until he posted it on Instagram, hence no WIP shots.
Although a stunning feature wall for Upfest, it is one of the trickier ones to photograph, especially in summer when the tree is in full leaf. It is always great to see new Mr Penfold pieces and this one is a real beauty.
3745. M32 Spot 115
I am struggling to keep up with the sheer volume of new pieces appearing in Bristol, which means that there are increasing delays in sharing some of the superb artwork with you. I have a time-lag on average of about two weeks between photographing and posting, by which time some of the pieces will have already been painted over. Fortunately, this collaboration from Pekoe and Bnie is still there for all to see.
This is a stunner from Pekoe, entitled ‘pink to make the boys wink’. The pink face, in three quarter profile, is following the trend of recent pieces with dotted hearts and circles on the cheeks and chin, and of course, no Pekoe piece is complete without voluminous hair decorated with little symbols and layered colours. A lovely portrait piece.
To the right of the portrait is some lovely writing from Bnie, who has been very active in recent months. The ‘bubblegum’ colours of the letters are blended beautifully, but once again it is her 3D shadow that steals the day. I must find her and watch her paint to see how she creates this wonderful effect.
A very nice collaboration on one of my favourite walls from this RBF duo.
Natural adventures 