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.
Irrepressible is probably the word I would use to describe Turoe’s current mood. For about a year now he has been interchanging his usual Turoe wildstyle pieces with his ‘shyte’ series, of which this is a recent example.
Turoe, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2021
I actually really like this one… a lot. It has been written with rather slim letters on a thick white border which makes it look a bit like a giant sticker. The colour selections are very nice indeed and the horizontal transitions very nicely blended. Overall this is a rather splendid piece.
Oh my goodness! There are some pieces that you look at and, well, they simply take your breath away. For me, this is one of those pieces. Painted for Upfest’s 75 walls in 75 days event, this astonishing collaboration from Mishfit and Mazcan simply blew me away, and I look at now as I am writing and wonder at its magnificence.
Mishfit, King William Street, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 21
These two portraits work so incredibly well together and are perfect for the space vacated by Caro Pepe and AgeAge. To the left is a stunning portrait from Mishfit painted with incredible graded skin tones and a beautiful headdress, the colours of which are reflected in a cloud to the right of the subject. I haven’t seen any of Mishfit’s work before, but what an introduction.
Mazcan, King William Street, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 21
Mazcan on the other hand has visited Upfest on a couple of occasions, but this piece is definitely a step up from before, and I think she must have been practising. This blue face has quite a lot of attitude and there is so much depth and bone structure created with clever use of shading. The red streaks in the hair add so much to the depth and contrast of the piece too.
Mishfit and Mazcan, King William Street, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 21
Genuinely, this is a bloody brilliant collaboration and will definitely stick in my memory for a long, long time.
This is another opportunity to showcase the wonderful and slightly different work of Bristol artist Maybe. This artist burst on to the scene earlier this year, painting pretty much exclusively in a stretch of concrete columns supporting Brunel Way, a busy road crossing over the river Avon at Cumberland Basin. His small pieces are little treasures and rather fun to seek out.
Maybe, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2021
The first piece is one of Maybe’s trademark reversible faces combined within a rectangle, each painted in its own wonderful colours and shades. There is something about the simplicity of these pieces that makes them rather calming and easy to look at and enjoy.
Maybe, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2021
The second piece is a rather clever little design of a moon eating a banana in some kind of reflective motif idea. I am a fan of Maybe, and am enjoying the progress being made. I look forward to maybe finding some pieces in other parts of Bristol.
The nice thing about dropping down beneath the M32, where a canalised section of the River Frome flows, is that it seems to be a popular spot for visiting artists to paint, often accompanied by Bristol friends showing them around.
Wee Nuls, Frome side, Bristol, June 2021
This delightful piece by Wee Nuls was painted a few weeks back by the Belfast-based artist who, it appears, cut her teeth with spray painting in Bristol some time ago. I love this kind of portrait piece that sits comfortably alongside Slakarts, Pekoe and others who create bright and colourful faces about the city. I hope that Wee Nuls makes more trips to Bristol soon.
I have found it difficult to get out and about photographing doors recently, so this selection is another trawl through my archives of street art and graffiti art doors from last year. All of these doors were originally featured as posts on street art in October and November 2021, but are being repurposed for Thursday doors. If you recognise these from the first time round, please forgive me. Enjoy:
Slakarts, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, October 2020 Nevergiveup, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2020 Silent Hobo, Mina Road, Bristol, October 2020 Utility box painted with a flower, Bristol, October 2020 Daz Cat, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2020 Sepr, Dighton Street, Bristol, November 2020 Sepr, Dighton Street, Bristol, November 2020
That’s yer lot this week I’m afraid. Maybe just maybe I’ll get out to photograph some doors before the next time we meet. Until then, have a lovely weekend.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
I think that Eman is the artist I have seen the most of in recent weeks, I think that the times and days and locations that we visit somehow coincide. This time I was lucky enough to catch him painting his first portrait piece in collaboration with Evey, although she had not yet arrived when I took this WIP shot.
Eman, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2021
Obviously any blue female portrait will be compared in some way to the most reproduced Chinese Girl portrait by Vladimir Trechikoff and this isn’t too far away from that. It is great to see Eman trying new things, he seems to have an appetite for pushing himself hard and with great results.
Evey and Eman, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2021
Evey, who turned up after I had gone, has added some orange flowers and her letters EVEN to the right of the piece and reminds us that ‘all black lives still matter’ keeping the BLM movement in the agenda. This is a rather lovely collaboration, and quite unusual in its structure. Great to see.
It would appear that Zake is off the leash. Over the past month, I have seen and photographed several Zake pieces that seem to get better and better. This is the first one in a series, and a good starting point.
Zake, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2021
I first came across Zake’s work on the columns under the M32 several of which still remain, which is remarkable really and shows the respect from other artists. Although this is not his best work, it does hark back to those earlier pieces. There is some great uplighting going on here and an exaggerated characterful face. Watch this space for more from Zake.
