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.
Perching high above the bustle and noise of Allen Street is this magnificent and regal lion by Sonny. It really is an outstanding piece and one of my favourites from my trip to New York.
Sonny, Allen Street, New York, October 2017
This is the second piece by Sonny I have featured from this trip, the first was a tiger in SoHo. His work in both these pieces has woven in patterns and colour to a quarter of the portrait that looks so natural and part of the animal itself.
Sonny, Allen Street, New York, October 2017
This piece, and indeed this street, should be on any street art hunter’s wish list.
Oooh, I love New York, and so it seems does Invader. Deep in the heart of Little Italy in SoHo this magnificent pixelated mosaic by the great French artist resides above a clam restaurant. The piece was given a helping hand by the LISA (Little Italy Street Art) project.
Invader, Mulberry Street, New York, October 2017
I have only ever seen a handful of Invader pieces in the flesh, and this one is quite the largest. A magnificent present for those who like to keep their eyes open.
Very close to where we were staying in New York was this large and imposing piece by the fabulous Shepard Fairey. The style is austere and seems to bear a resemblance to totalitarian state propaganda branding or dystopian future movie motifs such as in ‘the hunger games. The sentiment though is for the people.
Shepard Fairey, Bowery, New York, October 2018
I rather like this highly designed corporate look, and it certainly is a striking piece that yells out at passers by.
I returned from a short break to Barcelona with my daughter last night, and my memory card is heavily laden with doors. Barcelona must surely be one of the great capitals of interesting doors.
In the older part of the city, and indeed throughout much of the rest of the city doors appear to be fair targets for graffiti, and what a lot of it there is. This first set of three doors gives you a feel for what is commonplace in Barcelona…ordinary city doors, covered from top to bottom in graffiti.
Barcelona door, March 2018Barcelona door, March 2018
I will post more doors from Barcelona over the coming weeks.
Getting back into the groove with some more contemporary work. This is a recent piece by Laic217 on the curved wall in Dean Lane skate park. He did a similar black and white piece here in July last year, just before Upfest.
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2018
This time his skeleton character, rather than holding a spray can is shouldering a ghetto blaster (which I recently called a boogie box in a previous post) – booming out the lyrics ‘ice ice baby’ by Vanilla Ice. Seeing this, I just had to go onto YouTube to remind myself of the video, which features a lot of graffiti in it. The video is terribly dated (already) and the song itself so incredibly reliant on a great riff from Queen underpinning the whole thing. It is a catchy tune though.
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2018
I don’t think I will ever tire of Laic217’s work – it somehow feels representative of the whole Bristol scene – an overseas artist who has settled here and is really becoming part of Bristol’s new wave which is vibrant and exciting, but sits comfortably alongside the longer established street/graffiti artists. There is room for everyone here.
Photograps taken in St Werburghs tunnel are a real challenge. The colours are yellowed out if you don’t use a flash, and when you do use a flash (a non-sophisticated one like I use) you get horrible reflections obscuring the art. This piece by Fiver (Fiva) looks a bit dreary, but it was far from that in the flesh.
Fiva, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, June 2016
Fiver is an artist I have featured a couple of times this winter, having not seen much from him for quite a long while. This is an old one, full of charm. I believe the character is Donkey Kong of Nintendo fame. A fun piece.
Back to the more recent stuff now. I am not used to seeing writing from NEVERGIVEUP, who is better known for his bunnies and monsters, so this one in Dean Lane comes as a bit of a surprise.
NEVERGIVEUP, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2018
I can’t really make out what the letters say, probably because I haven’t seen much of his writing before and the style is typically unique. He does like to do things his way and is fast establishing himself into the Bristol street art scene.
A native of Argentina, this parakeet is quite at home in Barcelona which boasts the largest European population. Probably not entirely welcome, but suitably exotic.
Natural adventures 