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.
I think this is the last piece I have from the Halloween 2017 session by members of the ASK crew. The others were by Sepr, Sled One, Feek and Inkie. This is by the extraordinarily talented Epok.
Epok, Brunel Way bridge, Bristol, November 2017
Nobody writes quite the way Epok writes, with his highly designed angular letters which have a stro9ng geometric and architectural feel to them. The photograph really doesn’t do justice to this piece which is positioned under a bridge, where the light competes with the dark. All of the pieces here are much better seen in the flesh, than captured by a rank amateur like me. At least I can give you a feel for the artworks.
These doors belong to a small shop called Pastimes, which tells us everything really, a shop was never so aptly named. I don’t think that anything about the decor of the shop, and indeed much of its content, has changed since the 1960s.
Door, Pastimes, Lower Park Row, Bristol
I would guess that it is owned and managed by a passionate collector, and not a shopkeeper. It looks very much like a situation where a hobby has spiralled out of control. I cannot recall seeing the shop being open…ever, and it appears to have been in a condition of stasis over the last couple of years. Maybe the owner is unwell or too old to look after things. But it is still there, and when I pass I gaze through the windows trying to see what lies within. Wartime memorabilia, stamps, cigarette cards, coins, plates…all those kinds of things adorn the walls (and floor space).
It is interesting that the shop seems to span two buildings, each with its own front door. I don’t know if they join up inside. The building itself is not kept in the best of repair, and I am left wondering if the owner of the shop is also the owner of the buildings – how else could the shop still be there?
I think every town has a shop like this. A wonderland. An old curiosity shop.
I am including this piece, in spite of the fact that it has been around forever, because I have only rarely seen it, when I am in this part of town and the shutters are down. It is by DNT, who normally reserves his talents for the Stokes Croft area.
DNT, Nelson Street, Bristol, November 2017
The shutter piece is situated on Nelson Street at the oriental supermarket, and has a western-oriental flavour to it. The cherry blossoms, characteristic of the Far East, fringe a portrait of a girl, almost geisha like but with western eyes.
DNT, Nelson Street, Bristol, November 2017
I like this piece, especially as it is quite different from the kind of stuff I’m used to seeing by DNT. Worth waiting for.
This is not a new piece by Shab, it has been here for months, but it replaces a piece by him that was here before and which I posted in February 2017. It would seem that Shab has the permission of the owners to claim this spot as his own.
Shab, St Michael’s Hill, Bristol, November 2017
I never tire of the abstract form that Shab brings to his work, enjoy the anatomical references he makes in his work, which recently has been the inclusion of an eye. In this piece he includes another eye and also the eye scokets and nasal cavity of a skull.
Shab, St Michael’s Hill, Bristol, November 2017
This is an interesting piece and slightly off the beaten track. One for the locals.
Following on swiftly from my last post, I have another van from Camden Town, beautifully decorated, this time by Sr.X, a Spanish street artist who now resides in London.
Sr. X, Camden Town, London, November 2017
His work reminds me very much of the cartoons created by Glen Baxter. There is a retro feel going on here which is peppered with contemporary references and some quirky dark humour.
Sr. X, Camden Town, London, November 2017
This is a beautifully worked piece that I feel very lucky to have stumbled across. It always pays to keep your eyes open. You can see more of Sr.X’s stunning work on his website.
On a trip to Camden Town in November 2017 I took a very long stroll around the area part of which took in this backstreet where market sellers parked up their vans. This being Camden Town I guess it should have come as no surprise that the vans would have been finely decorated by London street artists.
Himbad and Dotmaster, Camden Town, London, November 2017
This van played host to Himbad and Dotmaster whose collaboration works beautifully as Dotmaster’s stencilled children pull back covers to reveal a cutely frightening Himbad monster and host of monster eyes. I really love this piece and would love to see both of these artists make a trip to Bristol. One day maybe.
Natural adventures 