5. Street Art – Page 159 – Natural adventures

6082. Greenbank (121)

It is a genuine privilege to have a stand out The Hass piece here on the Greenbank hoardings, which feels like it was a warm-up piece for his outstanding Upfest combination wall. This is street art of the highest calibre painted in a graffiti spot, and as such stands out a mile. Anyone passing by, and the cycle path gets a lot of footfall, would surely have to stop and admire such a thing of beauty.

The piece falls into two distinct halves which merge in the middle. The left-hand side features a delightful floral design, so delicate and pretty and to the right The Hass has painted a representation of a stone sculpture head, which is reminiscent of the great pieces by PichiAvo.

As a whole, this combination is a true masterpiece, and we are lucky in Bristol to have artists who turn out extraordinary work like this on a reasonably regular basis. This was one of the best surprises I have had on my ’rounds’ for quite a while.

6081. Greenbank (120)

Although I have found quite a few of his pieces, Zeks, as with so many Bristol artists, is a little underrepresented on Natural Adventures. One day I will try to right these wrongs, but not until I can recover a bit more time in my rather busy life. A word that I would use to describe Zeks work is a word I very rarely use, but it somehow fits his style, ‘cute’ – but I don’t mean in the cuddly puppy sense, more in the clean and joyful and sweet way.

Here Zeks has painted his letters in shades of pink and white, with nice interlocking patterns, and accompanied the letters with a rather cool teddy bear. What really helps this piece, and it can be said for so much graffiti writing, is the buffed background, which helps the piece stand alone from the surrounding visual noise. A very nice piece by Zeks.

6080. Cumberland Basin

Mind 49, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024

There is an artist in Bristol whose steady progress over the last year or two has elevated him to a high status, and deservedly so. Mind 49 has been painting from an early age, and his development has been a joy to witness, and now he is turning out outstanding pieces on a regular basis. He seems to have found his style and his work reflects a greater confidence.

This is one of a few recent pieces that showcase Mind 49’s portrait style, in which he practically always obscures part or most of the face either by its orientation or the use of clothing or accessories, like these sunglasses. Because of this his portraits feel more grounded, and less posed than some portrait pieces that we see. Brilliant zip by the way. This one is so much better in ‘the flesh’ because my photographs are a little washed out, which can happen on this wall in the afternoon/early evening light. Keep watching this space for a whole lot more from Mind 49.

6079. Dean Lane skate park (721)

Fade, Jody and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2024

Just because I have been paying quite a lot of attention to Upfest 2024 recently, id doesn’t mean that the world of Bristol street/graffiti art has stood still, on the contrary, it continues at the same ridiculous pace as usual. At the vanguard of high quality high productivity are the machine that is Dibz and Fade, and in this instance Jody too.

This ET tribute triptych is typical of the classy collaborations these artists have been churning out for well over a year now, since Fade returned to Bristol. On the left is a beautiful and perfectly presented piece of graffiti writing from Fade, that is notable for the drop shadow lifting upwards, which makes it feel like the letter block is moving downwards, if that makes sense – clever stuff.

The filling of the sandwich has been created by Jodi and portrays the most iconic scenes of the movie and possibly one of the most iconic images of the early 1980s. Not only has Jodi recreated Elliott and ET, but also the amazing landscape and moon shot. I like the way that the artists have put their signatures onto the box which ET is sitting in, as if they were written in felt-tip.

Rounding off the collaboration is a perfect piece of writing from Dibz which mirrors Fade’s writing on the other side. The drop shadow that Dibz uses is more conventional and acts as a counterbalance to Fade’s. This is an awesome ET collaboration, worthy of great praise.

6078. Upfest 2024 (15)

Fyonafinn, North Street, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024

One of the interesting aspects of this year’s Upfest has been the large number of typographic writers/sign writers that have been invited, which is really quite unusual for a street art festival. Because of the format changes, and virtually no temporary hoardings being available, the other major change has been a massive reduction in the number of graffiti writers, so there is a very different ambience to the festival this time round.

This is a wonderful piece of stylised writing from Fyona Finn, a Bristol-based artist who has painted a few walls in the city in the past, but most of whose work is design. She describes herself as a lettering activist, which I think defines her style really well.

There are two elements to this piece, the design of the letters, and the message. The letters are carefully arranged, and created using masking tape to generate the straight lines, and the fills drift from one letter to another in a considered way. The message “Take care of each other” is a warm and compassionate sentiment delivered at a time when compassion from an outgoing Tory government is at an all time low. This is a nice piece from Fyona Finn, and I hope to see more of her work on Bristol walls.

6077. Upfest 2024 (14)

#DFTE, Dean Lane, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024

The philosophical pondering of #DFTE is a constantly refreshing aspect of his work, indeed a central one too. It is only a few years ago when his small framed musings started appearing in spots all around the city, becoming something of a street art hunter’s ‘pot of gold’. More recently he has taken to upscaling his work into large walls, adopting the same font, and managing not to lose the unique proportions and sentiment that typifies his earlier work. You can see the transition of his work in this gallery.

I guess that #DFTE is stating the obvious here with his “if you change, you will be different” statement. I imagine that this prompts the clichéd response “well, it makes you think… doesn’t it?”. Whether it makes you think or not, this is another wonderful piece of stylised writing and words from the Bristol-based artist.

6076. Upfest 2024 (13)

Artez, West Street, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024

This extraordinary mural by Serbian artist Artez is one of the most iconic pieces to emerge from the incredible Upfest 2024, which was staged over three weekends in May and June. Although there wasn’t a street ‘festival’ this year in one of the south Bristol Parks, the organisers triumphed with finding a host of new walls to feature some of the best artists in the world.

I was not familiar with Artez, as I don’t believe he has visited Bristol before, but after seeing this piece I will most definitely be keeping an eye on him. There is a wonderful connection in this piece with the space it is painted on and the subject, whose tummy aligns with the vertical wall and bent knees reflect the pitch of the roof. Clever stuff.

I could spend hours looking at this piece, which gives off an incredible sense of calm and peacefulness. The unusual position that the woman is in adds interest, and the large empty spaces around her draw attention to her face, her body and the folds of material in her clothes. A masterpiece from Artez.

6075. Upfest 2024 (12)

Cock Dicks, Greville Smyth Park, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024

Cock Dicks is a Bristol-Based artist who occasionally transfers her skills to the walls in Bristol alongside the Bristol Mural Collective. In this piece for Upfest 2024, up at the Greville Smyth Park Bowling Club, she has painted a mural containing the most iconic emblem of Bristol, some hot air balloons.

I was lucky enough to meet Cock Dicks, whose mischievous name is derived from her surname (Dicks) combined with her mother’s maiden name (Cock), while she was painting this piece and told her that I had written about her art on Natural Adventures before, and she seemed to be surprised that I knew that she had painted with the Bristol Mural Collective occasionally.

Using brushes rather than spray cans, Cock Dicks has created a rather loveable collection of balloons, each with big eyes and differing expressions cleverly portrayed by the shape of the eyebrows and mouth and angle of the eyes. This is a piece for all the family, and captures the spirit of Bristol and Upfest perfectly.

6074. Upfest 2024 (11)

Liam Bononi, Lime Road, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024

Liam Bononi is right up there with some of the best street artists in the country and beyond, and it is a great privilege that he has returned to Bristol and Upfest with this outstanding portrait piece in Lime Road. I got a little lucky with these pictures, because there is usually a car parked in the bay, partially obscuring this wall.

The portrait piece is different from work I have seen before by the artist, in that usually he distorts the image in some way through ‘cracks’ or obscured features and so on, but here he appears to have gone with a straightforward portrait. His photorealistic work is outstanding and manages to convey more than simply an accurate portrayal by capturing both emotion and movement in the subject.

There is one nod to obscurity in this piece in the form of the golden violin bow, which is lacking in any detail. I am not too sure what to read into this deliberate mechanism, and may have to do a little research. One of the highlights of Upfest this year.

6073. Wilder Street (43)

Zoe Power, Wilder Street, Bristol, May 2024

This piece by Zoe Power would be equally at home in my street art posts or as part of the Thursday doors series (watch this space, because it will eventually appear in the latter). Zoe Power is a successful artist i Bristol, whose commissions can be found on walls all over the city. Her style is clear and simple and overtones of the Fauvist school of art which was known for its bold use of colours and expressive brushwork. Henri Matisse, I am convinced, is an inspiration behind some of Zoe Power’s work.

This door is an absolute beauty which blends colours and shapes seamlessly. There are plenty of recognisable icons and motifs, such as an eye, a pencil, a mouth, a heart and a plant all presented in an abstract format. The colour palette works well and the door is surely one of the prettiest in the area. A fine commission from Zoe Power.

	M. on 7612. M32 roundabout J2 (…
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	M. on 7612. M32 roundabout J2 (…
	Sheree on 7613. David Street
	paulh121 on 7611. St Werburghs tunnel…
	cjsmissionaryministe… on Morning motivation
	hitandrun1964 on Sea Spurge (Euphorbia par…

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