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Always here, waiting
occasional second glances
balcony voyeur
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by Scooj
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Who is looking at who?
Category: 5. Street Art
4598. Dean Lane skate park (512)
I have encountered a small dilemma, it happens quite a lot in the world of documenting street art. Flava136 is making a deliberate move towards refreshing his moniker to Saor. Part of me feels that I should follow his lead, but the other part of me feels like it will simply muck up all my tagging and labelling which is a nightmare for archiving, searching etc. So as you will see I have decided to stick with Flava136, even though it is now Saor.
The name is somewhat irrelevant when it comes to his artwork, which is always presented to the highest possible standards. The piece is horizontally bisected with different colour transitions either side of the line. We also see a return of the toothy monster character, which is becoming a less central part of his work these days. This is yet another sharp, on-point piece from an outstanding artist.
4597. Cumberland Basin
All I can think of when I see this creature is that it looks like a Mote version of Big Bird. I am pretty certain that it was not his intention, but like an earworm, I just can’t shake it off, so I’ll just have to settle for that.
There is no stopping Mote at the moment, and I seem to be meeting him on a fairly regular basis these days – our clocks appear to be in sync. I like the way that Mote really seems to take care with his work, and likes to buff the wall first, before carefully putting down the layers of his piece. Always finished nicely, his work is tight – no blurred lines, no sloppiness, tight.
4596. M32 roundabout J3 (418)
Although from these pictures, it might look like I photographed this while the artist was finishing off, it is an illusion – the paint paraphernalia belongs to Corupt who was painting a piece along the top of the wall. This is of course yet another outstanding work from 3Dom during a bit of an ASK paint jam celebrating Mr Jago’s birthday.
There are a number of motifs in the piece that we see a lot from 3Dom, such as eyeballs, stripy trousers, bleak landscape etc. I wonder if he has been watching the latest series of Stranger Things, as there is a gateway to the upside down maybe, or perhaps this is the upside down, the clouds might suggest it. All in all, this is just yet another outstanding surreal piece from one of the very best street artists around.
4595. Upfest 2022 (35)
I am a huge admirer of Johnman’s incredible pieces, and although I have only seen a handful of them, each one is an absolute cracker. I particularly like this piece, because accidentally or deliberately, the scene blends into the real blue sky behind it, giving a slightly surreal feel to the whole thing.
Johnman has a gift for producing intrigue and drama in his work, and here we have a girl in a wheat field under a deep blue sky with a dove of peace. The colours suggest that this is a representation of the Ukranian flag and that it is a piece depicting the war with the Dictator Putin’s Russia. A stunning, mysterious and compassionate piece from this outstanding artist.
4594. Upfest 2022 (34)
I guess it is a host’s prerogative, in this case Upfest, to be able to include lots of local artists to join in the fun of the festival, and it felt like, this year more than any other, that Bristol-based artists made up a significant proportion of all the artists in attendance. This is a brilliant thing, because it introduces all the visitors to the festival to the vast pool of talent we have in the city.
Any regular reader of Natural Adventures will be no stranger to the work of Zake, and here we see him at work painting the body of one of his characteristic cartoon-style faces. I like work in progress (WIP) photographs, because they give you a real sense of how the finished article was created, and how the finishing touches can transform a piece.
As always, it is the mastery of light and shade that makes Zake’s work so special, and he has managed to apply these principles not only to the character’s face but also to his clothes. A fine festival piece from Zake.
4593. Upfest 2022 (33)
I think I was being rather thick when I looked at this piece, and it took me quite a while to unpick what was going on. It is funny how you can look at something but not really see it, which is something I pride myself on being able to do ordinarily, but in this instance I failed.
The clever piece is by Used Pencil and is of course a portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth, although not an entirely flattering one. Upfest was held this year just before the extended bank holiday during which the nation celebrated the Queen’s platinum jubilee – I didn’t celebrate, because I was in Porto with my daughter.
This portrait is a bit like a fully painted doodle and it is very nicely executed too. Used Pencil is another artist I have never come across before and his Upfest biography reads:
I am Used Pencil, the ‘Secret Walls’ winning, mural making, illicit illustrator with walls covered and exhibitions curated in HK, Lisbon, LDN, Manchester and Iceland, to name just a few. Always starting with a pencil and paper, I like to make marks on all surfaces using fine line creative wizardry.
Nice contemporary work.
4592. Upfest 2022 (32)
I think it is fair to say that some of the Upfest pieces are much more memorable than others. Some you really want to photograph and some others you forget that you even saw them until you review your pictures. This is definitely one of those memorable ones.
The bright piece is by Mister Samo, who I have not encountered before but who has a really interesting biography in the Upfest programme as follows:
Samo is a Portsmouth based trans artist, public speaker, and activist who focuses on intersectional gender identity and community. Highlights include painting at World Pride 2019, producing I EXIST (a trans bodies art book), founding an LGBTQ+ safe space scheme, and having his works collected by people across the world.
There is something very appealing about the piece and without doubt it demands to be looked at. The stylised yellow figure set on the blue and pink background stands out a mile, but as well as the bold colours, the finer details are what make the piece rather special, such as the hand and the beautifully drafted flowers. A very nice piece from Mister Samo.
4591. Upfest 2022 (31)
This was the first completed piece from Upfest 2022 that I saw this year and was the piece that alerted me to the fact that many artists were already out and about in Bedminster painting static walls as a precursor to the main event in Greville Smyth Park at the end of May.
The large mural is by Squirl, who has painted a few times in Bristol, mostly at Upfest, but also in collaboration with SPZero76 as part of the Gums and Tongue crew. This is a beautifully designed landscape scene in a highly stylised and colourful form. A stunner, and as fortune would have it, the roadworks in front of it made it easier to photograph as there are usually cars permanently parked in front of this wall. Great piece from Squirl.
4590. Peel Street Green (7)
An artist who is smashing it all over Bristol at the moment is Chill. It is not all that long ago that I was struggling to find anything by him in my archive, but now, I have more than enough of his pieces to post a gallery of his work… watch this space.
Chill specialises in his unique brand of black and white cartoon characters, that appear to have much more in common with old-school British comics characters than with American tv cartoon characters or comic book style characters. This particular piece is rather more stylised than some of his other works and reminds me a little of Panskaribas, who, alas left Bristol before the pandemic. This is yet another fine example of what Chill does so well.
