One of the most endearing characters to appear in Bristol in recent months, in my opinion, is Mr Underbite. This simply conceived character is overflowing with charm and intrigue, and the artist, MrUnderbite is making this area his home, with at least four recent pieces in the vicinity.
Mr Underbite, Brunel Way, Bristol, April 2022
This small piece on one of the footbridge pillars has been painted with sprays and the black lines drawn with a Posca pen or similar. The overall outcome is clean and tidy, with the two shades of brown working really well to frame Mr Underbite’s face. The crosses for eyes are similar to those used by Asre on one of his characters – a common cartoon style technique. I love this little piece.
This epic collaboration between Conrico, Acer and Zake, an unlikely trio of collaborators, appeared on the Greenbank hoardings about two weeks ago and is truly eye catching in its boldness and presence.
Conrico and Acer, Greenbank, Bristol, April 2022
I know that pairings of these three artists have happened in the past, but I don’t think I can recall that the three have collaborated together before. Starting at the left hand side, Conrico has provided a landscape backdrop, that actually runs to either side of the whole collaboration. Conrico definitely seems to enjoy painting these landscapes, and they have that paintbrush appearance that he achieves, I think by using banana caps. The mountain range and greenery is in stark contrast to the outstanding ACER writing in the prism colouring and superb letter design that Acer is painting with at the moment.
Acer, Greenbank, Bristol, April 2022
It has been fun observing Acer, whose central theme is geometric design, change his ‘look’ several times over the years. This latest rainbow lettering is such a strong statement, and demands to be looked at and enjoyed.
Zake and Conrico, Greenbank, Bristol, April 2022
To the right hand side of the collaboration is the painting of Zake and Conrico, with the latter rounding off his mountainous landscape which incorporates a rather cheesy full moon in a blue sky scape.
Zake, Greenbank, Bristol, April 2022
The Zake portrait is as good as any I have seen from him, and is a reminder of just how far the artist has come over the last two or three years, especially if you look back at his column pieces at the M32 Spot. The features and shadows are outstanding in this face, and there is a movement from Zake’s figurative style towards a more realistic style… watch this space to see what direction his work goes in. What an eclectic and amazing collaboration from these three artists.
Doors 181 – another instalment of street art doors
When I am super-busy, I tend to share doors that I have posted previously on Natural Adventures, under the street art category, and today’s post is one of those. You might have to look quite hard to find the doors in some of these images, but they are there. It is nice to repurpose these pictures and give them a second life. These doors were originally posted in August and September last year:
The Hass and Paul Monsters, Ashton Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
Sophie Long, North Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
Laic217, M32 cycle path, Bristol, August 2021
Jay Sharples, North Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
Irony, Alexandra Parade, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021
Roo, East Street, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
Silent Hobo, Ruby Street, Bristol, September 2021, Upfest 21
Curtis Hylton, Chessel Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
So, that’s it for another week. I hope to resume with some doors of Bristol I recently photographed next week.
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 do love my walks to the L Dub spot and although it only happens occasionally, both my dog and I love the remoteness of this curious brownfield site, brimming with wildlife, that runs alongside the M5 motorway. These occasional visits are always worthwhile because at the end of the walk is a water treatment pumping station and a pedestrian underpass with plenty of wall space for graffiti/street artists to play with. On my last trip a week or so ago, it would appear that some members of the LRS crew had been having fun.
3F fino, L Dub, Bristol, April 2022
This piece is by 3F fino and creates a scene from Fineas and Ferb, a cartoon TV series that my children used to love, and which features Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirt, the villain of the piece. The bubble fill for the lettering is absolutely outstanding and has a sense of evil chemistry about it, and the character has been faithfully recreated. All in all a fabulous piece from 3F fino, one of his best in my opinion, and worth the long walk alone.
Truly, good things come to those who wait, and what a long wait it has been to see a public piece by Pelmo, but this is one of three very recent pieces that I know about and it is great to see he is out and about painting again.
Pelmo, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2022
This small piece in Dean Lane skate park features one of his oversized characters flipping a little skateboard. What a joy to find this. I have long been a fan of Pelmo’s unusual work, that tells stories about people of extraordinary proportions doing ordinary things. There is something most endearing and compassionate in the way Pelmo portrays his characters with love and affection. Watch this space for more.
Mote certainly finds some secluded spots to practice his art and this one is tucked away in Cumberland Basin, which I only found because I decided to extend my usual circuit of the area a little. I’m not too sure how long this piece has been here, but it looks reasonably fresh.
Mote, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2022
The monsters that Mote creates are nicely thought out and designed, and his crisp, sharp lines and solid fills give away the identity of the artist in his unsigned pieces. Another common theme in Mote’s work is the use of strong colours, especially green, yellow and red all featuring in this piece. His monsters are all rather loveable and have added to the wonderful free art gallery that is available to all on the streets of Bristol.
So far on Natural Adventures, we have seen a few pieces from this artist under the name Asre, but they were all the same character, this is another one from his portfolio, a rather cheeky comic strip kind of character. The artist’s Instagram handle is @runaway_joey, and somehow this character seems to fit that moniker rather well – he looks like a Joey.
Asre, River Avon, Bristol, April 2022
There are several of these around Bristol, but this one on the River Avon wall has lasted really well. Full of character and very nicely sprayed with some nice thick clean lines – Asre is no one trick pony, that’s for sure.
After a very quiet lockdown period, there seems to have been no stopping Biers, who now writes WD40, from decorating walls all over the city. This piece from a couple of weeks back is on one of the best known walls in Bristol, and a particular favourite of mine – I have even done a special gallery of it, that needs updating.
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2022
In this lively piece, Biers takes something of a self-deprecatory look and critique of his own work that is not entirely complimentary. I would beg to differ with his analysis, as I think it is a rather tidy piece with loads of activity and movement, and the character with the speech bubble is nicely done too. Don’t be so hard on yourself Biers.
Along the River Avon cycle and footpath is this wonderfully dreamy piece by Mest. The blue colours match perfectly, and the letter shapes and fill designwork really well to create one of his best pieces yet (in my opinion) although there are a couple of other recent contenders for that particular crown.
Mest, River Avon, Bristol, April 2022
This spot is a strange one and you can never be sure what you are going to find. There are usually one or two gems, like this one, and so it is pretty much always worth the trip. The blue colours might be inspired by the adjacent river, but on reflection, it would need to be in brown colours and not blue. A really lovely piece from this Bristol writer.
