Category: 5. Street Art

2579. Gloucester Road, CoLAB

I was on a mission to buy a couple of birthday presents a week or two back, and was running out of options (and time) so I took a stroll up Gloucester Road to see what I could find, as my usual ‘sure thing’ the Guild on Park Street had somewhat let me down. One of the shops I visited a couple of times was CoLAB, a shop that sells art from local artists. This particular shop also has strong links with the street art scene and stocks a range of books published by Tangent on the subject.

On my second trip into the shop, which sealed the deal on a rather nice print of the Carriageworks (with the Iconic Sweet Toof and Rawdy crocodile), I noticed this little alcove that looked a little bit like an ex-changing room (not an exchanging room, that might be something completely diffierent). Hurrah, the unmistakable work of Andy Council.

Andy Council, Gloucester Road CoLAB, Bristol, February
Andy Council, Gloucester Road CoLAB, Bristol, February

I don’t usually post indoor art in Natural Adventures, but just occassionally…

I suspect, looking at the wear and tear on this piece it might have been done some time ago. In true Andy Council style it features a bunch of dinosaurs that are constructed out of small houses and includes the Clifton Suspension Bridge, just for good measure. His work is inextricably linked with his home city and his identity can be found all over the place. A great find in a great shop that I will visit more frequently I’m sure.

2578. St Werburghs tunnel (144)

This is a really nice piece by an artist I call Corupt (because that is what he most commonly writes, although he also writes Stik) unusually he has written BS3 in this piece which is a postcode reference to the Southville and Bedminster area of Bristol (south of the river). It is unusual for an artist to paint a postcode outside the area of that postcode.

Corupt, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2020
Corupt, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2020

The piece is beautifully painted, with a fine spotty fill and nice 3D shading on the letters. My guess is that Corupt may have been a bit pissed off that his background was about six inches shy on the right hand side, it would certainly annoy me. It matters little to the overall quality of the piece.

2577. Marsh Lane

It is a funny thing, but I have always been quite nonchalant about Banksy. I love his art, I love it that he comes from Bristol but I tend to stand up for all the other artists whose work is extraordinary and who are not Banksy. However, even I got caught up in the frenzy of excitement that surrounded his visit to Bristol last Wednesday night/Thursday morning.

Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020
Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020

It is not often the artist comes back to his home city, so it always feels rather special when he does. The other thing about his work is that you have to get there quick to see it, because there are some crazy people who try to vandalise his stuff, particularly in Bristol – who knows why. And guess what, since I wrote the last sentence two days ago, an idiot has indeed vandalised the piece with some rather nasty message over the stencil girl.

Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020
Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020

These pictures are a little bit low-res, I have obviously kept the high res versions in my archive, to avoid copyright theft – something I rarely do. So sorry about the quality. The piece itself features a girl in a hoodie firing a catapult of beautiful red flowers. Is this a love message to Bristol?

Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020
Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020

The location of the piece is significant, because it is just around the corner that Banksy learned to spray paint under the watchful eye of John Nation, a youth club worker at Barton Hill youth club. John is the godfather of Bristol street art, and what he doesn’t know isn’t worth knowing about.

Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020
Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020

There was a constant stream of people gathering at the wall when I made it down there on Friday, and it was great to witness their sense of awe that something special had happened here and that they were able to share in it. I couldn’t resist photographing this gentleman with his motorbike, he said the selfie was for his motor club which I thought was very sweet.

Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020
Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020

You can get a sense of the flow of people from the final picture. The nice fellow in the yellow check shirt had come over from Swansea just to see this wall. I bet they are all glad that they did when they did knowing that it has now been vandalised.

A special day for a hunter and a special day for Bristol.

2756. M32 Spot (58)

This is not an easy place to photograph. The spot is sandwiched between two busy slip roads underneath the M32, and just for added difficulty, access is over fences and the River Frome runs through the middle. I haven’t yet ventured into the spot and these photographs are taken through a bit of railing some distance away.

Smak, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2020
Smak, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2020

There is little I can say about Smak’s work that I haven’t said dozens of times before, but even in this tricky spot where only a few will ever get to see the piece his work is 100 per cent on point. There is a consistent font style to his letters and his shadinngs are utterly awesome. One huge advantage about this spot is that tagging tends to be pretty much absent.

2755. St Werburghs tunnel (143)

Yay, let’s hear it for the boys whose recent collaboration in the tunnel is full of happiness, music and soul. Last year, Face 1st and Soap went through a period of not collaborating for whatever reason, but they seem unstoppable just now with several walls that this pair have painted already this year.

Face 1st and Soap, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2020
Face 1st and Soap, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2020

On the left of the piece is a nice piece of writing from Face 1st with a beautifully worked horizontal gradation through his lettering and a decent 3D effect using a vanishing point underneath. On the right is a cheerful mariachi singer surrounding the whole collaboration with happy notes from his guitar. I’m not too sure if Soap has ever actually played a guitar, but the left hand is gripping the neck in a rather awkward upside-down position. Overall a wonderful and joyful piece.

2754. Princes’ Place

I have waited a very, very long time to get a clean shot of this old piece by 3Dom. Not too far from where I live, this piece was painted several years ago to brighten up the single car parking space outside Bishopston Tiles on the Gloucester Road. It seems that ever since, either cars have been parked there or storage paletts stacked up against the wall or it has been dark.

3Dom, Princes' Place, Bristol, February 2020
3Dom, Princes’ Place, Bristol, February 2020

Finally I had my breakthrough last weekend and got a clean shot of it. The character piece is in a classical surreal cartoon style adopted by this artist with a human body and a face made from a spherical roof, complete with chimney. A customer parking sign never had such class. In a nice touch, 3Dom has painted a whole bunch of tiles on the wall to tie-in with the shop. No 3Dom collection is complete without this fabulous piece.

2753. M32 roundabout J3 (197)

I think that we are spoiled in Bristol. We have a graffiti/street art culture that is mirrored only in a few other cities in the world. Playing host to Europe’s largest street art festival (Upfest) and being the birthplace of Banksy gives Bristol a special place in the street art scene. But for me, it is the every day artists who hit the walls in spots dotted all over the place knowing that their work may be tagged or painted over within hours that are the beating heart of Bristol’s street art culture, and one of those artists is Rezwonk.

Rezwonk, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2020
Rezwonk, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2020

This is a lovely piece of writing by Rezwonk that was painted a little while ago, but it is only recently that I have been able to photograph it without tree shadows all over it. Painted with his mate Decay (to the left and previously posted), there is a sense of movement fun and joy in this teriffic piece of graffiti writing.

2752. Richmond Road (5)

I truly believe that DNT is one of the unsung heroes of the Bristol street art scene. He is  creative, edgy and prolific, with a style all of his own and a kind of artistic  determination that is uncomprimising. I think that for some, his artwork is hard to like because it is unfamiliar and unusual, but scratch under the surface and there is so much to like.

DNT, Richmond Road, Bristol, February 2020
DNT, Richmond Road, Bristol, February 2020

This piece would appear to be a commission for a friend or ‘patron’ and can be found at the bottom of Richmond Road. The rather organic letters, spelling out DNT, bear a similarity to some of Object…’s work in that there is a weirdness and fragility to them. Painted in 2019, I have only recently come across this piece.

2751. M32 cycle path (51)

Aah! the familiar large letters with deep 3D shading of Bristol’s mighty Soker. It doesn’t seem to matter what design, shapes or colours Soker uses, his supreme qulaity always shines through. I cant’t fully identify what it is that makes a piece stand out from the crowd, but it might have something to do with the assured skill and confidence that the artist embeds into the work at the time of spraying.

Soker, M32 cycle path, Bristol, February 2020
Soker, M32 cycle path, Bristol, February 2020

I aven’t seen too much from Soker over the winter months – perhaps he is more of a fair-weather artist or maybe he has been busy with other projects, either way, it is always a pleasure to see anything by him.

2750. Leonard Lane (24)

Do you know what? I think this piece is in Leonard Lane, or at least I think I thought it was, but now I am not so sure. No matter, it is somewhere in Bristol. It is of course by the very original #DFTE whose philosophical musings are scattered around the city.

#DFTE, Leonard Lane, Bristol, Jnuary 2020
#DFTE, Leonard Lane, Bristol, Jnuary 2020

In this wheatpaste, #DFTE seems to have abandones his framed picture approach in favour of a slightly less labour intensive regular paste up. So here he says:

Never underestimate the healing power of listening to your favourite music on full blast while jumping around the house like an idiot.

This is a sentiment I can absolutely identify with as my rather ashamed kids might testify. Nice paste up and nice words frrom #DFTE.