Category: 5. Street Art

2492. Dean Lane skate park (253)

Slim pickings has been very busy during the late summer and early Autumn, and it seems that there is barely a week that goes by without a new TES at Dean Lane. This clean and tidy one in grey shades is really rather smart looking, and the curved line between the E and the S is there, a point of discussion on my last post on Slim Pickings’ work.

Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019

I used to think that his pieces were all identical, but that is not the case, and he is constantly evolving the form of TES, perfecting it and then making subtle adjustments. Always good to see these beauties.

 

 

2491. M32 roundabout J3 (171)

I didn’t think we’d be seeing work from Morny in Bristol again for a while, but clearly he likes to visit and likes this wall at the M32. This is all good news because he has painted another of his larger than life vehicles in his naive art style.

Morny, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2019
Morny, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2019

This time Morny brings us a Porsche 917k in bright colours and fancy headlights. Now I don’t know much about cars, but for petrol heads there is a whole load of stuff on Wikipedia about the Porsche 917k. I’ll content myself with Morny’s version.

2490. M32 roundabout J3 (170)

Hurrah… another piece from Lobe, an artist whose work is instantly recognisable and really stands out from the crowd. It is the boldness and simplicity of her pieces that really appeal to me, but take a little look a bit closer and you can see the thought that has gone into the shading and lines that make her style so distinctive.

Lobe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2019
Lobe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2019

Finding her work is still  hugely rewarding as they are relatively rare, but I am sure that over the coming weeks and months we will be seeing plenty more from this emerging talent. Hit me with those big colours!

2489. Little Paradise (4)

Well I’ve heard that Nevergiveup is leaving town, I’m not sure where he is going or whether he’ll be back, but you can walk anywhere in Bristol and it won’t take long to find a little reminder that he was here. His rabbits have become a bit of a thing over the last eighteen months or so and I still have a great many to find.

Nevergiveup, Little Paradise, Bristol, September
Nevergiveup, Little Paradise, Bristol, September

This purple fellow is in little paradise (possibly one of the least apt names for a place), propping up a long wall that has some interesting stuff at the other end of it. I have many more rabbits in my archive, but I like to intersperse them with other pieces – I have to be fair to all artists in the city. So although the artist may be leaving, his legacy will be appearing on the pages of Natural Adventures for some time to come. Farewell Nevergiveup Familia.

2488. Upper York Street (16)

An artist who just never seems to stop, and the number of posts on Natural Adventures featuring his work would evidence that, is Face 1st. In recent weeks he seems to have reverted to his charming portraits and hair spelling out FACE after experimenting with full body characters, always female, during the summer. I like it that he is stretching his ‘portfolio’ and that he remembers where he has come from too.

Face 1st, Upper York Street, Bristol, September 2019
Face 1st, Upper York Street, Bristol, September 2019

This one on Upper York Street, adjacent to Hazard’s wonderful frog, is full of soft subtle tones that contrast with the brighht pink background. I’ve rarely come across a piece by this artist that I haven’t liked.

2487. Merrywood Road (1)

Yay! more wheatpaste antics from Kid Crayon, following a quick binge with Jimmer Willmott pasting up sketches around Bedminster. I really appreciate wheatpaste art and in my book its status is as high as spray can art. One of the big advantages for wheatpasters is that they can place their art in all sorts of places where spraying simply isn’t an option because in a matter of minutes the dirty deed is done and there is little chance of being caught. Because of this most wheatpaste art can be placed in illegal spots – having said that, the long-term impacts are far less damaging than spray paint… a bit of tired old paper here and there, that’s all.

Kid Crayon, Merrywood Road, Bristol, September 2019
Kid Crayon, Merrywood Road, Bristol, September 2019

A funny character wearing a silly party hat and a crayon floating in front of his mouth. What could be more fun than that? The crayon thing is part of Kid Crayon’s USP, and used to be the key identifier or signature on his early work, it is not seen so often these days. So pleased that he has had this little retrospective binge.

Kid Crayon, March Street, Bristol, December 2015
Kid Crayon, March Street, Bristol, December 2015

2486. Brunel Way Bridge (22)

Some more high-quality writing, this time from Turoe One down at the riverside path under Brunel Way. I think I have written before that I know little about Turoe One, in so much as he has not been on my radar too much in the past until quite recently. This is a strange state of affairs as he is absolutely one of the long established Bristol graffiti writers and commands three pages in Felix Braun’s seminal work ‘Children of the Can’. Maybe he hasn’t been too active since I started getting interested over ther last five years or so, but he certainly seems to be quite busy now.

Turoe One, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2019
Turoe One, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2019

Spelling TURO (he seems to spell it several different ways), this piece is crisp and clean and the red and green contrast brilliantly. I have always been quite fond of the apple green and red combination and think I might try it out next time I spray my board in the garden. I’m very much enjoying the work of this Bristol master.

2485. Dean Lane skate park (252)

Tight is probably the best word to use when describing the work of Dibz. Always meticulously thought out, clean lines, perfect 3D shading, crisp fills and more often than not, fabulous colour choices. Dibz really pays attention to his pieces and each one is carefully constructed to produce a complete and stylish work.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019

This one in Dean Lane is simply another example of just how accomplished the artist is, and what he lacks in quantity, he more than makes up for in quality. There is beauty in this, and I challenge even the most ardent critics of graffiti writing not to concede that this is a high quality piece. Nice one.

2484. Cheltenham 2019 (8)

We all love a little sunshine, or at least when it is the right kind of sunshine. In this set of photographs we have the wrong kind of sunshine, the kind that casts shadows in tunnels, the kind that people like me don’t like very much, especially when you don’t get regular opportunities to visit particular places.

Inkie, Paint festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Inkie, Paint festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

This is one of two pieces that Inkie painted for the Cheltenham Paint Festival, the other larger one being a little bit further out of town and rather more celebrated. Inkie has painted a truly Inkie piece here with his characteristic writing supported by one of his iconic profile portraits and lots of swirling hair. The letters spelling out ChelSpa, a confated version of Cheltenham Spa (for which he would have needed a much longer wall).

Inkie, Paint festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Inkie, Paint festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

It always great to see Inkie pieces especially when on travels outside his native Bristol/London bases, and Cheltenham certainly has some to be proud of, if you include his contributions to the 2018 Paint Festival.

2483. Cheltenham 2019 (7)

It seems pretty timely to be posting this stencil by John D’oh at this year’s Cheltenham Paint Festival, because it is impossible to keep Boris out of the headlines. I realise that views on this blustering champion of capitalism are mixed, and that he is immensely popular with little Britain Tories, I however remain firmly in the other corner, and as it would seem so does John D’oh.

John D'oh, Paint festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
John D’oh, Paint festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

This single layer stencil takes a pop at Boris Johnson making the case that there is no excuse for stupidity with the words:

Ignorance can be educated, crazy can be medicated, but there is no cure for stupidity.

I am pretty certain that Boris’ prime ministership will very shortly be coming to an end, but I think we can be fairly sure he’ll be making headlines for some time to come. This can only be good news for the fertile creative mind of John D’oh and the rest of us who enjoy his slightly subversive work.