This is a wall on the M32 roundabout that I rarely look at properly as it is something of a practice wall and most of the stuff there isn’t up to much. Something about this piece made me do a double-take though and I decided to take a closer look.
Unknown artist, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2018
I’m not familiar with the artist, and can’t read the signature (Pegeau?), but I really like it. It is quite unconventional and has three abstract/cartoon faces on an interesting and well thought out background. I need to find out the who the artist is and see if I can find more of their work.
These three, Tasha Bee, Soap and Stupid Stupid Meathole, seem to be getting on famously at the moment. This is a fine collaboration in Dean Lane with all three painting typical trademark work.
Tasha Bee and Soap, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2018
On the left is a serene figure by Tasha Bee, whose work seems to go from strength to strength and gain in confidence. The hair on this one is breathtaking. In the middle and on the right of the work are faces by Soap looking rather cheerful.
Stupid Stupid Meathole and Soap, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2018
Sandwiched between the two Soap contributions are two rather weird looking faces by Stupid Stupid Meathole. On first inspection of these pink delights, I hadn’t noticed the teeth, but once I had spotted them, I couldn’t keep my eyes off them.
Stupid Stupid Meathole, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2018
All in all a thoroughly delightful and light-hearted December collaboration from three very busy artists.
When Kid Crayon and SPZero76 get together as ‘EAT’ crew, there is almost always a creative explosion that follows. This brilliant piece, which is a kind of quasi commission, they get paid in paint, is on a wall favoured by these two.
Kid Crayon and SPZero76, Millpond Street, Bristol, December 2018
The theme for the piece highlights plastic in our seas, something that thankfully is front of mind for so many of us at the moment. In Kid Crayon’s side of the piece, the king and queen of the sea look less than impressed with the amount of plastic in their domain, and the fish look pretty troubled too.
Kid Crayon and SPZero76, Millpond Street, Bristol, December 2018
Although the styles of these two artists are strikingly different, they seem to work well together. SPZero76 gives us a couple of characters, a robot and swimmer in highly protective gear venturing out into the polluted sea for a surf. What is really clever about this piece is that they have incorporated bits of their previous work on this wall, such as the yellow VW Beetle, by leaving them partially exposed, thus becoming part of the pollution in this piece. Really clever work.
Kid Crayon and SPZero76, Millpond Street, Bristol, December 2018
I always love a piece with a big story.
Update – I have since found out that the ‘special effect’ was not intentional but rather rain damage. The piece has been replaced already by the EAT crew.
Even when it seems like there is nothing much going on, mainly because of the damp weather, I find that I am rarely disappointed when I go to check a wall to see if there is anything new.
Silent Hobo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2018
My reward for nipping down to the M32 roundabout a week or so back was this magnificent, and rare, collaboration by Silent Hobo and Logoe. I met this pair painting together about a year ago, and they clearly enjoy each other’s company.
Silent Hobo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2018
Judging from the ‘Rad Dads’ slogan, I am guessing that this is a message about the status of the artists. I wonder if the depiction in the Silent Hobo half of this piece is a self-portrait (almost certainly) and whether he actually painted this piece with a child strapped to his chest.
Logoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2018
Logoe’s writing is distinctive, from the little I have seen, having a sort of joined-up hand writing look to it. Overall I love this collaboration and the sentiments of pride in, and love for their children. Great stuff for the Christmas holidays.
Smak is an artist who just keeps on giving. This is yet another perfect example of wildstyle writing at its best. Using the same colour palette chosen by Ments, he spells out SMAK in grey and embellished it with reds, pinks and blues.
Smak, Wilder Street, Bristol, December 2018
Smak, unlike Ments, always keeps his pieces perfectly proportioned and they are easy on the eye. He has also included a little mouse making a rather rude gesture to the right. The gesture is aimed at the central piece of this triptych by Sled One, which will make since when you see it in a couple of days.
It is really great to see Mr Klue back in The Bearpit. For a long time he hardly made an appearance on the streets, and then in the late summer, he started painting a lot, but mostly in the St Werburghs tunnel. Now at last he returns to a spot that he has used before, on the steps down into The Bearpit.
Mr Klue, The Bearpit, Bristol, December 2018
I never tire of his abstract pieces that are so unique to him. They have a wispish dream-like quality with elements disappearing into infinity wrapped up in oval vortices. Mr Klue drafts dozens of these abstract pieces using a humble biro, his preferred sketching instrument. I love this one.
Happy Christmas folks – a special one for you today…
I have known about this piece for a little while, but just not had the space to get all the way down to the far end of North Street to photograph it until a couple of weeks ago. It is by the extraordinarily talented Muckrock who visited Bristol back in September this year. She was given permission to paint this by Upfest who curate this spot. It had been the site of the Dr Love piece from Upfest which sadly had been badly tagged.
Muckrock, North Street, Bristol, December 2018
Since I have been aware of Muckrock through this piece and a spectacular one she painted at Dean Lane skatepark, I have followed her on Instagram. OMG she is good, and I think I might be a little bit in love with her talent. It is a pity she lives in America, but I guess it makes her trip to Bristol all the more special.
Muckrock, North Street, Bristol, December 2018
I absolutely love this GIRL POWER mouth which has so much attitude about it. There is much to admire in the artwork…the creases, shadows and shiny reflections on the lips and teeth. I would love her to come back to the city – maybe for Upfest 2019 (Please).
This is one of two Daz Cat pieces I found on a recent lunchtime walk to the Cumberland Basin. It was good to find this, as I haven’t seen one of his pieces for a little while. This particular spot does seem to be a favourite haunt for the artist.
Daz Cat, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2018
This cat is so full of expression, I like the little black line across the teeth which ‘suggests’ individual teeth without actually picking them out. A neat trick. The absence of one eye might lead the viewer to conclude that this cat is a bit of a bruiser. Nice work.
In spite of the Council’s determination to eradicate street art from The Bearpit, there seems to have been a recent resurgence in visits from artists. Nothing like the turnover of a couple of years ago, but any new pieces are welcome. This is a lovely new piece by Nightways featuring a monkey sporting spectacles and a turtle on his hat. An interesting study and something refreshingly different from much of what we are used to seeing in The Bearpit.
Nightways, The Bearpit, Bristol, December 2018
This piece though brings me to something of a dilemma I have. I posted a piece by the artist back in August this year – it was a rather nice green monkey piece at Dean Lane. Recently, the artist contacted me through Natural Adventures and thanked me for posting it, but asked me to take the image down because he didn’t like it and he didn’t want people to see it (on a digital platform I guess) as a first introduction to his work.
His exact words are:
Hi, I love that you have made this post about me but I just really don’t like this piece of art that I made. It came out abit of a flop. Can you please take this post down as I don’t want it to be the first thing people see of my work when they type my name into google. Many thanks, nightways
Now, Natural Adventures is a ‘warts and all’ kind of blog. It is also an archive of street art and graffiti in Bristol, some of it good and some of it not so good, but it is an honest record of what is out there. I take pictures of art that I find and write about it, simple as that.
I hold all of the artists in great respect and am in awe of their talent, but as I see it, once they have committed a piece to a wall it is out there to be judged, enjoyed, tagged, photographed, whatever. The question I ask is whether I should respect the polite request of Nightways to take down my post of his work or whether I should politely decline. There is a risk that I might piss him off or a risk that other artists start asking for their posts to be taken down. I’m not sure what to do. Any thoughts?
This ‘wonder wall’ in Wilder Street is curated by Where the Wall, a Bristol street art tour business and as such it is rarely if ever tagged. It is almost like a showcase wall which guarantees high-quality artwork. The only downside is that the turnover here is glacially slow, maybe every six months or so.
Ments, Wilder Street, Bristol, December 2018
This piece by Ments is one part of a three-piece collaborative wall which includes Sled One and Smak (to follow). Ments has appeared in Natural Adventures many times, but he seems recently to have had an epiphany and he is really branching out from his trademark ‘organic’ work. The writing spells out MENTS and is beautifully worked. The thing with Ments is that he often deviated from any kind of symmetry in his work and does not confine himself to exacting letter shapes or heights etc, which sometimes makes his work look a little out of proportion. I suspect this is deliberate. Lovely piece.
Natural adventures 