I do like Face F1st’s work, a lot, he is so typically ‘Bristol’. It is difficult to explain what I mean by that, but I know what I mean, so that is ok. This is just a small piece in Moon Street, but it is wonderfully expressive.
There is not too much more to say about this little gem other than to take a look and enjoy it.
There are a great many graffiti artists in Bristol that I don’t feature in the pages of this blog. Some are not up to scratch, some are extremely elusive and some have a bit of an attitude. However, as their work develops over time, it becomes impossible to not start to write about them. Soak is one such case.
I have been aware of Soak’s work for a while and have several of his walls in my archive, but this is one that stands out for me as moving up a level. The fill and patterns are sophisticated and a lot of thought has gone into its production. Soak often inverts his ‘A’ but has used other tricks to reverse or invert letters. There is a Soak graffiti artist from Oxford who was jailed for Tagging and drug dealing, but I am not sure if this is the same one. The styles look a little different, so I am guessing this one is not the same. Soak is a member of the DBK crew.
Observant citizens of Bristol might have noticed this little character making a few appearances about the place recently. This little toucan, in the middle of The Bearpit, is by relative newcomer (I think) Touc (Sven Stears).
I always like to see new street artists joining the throng and it is particularly nice to see something rather different. On his Instagram profile, Touc descrbes himself as a performance poet, artist, actor, B-movie hero and probably a lizardman. Im not sure about the last bit, but I look forward to seeing more from Touc in all his guises in the near future.
I love, love, love this one from NEVERGIVEUP in Moon Street. Regulars will know that I am very fond of his bunnies, but it is as much to do with the location and environment as it is to do with the artwork that attracts me to this piece.
The door in the wall leads to a derelict old building and gets sprayed regularly, but there is something about this rabbit that just seems to be utterly representative of how a little bit of art can bring a ray of sunshine to a grotty area. It stands out even more because of the way it contrasts with the wall and graffiti either side of it. All good.
Right next door to the huge Alex Lucas mural in Stokes Croft is this interesting recent shutter piece by Object… . This is a commission piece from TLD cycles and helps us to understand the boundaries between commissions and free street art.
Object… is no stranger to this blog, and much of his work is highly political and outspoken. He is also an artist who needs to make money, just like the rest of us, and producing work like this is how he does it. What I really like about this piece is that is is a really nice rendition of a bicycle gear block which carries the strong signature stule of the artist. The shop could easily have commissioned some sterile corporate artwork, but instead chose a local artist. The shopfront as a result really fits in with the area.
Ugar is a promising young artist, originally from Budapest but now living in Bristol, whose unique style of writing is getting better and better. It is the organic nature of his letters and the kind of marbelling effect he uses to fill them that stands out in his work.
This piece , which is really rather beautiful, is on the curved wall at Dean Lane and has been well prepped and uses the wall to its full potential – not all work here is afforded the same thoughtful approach. I am enjoying watching Ugar develop.
Well this rather ‘charming’ installation appeared only a couple of weeks ago in The Bearpit, on the inner wall of the ‘Debenhams’ tunnel. It is of course by Will Coles, whose work often has the capacity to lampoon and also to offend. I don’t think there will be too many people offended by this particular piece.
President Trumpety Dumpety throwing up the Stars and Stripes laced with warheads pretty much says all it needs to really. Another provocative piece by this interesting artist. Sadly, I visited The Bearpit a few days ago, and somebody had removed the piece in its entirety. May I recommedn stronger glue? Great stuff from Will Coles.
This is a really terrible picture of a quickie from Decay on the left and trademark ‘SEISMIC’ from Jee See on the right. It is always geat to see work from both of these two artists, whose work is stylistically quite different. I am really enjoying these small character type pieced from Decay at the moment.
This board in The Bearpit has since been prepped and replaced with new work sprayed during a paint jam on 14 April 2018 – more on this to follow.
Moon Street remains one of my favourite street art/graffiti hunting grounds, because it still has that ‘illegal’ wall feel about it. I find the ‘legal wall’ concept a difficult one to get my head round. This is a nice straight forward piece by Smak, certainly nothing fancy like he is capable of, but nonetheless it is clean and tidy.
When I spoke with him a little while back he told me that he likes to find different walls in new places. I’m not sure this qualifies in that category, but I am pleased he still chooses to return to walls he has sprayed before.
You can’t turn your back for one minute in Stokes Croft. If you do, you run the risk of missing out on a clean piece of artwork. This wonderful surreal piece by Tom Miller had only been up a day or two before being tagged over. I find it strange that the perpetraters respected the work enough to tag the black surround, but left the central part largely untouched. Either respect the piece or don’t, but this faux politeness is a joke.
Once again Tom Miller challenges our conventional world with a burst of colour and a figure whose head appears to be exploding off its body. I think that Miller has an unbelievable talent and extraordinary imagination. Best of all, I like it that he uses the streets as a gallery so that Bristol citizens have free access to his talents.
Although his subject matter might not be to everyone’s taste, it is clear that we are witnessing the emergence and development of a very special talent.
Natural adventures 