Category: 5. Street Art

209. Mina Road (1)

It has been a little while since I posted anything about Silent Hobo. This is a shopfront commission in the wonderful St Werburghs area of Bristol, slightly north east of St Pauls.

Silent Hobo, Mina Road, Bristol, March 2016
Silent Hobo, Mina Road, Bristol, March 2016

Silent Hobo’s work often depicts a ‘happening vibe’ going on among the subjects in his pictures. Here he has captured the aspects of fun and leisure that cycling offers, and I’m sure it says more about it than some stock corporate photographs of people cycling.

Silent Hobo, Mina Road, Bristol, March 2016
Silent Hobo, Mina Road, Bristol, March 2016

I have never been to the Sportsman Bicycle Shop before as I have several closer to where I live and work. Maybe next time I am ‘snapping’ in the area I’ll pop in. I love the fun the couple are having on their bike, and the detail he includes of a little hedgehog…these days a rare sight.

Silent Hobo, Mina Road, Bristol, March 2016
Silent Hobo, Mina Road, Bristol, March 2016

All in all a really nice commission and one that showcases the best Silent Hobo has to offer.

208. North Street (A38)

In the grubbiest little bit of street on the northern approach to St. James Barton Roundabout and The Bearpit from Stokes Croft, is a building that spans across the main road called 51º02. It is not the most beautiful of buildings. On a side wall is this incredibly well concealed Gregos face.

Gregos, North Street (A38), Bristol, April 2016
Gregos, North Street (A38), Bristol, April 2016

Gregos needs no introduction, but for those new to his work, I point you in the direction of a previous post about a mask he did in the other North Street in Bedminster. This face really has to be hunted down, most people pass by it completely oblivious…this is the joy and mischief of street art.

Gregos, North Street (A38), Bristol, April 2016
Gregos, North Street (A38), Bristol, April 2016

The forlorn face complements well the large metal disk it has been attached to, and indeed the general demeanour of this tatty stretch of road. Another great work from the Frenchman.

207. Stokes Croft, Shambarber

This is just brilliant. A pasteup of Jodie Foster from the 1976 film Taxi Driver up against a hoarding in Stokes Croft. There is something about the subject, the location and the shades that make this…well, as I said before, just brilliant.

Tian, Jodie Foster, Stokes Croft, Bristol April 2016
Tian, Jodie Foster, Stokes Croft, Bristol April 2016

I think Tian’s work taps into our formative years and triggers these iconic memories (‘yes, I remember that’ moments) and presents them as if they are faded by time. It really works for me.

Tian, Jodie Foster, Stokes Croft, Bristol April 2016
Tian, Jodie Foster, Stokes Croft, Bristol April 2016

Better still, Tian has left a trail of wheatpastes all over Stokes Croft and I look forward to sharing them with you, over the coming days.

206. Stokes Croft, Canteen (2)

No self-respecting Bristol street art blogger can ignore what is probably regarded as the most Bristol Banksy of them all. The Mild Mild West still sits proudly on the wall outside the Canteen, and opposite Cosmo Sarson’s Breakdancing Jesus, in spite of attempts to vandalise it (layered irony there).

Banksy, Stokes Croft, Bristol, July 2015
Banksy, Stokes Croft, Bristol, July 2015

This iconic Banksy (and which ones aren’t) tells so many Bristol stories, which are really nicely captured in this 2008 article from the The Telegraph. I see this wall pretty much every day and it is special, really special. The area in which it stands is an area which has played host to several riots, the most recent of which was the ‘boycott Tesco’ riot.

Banksy, Stokes Croft, Bristol, August 2015
Banksy, Stokes Croft, Bristol, August 2015

So established is this piece, that it makes it into the ‘Visit Bristol’ website as a must see attraction. How things have changed from the days of rounding up and arresting Bristol street artists.

This work simply has to be one of my all time favourite pieces in my adopted city.

205. The Bearpit (14)

In the South East tunnel of the Bearpit you may this wonderful and very typical work by Angus (although nothing lasts very long there). It is a fun piece featuring Meg Griffin from the Family Guy, a TV cartoon I don’t watch so can’t explain any more about the work. Over the last few years Angus has burst onto the Bristol graffiti scene, and being a local street artist, he has had many great influences all around him.

Angus, The Bearpit, Bristol, April 2016
Angus, The Bearpit, Bristol, April 2016

If you want to know more about Angus, there is a lovely interview with him on the Best of Bristol website, which I thoroughly recommend reading. I rather hope to bump into him at some time, because he seems like a really decent bloke. I like the familiarity and crispness of his work.

Angus is also a member of The Secret Society of Super Villain Artists (SSOSVA) – you will see more artists from this group in future posts.

204. Cheltenham Road, Metropolis hoardings

These hoardings rarely have decent works sprayed on them because they get painted off almost immediately…it may be that the owners of the site don’t want the hoardings to become a practice wall. The result is that the hoardings are heavily tagged instead. In among the useless tagging, there was this gem however – an anonymous tribute to DJ Derek. As is is a stencil, I would expect to see it popping up around the place. Simple and touching.

Anonymous stencil, DJ Derek, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, April 2016
Anonymous stencil, DJ Derek, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, April 2016

DJ Derek’s funeral took place last week, and there has been no more news about the circumstances of his death. I do not believe they were in any way suspicious.

203. Brunswick Square hut

Brunswick Square is a reasonably recent discovery for me, which is why it has taken me so long to find this work by Dan. I posted another of his works in Hillgrove Street back in October 2015, but I really struggle to find out much about him at all. I know the piece was sprayed in 2009.

Dan, Brunswick Square, Bristol, March 2016
Dan, Brunswick Square, Bristol, March 2016

I have lifted he backstory quote from Dan to this wonderful work from the Wooster Collective website and it is as follows:

“After the opening of a new multi-million pounds mall in the city centre of Bristol. All the areas around have been proclaimed “no street drinking zone” giving the homeless people and the local street drinkers no choices but to leave the area. As a result of this, the number of street drinkers is considerably increased in deprived areas where the drinking ban is not so strictly enforced.”

Special Brew, the drink pictured,  is a strong lager favoured by heavy drinkers.

202. Greville Road (2)

This is a contemporary political stencil that I came across recently during a stroll down North Street. It is a controversial piece from an artist who is known for using iconic figures in his works – usually celebrities. In this instance he has conflated two ‘hate figures’…Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump, in a very interesting way. Edgy stuff, which makes it all the more attractive to me.

Pegasus, Greville Road, Bristol, April 2016
Pegasus, Greville Road, Bristol, April 2016

Pegasus is originally from Chicago, but now lives and works out of North London. He has a fairly substantial Wikipedia page, and a good website containing more about him and his works.

Pegasus, Greville Road, Bristol, April 2016
Pegasus, Greville Road, Bristol, April 2016

This is one of many political pieces in Bristol that are emerging as we enter into election periods in the midst of austerity. I expect more.

201. Stokes Croft various, Bristol

I am going to break with tradition for my 201st street art post, and talk about an unknown tagger. I have been seeing a lot of this tag lately, and my first instinct is to rather enjoy it…certainly better than scrawling black initials over everything. This may be an attempt by a new artist to start marking their presence before graduating onto something more ambitious, I certainly hope so. Here are a few sites from the Stokes Croft area that started appearing in March 2016.

Unknown tag, Stokes Croft, Bristol, March/April 2016
Unknown tag, Stokes Croft, Bristol, March/April 2016

 

Unknown tag, Stokes Croft, Bristol, March/April 2016
Unknown tag, Stokes Croft, Bristol, March/April 2016

 

Maybe I’ll get to find out who it is and observe their progress.

200. M32 Roundabout, Junction 3 (8)

The final one of a quickfire burst of Deamze wildstyle works. This is yet another one on the M32 roundabout. Doing this reminds me that I really ought to get back down there to see what’s new.

Deamze, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2016
Deamze, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2016

This time we are treated to pinks and reds in this intricate work. Unfortunately it is very tricky to photograph, because it is in quite a narrow passage which makes it difficult to get the whole piece in frame. The sideways shot just about does it.

Deamze, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2016
Deamze, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2016

OK, I’ll leave Deamze alone for a while now and concentrate on some other works.