This summer has been so very busy for street art in Bristol and I am really struggling to keep up with it all. For every piece that I write about in these posts there are at least another seven or eight that never make it out of my archives, and all of this without the hunderds of pieces I would normally be writing about from Upfest at this time of year. All this means that I have an inevitable backlog.
L7M and Paul Monsters, South Street, Bristol, July 2019
This not-so-recent collaboration is yet another extraordinary piece to have been organised by Upfest for their Summer Editions event. Who’d have thought of bringing together L7M and Paul Monsters? But here they are working together with their hugely contrasting styles.
L7M and Paul Monsters, South Street, Bristol, July 2019
The centrepiece by L7M is a delicately, wispily painted finch (I’m not sure which species) full of movement and colour, a skilful mixture of fine detail and blurry ‘smoke’. His work is truly exceptional and we have been lucky in Bristol to see quite a bit of it in this area thanks to Upfest.
The geometric surround is the work of Paul Monsters and is typical of his 3D blockwork, but notably different from anything I have seen from him before in that it is black, white and grey, when I normally associate his work with oranges, greens, browns, yellows and mauves. The whole thing makes for a clever juxtaposition which challenges the norm. Great collaboration.
Last weekend I was lucky enough to visit a National Trust property in Cornwall, south of Bodmin Moor, called Lanhydrock House. Built out of hard wearing granite, the older parts of the house date back to the 1620s, but after a fire in 1881 that started in the kitchens, two of the three wings were in part destroyed and they were rebuilt and funished in the Victorial style. The remaining wing that survived the fire retains its original walls and ceilings.
The house has been owned and managed by the National Trust since 1953, before it was owned by the Robartes family which declined significantly during the first world war. The heir, Thomas Agar-Robartes MP was killed during the battle of Loos in France while trying to rescue a soldier from no-man’s land.
There were an awful lot of doors to admire in this house, so this week I will tease you by only posting the outside doors, the rest will follow in another post.
The visit begins with a stroll through the original gatehouse dating back to the mid 17th century. Did you ever see such a grand entrance?
Lanhydrock House barbican gate added in the 1640s, Cornwall, August 2019
Then off to the left are some of the outbuildings such as the coach house. The National Trust use some of these buildings for a cafe and gift shop.
Front of door to courtyard, Lanhydrock House, Cornwall, August 2019Same door from the other side, Lanhydrock House, Cornwall, August 2019
The coach house, with stunning deep red doors, is notable for the clock and little doors below it.
Coach house doors, Lanhydrock House, Cornwall, August 2019
It would be wrong of me not to include this most attractive door within a door.
Perfect door within a door, Lanhydrock House, Cornwall, August 2019
Then to the main house itself, which had more gorgeous doors on its outside walls than I have hairs on my head (I exaggerate slightly).
One of many entrances to the house, Lanhydrock House, Cornwall, August 2019Small door to the house, Lanhydrock House, Cornwall, August 2019Larger door to the house, Lanhydrock House, Cornwall, August 2019
The front door is probably the crowning glory of these ‘garden doors’ and dates back to the 1620s. The family crest is on the top right, and the NT lady at the door told us that the crest at the top of the door has no relation to the house or family whatsoever and nobody quite knows what it is doing there.
Main front door to the house dating back to the 17th century, Lanhydrock House, Cornwall, August 2019
So there we are. More Lanhydrock doors next time.
Please go take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
I love it when you start to see the work of an artist who has previously been off the radar, and recently I have become aware of a couple of stencils by Yoshi of which this owl at St Werburghs is one. Actually it is a cat owl, and if you look carefully at the face you’ll see why.
Yoshi, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2019
It would seem that Yoshi is reasonably new to the street art scene and is very much in a discovery phase of his work with sencils, trying out different materials and ideas. Yoshi has a good Instagram feed that offers a little bit of narrative and insight into his work, which is great, I also have noticed that there a couple more stencils I need to go out and find. Looking forward to seeing more work from Yoshi.
Although I can’t be sure, I think this ephemeral portrait might be the work of Annika Pixie… it certainly has many of the ingredients that are common to her work, the lightness of touch and delicate nature of the subject, but I have not seen her paint many walls like this one.
Annika Pixie, Brunel Way bridge, Bristol, August 2019
As I write this, my curiosity got the better of me and I had a look at Annika’s Instagram feed, and sure enough there is a little video of this piece, filmed in only the way she can do such things. I love her touch, which is full of subtlety and magic and in such stark contrast to the macho work one is used to seeing. Nice one Annika.
The long wall at Dean Lane plays host to a great many great collaborations, and this one is no exception. Two of there artists, Rusk and Turoe One are familiar to me, but the third, Kasoe (Gatoloco) is reasonably new to me .
Rusk, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2019
Starting off the collaborative wall is the familiar writing of Rusk which has been really beautifully done. His horizontal shading gives the whole piece the effect of being a glistening gold bar or something like that, and the depth created by his 3D shading is really well done. The whole piece is set on a cosmic background with a bit on an electric storm going on. Great stuff as you’d expect from this artist.
Turoe One, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2019
Next up is a terrific Iron Man character piece by Turoe One, an artist who has been decorating walls for more than 30 years, but whose work has been almost off my radar until recently (how does that happen?). There is little to say about the Iron Man figure other than it is utterly awesome.
Gatoloco (Kasoe), Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2019
On the right hand side of the collaboration, and perhaps a little bit discrete from the other two is this very distinctive and beautifully painted writing from Gatoloco who writes Kasoe. There are elements of other styles in this piece, such as 3D shading reminiscent of Inkie, but the whole thing has a strong and clear identity and is very easy on the eye. I have seen at least one other piece from Gatoloco and will be looking out for more.
Rather difficult to photograph, but easy to spot and be curious about is this striking mermaid created from foam insulation material, by Bristol installation artist, Duncan McKellar. What I love most about his pieces is that they are placed in busy parts of the city and challenge people to stop and think and look and laugh and be curious, rather than burying their faces in their cell phones.
Duncan McKellar, High Street, Bristol, August 2019
This is a clever ‘sculpture’ because it takes a little while to ‘get your eye in’ and interpret what you are looking at, then once you have got it, it is impossible not to see it. I am never quite sure with Duncan McKellar’s work whether it is done with the permission of Bristol City Council, or whether it is ‘guerilla art’. I rather hope it is the latter. I really love this.
Duncan McKellar, High Street, Bristol, August 2019
Mr Penfold is a designer who paints quite a few commissions in and around Bristol, and his characteristically colourful patterns are unmistakably his work. I think that his art tends to divide opinion a little, but I have to say that I am always rather pleased to find a piece by him.
Mr Penfold, King Street, Bristol, August 2019
This one on King Street is a favourite spot for the artist and is a replacement for a piece he painted there a while back. The most annoying thing about it is that the red wheelie bin is permanently parked right in front of it and it is very hard to get a clean shot (you can see I failed miserably). The colours that Mr Penfold selects always reminds me of confectionary, in particular liquorice allsorts, you can probably see why. There is an interesting feature on the wall just to the right of Mr Penfold’s piece, which is the letters St N P, carved into the stone wall of. I don’t know if this is some kind of stone mason marking or a signpost or something else… answers on a postcard please.
Natural adventures 