I recently saw this fabulous piece by Decay in The Bearpit only a few days after I stumbled across an identical one in Shoreditch a few days earlier. I think that this is all part of a new approach to his work in 2018, and one which will be interesting to observe.
I am accustomed to seeing his abstract concentric rings in shades of red, grey, white and black with a small face at the centre, which I love, but I await with eagerness the direction his liberation will take.
This stunning piece was the second by Oze Arv at the festival and one of several astonishing pieces he sprayed in Bristol while he was visiting. On the basis of seeing only these few pieces, I can without any doubt say that I admire his work hugely and hope he returns for this year’s festival.
He uses a wonderful range of colours and combines an abstract form with superb wildlife illustrations, captured in a carefully balanced composition. In this piece it is a humming bird takes centre stage…in his other festival piece it was a ram. If I had the space and cash, I’d love to have a piece like this hanging on a wall at home. Classy stuff.
When looking for street art outside the borders of Bristol, it is always a genuinely pleasant experience to find a piece by a Bristol artist. And so it was in this fortuitous instance while wandering around Shoreditch fairly aimlessly, because I don’t know my way around. On a hoarding I saw a very familiar sight that was rather comforting, a couple of pieces by Decay.
Although Decay is a migrant Bristolian, a buit like me, I still consider him to be part of the city. In this first piece, Decay looks like he is branching out a little from his usual concentric shapes – I have seen another piece similar to this one recently. I think it works.
Right next to this first piece, Decay has painted one of his works which is altogether more familiar. I believe he sprayed these only a day or two before I photographed them, which is great, especially as I had no idea he had been in the area. A serendipitous trip to London, certainly in my case.
Two more fine pieces from Decay.
I have driven past this piece dozens of times and caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye, but parking is tricky. Finally I found some time to double park, nip out and take these pictures.
It is a wonderful piece by Decay and one that is likely to be around for some time as it looks like a private commisssion. Many of his pieces, particularly in the centre of town get oversprayed, so it is nice to have a spot where it will be around for a while.
Decay is the master of these abstract designs and his work is easy to identify due to its distinctive shapes and use of the colours red, white, grey and black. This one is a stunner.
This is not a new piece by Shab, it has been here for months, but it replaces a piece by him that was here before and which I posted in February 2017. It would seem that Shab has the permission of the owners to claim this spot as his own.
I never tire of the abstract form that Shab brings to his work, enjoy the anatomical references he makes in his work, which recently has been the inclusion of an eye. In this piece he includes another eye and also the eye scokets and nasal cavity of a skull.
This is an interesting piece and slightly off the beaten track. One for the locals.
Funnily enough, this is another piece that I don’t recall very well from the festival itself – there were so many works at Ashton Gate that it has been impossible to recollect them all. However, looking at the images on my computer, this one really stands out as a beautiful and colourful piece.
To my shame, Onga hasn’t really crossed my radar before, despite having lived in Bristol for a few years, and contributing regularly to Upfest in the past. Maybe it is because he doesn’t spray on the walls I visit, I don’t know. I know from a biography I read that he enjoys festivals, and since I have only been to Upfest for the last two years and no other festivals at all, it might explain why our paths haven’t crossed before.
This is a fine piece that probably needs a little bit of scrutiny and unpicking as there is a story there somewhere.
This is the second of two pieces by Rezwonk in Moon Street and one which on first glance looks like a simple geometric pattern scrawled on a gate. Looking more closely, there is probably more to it.
The patterns are composed of five lines, always in the same order, a little bit like holding five biros in your hand and making patterns or letters – the kind of things you did at school. Another layer of sophistication here is that the lines are contained within a circle although the circle isn’t outlined. I am not certain, but I wonder if the patterns are letters…if they are, I can’t work them out. My favourite touch though is the five bar gate at the bottom right, almost like a checklist that the five colours have all made it onto the piece. A lovely abstract piece.
The facade of the Carriageworks is living on borrowed time. The building has been in limbo for many years and is in a state of semi-dereliction. The owners appear to be waiting for the right offer to come in from potential developers before selling up. As a result, the bricked up archways have played host to some exceptional pieces of street art over the years, and has been a ‘go to’ location for locals and international artists alike.
The turnover of artwork has reduced dramatically as talk of redevelopment hots up but there has been a recent spate of work from local artists. One of those is the fabulous Mr Klue, whose abstract pieces I love and have featured countless times here before. He described this freestyle piece as a ‘quick ting’ on his Instagram account. I haven’t seen any street pieces by Mr Klue since Upfest, so this was a real pleasure to find and photograph. More please Mr K.
I was lucky enough to pass by this wonderful abstract piece while it was being sprayed by Mr Jiver, a London artist who told me he had his roots in wildstyle writing and that there are echoes of that in his current abstract works.
The intention for this piece was that it was meant to be a collaboration, but there was a ‘no show’ from the other artist which accounts for the gaps that have been left.
I would guess that artwork like this is at risk of being criticised in the same way that art by Jackson Pollock has been criticised…that old chestnut ‘I could probably do that with my eyes shut’ kind of thing. The retort might be ‘well go ahead then’. Mr Jiver has created a thought out piece with deliberate colour selections, shapes and shading and I celebrate it.
I enjoy meeting artists when they are at work and trying to understand a little bit more about what motivates them. Insight certainly helps with interpretation. Mr Jiver – nice bloke, great work.
I think this is the largest Decay piece I have seen, and I like it. Going large suits his work in my view. When I first saw this wall, there was a large white van obscuring the bottom half, and I was rather fed up. But by the next time I visited, the car park was empty and I got a good unobstructed view.
Decay has taken to adding some philosophical text next to his pieces recently, and I think mit works quite well. Here he says ‘living in the days of ill soul’ and I kind of get what he’s talking about.
He has worked hard to make it look like the piece is emerging from a hole in the wall and I think to a greater extent it works. On seeing a previous piece by the artist, my wife rather spoiled things by pointing out a phallic undertone…which I hadn’t noticed. Now when I see his pieces I kind of see it again, and especially in this piece. I am not sure if it is deliberate or accidental, but it is difficult to ignore once it has been pointed out. Sorry.
A great piece from Decay.
Natural adventures 