Tag: Art

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.

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.

199. M32 Roundabout, Junction 3 (7)

So here we have another fine example of wildstyle writing at its very best. Deamze is really a master of his craft and prolific too. It can be really difficult to keep up with his new work.

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

This work sits alongside a work by Soker that I featured a little while back. I think that they were concentrating on the yellow and blacks, and I assume that they sprayed the wall on the same day. Another great work by Deamze.

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

198. Jubilee Street (4)

An old, and now long gone wildstyle piece from Deamze in my favourite backwater, Jubilee Street. This is a beautiful work, which is offset really well with the robot character at the right hand end.

Deamze, Jubilee Street, Bristol, November 2015
Deamze, Jubilee Street, Bristol, November 2015

There are so many Deamze works in Bristol, the next couple of posts will also feature some of his great stuff.

197, Stokes Croft, PR Solicitors

I have had this picture in my archive for a while, but simply never got round to publishing it. I love the piece, but the photograph is not very good, slightly blurred and so I have held back. It is by Kid Crayon though, and I do so very much like his work, so the time has come.

Kid Crayon, Stokes Croft, Bristol, September 2015
Kid Crayon, Stokes Croft, Bristol, September 2015

Kid Crayon’s wheatpastes are really curious. His style is quite unique, and it is difficult to see who might have influenced him. Not that it really matters. I really like his stuff, and am always pleased to uncover another work. I saw a new one last week and will post about it soon.

196. Hillgrove Street (6)

What a lovely surprise I had on Thursday this week…a new artist has hit the streets of Bristol. When I say new, I mean new to me. Tian is a French artist, born in le Mans in 1964, which makes him pretty cool in my book, we are the same age. In 1982 formed a punk-reggae band called Nuclear Device…remember them?…nor me. He started pasting in 2007 and has been going from strength to strength since then.

Tian, Hillgrove Street, Bristol, April 2016
Tian, Hillgrove Street, Bristol, April 2016

He is currently ‘on tour’ in the UK (see his itinerary on his Facebook page here) and was in Bristol from the 18-20 April. So far I have found three of his paste-ups but I will be out looking for more…you can do a lot of pasting in three days. Because this is the first of his works that I saw I am dedicating a single post to it. I will probably post collections by area if I find a lot of his work. I really like this style, the tints and subject material, but of course I am always a big fan of wheatpastes. This piece made me really happy.

Is that Sphia Loren?

More from Tian’s own excellent website.

195. The Bearpit (13)

Walking home yesterday, I came across an artist painting a new work on the PRSC Open Air Gallery. The previous piece by Cheba had been badly defaced with Buzz tags (which are becoming a bit of a menace) so a new work was going up. I spoke with the artist, ObjectØØØ, another incredibly nice person, and we swapped Instagram addresses. I said I hadn’t seen any of his work yet and he told me he put something up in The Bearpit over the weekend. The penny dropped – I had photographed his work on Sunday and here it is:

Object000, The Bearpit, Bristol, April 2016
Object000, The Bearpit, Bristol, April 2016

This is a wild creation and a strong message too, like Narnia meets Billy Bragg. I like the ‘other worldliness’ of it. I am now looking forward to the completion of his mural on the Open Air Gallery, which also has a strong message.

Object000, The Bearpit, Bristol, April 2016
Object000, The Bearpit, Bristol, April 2016

194. Gloucester Road, Metropolis

This stylised owl seems to have occupied this little corner for ever – I can’t remember it not being here, but having said that my skills of ‘street art awareness’ have only been in full operation for about a year now, so it might not be all that old.

45RPM, Gloucester Road, Bristol, February 2016
45RPM, Gloucester Road, Bristol, February 2016

It is a work by 45RPM, the very same who created the corporate commission for the Body Shop in Hotwell Road. This owl is special, and you will note, completely unmarked by taggers. A lovely work that could do with a bit of a wash.

45RPM, Gloucester Road, Bristol, February 2016
45RPM, Gloucester Road, Bristol, February 2016