Tag: Bear

6782. Stapleton Road

Nice One, Stapleton Road, Bristol, February 2025
Nice One, Stapleton Road, Bristol, February 2025

Nice One has been my favourite discovery of 2024. His unique brand of combination pieces incorporating his beautiful font writing and colourful sketches of characters or scenes has been both refreshing and intriguing in equal measure. I genuinely look forward to finding his work and have that satisfied glow when it happens.

Nice One, Stapleton Road, Bristol, February 2025
Nice One, Stapleton Road, Bristol, February 2025

This piece was painted over another of his, in fact, you can just see the remnants of the word NICE below it, and it is a very respectful way of keeping things fresh. The letters are a little bolder than in some of his pieces and remain impactful. His bear is painted as if it were a sketch in a sketchbook, this style of spray-painting is in stark contrast to the solid fill, black border approach that we see so much of. The bear looks pretty fearsome, and looks better and better the further away you stand from the piece. Lovely work from Nice One.

Nice One, Stapleton Road, Bristol, January 2025
Nice One, Stapleton Road, Bristol, January 2025

5143. Dean Lane skate park (586)

Blimma Blamma, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
Blimma Blamma, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

This is another debut for an artist on Natural Adventures. I have been aware of Blimma Blamma’s unusual characters in Bristol for quite a while now, but only recently found out who they were, thanks to Instagram.

Blimma Blamma, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
Blimma Blamma, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

Blimma Blamma has a very distinct style and paints a character unlike anything else you might see about the place. I’m not entirely certain, but the character to me looks like a man inside a bear costume, with his face peering out of the bear’s mouth. Distinctive additions are the pink belly button and nipples, which look like those tiny ‘iced gem’ biscuits you used to get as a kid. Slightly curious and intriguing piece – more to come from the archives soon.

4536. Sparke Evans Park (48)

Visiting artists are always welcome in Bristol, and certainly the city does tend to draw a great many of them, probably due to its well known and mature graffiti sub-culture. Recently we have been graced by the presence of an extraordinary artist, Posea, who visited Bristol from his home in Sheffield.

Posea, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2022
Posea, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2022

This piece in Sparke Evans Park was part of a paint jam, I think, for Turoe’s birthday a couple of weeks ago. The character piece is so different from the hand and lighter piece he painted in Dean Lane around the same time, demonstrating the versatility of this amazing artist. Here we see a man in a bear mask, with a crazy duck on top, with a double-barrelled shot gun. All rather sinister, but exquisitely painted and finished. It would be great to see more of his work.

Posea, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2022
Posea, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2022

3593. L Dub (26)

The work of DFC1848 just goes from strength to strength. His characters are becoming more complex and the finishing is becoming cleaner and tighter with each new piece he sprays. This is a rather nice take on his familiar character that he has built on over the last year or two.

DFC1848, L Dub, Bristol, March 2021
DFC1848, L Dub, Bristol, March 2021

In nearly all of his works, DFC1848 conceals the letters DFC, however in this one he has settled for signing it at the bottom right. The double headed bear, sharing a tongue could be quite a creepy concept, but this, consistent with most of his characters is cuddly and certainly not creepy. I like the highlights on the tongue and lower lips – these are additions that he is developing and improving all the time. A nice find.

2057. Lawrence Hill roundabout (4)

I haven’t seen too much of Nevla’s work lately, so it was great to come across a whole pile of pieces in the tunnels of the Lawrence Hill roundabout a couple of weeks back. This is a rather cute (a word I rarely use) piece of a character spraying the name Nevla book-ended by a couple of bears.

Nevla, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, February 2019
Nevla, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, February 2019

I have a feeling that the tunnels on this roundabout will become more of a playground for street/graffiti artists over the summer. It is interesting to observe the shifting sands of street art spots, especially as so many great walls in Stokes Croft have disappeared (gentrification).

1450. Jardins de Walter Benjamin (1)

Hot on the heels of my last post which featured a piece by Oreo, I found this one about half an hour later on another legal wall not far from Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies. At this spot, most of the work is by graffiti writers, occasionally punctuated by street art pieces like this one.

Oreo, Jardins de Walter Benjamin, Barcelona, March 2018
Oreo, Jardins de Walter Benjamin, Barcelona, March 2018

I love this. Mickey mouse with a badass bear head and a spray can at the ready and of course a halo to cap off the character. The piece keys in nicely with the writing to the right of it, and I wonder if they were sprayed at the same time. If not, then the two pieces have been cleverly integrated. More from this spot to come in due course.

1449. Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona (3)

Just about everything I know about this wonderful artist, Oreo, I have found out from the excellent No Grey Walls blog, written by Lewis Duncan, who was pivotal in directing me to some great legal walls in Barcelona for my trip there just before Easter.

Oreo, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018
Oreo, Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, Barcelona, March 2018

The artist of this bear character is French artist Oreo (also painting under the names of Zack aka the scientist and Badassbearz). His works, which are instantly recognisble, appear all over Barcelona, and I managed to bag a few during my stay of which this was the first. In this piece Oreo presents us with the good and the bad bear and cleverly uses the box in the middle of the wall to separate out the two sides. Nice crisp work.

1008. Upfest 2017 (46)

At Upfest, I am always rather fond of these small square boards that give artists the opportunity to showcase their work. I am guessing that they might also be able to sell these small pieces, but I am not sure. This witty piece is by Mr Bear, who produced this lovely Baloo work at last year’s festival.

Mr Bear, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Mr Bear, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

There are quite a few fun things going on here, although I really don’t know what the word ‘bacon’ is doing in the ‘Hello my name is’ badge. This is a really goos multi-layered stencil from that nice Mr Bear. Would be great to see him return again next time.

478. Jerome Street, Shoreditch (1)

Back to Shoreditch where I found this great stencil by Unify. It is called Go Fly Your Kite and features a teddy bear that has been used in other works by the artist. I first came across Unify in Bristol with this No Blowing Bubbles piece on the wall of the Highbury Vaults. It is still there.

Unify, Jerome Street, Shoreditch, September 2016
Unify, Jerome Street, Shoreditch, September 2016
I haven’t seen any more of his work in Bristol, but the more I wander around Shoreditch and Camden Town, the more pieces I am finding. I like his work a lot, and will post more when I am able to.

Unify, Jerome Street, Shoreditch, September 2016
Unify, Jerome Street, Shoreditch, September 2016

366. Richmond Street, Weston-super-Mare

Recently my daughter suggested we had a day at the seaside. In Bristol, the seaside generally means Weston-super-Mare, or Weston on the mud. A Victorian seaside town that was very much alive when we visited. It is also the home of one of the great stencil artists in the country, and one of the first artists that inspired me to write about street art in the first place, JPS.

JPS, Richmond Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016
JPS, Richmond Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016

This is a piece that I have seen numerous times on digital media, but to see it for real was a treat. It is funny and beautifully executed. Furthermore, what none of the pictures reveal is that it is outside the Bear Grills restaurant, adding to the joke.

JPS, Richmond Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016
JPS, Richmond Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016

This is the first of many of JPS pieces I will write about from the W-s-M ‘gallery’, as they can be found all over the place, and I am sure I missed tons, so a further visit is in the planning.