I caught sight of this caravan across the M32 while out for a walk last week. It had all the hallmarks of a work by Aspire, but it wasn’t until I downloaded the pictures onto my PC that I was able to see the signature.
When I see a piece like this, which I might add is another beauty, I am left with so many questions. Who lives in the caravan? How does Aspire know them? Was it a commission? and so on. This is an unusual and distinctive piece.
Resting in Spring sun
natural soft down pillow;
no synthetics here.
by Scooj
I knew it existed and was determined to find it and, a little by accident, I did. This Hyacinth Macaw is instantly recognisable as an Aspire piece and it is absolutely magnificent. He just seems to get better and better.
The work, which was completed at the beginning of May, absolutely captures the macaw perfectly and brings it to life. The peculiar stoop that macaws exhibit fits the space so well. This is a clever and absolutely outstanding piece. What next I wonder.
I have taken many photographs of this magnificent parrot since it was created at last year’s Upfest (2015), but somehow I just haven’t made time to put together a post. It is a difficult piece to photograph because of the white space on the wall and from the sky, which tends to bleach the picture out a bit.
The magnificent piece is by Luis Seven Martins, also known as L7M. He is another artist from Sao Paolo in Brazil (a hotbed of street art talent). Born in 1988, he has been working on street art from the age of 13. He specialises in drawing birds using a mix of spray paint and acrylics. This parrot is a beauty and one of the outstanding pieces of Upfest 2015. His Facebook page is here.
One of the true pleasures of photographing street art is finding some of subtle hidden pieces that are out there, but are often overlooked. 23 Magpies specialises in wildlife wheatpastes, often stuck in such ordinary places that if you blink you miss them.
This lovely work of a crow on sheet music is pasted onto a utility box, much as the chameleon was not far up the road on Dean Lane. I don’t know how long this has been here, but I only noticed it last week.
I am very fond of these pasteups, they feel like my own little treasures. If you look carefully you can see one of Andy Council’s pieces in the background.
Back in April, there was a massive explosion of new pieces appearing in the tunnels of The Bearpit. This beautiful piece by Beastie, I believe, only happened because he was hanging out with some other artists and decided at the last minute to join in.
As is often the case at the moment, you have to be very quick to get ‘clean’ photographs of anything in the Bristol hotspots. By the time I got to this one, it was already quite heavily tagged. It is a really lovely work, Beastie is a very talented artist. Sadly, his cat in Hillgrove street has recently been defaced, which is a real shame, it is one of my favourite pieces in Bristol.
I am often left wondering how street artists manage to do pieces which can only be accessed from a roof. Do they have permission? Do they jump up a ladder? Do they find some other way to get up? I guess it depends. Anyhow, this appeared a month of two back (I think) above a bar in Stokes Croft.
The piece is by Akarat and Hoax. I think that the birds on the left are by Akarat and the stencil is by Hoax. This is a tribute piece to Buzz, and you will see all the little Buzz words all around the piece.
I think I can also see a bit of a Mr Klue mural to the left. This is strange as it can’t really be seen from the road, but I suppose a wall is a wall. As we have come to expect from Akarat and Hoax, this piece is full of symbolism, but what it means…?
A new location for me. I found out about this incredible road in Easton through a friend of mine who wondered if I had heard about a community project, the purpose of which was to brighten up Devon Road. I looked up the community Facebook page, and was astonished that this was completely off my radar. I decided to check it out…what delights!
The main part of the road is a regular Bristol street, but at the Northern end it has a dogleg tracking West, which is actually a lane with two long terraces backing onto it. Each terraced house has a yard with walls and doors opening out into Devon Road. It is these walls and doors that are being sprayed. Everyone is happy. The street artists have walls to spray and there is little tagging here as it is a bit off the beaten track. The residents have the benefit of some beautiful works going up on their properties and the whole area looks vibrant, especially on a lovely sunny day.
My first post from Devon Road is a stunning piece by Aspire. This, in my view, is one of his finest. The birds are a blue tit on the left, and a coal tit (I think) on the right. Just fabulous. I am now on the hunt for a blue macaw that I know he has recently sprayed. I will find it.
In its grey coat it
came, eyeing up the neighbours
fishpond, then vanished.
by Scooj
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.
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.
Natural adventures 