Mest is one of several artists who keep things simple. He adopts the same basic design of letters but plays around with the background, fill and shadow colours, always creating interest and variation of a form.
Mest, M32 roundabout, Bristol, October 2021
This is a lovely new piece on the M32 roundabout painted alongside Stivs, a good friend, and adopting the same colour scheme. I wonder if it is the influence of Stivs, but this piece is really tight and one of Mest’s best to date in my opinion. The horizontal transition of greens is nicely handled, and the thin green border is very sharp. An attractive piece of work.
Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! It has been such a long time since I have seen a street piece from Kid Crayon, although he has been doing a lot of studio and digital work over the last few months, it is refreshing to see something big and bold. In this collaboration, Kid Crayon has teamed up with Nightwayss, who conversely doesn’t seem to have stopped hitting walls this year, he is a machine.
Kid Crayon, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2021
To the left of this ‘Finger Trap’ piece, Kid Crayon has painted a brilliant character (is it a self-portrait?) poking his finger into the trap while tipping his red baseball cap. The character is brilliant and so uniquely Kid Crayon.
Nightwayss, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2021
To the right and making up the other half of the collaboration, joined with the central trap, is an unusual piece by Nightwayss. I love this recent experimental style from Nightwayss that seems to be exploring the fragmentation and interruption of a portrait and other elements, such as a parrot in this case. The fine artist in Nightwayss is coming to the fore in exploring new ideas and forms. Pity about the tag, but hey, you snooze, you lose!
This piece under Brunel Way is something of a rarity. It is by Stiff, who doesn’t paint walls all that often, and this is only the second piece of his that I have posted on Natural Adventures, although I know I have a third somewhere (just found it labelled Unknown!).
Stiff, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2021
I love his cartoon compositions that tell fabulous stories in his preferred format of black background and green and white artwork. The alien/quirky scientist face-off is beautifully animated and very nicely sprayed. A bit of fun and a welcome surprise. I would love to see more from Stiff.
Although rather small and modest in scope, this little collaboration is very significant in the history of street art in Bristol. Veee, an artist from Weston-super-Mare and Stinkfish joined forces to bomb a couple of walls at the tail end of a trip that Stinkfish had made to the city. A crowd-funded project had brought the artist back to Bristol to tidy up a couple of iconic pieces he painted here some years ago.
Veee and Stinkfish, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2021
I had actually met the artists very briefly as they sprayed a wall in Dean Lane – unfortunately, when I returned a day later their work had been over-painted, so I only have this WIP shot. It was great to meet Stinkfish, in particular, because of his global reputation – he is a street art rock star, no doubt about it.
Stinkfish, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2021
The St Werburghs piece by Stinkfish is similar to the Dean Lane one, and it is like a mega tag. I wonder how many people know who it is by. It is interesting that Stinkfish would want to spray these little anonymous pieces about the place, but then again, I guess that is all part of the fun of spray-painting. There is another one of these that I will share soon, and of course I have to go and photograph the two renovations too.
Veee seems to be making quite a big noise at the moment, and I know that there will be plenty more pieces from him in Natural Adventures before long.
Vee and Stinkfish, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2021
Although this piece would appear to have been painted at the same time as the paint jam organised for Nightwayss’ birthday, it had actually been painted a day or two before. The other artists liked it so much that they kept it and painted around it, which is high praise. The artist Tack Jucker told me this story himself, and I think that he was a bit chuffed.
Tack Jucker, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2021
There is something going on with Monkeys in Bristol at the moment, and I wonder if it is the influence of Nightwayss, the monkey master. This looks a little bit like a baboon with a rather threatening gesture and bared teeth. It looks like Soap, or one of the others have embellished the piece with some gems, but it has been done sensitively rather than mindless tags. Although this might be the first piece from Tack Jucker on Natural Adventures, I can guarantee it will not be the last.
Barely a week goes by when I don’t have something to post by Laic217. This piece on the long wall at Greenbank is an absolute gem and is painted in a rather cheerful assemblage of colours, although the subject is inevitably skeleton related.
Laic217, Greenbank, Bristol, September 2021
There are lots of things we expect to see from Laic217, including the bucket hat, fabulously painted folds in the clothing, and the reappearance, after a long pause, of the brickwork glasses. I love the contrast between the grey scale characters and the colourful background. Yet another fine work from this highly talented artist.
It is always a pleasure to come across a Pl8o piece, even more so since I met him. There is something about his letter choice that really appeals to me, so not only is it a nice bit of word play, the shapes of the letters work really nicely together.
Pl8o, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2021
In this piece, Pl8o has reverted to his big block letters after a brief flirtation with script, although the dep 3D shadings he favours are not present in this one. A decent enough throwie (throw up) and another to add to his repertoire.
This morning’s post is something of a landmark for me. It is my 4,000th street/graffiti art post on Natural Adventures, not something that I planned all those years ago with this first post.
Insane51, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
It is fitting, I think, that one of the most impactful street artists to hit the walls of Bristol is the subject of this milestone post – Insane51. This is probably ‘the’ feature wall for Upfest and gets an awful lot of footfall and exposure. You might recall the Greta Thunberg piece by Jody that preceded this one.
Insane51, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
Apart from being visually stunning as it is, Insane 51’s work is designed to be viewed through 3D colour filter glasses that allow you to see the two pictures that combine to make the one mural. You can see what I mean if you look at this article from the the Bristol Post.
Insane51, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
The artwork itself is best described by the artist, taken from his Instagram feed:
🔴 ‘DREAM” 🔵
⚫ NYX holding SELENE 🌕
⚫ Nyx is the Greek goddess of the night. A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation and mothered other personified deities such as Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), with Erebus (Darkness). Her appearances are sparse in surviving mythology, but reveal her as a figure of such exceptional power and beauty that she is feared by Zeus himself.
🌕 Selene is the goddess of the Moon. She is the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, and sister of the sun god Helios and the dawn goddess Eos. She drives her moon chariot across the heavens.
An extraordinary piece by a world-class artist. On to the next 4,000 posts.
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