This is the second of three large recent pieces by Taboo that appeared at the back end of May. Unfortunately, the third and largest had been overpainted by the time I got to it, such is the high turnover of work at the moment.
I’m not sure if it is just me or what, but the piece seems to say ABOO without the T… maybe he just ran out of space or the T and A are conflated. Big letters, a snake and a skull give me all I would need from a large burner like this. Great work.
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Then down came the rain
and froglets, recently formed,
emerged by magic
.
by Scooj
A gallery of wheatpastes from the brilliant and quirky London-based? artist qWeRT
All photographs by Scooj
What an utterly outstanding piece this is from Spanish artist Wiflywin. This was his contribution to the poland – Spain paint jam on the M32 roundabout at the back end of May. Meeting Wiflywin and speaking with him during this paint jam was the highlight of my little trip to the spot, and I am without doubt a big fan of his work, which I am seeing more and more of dotted around North Bristol.
The work in progress (pictured above), which in itself is outstanding gives an indication of just how good this piece of graffiti writing was going to end up, and so it was. The design is outstanding and really compelling with lots of nice curves to draw the eye in and a great central vanishing point for the letter shadows. The finishing touches to the background perfectly set the piece off. This is outstanding art for sure.
Poland 2 Spain 1
Something good pretty much always results when these two PWA artists collaborate, which fortunately for us is often, this time under the M32. Soap and Face 1st seem to have a telepathic connection like Pires and Henry (I had to choose Arsenal players, but think of any deadly football partnership and you’ll know what I mean), and their collaborations feel so comfortable and easy if you know what I mean.
I don’t quite get what the story is but there is consistency across the whole collaboration. On the left Soap is the writing of Soap which is filled with a sophisticated array of colours and techniques and is truly a thing of beauty. Soap’s fills just seem to get better and better.
On the right we have a rather unusual Face 1st piece of a girl riding on the back of a cigarette-smoking frog waving a bee on the end of a stick in front. What?!? I must ask him what on earth is going on in this piece next time I see him. Wild, imaginative and wonderful.
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Good sense of humour
which in the circumstances
could be essential
.
by Scooj
Another artist who has been really busy lately is John D’oh whose running commentary on all aspects of the coronavirus epidemic has given us a record of events through the medium of street art. This way of capturing contemporary events has been a major aspect of art through the ages, and although much of the art is ephemeral some remains and helps to tell future generations what happened in the past and where they came from. John D’oh’s stories are important ones to tell.
This lovely stencil on the side of a ramp at St George skate park, celebrates the fabulous and unrelenting hard work of NHS workers through the pandemic with more than a little nod to Wolverine of X-Men fame. Slightly sinister, slightly edgy but with a great heart. A nice piece from John D’oh.
Ahh! This is the second piece from the eight artist paint jam on the M32 roundabout recently. Four Polish and four Spanish artists lined up and sprayed the long wall on a gorgeous sunny day at the end of May. This piece is from the superb Laic217 who has sprung back into life over the last three weeks or so.
I was lucky to witness Laic217 in action and grab a quick chat while he was about half way through this fabulous skeleton piece. The picture above gives you a feel for the full length of the wall on the southwest side of the roundabout.
There are many features in this piece that fans of Laic217 will recognise… the ghetto-blaster, spray can, a skull and excellent tones to create the fabric of the skeleton’s clothes. So nice to see so much of his new work in a short space of time. worth waiting for.
Poland 2 Spain 0
Unfortunately the photographs of this fine stencil by Madderdoit simply don’t do the piece justice, which is a pity because this is the first piece I have knowingly seen from this Bristol artist. How did that happen?
The column piece features a woman wearing a blue face mask, which is I’m sure to become an iconic symbol for the year 2020. I see some similarities in technique to Stephen Quick’s work, which is of course a good thing. I love surprise pieces like this one, they keep me interested (not that that is difficult). I’d love to see more from Madderdoit.
So far, since the lock down restrictions were first eased, there seem to have been an extraordinary amount of collaborative sessions, I guess because artists have missed each other through the lengthy coronavirus isolation. In this case the artists combining their talents are Varo and Saik.
Varo is an artist I met for the first time a couple of weeks back when he was painting alongside his Spanish compatriots during a paint jam on the M32 roundabout. I haven’t posted any of his work before, but that is all going to change from this moment forward. This is a nicely done piece spelling out VARO and has a natural, organic feel to it.
Saik is no stranger to Natural Adventures, but it has been quite a long time since I posted anything by the artist. This piece of graffiti writing is really nicely done, nice and tidy with an interesting fill in shades of green. An unexpected and interesting collaboration under Brunel Way.
Natural adventures 