A whole block of buildings bar one house on Upper York Street has been demolished and the site is being developed. While this meant that some great graff walls disappeared, they have been temporarily replaced with hoardings. A week or two back some Bristol artists hit the hoardings and this piece from Decay was painted then.
Decay, Upper York Street, Bristol, April 2020
This is a really nice piece from Decay in which he has adopted a slightly different typeface design from the one we are used to seeing. The red line outline provides a nice 3D effect and the painted drips (as opposed to drippy drips) are a nice touch.
This wall is not easy to photograph due to the big sky above it, and afternoons are very tricky indeed – I have been foolish enough to walk down there on three sunny afternoons! This might explain the slightly washed-out look in these pictures.
Right, so we are going to return to the now for a little while, after a short Covid-19 induced excursion through the archives. This recent piece from Smak at the M32 roundabout is really clever.
Smak, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2020
The overall effect looks like it has been partially scrubbed by some ‘do gooder’ trying to clean the wall, but it is designed to look like this, which when you consider it, is quite amazing. Clearly recognisable as Smak’s work, his style and class shine through in this original lock down piece.
This is one from the archives back in May 2019 and one of a whole bunch of not-yet-posted work from Rezwonk and Nightwayss. Over the coming weeks I will try to liberate more of these, but just this one for the moment.
Rezwonk, New Stadium Road, Bristol, May 2019
From pretty much nowhere two years ago, Rezwonk has become one of Bristol’s most prolific graffiti writers, with a seemingly inexhaustable capacity to create great designs. This lovely piece, part of a collaboration with Decay, is notable for its sticky stuff between the Z and second E and its upside down R. It is all too easy looking at these obvious features to miss the nice background and silhouetted jagged landscape and the rather clever blurred outline that gives the top of the piece a kind of glowing quality. Worth the wait.
This was a nice little piece from DJ Perks in Dean Lane. It is something of a miracle that this father of six children manages to get out and paint at all, but he does, mostly at L Dub (Lawrence Weston) but ocassionally here in Bedminster too.
DJ Perks, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2019
I would categorise DJ Perks’ work as formative, and that he has some really nice ideas and executes them well, but with practice I feel that there is a lot more to come from this street art hunter. As I have said before, he gives me hope for my own painting ambitions. This was another one from the archives, back in May last year. Coming soon some recent pieces… Yeah! street art has not been entirely killed by Covid-19.
I thought I had posted all my pictures of French artist Tian’s wheatpastes in Bristol from a visit he made in May last year, but I was mistaken, and the opportunity that Covid-19 has given me to ‘look back’ has unearthed a whole bunch more of which this is one.
Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, May 2019
I love Tian’s work and that he has twice visited Brisol in recent years and left us these wonderful pasteups is a real privilege. I’m not sure who the sepia-tinted woman featured is, it might be Jane Fonda? Or possibly it isn’t anyone famous. No matter, it is beautiful in my eyes. More to come, and possibly a gallery soon.
Some more archive material. There can only be one reason why this outstanding piece by Dan Kitchner never made it into Natural Adventures, and that is that I can’t remember exactly where in Easton this wall is. No matter, I have overcome this problem with giving it a general ‘Easton’ label.
Dan Kitchener, Easton, Bristol, May 2019
The wall is split into a long landscape part with cars in a wet street scene, and a portrait section filling an old bricked-up window space featuring one of his trademark pedestrians with an open umbrella.
Dan Kitchener, Easton, Bristol, May 2019
There is something so incredibly atmospheric about these pieces, and living in such a wet country they really resonate with me. They also remind me a little of the original Bladerunner film with its oriental element.
I first saw this a few years back, but never stopped to photograph it. I found it again last year and decided not to make the same mistake. If only I’d written down the road name too!
The new world in which we all find ourselves is taking a little getting used to. I have managed to get out and walk the dog every day (the dog I never really wanted, but wouldn’t be without now) and have found something of a routine, which helps to maintain some kind of sanity. Recently, Montpelier and St Werburghs have been destinations of choice, not least because of the rich seam of doors to be found there.
This selection from a couple of weeks ago are typical of the Montpelier area. Montpelier is an interesting district and is at the heart of middle/working class alternative thinking and alternative lifestyles sometimes rather romantically depressed up as a Bohemian hub. Certainly the area is artistic and there is a real mix of housing from rather grand to not so grand. For door lovers this eclectic mix provides so much opportunity. Expect more doorscursions from me in Montpelier in the coming crazy weeks ahead.
No more chit chat (relief all round). Some doors:
Worn and weathered garage door, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020
Garden gate, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020
Garden gate, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020
Door within a sliding door, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020
This garage/workshop door really is my kind of door. It has everything… character, door within a door, function, age, neglect all round interest. My pick of the week.
A pair of doors with beautiful stained glass widows above, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020
Door with beautiful stained glass widows above, Montpelier, Bristol, March 2020
The last two pictures of doors were included not so much for the doors themselves, but more for the very stylish stained glass triptych above. I can feel myself thinking ‘they just don’t make ‘em like they used to’ when I see door architecture like this. Modern design and materials are all well and good, but cost has compromised so much in the way of decoration.
That’s your lot for another week – there will be more next time. May I take this opportunity to wish you all a happy Easter and happy Passover
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors and you ought to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
Natural adventures 