I have not been able to get out and about much recently so I think I might have missed quite a lot of street art that has since been overwritten. I was lucky enough to have found this little lion playing the high hats by Roo.
Roo, I think, is a London-based artist who I know often paints with SkyHigh. When I see this, I wonder whether I might have missed something from SkyHigh or whether Roo just happened to be travelling in Bristol solo. Whatever, this is a rather tidy souvenir from his visit.
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Dawn squirrels frolic
silhouettes against grey skies
in skeleton trees.
.
by Scooj
Back home to Bristol and yet another rather charming column piece by Silent Hobo at the M32 Spot. As I have said before, Silent Hobo has a knack for capturing the mood of youth culture, and gives his characters a soulful poise.
The girl with the microphone and ‘BOOM’ written on her bottom is wonderfully crafted by one of Bristol’s most established character artists. It is always a pleasure to see his work.
You might also have noticed a rather nice Deamze piece lurking in the background.
One of the things I love most about seeing street art in other cities is when I see a piece by an I am familiar with – it gives me that warm glow of conceit, and so it was when I saw this lovely burner by Bristol’s Voyder.
The last piece I saw by Voyder was at Upfest back in July, so to find this one in Shoreditch was definitely a special moment. This is such a clever piece, I cannot really do it justice in any explanation, but I will try. Everything you see is utterly deliberate – the blurring of the letters and the drips and splashes, what makes this extra special is how Voyder has created this with extreme skill in blending the colours through the piece and making the whole thing look a bit amateurish. To the trained eye, this is utterly brilliant, to others it might just look a bit rubbish.
I long for the spring
the lengthening of the days
and the warming sun.
by Scooj
Baccy tin open
in front of her cold crossed legs
shelter for small coins.
by Scooj
So here he is again, popping up in Dean Lane, the man with the best graff name ever, Stupid Stupid Meathole. Here he presents us with yet another grotesque image all pink and fleshy with eyes and teeth.
I don’t think that his subjects could be described as monsters, rather they resemble human body parts that have been placed in a blender and scrambled for a moment or two before being slapped onto a wall. A very different and creative idea going on here. All good fun.
It is big, and pink and bold and probably the largest ‘Seismic’ that I have seen from Jee See (Goshiku Chavu). This simple but impactful piece is on one of my favourite walls in Bristol in Dean Lane skate park.
Jee See already knows that I am a big fan of his work and his relentless pursuit to find walls to leave his work and messages. He is always pushing the boundaries with his themed work and also on his Instagram feed which hosts so many photoshopped images and sketches. Seismic!
It is great to see that VisitBristol (the local tourist authority) is putting its weight behind the creative arts, in particular street art, by commissioning this mural on one of the walls of We the Curious (formerly @Bristol). The idea behind the mural is to increase visits to the city over the Christmas period to boost tourism as this little YouTube video shows.
The artists chosen for the commission are Cheo and Silent Hobo, both of whom have featured on these pages many, many times before. Here they combine to produce this sumptuous Bristol-themed Christmas mural with a whole ton of identifiable Bristol icons.
The left hand side of the mural is mostly the work of Silent Hobo and features the aquarium, the ice rink, the cathedral and harbourside among other things and in the foreground we have a few bristol carol singers representing the two (rival) football teams.
On the right Cheo’s mural includes the Clifton suspension bridge, the zoo, the Christmas market, the M Shed and Isembard Kingdom Brunel (the greatest ever Englishman). The whole thing is surrounded with a golden frame and the whole thing is rather delicious.
Given that street art and graffiti are part of the USP for Bristol, I would love to see VisitBristol and the Council do more of this kind of thing in recognition of the street artists who bring free art to the city rather than locking it down, for example in The Bearpit.
#MerryBristmas
Even though it is becoming more difficult to find clean walls to work on in The Bearpit, and the Council are taking more of an interest in artistic activities, some of Bristol’s finest are still able to make their mark. This is a fine piece by Nevla.
What makes this quite unusual for a Nevla piece is the inclusion of colour. Most of the work I have seen before has been two or three colours only. I don’t know if this is a budget driven thing or a fast getaway thing, but this time he seems to have branched out a little. His cartoon style continues to keep up a happy and light-hearted perspective in this little corner of Bristol.
Natural adventures 