More mischief from Jake the Dog and his master costume designer Losthills at Upfest this year. In the first picture we see Jake as a late 1970s punk, complete with colourful mohican haircut, chain and earring, holding an anarchy badge.
In the second picture, which was taken in the back yard of The Steamcrane pub, Jake is dressed as some kind of robot with a heart. This is probably influenced by a film or something, but I am not too sure. All good fun though. Plenty more to come.
My first Thursday door.
North Street, Bedminster, Bristol.
by Scooj
Spot the Badger has an interesting story to tell about how badgers became the ‘thing’, and the Upfest programme biography reads:
Why Badgers? I’ve always been drawing and making things but lacked direction in my output. I needed a focus, and ‘Spot The Badger’ is where I found it. A weekly competition in my local paper to ‘spot’ a tic-tac sized Badger hidden in one of the paid-for ads, I created a stencil of this little Badger and began to draw him in different styles, leading me to where I am today.
For a self-taught artist, there are some really nice design features in this piece, but of course the badger is king.
Spot the Badger is a Bristol-based artist and this piece for Upfest contains that most iconic of Bristol landmarks, the Clifton suspension bridge. I do love these reference points that Bristol artists add to their works. (Yet another note to self…post a special suspension bridge collection).
Smile of a stranger
distracts me from the humdrum;
recalibration.
by Scooj
There is a lot of fun in this piece by Mas972, and I enjoyed watching it progress over the Upfest weekend. I managed to grab a little time chatting with the artist and told him I remembered his piece from last year. What I didn’t say to him though was that I thought this piece was much better, but that is just a personal opinion.
I was interested to see how Mas972 went about this piece and by the time I first visited he had already completed the background and begun work on the characters.
I have huge admiration for these artists and the way the approach their work. They have vision, talent and experience which they apply adeptly to create these marvels.
The characters in this piece are beautifully crafted and so full of mischief. I like the way the yellow eyes and teeth really stand out, bringing them alive.
A nice touch is that these cheerleading characters are wearing bibs which carry the letters M A S. I do very much hope Mas972 returns next year.
Moon Street remains one of my favourite graffiti spots in Bristol, but it has to be said that lately turnover there has been pretty slow, and some of the works not even worth photographing. This is an exception from a little while back by Thelochnessmonster.
I’m never too sure what is going on in Thelochnessmonster’s pieces, but they are always colourful and very different from most of the stuff you see on the streets. I have a feeling this has something to do with the nuclear industry and the consequences of it, some of which might be mutations of an interesting sort.
Always good to see these unusual pieces.
For a short while, this incredible piece by Banksy, could be viewed in Bristol Museum. For a shorter time still (hours) it could be viewed in Clement Street, on a door where it was sprayed. The ownership of the work was hotly disputed between Bristol City Council and Broad Plains Boys’ Club and the furore that it caused (see this BBC news story), not uncommon with Banksy pieces, somewhat overshadowed the utter brilliance of the the work, entitled ‘Mobile Lovers’.
I saw this piece in the museum sometime before I started posting about street art, and sadly I only have this single iPhone image (is there something ironic there?). The title has a double meaning and the piece, not only brilliantly executed, is a fabulous commentary on our modern lifestyle and love-affair with mobile technology. This is absolutely one of my favourite pieces by Banksy, and it is such a pity that it now sits on the wall of somebody who can afford it. I firmly believe street art is for all, but when it carries such a high value as Banksy pieces do, this is what happens.
To hope against hope
is an unhappy pursuit
which will end in tears.
by Scooj
This is a lovely sharp piece of wildstyle writing from visiting artist Mario Messina (MM.Pat). I believe that this Sicilian artist is a tattoo apprentice, who must have been passing through Bristol sometime this summer.
The letters are beautifully picked out in chrome over a colourful cloudy background. This particular spot is behind a set of high railings, and anything that is sprayed here tends to stay a while because it is a bit of a fag to scale the railings with all your gear. I passed by today, and it is still there. A lovely piece.
Sirens has this great way of combining the natural world with hard-edged urban landscapes. The result is the creation of beautiful pieces, often full of colour and strangely optimistic. Often, these kinds of urban landscapes can be dull depressing affairs, but Sirens brings out the best from these imagined environments.
In this piece the eye is drawn past a crimson sky to a crane (Sirens loves cranes – or so he says on his Instagram). On the cab of the crane is a reference to Team Robbo, which would appear to be a tribute to a friend. His Instagram feed says “you might be gone but your work will live on with us it touched, we miss you king Robbo”.
Sirens just keeps those sunsets coming.
Natural adventures 