A gallery of superb character street art by Bristol artist I am Ian.
Instagram: @iam.ian.m
All photographs by Scooj
I am Ian
Tag: Caricature
7691. Greenway Bush Lane – Upfest 2026 (14)
Octofly Art has visited Bristol a few times for Upfest over the years and her work has improved significantly over that time. She comes from Italy, from Valle Camonica in the North of the country, and graduated from the “Santa Giulia” Academy of Fine Arts in Brescia in 2014.
Her cartoon style is endearing and witty with a positive vibe and uplifting outlook. This caricature piece on the new wall at the back of Aldi, shows a sardine tucked up in its tin, with a pillow. The tin is tagged with Bristol to recognise the host city of Upfest. A fun piece, perfectly presented for this space. Below are a couple of her previous appearances at upfest:
7223. M32 roundabout J3 (721)
One of the very best character portrait artists in Bristol, who doesn’t paint as often as I’d like is Shade One. Fortunately the draw of joining a Ulow birthday celebration was enough to bring him out to create this absolute beauty.
Shade One is a specialist at painting caricature portraits, where the subjects are completely on point, but don’t fall into the realm of photorealism. The girl, wearing a bucket hat, painted in greyscale, is absolutely beautiful. Her expression somewhat moody as she glances to her right. Shade One is surely an artist at the very top of his game.
6700. M32 Cycle path (278)
Turnover on the M32 Cycle path has been fairly slow this winter, and I have reduced the frequency of my visits to the spot accordingly. On my last visit, however, I got really lucky and met Ryder and Jaksta, along with some of their friends, who were all painting together to celebrate Jaksta’s birthday. It appears that January is a big month for street art birthday paint jams.
In this combination collaboration, Ryder has painted the letters RAKE and Jaksta the character. Painted on a good old-fashioned brick wall, this piece looks like a throwback to the 1980s. The graffiti writing by Ryder is superb, spelling out RAKE, and not only celebrates Jaksta’s birthday, but also 25 years of painting together.
Jaksta is the cartoon character king, who manages to create incredible caricatures of people both famous and unknown. This is an absolute peach, and one of two pieces painted by the artist during this session. The exaggerated features and overized head are key components of Jaksta’s style, and would not look out of place in Montmatre’s (Paris) crazy art markets. A fabulous collaboration by the RAW duo.
Natural adventures 