A gallery of fabulous character faces from Bristol artist Awkward.
Instagram: @awkward_uk
All photographs by Scooj
Awkward
Tag: Character
6019. Greenbank (118)
It is always good to find DFC1848 pieces in Bristol, and he left behind two or three pieces on his last visit, of which this is one. This character is the one that DFC1848 first used to really establish himself as a street artist, and although he has improved immeasurably in both technique and creativity, it is nice to see this old friend again.
The letters DFC from his name can be found in this tag-character The ‘D’ is in the ear, the ‘F’ is on the character’s cheek and the ‘C’ I think is represented by the mouth or possibly the eye. I must try and seek out and photograph the other pieces he painted on this visit.
6005. Frome Side (33)
It feels like only a matter of months but is actually more than three and a half years since I first encountered Mudra’s work, and over that time it has improved immeasurably from the small character-based pieces to complex pieces of writing/character combinations.
This piece underneath the M32 reminds me a little of Minto’s work, with its combinations. The colours red and green work well together and rather contradict the fashion industry maxim that ‘red and green should never be seen’. The letters are quite fancy and the face in the centre of the piece a little odd. Overall though, this is a nice piece that shows how the artist is constantly stretching himself.
6002. Dean Lane skate park (713)
These pictures are my second attempt at capturing this fine bird piece by Mr Crawls, the first effort resulted in photographs that had the piece in brighter light but scattered with shadows. Sometimes overcast days are much better for certain spots, such as Greenbank and Sparke Evans Park, as well as anywhere with overhanging trees or herbage.
Mr Crawls has been having a great few months, especially since joining up with Mote, a partnership that appears to have stretched both artists with some terrific outcomes. In this bird piece, Mr Crawls has used his favoured chrome background as a backdrop for his raptor(?) character sporting a rather nice hat. Although Mr Crawls has been experimenting with all sorts of creative monsters, it is comforting when he returns to one of his classic birds.
5991. Cumberland Basin
The tragedy of Bristol Mural Collective paint jams is that all too often the pieces go unsigned and so many of them fail to make it into the pages of Natural Adventures. Fortunately, this piece by Ejits was signed, but she is also an established street artist, and I recognised her work in any case.
This cheeky little character piece is cleanly painted onto a graffiti wall, with part of a Klashwhensober piece behind it. Technically, it might have been polite to paint out Klashwhensober’s piece rather than leave half of it, but I don’t think he is the kind of writer who minds all that much. The adorable character has, it would seem, dropped a fart of toxic gas as described by the skull and crossbones in the ‘speech’ bubble.
5986. Brunel Way (270)
The wonderful thing about art is that you can create situations or landscapes or portraits and so on that are utterly fictional, unlikely, impossible, weird and that you are in control of this creative universe. Alternatively, some artists try to capture real life either through accurate representations or abstract interpretations. Bean has painted something verging on the weird side with this piece.
The character, who is wearing a rather curious hat, is holding his, or somebody else’s severed legs from which blue gloop is gushing. I’ll not attempt to interpret the piece, which is exceptionally painted in Bean’s trademark two-tone colour cartoon style. An entertaining and curious piece.
5985. M32 Cycle path (263)
Biers has been rolling out a good deal of wonderful writing/character combination pieces over the last year or so, and is deeply embedded in a rich vein of form. This piece is painted along the narrowest stretch of cycle path and getting pictures, even with wide angle capability, is tricky at best.
The WD40 letters are filled with a magnificent blue patterning, with some awesome designs floating on rippled blues. The character is Courage the Cowardly Dog, from a cartoon series screened in the late ’90s early ’00s, which passed me by completely – I was too busy trying to be a grown up. Set on a deep red background, this is a classy piece of work from Biers.
5982. M32 roundabout J3 (568)
Bogat has been lying low for a while, so it was rather nice to stumble across this vibrant piece on one of the subway entrances on the north side of the M32 Roundabout. He says that he hopes to be a little more active this summer, which is great news.
The colour selection for this character piece is exceptional, and the green has an amazing glowing quality – the colours are what you might expect in a spooky disco or ghost train, if you know what I mean. Bogat has made great use of light and shade to accentuate features, something I have spoken a lot about in Zake’s character work. A more than decent piece and first of many to come this year I hope.
5980. Sparke Evans Park (95)
Noise has had a rich spell of form recently, painting at least three pieces and probably a few more too that I don’t know about. This fabulous writing/character combination piece was painted during an LRS paint jam in Sparke Evans Park.
This lively piece, full of vibrancy and colour, has a very strong Noise vibe about it, but is a little different from his usual work with the inclusion of a cat character making up the ‘O’ of NOISE. The cat is really well crafted and it would be great to see him do more of this kind of thing. Combination pieces allow artists to showcase their artistic skills beyond writing or characters alone. Watch this space (like tomorrow) for more from Noise.
5972. M32 Cycle path (261)
By the time this post is published I will be half way through a team away day in Derbyshire, planting trees. I have to leave right now so that I am not late for my lift.
This is another magnificent piece by Bean whose Easter break return to Bristol has been both productive and seen some real improvements in his work. I love the character’s hair in this piece. Norma’s service resumes tomorrow I hope.
Natural adventures 