Tag: Cheltenham Road

3396. Cheltenham Road

This is the perfect way to end 2020 with a spanking new and rather beautiful mural on the Cheltenham road just before the Arches heading north. The mural is by Alex Lucas and covers the entire wall of what was Flour and Ash but is now a new vegan Mezze bar called Koo Cha

Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, December 2020
Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, December 2020

I had been anticipating the unveiling of this piece for some time as I live nearby and had seen Alex painting it on a large scaffold erected in front of the building. It certainly didn’t disappoint, in fact I think it might be one of my favourite pieces by the illustrator/muralist. 

Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, December 2020
Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, December 2020

The cheetahs are absolutely stunning and stand out well on the blue background and the flowers are a beautiful touch that ‘glue’ the whole thing together. We are so lucky in Bristol to have Alex Lucas whose work lights up the city and brings such happiness to its citizens. Bravo Alex, bravo!

It has been an extraordinary year for street art and graffiti in Bristol and around the country. A succession of lockdowns and an extended period of social distancing behaviours haven’t done anything to stem the tide of wonderful artwork and I have had difficulty keeping up with it all. I think this year has been the most productive since I started Natural Adventures almost six years ago. The quality of work has increased too and there has been an influx of artists from the UK and beyond. 

Some artists have gone to ground for periods this year, reflecting what had been a troubling time, and work patterns have gone haywire too which will have affected some people’s ability to choose when they can make time for street art. In spite of it all, it has been an outstanding year on Bristol’s streets. Here’s to more in 2021.

Happy New Year all. Bring on the new!

1136. Cheltenham Road , Library (2)

This is the second stunning piece that has recently been commissioned (I guess) on the hoardings outside the site where the library used to be. You can read more about my thoughts on this here. The shark here is absolutely amazing and Sophie’s trademark drips are to die for. I honestly think this is one of the best street pieces I have seen in a little while.

Sophie Long, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, November 2017
Sophie Long, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, November 2017

Sophie Long has captured the form and slow movement of the shark perfectly and the reflected light ripples across the dorsal surface. Of course, as someone with a marine biology training, I am particularly taken with this piece. Sophie Long is a local artist whose work I have seen before, but not posted yet. Her website gives you a good insight into some of her work.

 

 

1125. Cheltenham Road, Library (1)

Now this is a beautiful recent piece by Jody, and make no mistake I rate this extremely highly. I am however slightly conflicted by its placement. As part of Government public spending cuts, Local Authorities have had to make some difficult choices. Closing under-used libraries has been one way of reducing costs, and generating income from sale of the land. This hoarding has been erected around the building site that was formerly the library.

I am not particularly conflicted about any of that though, my issue is that the construction firm have gone out of their way (it seems) to avoid attracting graffiti to the hoardings (in an area where hoardings quickly become ‘decorated’). As part of this, they have commissioned two great street artists to complete panels, of which this is one. I suppose what bothers me is that it is that the message this sends out is that these boards are ok for some artists, but not for others. Who decides? On what grounds? How do the artists feel about this? It all feels a little uncomfortable.

Jody, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, November 2017
Jody, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, November 2017

Putting all of that aside though, I think that this is absolutely stunning, and I consider this piece by Jody to be as good as any other I have seen of his. He does beautiful women’s faces to perfection, and I like the way the hair morphs into a smokey cloud.

Jody, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, November 2017
Jody, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, November 2017

What a treat for me to be able to walk past this every day on my way to work. It will be interesting to see how the graffiti community treat this. Jody is held in high regard, but there are some taggers out there who have no respect and they may take exception to this hoarding being for the select few and not the many.

I will update this post if anything happens.

288. Cheltenham Road, the Little Shop

It has been a little while since I last posted anything by Alex Lucas. This wonderful piece has decorated the Little Shop for a few years now and sits right on the cusp of Cheltenham Road and Stokes Croft – both street names appear in the featured image.

Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, December 2015
Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, December 2015

In this commissioned mural Lucas does what she does so very well. Rabbits. Wonderful line drawings of rabbits interspersed with what appear to be pineapples. This junction with Ashley Road is really at the heart of Bohemian Bristol and there is barely a building without some kind of street art decorating it. I have the pleasure of walking this way to work every day (in the Summer at least) and never tire of this Lucas work.

Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, December 2015
Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, December 2015

The left hand side of the building is part of the 123 Space – a gallery which is linked to the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC) next door. The 123 Space is a place for the local art community to create, connect, dream and build together. The Facebook page is here.

 

204. Cheltenham Road, Metropolis hoardings

These hoardings rarely have decent works sprayed on them because they get painted off almost immediately…it may be that the owners of the site don’t want the hoardings to become a practice wall. The result is that the hoardings are heavily tagged instead. In among the useless tagging, there was this gem however – an anonymous tribute to DJ Derek. As is is a stencil, I would expect to see it popping up around the place. Simple and touching.

Anonymous stencil, DJ Derek, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, April 2016
Anonymous stencil, DJ Derek, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, April 2016

DJ Derek’s funeral took place last week, and there has been no more news about the circumstances of his death. I do not believe they were in any way suspicious.

189. Cheltenham Road, Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party cafe marks out the northern border of the Stokes Croft area for street art. It is also a great place to start a tour of all the wonders in the area. This is a lovely commission by Alex Lucas adorning the front right hand side of the building. I presume it is a March hare, given its boxing gloves.

Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, September 2015
Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, September 2015

Unfortunately the piece and many others nearby have been obscured by red spray, really calling into question the whole debate about art, street art, commissions, illegal, graffiti, tagging, vandalism and so on. It will be very difficult to clear this piece up – maybe she’ll get a commission to replace it (please).

Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, September 2015
Alex Lucas, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, September 2015

175. Cheltenham Road, No 126

I found this lovely tribute to DJ Derek, the first of many I suspect, along the Cheltenham Road at the back end of last week. It is by Lemak and I believe was completed on 3 April 2016.

Tribute to DJ Derek by Lemak, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, April 2016
Tribute to DJ Derek by Lemak, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, April 2016

Lemak originally comes from Fleetwood but is currently based in Bristol.He was originally inspired by stencil artists and first took to spraying in 2011. I think this work is very accomplished, and the stencil portrait of DJ Derek is a fine and fitting tribute.

Tribute to DJ Derek by Lemak, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, April 2016
Tribute to DJ Derek by Lemak, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, April 2016

DJ Derek, was a locally well known septuagenarian disc jockey who played at clubs all around Bristol and beyond. He mysteriously went missing in July and his body was found in March this year. More on this in my posts 31. Leonard Lane (3) and 146. The Bearpit (6).

132. Cheltenham Road, Loans 2 go

Another Stokes Croft piece by Sepr on a shop shutter. This has been around for some while and is beginning to fade a little. It is rather difficult to photograph, because there are normally a couple of cars parked in front of the shop.

Sepr, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, January 2016
Sepr, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, January 2016

I like his signature in the number plate, and his “Yo Deams” comment in the top right (Deam is another local street artist). This piece reminds me a lot of the one Sepr did in St Pauls, probably around the same time.

Sepr remains one of my favourite Bristol street artists, but this work is not his best.

Plenty more Sepr pieces to come…

6.5/10