The hoarding in Raleigh Road has become a popular spot with Cheo, Soker, Voyder and Deamze in particular, and between them they keep refreshing it with some great work. This is a great piece from Cheo featuring a couple of spraying characters and his signature bee.
Cheo, Raleigh Road, Bristol, October 2017
This piece is fresh and clean, and looks as tidy as if it were still in his black book. I’m not quite certsin what the characters actually are, but they are both dressed in hoody and baseball cap respectively. Very street.
Cheo, Raleigh Road, Bristol, October 2017
So many more of his pieces in my archive…more time needed.
At the top of Church road there are a whole bunch of reasonably new pieces from members of the ASK crew of which this is one. The three sections are by Soker, Cheo and Deamze, although the Soker and Deamze writing are in exactly the same style and lettering and I am left wondering if only one artist was involved in those bits.
Soker, Cheo and Deamze, Church Road, Bristol, September 2017
Soker, Cheo and Deamze, Church Road, Bristol, September 2017
It is a colourful collaboration that is nicely balanced. The Cheo character in the middle is ready to spray…was it in fact this character that sprayed the rest of the piece? Always good to see ASK collaborations around the place.
Soker, Cheo and Deamze, Church Road, Bristol, September 2017
A recent piece from Cheo on a wall that you need to go looking for. This is the second pairing of Cheo and Soker pieces that I have found here, but I expect they have been spraying here for years.
Cheo, Church Road, Bristol, September 2017
Some really lovely wildstyle writing and a fun character too. Cheo and his king bee just keep on pleasing. The image below is the last piece he had up here which was photographed in March 2017.
Not long after Upfest was over, and just as the dust was settling, this wonderful piece from Bristol’s Cheo appeared in North Street Green. It is a very strong piece, and in my view, far superior to the Morph characters he produced for Upfest.
Cheo, North Street Green, Bristol, August 2017
In this piece he has sprayed a couple of very cool frogs appearently chewing the fat and puffing away on a cigar and cigarette. It is an incredibly neat and crisp piece and in my view shows Cheo at his absolute best.
Cheo, North Street Green, Bristol, August 2017
I’m not too sure how long this would have taken him, but it looks like he took care with it. Yet another great piece from the master.
When Cheo and Soker get together, you can be sure you will be in for a treat, and so it is with this fabulous piece on Bond Street, as you drive out of Bristol city centre. The building that this Aardman piece appears on I think has been ‘repurposed’ recently, and this artwork may have coincided with that.
Previously the wall played host to a few throw ups and tags. Now we have a very large Wallace and Gromit by Cheo, atop a wonderful ‘Bristol’ from Soker. I’m not sure what the Duke at the to right refers to, and I have been a bit lazy about finding out more about this piece, which I presume is a commission or if not, permitted by the wall owner.
Since it went up, the piece has been partially obscured from the road by a tree in full leaf. Come the Autumn and Winter, many more people will become aware of it from the road as they pass by. This piece somehow represents the USP of Bristol in my eyes. Progressive animation and street art, a great match.
Cheo, who is one of the most established Bristol street artists at the heart of the Bristol scene, is also very active in promoting and collaborating with Upfest. This year he brought the Aardman character ‘Morph’ to life as Graff Morph, and sprayed this loveable character in several locations around the Upfest area.
Cheo, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Morph first appeared in the Television programme Take Hart, presented by Tony Hart. The programme itself was a spin-off from Vision On, which a few will recall as being the only art programme for children for many years. It is fitting that the character from an art programme is the subject of focus for Cheo at Upfest. There were seven Graff Morphs at Upfest. This was the first one I saw. All good fun, especially for the children at the event.
If you look carefully at the Featured Image, you will be able to spot one of Chinagirl Tile’s grenade bunnies from last year.
How often do you get to watch two of Bristol’s best graffiti artists in action? well in my case not too often, but I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to see Soker and Cheo at work.
Soker and Cheo, Stokes Croft, Bristol, July 2017
I had actually been in the area to see the magnificent exhibition of work from Tom Miller at the It’s all 2 Much gallery on the other side of the road, however the whole area was buzzing with street artists spraying every available wall in the immediate vicinity.
Cheo, Stokes Croft, Bristol, July 2017
Cheo, Stokes Croft, Bristol, July 2017
They were in town for an event organised at the Full Moon pub by Inkie, called Boogie down Bristol. This was an event held within the courtyard of the pub and featured a blend of local and not so local artists.
Cheo, Stokes Croft, Bristol, July 2017
I chatted for a while with Cheo, who I had not met before, who is very much contained in a world of his own work and was focussed on this piece. A classic Cheo character…I love the rather unpleasant plaster on his chin – great attention to detail.
Soker, Stokes Croft, Bristol, July 2017
Soker was busy chatting with chums, but both obviously really friendly, and they do so much great work together. This was only one of several collaborations that were happening on the streets, let alone the curated pieces that were being sprayed in the pub. Fortune favours the brave.
It has been really interesting to see this ‘Bee-Boy’ come to life. He began as a sketch in Cheo’s black book which he posted on Instagram with the hashtags #cheo, #bee, #sketch and #fart. The sketches became more detailed until he finally sprayed the piece in Raleigh Road.
Cheo, Raleigh Road Bristol, June 2017
Cheo seems to have had a love-hate relationship with Bee-Boy and it has been interesting to see the development of the character. Even after he had completed the work, he went on to produce a full colour sketch, for which he apologised, and even after that he committed the ‘little twat’ to canvass.
Cheo, Raleigh Road Bristol, June 2017
Whatever cheo thinks of it, I and many, many others love this little character – edgy, mischievous and comical.
These hoardings on Raleigh Road are becoming a favourite spot for Cheo, Soker and Voyder, amongst others. This piece by Cheo contains many of the hallmarks of his work…a bee, a cigar, a gold chain, a crisp design, clearly well prepared and some great writing.
SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURESCheo, Raleigh Road, Bristol, May 2017
I cannot decipher the writing, but Cheo hashtagged the Instagram image of this piece with #nintendope, #piranhaplant, #Nintendo and #Mario, which perhaps gives some insight into the inspiration and subject matter.
Cheo, Raleigh Road, Bristol, May 2017
I’m always pleased to see Cheo pieces, especially ones as crisp as this one.
This piece from our very own Jody (when I say ‘our’, I mean Bristol’s) was something of a promotional stunt for Huff Post. He had been lined up to do a live spray, during which he unveiled the new Huff Post logo – the video has had more than 200k views…not bad really.
Jody and Cheo, North Street, Bristol, April 2017
Not long after the piece was completed and the brouhaha had subsided, the logo was painted out, and then not too long after that, Cheo sprayed a bee on the hand. One in the eye for the corporates.
Jody and Cheo, North Street, Bristol, April 2017
This coming together, albeit a bit haphazardly, leaves us with a really rather wonderful piece. The grayscale hand, so beautifully crafted, is the prefect partner for the vibrant and rather cheeky bee. Glad I got to see the completed thing before I knew about the backstory.
Natural adventures 