East Street – Natural adventures

7011. East Street

More paste-up magic from Tian in East Street. The French artist has left a trail of pieces on each of his visits to Bristol, and it is so much fun following his footsteps trying to locate each one. On previous trips he has occupied North Bristol, but this most recent one was concentrated in the East Street area.

The wonderful work in sepia tints and blue is a cut-out from a stencil. I imagine Tian first works on the stencil, and then once completed, prints dozens of copies, which he then cuts out and takes on his travels to paste up where he can. I have never seen his work outside Bristol, but I expect a trip to France would probably sort that out.

6919. East Street

Mr Penfold and Mul, East Street, Bristol, April 2025

This is a recent picture of a piece that I think was painted during Upfest last year, when Mul was visiting and dropped a few pieces about town. Here he has teamed up with Mr Penfold to create a fun and colourful collaboration.

Mul is known for his heart characters with legs and an eye. I’m not sure where Mul calls home, but occasional visits to Bristol are always very welcome. Mr Penfold is perhaps more commonly associated with his abstract commissions on shopfronts, but he intermittently produces these wonderful cartoon characters, presumably for fun. A tidy collaboration.

6909. East Street

This is another outstanding piece of paste up work from Tian in East Street. Not only is the subject beautifully worked, but the placement, inside a phone booth, is perfect. The cut-out is taken from a piece of work called ‘Combative Jaq’… I’m not sure that I know too much more about it.

I love the sepia tints contrasting with the blues of the woman’s clothes. The selection of the photograph and the alteration of it is superb. I realise that wheatpastes are not to everyone’s taste, particularly the authorities, but they are a darn sight better than the stream of advertising posters and hoardings that we are subjected to on every street in every town and city.

6910. East Street

Mr Crawls and Mote, East Street, Bristol, April 2025

On my wanderings in the East Street area of Bedminster, looking for Tian Paste ups, I came across this hoarding with a few treats on it. I think that this collaboration was painted last year when Mote and Mr Crawls were in full flow, painting together frequently all over the city.

Mr Crawls, East Street, Bristol, April 2025

To the left, the Mr Crawls character is quite unlike anything I have seen from him before, although his underlying style is unmistakable. The rather strange monster, in great green tones, is perhaps most notable for its psychedelic eyes, and ‘puckered’ upper lip.

Mote is no stranger to painting monsters, and here he has assembled five one-eyed beasts is some of his favoured colours. The chrome background for the collaboration gives me a pretty good date range (a little bit like carbon dating), which they first introduced at the end of 2023. A satisfying find.

6901. East Street

Tian’s visit to Bristol filled me with excitement, and the ‘treasure hunt’ he left behind on East Street, left me with a very memorable hour or so while walking the dog a few weeks back. His wheatpastes may go unnoticed by many, but not by me.

The Japanese lady in a kimono is taken from a piece called ‘le kimono d’invisibilité’, and just looks so incongruous with its surroundings and yet blends in as if she has always been there. A stunning piece from an artist who has mastered content and placement. One of the very best.

6193. Upfest 2024 (38)

Ivan Tortajada, Upfest 2024, East Street, Bristol, May 2024

Ivan Tortajada is a Spanish artist from Valencia whose stylised portrait pieces are unusual and fantastical. You can only fully get a feel of his work by checking out his website, which I thoroughly recommend. In this Upfest piece, he has cleverly brought together two characters on perpendicular surfaces and incorporated the large caterpillar that has occupied this wall for as long as I can remember.

The portrait on the left is painted with warm colours in his highly illustrative style. The character appears to be glancing at the caterpillar and is holding a lighted match, I hope without malicious intentions.

The adjacent portrait is in colder blue colours is also looking on at the caterpillar and appears to be holding a disc that the bug is resting on. The portrait is beautifully worked with stripes of graded blues, and a touch of yellow where there is reflected light. This is a beguiling piece and one that so cleverly fits into the selected spot, working with the existing caterpillar, rather than against it.

5467. East Street

Andy Council, East Street, Bristol, August 2023

A rare foray into a part of Bedminster last week, looking for something that wasn’t there, led me to East Street, long after the shops had shut, which meant only one thing, a glimpse at closed shutter artwork that I hadn’t even been aware of before and which might have been there for some time. Among the discoveries was this gem from Andy Council.

From the signature, it looks like Andy Council painted this composite dinosaur piece in 2022, so it is possible that it was painted as an extra piece for Upfest, but more likely it might have been a permitted or commissioned piece from the shop store owners. As with much of Andy Council’s work, the whole monster character is made up of different components, including buildings and mechanical joints. He has thrown in a few toadstools for good measure too. I was most happy to come across this, especially as the things I was looking for didn’t even seem to exist.

5456. East Street

Taboo, East Street, Bristol, August 2023

I went on a bit of a wild goose chase last week looking for some boards in Bedminster, but was completely unable to find them. The walk, however, took me to East Street after working hours and all the shops were closed, and I was in shutter heaven.

This shutter piece by Taboo, which I think is unlikely to be a commission, but you never know, spells out Boser, the significance of which passes me by. The anti-style letters are accompanied by an anti-style cartoon Tom cat from Tom and Jerry, with four ‘echo’ faces adjacent to the first. Typically anarchic and somehow charmingly comforting, this Taboo piece ticks all the right boxes. I am not too sure about the orange figure 8, which isn’t a motif I have seen in his work before, and I believe it to be a subsequent addition by a tagger, although the orange does match the letter ‘B’ in his signature. A mystery.

4569. Upfest 2022 (27)

One of my favourite Bristol artists is Sepr, and it is great to see him embracing Upfest this year. I can’t recall any Upfest pieces by Sepr before, but I might well be mistaken. This is a prominent wall at Upfest, with plenty of opportunity to see it head on from a distance, as anyone driving from North Street to West Street will know.

The previous occupant was another Bristol artist, Cheba, so it is nice to get that local continuity. Sepr has painted a whole load of people out and about, perhaps reflecting the diversity of people attending Upfest. What is fascinating is that each of the characters is telling a different story; some seem anxious, some unhappy, some happy, some busy and some simply chilling. It is incredible to get so many contrasting emotions into one piece. This is an outstanding piece from Sepr, and what a joy that it will probably remain in situ until the next Upfest.

3967. Upfest 2021 75×75 (67)

What a genuine pleasure it was to meet Roo for the first time while she was painting this magnificent shopfront piece for Upfest’s 75 walls in 75 days event. It would seem that her allocated spot, a pet shop on East Street, was the perfect match for her animal inspired work.

Roo, East Street, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21

Roo was able to show off her skills over the entire outside space of the pet shop, which is not inconsiderable, and so we, the viewers, are getting four animal pieces for the price of one, starting with this superb mouse/rat tucking into a fairy cake.

On the largest panel of the shop, Roo has painted this sleeping dog which is dreaming about ‘Rrupfest’. In this piece you can see that the clean lines and solid fills are expertly finished and the light brown shading (in cartoon style) gives an additional 3D feel.

On the next panel of the shop is a goldfish in a bowl taking a selfie as if it were a holidaymaker on a beach. The piece is full of wit and charm and rather unfortunately obscured by a wheely bin, the scourge of street photography.

The final bit of wall to be painted by Roo is a fat cat enjoying some popcorn and taking in a 3D movie with its cardboard lenses. The whole wall is a triumph for Roo whose work is a perfect fit for this kind of spot. It is great to see that since she painted this, Roo has visited Bristol again and left us a gorgeous lion, to follow soon.

	paulh121 on 7360. St Werburghs tunnel…
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	beth on 14 years
	hitandrun1964 on 14 years

	paulh121 on 7360. St Werburghs tunnel…
	paulh121 on 14 years
	hitandrun1964 on 7360. St Werburghs tunnel…
	beth on 14 years
	hitandrun1964 on 14 years

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