Tag: Exeter

5708. Old Park Road, Exeter

Paul Monsters and Mister Samo, Old Park Road, Exeter, October 2023
Paul Monsters and Mister Samo, Old Park Road, Exeter, October 2023

One of the last things I would have expected to see in my two-hour wander around Exeter back in October was a collaboration between Mister Samo and Paul Monsters, and yet here it was… a glorious piece of colour, design and creativity.

Paul Monsters and Mister Samo, Old Park Road, Exeter, October 2023
Paul Monsters and Mister Samo, Old Park Road, Exeter, October 2023

I have a feeling that the piece might be called ‘you are loved’, and there is a great deal of warmth and positivity about the piece, and the styles of the two artists although quite different complement each other perfectly.

Paul Monsters and Mister Samo, Old Park Road, Exeter, October 2023
Paul Monsters and Mister Samo, Old Park Road, Exeter, October 2023

I suspect that the two artists know each other through the Upfest festival in Bristol, at which both have painted in previous years, and Paul Monsters works in the Upfest shop and is heavily involved in the logistics of the paint festival. As ever, Paul Monsters’ geometric designs create depth and hard edges, against which the character forms by Mister Samo stand out.

Paul Monsters and Mister Samo, Old Park Road, Exeter, October 2023
Paul Monsters and Mister Samo, Old Park Road, Exeter, October 2023

I love Mister Samo’s work, which is highly designed but at the same time simple and clean. The characters in Mister Samo’s work look like sophisticated doodles, and even though simple, convey a lot of emotion and charm. A real treat and fabulous collaboration from these two excellent artists.

5707. Exeter

None Here, Exeter, October 2023
None Here, Exeter, October 2023

One of the difficulties of posting pieces from towns and cities that aren’t Bristol is that I don’t know where the photographs are taken, and so the titles become rather generic, for example in this one I have simply given it the label Exeter. I have done a little detective work, and the pub sign just behind the bush says ‘The Nest’ so, using Google maps, I know that this piece is on New N Road.

None Here, Exeter, October 2023
None Here, Exeter, October 2023

The rather endearing collection of birds is by resident artist None Here, whose work can be found all over the city. Although the artwork is a little naive, it is most captivating, and great to know that somebody is out there decorating spots that would otherwise be dull and lifeless. Although the birds are generally non-descript, I think I can see a gull and a heron. More to come from my trip to Exeter back in October.

5619. Friernhay Street, Exeter

Flora&Fauna, Friernhay Street, Exeter, October 2023
Flora&Fauna, Friernhay Street, Exeter, October 2023

I have seen many birds painted on walls over the years, and some species are more popular than others. On a survey of one, the top three birds I have seen are: 3rd – Goldfinch; 2nd – Robin; and 1st by a country mile, Kingfisher. There is something magical about kingfishers and they certainly capture the imagination of street artists.

Flora&Fauna, Friernhay Street, Exeter, October 2023
Flora&Fauna, Friernhay Street, Exeter, October 2023

I had to do a lot of detective work to hunt down the name of the artist who painted this beautiful bird tucked down a side street especially as f&f wasn’t a lot to go on – turns out it is Flora and Fauna, and this is one of two of their pieces I found on my short exploration of the city. The piece is striking and rather beautiful, and painted in a fairly soft style, without too much fine detailing. F&f is certainly an artist I’d like to se more of… a potential candidate for Upfest?

5618. Exeter

None Here, Exeter, October 2023
None Here, Exeter, October 2023

Although Exeter doesn’t have quite the same volume of street/graffiti art on offer as Bristol, nor as many spots/locations, it does have one or two resident artists whose work can be found, if you keep your eyes open. One of these artists is None Here.

None Here, Exeter, October 2023
None Here, Exeter, October 2023

If you fins a street or area with street art bin Graffiti, it is highly likely to have a piece by None Here somewhere. His work is pretty much always nature-based, often featuring birds. His style is very recognisable, looking like illustrations, and I am not convinced they are painted using spray cans, but more likely paint brushes with sprayed backgrounds. This door is typical of the work I saw on my recent trip. I would say that None Here is the beating heart of the Exeter street art scene.

5584. Guildhall Shopping Centre, Exeter

Joe Webster Art, Guildhall Shopping Centre, Exeter, October 2023
Joe Webster Art, Guildhall Shopping Centre, Exeter, October 2023

One of the primary reasons I started posting graffiti and street art on Natural Adventures was to provide a little bit of background information and opinion about the pieces I found, because there was very little documented (it is the nature of the beast) anywhere. I have really only scratched the surface of this gargantuan task as a recent visit to Exeter highlighted. I found several pieces in the City, but searching the Interweb to try and find out more was incredibly difficult, and I had to work very hard to find out anything about this amazing piece by Joe Webster Art. There is a tiny signature hidden at the bottom of the piece, but that was pretty much all I had to go on, and I couldn’t find out anything about the display of three pieces in the Guildhall Shopping Centre.

Joe Webster Art, Guildhall Shopping Centre, Exeter, October 2023
Joe Webster Art, Guildhall Shopping Centre, Exeter, October 2023

Joe Webster is a ‘landscape graffiti artist’ and has found himself a bit of a niche combining the outdoor natural experience with graffiti. In this powerful piece, Joe Webster has created a kind of word cloud superimposed or rather integrated into a landscape with a tree. The red/orange colours have words like Fire, Smoke, House fire, Ignite, Ember, Hot, Blaze and so on, and the sky carries the word Hope. There is a lot of texture in the piece too. There is a story, probably of climate catastrophe, being told in this intriguing piece.

5583. John Street, Exeter

Fark, John Street, Exeter, October 2023
Fark, John Street, Exeter, October 2023

One of the great pleasures of going to a city or town, even for the briefest of visits, is to explore a place that is unfamiliar. My three-hour stay in Exeter recently, yielded a plethora of fabulous doors for Thursday Doors, and some great pieces of street art, let alone an eye-opening blend of ancient and modern architecture.

Fark, John Street, Exeter, October 2023
Fark, John Street, Exeter, October 2023

In one of Exeter’s narrow streets I stumbled across this beauty by Fark, alongside a couple of My Dog Sigh’s pieces. Finding these gave me a wonderful sense of wellbeing, satisfaction and contentment. This is a beautifully crisp and clean piece by Fark featuring his trademark bird. Although the design looks simple, do not be fooled, to create such clean art with clearly defined boundaries and solid fills takes years of experience and an enormous amount of skill. That this is achieved with spray cans and not brushes is a triumph in itself. A great piece from a brilliant artist.

5573. Sidwell Street Exeter

Sophie Mess, Sidwell Street, Exeter, October 2023
Sophie Mess, Sidwell Street, Exeter, October 2023

One of my most popular street art posts on Natural Adventures was a piece by Vhils on Exeter High Street (which I would link to if links were working on WordPress this morning), a very short distance away from this stunner by Sophie Mess. I love it when ugly corporate or retail buildings commission artwork to brighten things up, and what an impact this floral treat has had on an otherwise dull facade and home for pigeons.

Sophie Mess, Sidwell Street, Exeter, October 2023
Sophie Mess, Sidwell Street, Exeter, October 2023

Sophie Mess is an artist based in Devon, who tends to go big with her incredible floral creations, and indeed painted a vast iris piece on the Tobacco Factory wall for Upfest 2022 (yet to be posted here). This piece is simply amazing, so full of rich colours and textures and so utterly uplifting. Every shopping centre in the UK should have one of these. Exeter is blessed to have a piece like this in the heart of their shopping area, and yet the only people looking at it were people wondering what it was that I was photographing. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. LOOK UP!

5572. John Street, Exeter

My Dog Sighs, John Street, Exeter, October 2023
My Dog Sighs, John Street, Exeter, October 2023

On our way home from Cornwall to Bristol, we stopped off in Exeter for a couple of hours while my friend had to deal with a flea crisis in his daughter’s student flat. I took the opportunity to wander about the city and using my street art sixth sense managed to find quite a few pieces, completely accidentally – no maps, no street art websites, nothing other than intuition and exploration.

My Dog Sighs, John Street, Exeter, October 2023
My Dog Sighs, John Street, Exeter, October 2023

Walking up Fore Street, which becomes Exeter High Street, I spotted a narrow lane on the right (a must for psychogeographers) which I turned in to, and was rewarded with a spectacular wall curated by ‘Enhance in Exeter’, and this magnificent piece by My Dog Sighs. To say that it was unexpected is an understatement, but I was rather pleased with myself for sniffing it out. The piece must be relatively recent, painted within the last couple of years or so, because it features his pigeon characters, which are newish in his portfolio. The expressions on the pigeon’s faces are wonderful, and the subtle touch of the breast plumage colours is a special touch.

These are the best pictures I could get. The street is very narrow, and there was some reflected light pollution, but was nonetheless chuffed to bits. More to come from this two-hour meander.

Bristol to Exeter

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I’m cutting it fine

trains are unreliable

meeting jeopardised.

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by Scooj

Exeter Racecourse

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Swallows hug the turf

darting with great precision

past rails and fences.

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by Scooj