I wouldn’t want you to think that I had forgotten all about Scrapy. It feels like a while since I last posted any of his work. This is a quick one by the artist in the pathway behind the Black Swan pub.
I like the way that Scrapy has worked the piece into the space available on the wall, between the flat and lumpy texture. I have quite a lot of unpublished Scrapy pieces, and might have to do a bit of a mini-gallery to catch up.
Since his return to painting in Bristol, Asre has focused on his writing, but it is his cheeky character pieces that first caught the eye a few years ago, and this is a fine example of one of those. I am a little sad that he chose to paint over a long-standing Haka piece, but that is the nature of street/graffiti art, constant churn and renewal.
The character is nicely framed and fits the space perfectly. Asre’s stylised cartoon characters are easily distinguishable thanks to the crosses in the eyes and the zigzag line in the mouth delineating the teeth. I am guessing that this was painted as a bit of an ‘extra’ while painting some writing nearby. Nice one.
A gallery of outstanding concealed portrait pieces and writing from the brilliant Bristol artist Mind 49, formerly known as Mind Control.
Instagram: @mindfortynine
All photographs by Scooj
This puffy-faced character piece is by Zake, painted in celebration of Kool Hand’s birthday, although officially his birthday was a month earlier. It seems almost impossible to exaggerate the features in a Zake piece, but he has managed to do it here, with the result that it is all a little but disturbing, the cheeks in particular.
As I have explained many times when writing about Zake’s work, he creates so much depth in his work by playing very skilfully with light and shade, using up lighting and down lighting to cast shadows and to emphasise features. Clever work from a quiet and unassuming artist.
Finding my way back down to the Frome Side spot after it had been gated off for a while was a bit of a treat, because there were plenty of new pieces and a handful of new artists waiting for me. Ont of the new artists is Sketch, who has been fairly busy underneath the M32.
This Picassoesque column piece really appeals to me. Of course the style is wholly derivative, but there is no shame in that at all, because the same could be said of most art. The features of the character are painted in black and white, set on a background of colours in the broad shape of a head. I think I met sketch a while back, and he told me he was learning and practicing, which is great to hear. As he develops, he will get bolder with his black lines, and stronger definition. I love this and celebrate this relative newcomer.
With this piece by Asre in the tunnel, he reverts to what he had been painting before he took a protracted break. These cheeky faces were his signature pieces, and frequented a host of North Bristol spots.
Since his return, Asre has been concentrating on his writing and spread his wings to more spots in the city, so it was great to find this ‘traditional’ piece in the tunnel. He has kept the piece simple, with only three colours, and used nice solid lines throughout. Great stuff from Asre.
I don’t visit Montpelier Park all that often, but every time I do go, there seems to be new stuff there, so maybe I ought to increase the frequency of my trips so that I don’t miss out on beauties like this one from Stivs.
Stivs is something of an enigma. His work is so varied, he is unbelievably talented, and you never really quite know what he is going to come up with next. He used to be heavy on the calligraffiti, but these days he is painting more of these portrait pieces. This one is a real stunner, and drifting ever-closer to photorealism. I am very much enjoying the ride.
I am writing this post (last night) in a lonely hotel room in Warrington. Tomorrow, I am attending the launch of a new National Nature Reserve just outside the town, something I have been working on for a few months. It will be great to see the partnership project come to life.
This piece by Zake is a superb example of his work, and he has really managed to keep the whole thing very neat and tidy. Although it doesn’t look like it, the piece is quite large, and on a wall he decorated back in August
As with all of his portrait pieces, he has created great depth using light and shade to lift the face from the wall, deceiving the eye. Big teeth and a lack of pupils in the eye, give the character a sinister appearance, which is a bit of a Zake trademark. Below is his previous piece in this spot.
I don’t think there will ever be a time when I am not happy to see a piece by Face 1st. Of course, since he moved away from Bristol, that sense of joy is heightened, because his pieces appear less frequently and have become a little bit of a rarity.
This is a classic laughing girl with big hair piece from Face 1st. The big hair spells out FACE, in script-like letters, with a very deep drop shadow. The blue tones with the white face work well, and although not the tidiest piece I have seen from the artist it is nonetheless distinctive and very, very Bristol.
I only really became aware of The Art of Sok’s work a couple of years ago or so, and thoroughly enjoy his cartoon style. There is a simplicity to his work, which relies on outstanding design beautifully sharp accurate and sharp execution.
The Art of Sok has painted a face on a wall, without any outlines of a head, as if the wall itself were animate, looking not unlike something you might see in a Thomas the Tank Engine illustration, only better. The colours and shading are near-perfect and design flawless. A great first Bristol piece of the year.
Natural adventures 