Tag: Face 1st

5101. Dean Lane skate park (577)

Zake, Chill and Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
Zake, Chill and Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

The Pirate Wall Art (PWA) crew have already produced some outstanding collaborations this year, but this surely has to be the most striking so far. Zake, Chill and Face 1st have teamed up to produce this triptych of stylised faces.

Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

To the left is a curious pair of faces which feel like they are symbolic of something, but I am not quite sure what – sun and moon or light and dark? Who knows. The flower face is something new that I haven’t seen from Zake before, but he carries it off really well.

Chill, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
Chill, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

In the middle of the triptych is a cartoon face by Chill. When Chill moved away from his black and white pieces, I wasn’t sure how long it would last, but I am pleased to say that his inclusion of several colours once again might indicate that this is a new direction of travel for the artist. I love the inclusion of some greenery and flowers in most of his pieces, showing a sensitive connection with nature.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

To the right, Face first has painted another group of faces, in which he continues to explore ways of peeling back the layers of our facades to reveal what lies beneath. In this case, the face with yellow hair has been split open to reveal a laughing girl emerging from inside. Some might see these pieces as gory or grotesque, I see them as a joyful exploration of emotions unearthed in a rather surgical, but playful way.

Plenty to think and enjoy about in this fine PWA collaboration.

5091. Sparke Evans Park (65)

Face 1st and Soap, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, February 2023
Face 1st and Soap, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, February 2023

Not many artists are painting the long wall at Sparke Evans Park these days, since the arrest of an artist about six or seven months ago. Slowly but surely people are drifting back to the wall, but unusually for Bristol, having to keep their eyes peeled and wits about them at all times. This is a great pity, because this would be a perfect candidate for a legal wall. There is no tagging here, and the colourful wall is an added attraction for people who use the park for recreation. It has become a bit of a ‘wall of fame’, well respected and curated in a self-policing manner.

Face 1st, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, February 2023
Face 1st, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, February 2023

This far end of the wall was recently painted by Face 1st and Soap in one of their PWA pairings. To the left, Face 1st continues to explore different ways in which he can slice a face up. Very rarely for the artist, he has not tried to work in the letters FACE into the piece, rather he is focussed on the task in hand, the slicing.

Soap, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, February 2023
Soap, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, February 2023

Soap too continues to explore a theme he has been enjoying recently, spelling out his name with the ICE King for an ‘A’ and a Face 1st face for the ‘A’. Although the colours the artists have chosen are a little muted on a dull day, they are nonetheless attractive and have been beautifully worked into both pieces. Great to see something new on this wall.

5045. M32 roundabout J3 (453)

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023

Face 1st has come up with this belter during this PWA paint jam on the M32 roundabout recently. Not one laughing girl, but three, and of course, one of them has an exploding head.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023

It would appear that Face 1st has been experimenting recently with finding ways of breaking up his heads, with explosions or slices. I’m not too sure what his unconscious mind is doing here, but it certainly makes for a creative display that is never presented in a gory way, more as a passing interest. Face 1st continues to delight.

5037. Greenbank (73)

Erika 0007 9-11 Feb 2023_edited
Erika 0007 9-11 Feb 2023_edited

The PWA crew have had a few joyful paint jams this year, and this wonderful piece from Face 1st is part of a collaboration on the Greenbank hoardings. I cannot express how much pleasure it gives me to chronicle the work of Face 1st, and since I first started writing about street art in 2015, Face 1st has been an ever-present, growing and adapting his style.

Face 1st, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023
Face 1st, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023

I have no idea what the ‘spicy beef’ thing is all about, but it made me smile. Face 1st’s cheeky girl is having a lot of fun, and like so many of his pieces in the last year or two, her face is covered in mess, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. There is so much to enjoy in this piece.

4962. Dean Lane skate park (599)

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2022
Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2022

I had a great catch up with Face 1st as he was assessing where to paint this stunning little design. He had thought about using one of the flat walls on the buildings, but instead chose this curved wall instead, and what a great choice he made.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2022
Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2022

Any piece on the ramps of a skate park get scuffed up pretty quickly, naturally, and when I photographed this it was only a day old, and you can see immediately how worn parts of it have become. Face 1st has painted a laughing girl’s face sliced through vertically, exposing the letters F, A and E, with the C sitting proudly on the girl’s pink bow. A wonderful piece from a lovely artist.

4939. M32 roundabout J3 (445)

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2022
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2022

I simply fail to understand how I managed not to post this absolute cracker by Face 1st back in February 2022. It has been lurking in my archive, screaming to be released and shared, and now at last is liberated, and just look at how happy those girls are.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2022
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2022

I definitely noticed that nearly all Face 1st’s work last year was overflowing with joy, and this piece early on in the year certainly set the tone. To me this is brilliant, and one of my favourite Face 1st pieces ever. The colours are sensational, and the positive and mischievous energy flying off the wall is a pleasure to observe. What an absolute blast!

4937. Spake Evans Park (60)

Face 1st, Kool Hand and Soap, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2022
Face 1st, Kool Hand and Soap, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2022

I think that 2022 was the most prolific year for Bristol street/graffiti art ever. More artists joined the already large cohort, and it would seem that many of them painted more often than before. Of course, this is counterbalanced a little by the departure of some artists, and others going to ground for sustained periods. Overall, though, it was a bumper year. What this means is that there are way too many great pieces that were left ‘on the cutting room floor’, so the next few posts will be an attempt to dig out some of the pieces I simply didn’t have time to post during the year. Starting in January 2022 with this splendid collaboration between Face 1st, Kool Hand and Soap.

Face 1st, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2022
Face 1st, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2022

I have a feeling that the reason I didn’t post this at the time is that my first round of photographs were sun/shade impacted – this is a spot to be photographed on dull days. To the left is a typically happy piece from Face 1st, that really set the tone for the joy he spread for the rest of the year.

Kool Hand, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2022
Kool Hand, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2022

The middle section was painted by Kool Hand, with this really on-point crocodile holding a marker pen. I was chatting with Face 1st earlier this week, and he said that he felt that this piece really demonstrated how Kool Hand had moved up a level, and I would definitely agree.

Soap, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2022
Soap, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2022

Finally, (and it is always finally, because Soap always paints on the right-hand side of a collaboration) we have a superbly expressive piece of writing from Soap, one of his very best, in my opinion, with stacks of movement and interest. Even if you can’t quite read his letters, he has signed the piece with his tag three times for good measure. I am so sorry you have had to wait a whole year for this one.

4912. St Werburghs tunnel (330)

Face 1st, Soap and Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2022
Face 1st, Soap and Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2022

The Pirate Wall Art (PWA) crew have had a fantastic year, as individuals and as collaborators, creating some of the most memorable pieces in Bristol, and this one at the entrance of St Werburghs tunnel is as memorable as any.

Face 1st, Soap and Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2022
Face 1st, Soap and Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2022

The trio of Face 1st, Soap and Zake have created this fun piece, with Face 1st and Soap propping up a frog by Zake. Everything you’d want to see from these three is here, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next year.

4870. Dean Lane skate park (546)

Face 1st and Chill, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022
Face 1st and Chill, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022

Face 1st and Chill appear to be collaborating quite a lot at the moment, and it is a joy to behold. In this piece the collaboration takes the form of a merger of pieces, rather than simply painting adjacent spaces on a wall. 

Face 1st and Chill, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022
Face 1st and Chill, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022

The frame of the piece, set on a pink backdrop, is the letters FACE in chrome from Face 1st, something we are familiar with seeing. What is different in this instance is that the A of FACE, instead of being one of Face 1st’s laughing girls is a fine cartoon character face from Chill. You can’t help but feel a sense of joy emanating from their work, and their friendship shines through in the collaboration. More to come from these two.

4861. Dean Lane skate park (544)

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022
Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022

In case you missed it, Face 1st is one of my favourite artists in Bristol. I try to post all his work that I come across, but it is an uphill struggle, so I do what I can. This one is on the famous curved wall at Dean Lane.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022
Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022

This is a stock sure thing from Face 1st, with a laughing girl’s face surrounded with FACE hair. In gold and yellow on a sky-blue background, the piece stands out, and there are some additional drips and bubbles to keep the interest. I haven’t seen any of the PWA crew for a long while, but next time I do, I will have to ask them about the significance of the gemstone, which appears in so much of their work.