Face 1st – Page 3 – Natural adventures

6174. M32 roundabout J3 (594)

Face 1st and Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Although it didn’t last a very long time, this is a nice collaboration from PWA’s Face 1st and Zake. I think that I would be the first to say that it is an unusual collaboration, but in the same breath a really interesting one too.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Face 1st has been experimenting a lot lately, especially with his 3D block writing, and this piece demonstrated perfectly the kind of writing he is producing at the moment. The writing appears to be cut in to a long block of machinery or a device, indicated by the numerous red filament bulbs along the length. The letters spell out FACE, of course, and although a little rough at the edges, the concept is a great one. I love the light bulbs.

Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Zake has painted one of his cartoon character faces, full of depth and relief. I don’t feel that the two pieces work terribly well together, but they don’t need to, because each stands alone perfectly well. I do enjoy the constant creativity and unrelenting effort from the PWA crew – and ever-present heart-beat of the Bristol scene.

6163. M32 Cycle path (270)

Face 1st, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2024

What a surprise this piece by Face 1st is. I don’t think I have ever seen anything like it from him before, and had he not signed it, I might have struggled to guess it was one of his, although once you know, there are some signs you can read with hindsight.

There is something very beautiful and homely about this piece and I assume it is a portrait of Ella, one of his children maybe. I find the whole piece very touching and full of love. I particularly like the wooden table, and the girl’s freckles. I love it when artists do something unexpected like this, demonstrating their range and versatility. This is brilliant from Face 1st.

5978. Dean Lane skate park (710)

Chill, Face 1st and Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

One of the strong themes of Bristol street art in 2023 was the continuing presence of the PWA crew as a major force in the city’s graffiti scene. That presence has seamlessly continued into 2024. This February triptych from Chill, Face 1st and Zake in Dean Lane is part of that contiuity.

Chill, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

I feel that I rather take Chill for granted a little, simply expecting every piece he paints to be as brilliant as the last, and in this respect he never disappoints. He has been introducing more colour into his pieces and adding more points of interest in beautiful doodle formats around his characters, such as the flower and little bird here. I feel that Chill has or desires to have a strong connection with nature, which I applaud.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

Face 1st is a hero of Bristol street art, and an ever-present throughout the nine years I have been writing about it. In this piece, a girl with big FACE hair, Face 1st has chosen some bright and striking colours that scream out very loudly from the wall behind the fence. There is some revisiting his brain theme and lots of splodges and drippy bits. Lots of fun here, although this girl doesn’t seem to be too happy.

Rounding off the triptych is an unusual piece by Zake, who has incorporated a couple of ideas I haven’t seen from him before. I love it that artists often choose to push the boundaries of their craft. The orange lenses of the glasses the character is wearing work very nicely, the challenge here being to keep the face intact and seamless behind the orange colour. The other weirdness is the eye in the mouth, for which I have no explanation, it is just a bit odd and unsettling. The three PWA boys have smashed it once again.

5971. Dean Lane skate park (709)

Zake and Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024

I don’t do this too often, but I forgot about today’s posts until just now (8.42am). I have a lot on my mind. I am in Buxton in Derbyshire with work. Today’s posts are going to be super-short.

A brilliant pairing of Face 1st and Zake from the PWA crew. Zake smashes it with this gorgeous cartoon portrait full of texture and depth.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024

The writing from Face 1st is a little unusual but nonetheless captivating. Spelling out FACE and no smiling girls this time.

5869. M32 cycle path (254)

Soap, Zake and Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

Although street art and graffiti can be and is painted at any time of day and on any day, there is definitely a strong pulse of activity on weekends. At times, it can be more difficult for me to get out at the weekend than during he week, which might seem counterintuitive, but there is no rhythm to the weekends, and there is always so much to do. This fabulous PWA collaboration was painted at a weekend, but I didn’t get to see it until the following week on my rounds.

Soap, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

This one is a triptych with Soap on the left, Zake in the middle and Face 1st on the right, in the letters – character – letters format so commonly used in collaborations. Soap has painted a beauty, with big letters spelling out his name and a character from the cartoon series Adventure Time (I think) replacing the letter ‘O’. I m not too sure about the the bleeding heart, but I guess there is a story there, conscious or unconscious, somewhere.

Zake, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

In the middle is something rather different from Zake. We are used to seeing cartoon-style portraits, full of depth, so this bullet comes as a bit of a surprise. I am guessing that it is the bullet that is causing such carnage running through the whole collaboration.

Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

On the right, Face 1st has painted one of his blocky FACE pieces of graffiti writing, with very deep drop shadows and a rather distressed face peering through the ‘A’. There is an indication of trauma here too, continuing the collaboration theme. The crew are carrying on in 2024, where they left off in 2023, and that can only be good news.

5855. M32 roundabout J3 (556)

Kool Hand, Face 1st, Soap and Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024

This collaboration from the Pirate Wall Art (PWA) crew is a little different in one key respect, and it doesn’t take too long to figure out what that is, but to spell it out, Soap and Face First’s writing resembles throw-up style graff quite unlike their usual individual styles.

Kool Hand, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024

To the left Kool Hand, an occasional PWA collaborator, has painted a blue leopard wearing a yellow bucket hat, and why not, pointing, I would like to think, in admiration of his friends’ writing. Kool Hand is perhaps an underrated street artist in Bristol, whose work often goes under the radar, particularly on social media.

Face 1st and Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024

Unusually for a triptych collaboration, the centrepiece here is writing, and a very fine combination from Face 1st on top and Soap underneath. The writing designs are quite old-school and in themselves nothing to write home about, but the fills elevate this central panel to a different level altogether. The pink fill is decorated with a whole bunch of squiggly designs, but the clever bit is how the fills transition seamlessly between the two pieces of writing. Great stuff.

Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024

I said in a post a couple of days ago, that Zake has been smashing it for a long time. He is a machine, turning out creative and fun pieces at a rate of at least one a week, This piece on close inspection is a little grotesque, as the main character is putting an arm into a mincing machine. The stuff of horror nightmares. Perhaps it is a representation of Sweeny Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street. Who ever it is, there is a story here. All in all this is a fine February collaboration from the PWA boys.

5836. St Werburghs tunnel (407)

Face 1st, Zake and Chill, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2024

It is great to see the PWA crew continuing their high-energy and frequent collaborations into 2024, although I dread to think how much money has been spent on spray paint by the team already this year. This is a tidy collaboration squeezed into the end wall of St Werburghs tunnel, united by a chrome and blue colour scheme. The piece, painted on a common background, is by Face 1st, Zake and Chill.

To the left Face 1st with a couple of happy ‘rag doll’ girls, one of them falling from the sky, contributing both fun and movement to the collaboration. In the middle Zake has painted one of his characteristic faces, full of texture and depth created by clever use of light and dark shading, and Chill rounds off the piece with a cartoon character, looking a little worse for wear, painted in his illustrative tattoo style, and rounded off with a couple of little birds in the corner. Great work from PWA.

5796. Dean Lane skate park (683)

Face 1st, Chill, Kool Hand and Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2024

The PWA boys have been at it again, for what may have been their first collaboration of 2024 and this one included Face 1st, Chill, Kool Hand (by invitation I think) and Laic217 on one of their favourite walls in Dean Lane.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2024

Face 1st has come up with something a little different for this piece. He presents us with one of his laughing girls, wearing glasses and holding something in her hands. I can’t quite work out what it is, but in my mind it is either a wrap, or she is rolling a cigarette/joint. Underneath the character is a FACE in bubble writing.

Next to Face 1st is a wonderfully animated character by Chill, suitably dressed with a woolly hat for a cold January day. The smoking character is really well painted and typical of Chill’s fabulous cartoon style, which captures his tattoo skills and artwork.

Kool Hand, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2024

Next up is a dog character from Kool Hand, who has painted with PWA on a couple of occasions, but I am not sure whether this is as a guest or a member of the crew. I suspect the membership is a little loose in any case. The blue dog is nicely painted with strong solid fills and a clean thick border. The character is missing a mouth, and as am not sure if it is deliberate or whether Kool Hand decided, for whatever reason not to include one.

Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2024

Last up is a nice piece from Laic217, as always. This time he has squeezed on a rather angular skeleton skull face, also wearing a woolly hat for the cold weather and a hoody. The angular sun glasses are in line with the shape of the skull. A lovely winter-warmer from the PWA crew.

5778. M32 Cycle path (249)

Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, January 2024

Just a reminder that Face 1st remains one of my favourite Bristol artists. He and his PWA friends provide the rhythm and bass upon which the Bristol street and graffiti art scene thrive. This piece, I think a solo effort, takes us back to a simpler version of Face 1st’s work.

This laughing girl piece with the letters FACE making up her hair is a theme that Face 1st has used to great effect for many years, and here, he is reminding us that he is happy to keep revisiting the idea, in his unstoppable way. What is a little different to similar pieces from the past is that the letters are made to look chunky and deep some good 3D work. Keep ’em coming.

5739. St Werburghs tunnel (395)

Sako, Face 1st and Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2023

This PWA collaboration as taken me an eternity to post, mainly because it was sited in the middle of the tunnel and the conditions for photography there are atrocious. These pictures were my third attempt to capture the wonderful work by Sako, Face 1st and Zake.

Sako, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2023

On the left is a wonderful piece by Sako, who is beginning to make a bit of a name for himself. This piece is telling a wonderful story which seems to represent a made-up mythology of higher beings and the communities around them. The central character (a God?) is collecting poppy heads, which appear to be represented in the landscape behind him. There is a lot to interpret here, thanks to the quality of artwork, and I hope one day to meet Sako to get some insight to what this all might mean.

Face 1st, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2023

In the middle, Face 1st has some interesting faces that are in different stages of decomposition, or so it would seem, with the two on the right dipping with brains and blood. I don’t know what this tells us about the inner workings of the artist’s mind, but it surely tells us something. There is a nice shout-out to Soap, Chill and Sikoh, PWA members unable to paint on the day.

Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2023

On the right is a striking portrait by Zake, which, although eye-catching, doesn’t quite work for me. I am not really understanding the shading around the eyes and into the hair. The character is obviously top-lit, highlighted by the orange shading on the ears, nose and eyebrows, but I can’t unsee a mask around the eyes. Nonetheless, as I said before, the piece is striking and interesting.

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