Tag: Face

1697. St Werburghs tunnel (38)

Hurrah, it is great to find one of Laic217’s distorted face pieces, it feels like an absolute age since I last saw one, he has mostly been spraying skeletons and skulls of late, so this is a welcome return.

Laic217, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2018
Laic217, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2018

This is one of a pair of pieces sprayed side by side in St Werburghs tunnel in early August by the artist, and of the two I would say I slightly prefer it although both are excellent. I really do like his work, and for as long as he keeps putting them out there, I will continue to photograph them and write about them…if I find them. Those eyes!

1683. Upfest 2018 (23)

Now this charming piece is something rather refreshingly different and eye-catching. It is one of two pieces that I am aware of painted by the London-based artist Vanesa Longchamp at Upfest, the other being a North Street shutter piece (to follow).

Vanesa Longchamp, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Vanesa Longchamp, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

It was good to witness this piece taking shape during the festival, although I think that the high winds experienced over the weekend must have made it rather difficult, particularly at the exposed site of Ashton Gate, for the artists.

Vanesa Longchamp, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Vanesa Longchamp, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Vanesa’s simple style betrays some fantastic technique and the shading of the hair and twinkle in the eyes is masterful. I’ve not come across any of herv work before but will be on the look out from now on. Great stuff.

1673. M32 roundabout J3 (91)

Unusually I find myself rather conflicted about this extraordinary recent piece by 3Dom on the M32 wall. I am such a big admirer of his work, but for reasons I cannot identify, this one doesn’t really tick my boxes. It is technically beautifully done, and the blue patterning around the outside is masterful, but there is something about the face that doesn’t work for me. It is peculiar, but I feel a little disloyal, though I don’t suppose that you can like everything all the time.

3Dom, M32, Bristol, August 2018
3Dom, M32, Bristol, August 2018

It is great to see more of his work about the place though, and this piece did manage to survive longer than the Sepr piece two to the left which had been buffed by the time I got there.

1671. Moon Street (52)

This is a recent ‘quick one’ from Kid Crayon…utterly fantastic. It is also just a quick one from me too.

Kid Crayon, Moon Street, Bristol, August 2018
Kid Crayon, Moon Street, Bristol, August 2018

1663. Upfest 2018 (14)

I think this is the one, my favourite piece of Upfest 2018. The reason this works so well for me is that I have long admired this wall for all its textures and character and have photographed it before when it had no graffiti at all (I have searched through my pictures, but can’t find the ones I have taken here in the past, which is really annoying).

Kowse, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Kowse, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

The artist, Kowse One, is not even mentioned in the Upfest programme, and this certainly isn’t an official wall, but he did work on a fabulous collaboration with Braga Last One ( to come). I think he comes from Marseille, but beyond that I know little of him.

The piece itself is perfect in every way. The use of the rendered part of the wall and its juxtaposition with the bare brickwork, the colours used contrasting so well with the surrounding, the accomplished portrait work and the lettering on the face reflecting some of the tags nearby make this an enchanting and exciting piece. There is some real edge and brilliant improvisation. I love it, I love it.

1650. The Bearpit (157)

Wowzer…(not a word I use often), what a fabulous piece in The Bearpit from Face 1st. I have to say that I am just loving his development to full body pieces, and that hair…it’s just brilliant.

Face 1st, The Bearpit, Bristol, August 2018
Face 1st, The Bearpit, Bristol, August 2018

Now I happened to get really lucky a few days back and met Face 1st, Soap and Tasha Bee all at once all for the first time while they were collaborating at the M32 roundabout – more about that in another post. It was such a pleasure to meet Face 1st at last, after three years of posting, and it was rather gratifying and humbling that he had read this blog and even shared some posts with his mother. Watching these guys at work simply inspires me to get out there and start spraying – I would love to be able to do what they do as well as they do it. I guess I need to practice…a lot.

I love, love this piece, and have noticed that he is doing more of these and going big – so much to look forward to.

As an aside – this post is scheduled to publish while I am on an aeroplane bound for Italy…the wonders of modern technology.

1625. M32 Spot (24)

This is not the first piece I have seen by this artist, who I assume is Zake, not Cake or Eake, but it is the first I am posting about them…watch this space for more soon. I know nothing of the artist although I have tried to find out on the Interweb, so will have to confine my writing to what I see, rather than what I know.

Zake, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2018
Zake, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2018

A cartoonish portrait or character, with so much charm and personality. It is a piece that is wonderfully crafted and in a particular style with a lot of focus around the eyes. The touches in purple to give a shadow are perfect, and I love a piece that has a discrete shadow underneath (something that Sepr does a lot). I love and rate this small column piece by Zake.

1597. St Werburghs tunnel (30)

Members of the PWA (Pirate Wall Art) crew have been rather active of late, none more so than Face 1st. In this collaboration he is joined by his friend soap and this piece is opposite some writing, featured in an earlier post by Sikoh.

Soap and Face 1st, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2018
Soap and Face 1st, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2018

When Soap and Face 1st get together, they quite often create one of these vertical collaborations, with the distinctive mouths of Soap on the top and beautiful face underneath by Face 1st.

There are a couple of nice touches on the work. The hair of the girl is made up of wiriting that spells out Face, and forms the lower jaw of Soap’s mouths. There is a little slogan ‘peacefully writin’ art‘, picking up on the crew name. I am always delighted to find work by these two.

1592. The Bearpit (151)

A quick one in The Bearpit from Face 1st going back a little. The main reason that I have posted this is because I remember at the time being incenced by the aggressive graffiti cross in the middle of the face with its far right connotations. When I see this kind of disruption, my immediate thought is ‘what kind of idiot would do this?’. I guess I still find myself constantly challenged by this mindless behaviour. I know that pretty much all artists expect this on the street, but it doesn’t necessarily make it right.

Face 1st, The Bearpit, Bristol, January 2018
Face 1st, The Bearpit, Bristol, January 2018

I don’t think I will ever tire of Face 1st’s work, and I get real pleasure out of each and every piece of his that I find.

1574. Moon Street (47)

When I saw this piece on Face 1st’s Instagram feed, I knew I had to get down to Moon Street straight away to find it. Find it I did, and I think it is probably in my top 3 all time Face 1st pieces.

Face 1st, Moon Street, Bristol, June 2018
Face 1st, Moon Street, Bristol, June 2018

There is so much to like – rarely, if ever, have I seen more than a face in any of his characters…and here we have the full body complete with frilly pink knickers. The soft colours and tones contrast wildly with the bold graffiti aurrounding the piece, making it stand out from the crowd – it is nicely framed in the doorway.

Face 1st, Moon Street, Bristol, June 2018
Face 1st, Moon Street, Bristol, June 2018

Face 1st has always a productive artist, but recently he appears to have gone into overdrive, and he seems to be collaborating a lot too. I’m not sure where this new lease of life has come from, but whatever the reason I love it.