This piece is actually not really on Brunel Way, but is in the Cumberland Basin where the Brunel Way bridge/flyover begins. And who should pop up here but Pekoe, who until a couple of weeks ago was completely under my radar.
This piece, in doodle style, is actually really nicely presented and has a great balance of bright colours and squiggle elements to make up a fine portrait. I am new to her work, but I am enjoying what I see and look forward to finding more of her pieces in Bristol.
I love, love, love this collaboration piece by Face 1st and Tash Bee. Totally understated and beautifully sprayed on a concrete column under Brunel Way, this piece is tucked away and pretty much out of view. There is a serenity about the piece that works so very well, and the setting is just a perfect way to frame the piece.
I don’t know how long these two have been collaborating for, but there have been a spate of their joint pieces cropping up all over the place just recently. For me, this is the best yet. Their use of colour and form is similar, but each has a very distinctive look. The top section is by Face 1st and beneath it is a superb styalized portrait by Tash Bee. I have met neither of these artists, but it I keep looking, it is just a matter of time.
A happy find.
Oooh, I love this one from Face 1st, tucked around a corner in City Road, where I only periodically take a squint at the walls there that don’t change all that often. I’m glad I made the effort as this is Face 1st just how I like him.
Great colour selection, and I will never tire of his basic easy-on-the-eye premise of spelling out FACE with his swirls and a white face incorporated somewhere along the way. One of Bristol’s most prolific street artists.
It feels like the PWA crew are really waking up at the moment. Face 1st and Soap have become more active on Instagram, and on the streets they seem to be busy, not only individually but also collaborating. This is a great thing to witness, and I hope this rich streak of form continues.
This collaboration is a little unusual for me, because I haven’t seen writing from Soap before (look carefully to see SOAP), being much more used to his large mouthed characters. The piece is tucked away down a side road on the St Pauls/Montpelier border, on a wall that had been getting a bit tatty with graff and tags.
Face 1st is of course a favourite of mine and in this work we see his familiar tear drop designs (almost paisley pattern-like) and a face with large appealing eyes.
This is quite an unusual collaboration in quite an unusual place, but a most welcome find when not really looking for it. It is a pity about the green car parked in front of the piece, which prevented me getting a decent front on photograph, but cars are out there and dodging them is part of the experience.
I have featured quite a few pieces by Nevla recently and this one is the least like all the others. Pretty much all of his work that I have seen so far is of cartoon characters. This one is slightly different in that it is a little less lighthearted than the rest, more of a study than a cartoon.
I am nearly at the end of the Nevla pieces that I have, and I haven’t seen any recent work although I am constantly on the look out. As I mentioned in a previous post, I like his unique style and would like to see him produce work in other hotspots around the city. Nice green face.
I have been posting about the work of Face 1st for a long time now, and he really is one of my favourite artists in Bristol. His simple formula of combining the word FACE with a face incorporated never ceases to impress me. I have also noticed that he has started to become active on Instagram, which will help me to keep on top of his work and maybe find out a little bit more about him.
This piece on the Carriageworks in Stokes Croft is from a little while ago, but is one of the last few to be sprayed on this building which is now fenced off as the long awaited (decades) development work on the site has begun. The site was a bit grotty, but part of the character of the area will be lost forever once the graffiti and street art are no longer incorporated. Gentrification is gaining pace in the area.
Since I started wrioting posts about Face 1st, I have been calling him Face F1st…uit is a difficult thing to do once you have a habit, but I will from no on refer to him as Face 1st (which will bugger up my archive searches a little but there you go).
Back to some more pieces from Upfest 2017 starting with the third collaboration from Caro Pepe and Age Age. I love the work that these two do together, and their different subject matter and styles complement each other so well and in this piece fuse together perfectly.
At last year’s Upfest they definitely went for this subtle colour scheme of mauves and browns, which is actually very effective. These are not brash ‘in your face’ works, rather they are gentle comforting studies.
Age Age’s contribution begins on the left and Caro Pepe’s on the right. The central panel is where they come together creating a robot girl whose right eye is covered over under the face mask. Of their three contributions, this is my favourite. I think they are returning this year and it will be interesting to see if they work together again.
I believe this to be the best piece I have seen this year, and one of the best that the artist, Tom Miller, has produced to date. This classy work was painted for a Spring paint jam on 14 April 2018 and dominates all around it.
This most most eye-catching and vibrant of pieces, illuminates the tunnel and brings a touch of fine art to the people who pass through it. So typical of Miller’s work, there is a face, disfigured and distorted by colour stretching out of it. A scene of serenity and torture compressed into one space. His surreal and dream-like pieces never cease to amaze me, but this one really trumps the rest.
Tom Miller has been busy this Spring, a trend which I hope spans into the summer and beyond. This piece is so good.
I’m not too sure when Gregos came to Bristol, but I have a feeling it might have been for Upfest 2015. There are only one or two of his face masks that remain in the city. I took this picture in 2016, and to be honest I’ve not checked to see if it is still there.
His masks adorn walls all around Europe and beyond, and it is always a pleasure to come across one. These haunting masks retain so much detail from the original mould and you can see wrinkles and eyelashes. His expressions vary from mask to mask, and with all installation artists location is critical. Gregos is the king of this style of street art.
I do like Face F1st’s work, a lot, he is so typically ‘Bristol’. It is difficult to explain what I mean by that, but I know what I mean, so that is ok. This is just a small piece in Moon Street, but it is wonderfully expressive.
There is not too much more to say about this little gem other than to take a look and enjoy it.
Natural adventures 