Tag: Graffiti

3980. Upfest 2021 75×75 (68)

You may recall that earlier on this year, at the start of the Upfest 75 walls in 75 days event, several beautiful new pieces were vandalised in one night. This piece from Jody was one of the pieces. I have been holding out for a long time hoping that Jody would come back and repair the damage, but so far no dice. So my impatience has got the better of me and I am sharing the piece on Natural Adventures in its vandalised state.

Jody, Raleigh Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
Jody, Raleigh Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21

I took the feature picture only a day or two after it had been completed by Jody. Pictures of the clean piece are a bit of a rarity, and consequently haven’t been shared much on social media. Jody is a well known Bristol artist who is an old friend of Upfest, creating some amazing walls over the years. This Samurai is a real beauty and an eye-catching piece, but I can’t help getting angry every time I see it because of the writing and the smear on the nose. Some would say that it’s a jungle out there. I would say that there are some idiots out there.

Jody, Raleigh Road, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
Jody, Raleigh Road, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21

Even with the damage to it, this piece is utterly outstanding – and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Jody will repair it one day.

UPDATE – A day or two after I posted this piece it was repaired, so I returned and took some pictures of what the piece should have looked like:

Jody, Raleigh Road, Bristol, October 2021, Upfest 21
Jody, Raleigh Road, Bristol, October 2021, Upfest 21

3929. Carlton Street (2), Weston-super-Mare

Weston-super-Mare and JPS go together like a hand in glove, everywhere you look and every back street has a little bit of JPS artwork, it is almost like an open air museum. Although the artist now lives on the continent, in Germany I think, he comes back often enough to paint occasional new stencils in the town, and with the low frequency of my visits, I get to see a whole load of work new to me. Including this Spiderman beauty.

JPS, Carlton Street, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021
JPS, Carlton Street, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021

JPS always injects humour into his work, and although this phrase is a little bit cheesy, it is also rather prophetic, and indeed the piece has ended up on the web as evidenced here and in countless other digital platforms. Beautifully situated and painted, this is yet another great example to the work of this fabulous artist.

3978. St Werburghs tunnel (260)

Here is one from the archive which I dedicate to Paul H, because he helped me to find it by supplying a date (late September 2019). It is by Chill, who made his debut on Natural Adventures about a week ago. It was following comments on that post that Paul pointed me in the direction of this piece, which I am pleased to share with you now. I love it the way things work out like this.

Chill, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2019
Chill, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2019

I believe Chill is a tattoo artist who occasionally paints walls, and you can see from the black and white colours and general design the tattooist’s hand. It is a bright and vibrant piece and confirms my view that Chill ought to hit Bristol’s walls more often.

3977. St Werburghs tunnel (259)

What a fabulous treat this piece was. I haven’t seen anything from Nugmoose for a while, and certainly never in the tunnel at St Werburghs. Obviously encouraged by collaboration partner Slakarts, no stranger to this spot, the pair have produced this wonderful dual piece.

Nugmoose and Slakarts, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2021
Nugmoose and Slakarts, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2021

On the left is a curious (as always) alien maggot kind of creature with some alien hieroglyphs sitting on a cloud. The whole thing is a little weird, but Nugmoose does weird really well. To the right is Slakart’s contribution which is also a little odd, but tells a rather nice story. It looks to me as if an alien space ship is dropping rain down on the character, who is holding hands(tentacle) with the alien. Imaginative fun from this creative pairing.

3976. Dean Lane skate park (431)

Although I have photographed many pieces by Dopes over the years, I can’t recall ever posting any of them, which is a pity really, because he is a very skilled graffiti writer who has collaborated with other artists (largely from RAW) whose pieces have made it into Natural Adventures. Time to make amends.

Dopes, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2021
Dopes, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2021

While I was photographing this piece, Dopes was actually watching on, unbeknown to me, and eventually he self-disclosed that he was the artist and we struck up a conversation. He was fretting a bit over the colours and some of the detail and was wondering whether to come back and make some small adjustments. I love it that some writers are such perfectionists, for example Rusk is another, that they agonise over a piece even after they have finished it. The lettering in this chrome piece is nicely accompanied by the blue borders and gaps, and the pink dashes just set the piece off really well. More to come from Dopes, and a few forays into my archive are likely.

3975. Brunel Way (123)

It is such a pleasure to welcome back Roo to Bristol, after her summer visit for Upfest’s 75 walls in 75 days. This superb lion was painted, I assume, at the same time as SkyHigh, her partner, painted a piece a few yards away (to come). This is not the first time Roo has painted at this spot, and one of her previous pieces remained for a very long time, demonstrating the respect graffiti artists have for her work.

Roo, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2021
Roo, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2021

The cartoon lion is simply (I want to use the word adorable, but it is a rather patronising word and I don’t want to be patronising) gorgeous (still the wrong word) and gives off a sense of mischief and fun. Roo crafts these amazing animal characters with great skill using big bold designs and colours while not over-complicating things and keeping it simple. Roo and SkyHigh have visited Bristol a fair bit this year, I reckon they should just move and make things better for all of us.

3974. L Dub (31)

It would seem that Laic217 enjoys painting the walls at L Dub (Lawrence Weston) and has once again turned out a typically fine piece painted at or around the time of DJ Perk’s 50th birthday paint jam a few weeks back.

Laic217, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021
Laic217, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021

Dominated by pink and purples, the character is set on a light blue background with PAD (a crew name) and Laic217 scrawled all over it. However, we didn’t come here to admire the background… the smoking character sporting a bucket hat is wearing a magnificent trippy shirt festooned with smiley faces that ripple with every fold of the material, something that Laic217 does so well. It is a clever piece when you consider the limited colour range he has used. More excellent work from one of my faves.

3972. King Street (4)

I got distracted last week looking for an old piece by Irony that I had never posted and came across this old archway piece from Mr Penfold in King Street. This spot ‘belongs’ to Mr Penfold, and every year or two he has a go at repainting it.

Mr Penfold, King Street, Bristol, July 2018
Mr Penfold, King Street, Bristol, July 2018

This incarnation is rather less abstract than most of his work, and you can make out a jug or vase and some ears of corn. If I am honest, I’m not sure if this is one of his best pieces, but it is nice to be able to add it to the collection of his other King Street work.

Mr Penfold, King Street, Bristol, May 2017
Mr Penfold, King Street, Bristol, September 2020
Mr Penfold, King Street, Bristol, August 2019

3971. Alexandra Parade, Weston-super-Mare

Wouldn’t it be great if Irony painted more often in the west of England… oh, hang on a minute he seems to be turning up everywhere at the moment, something surely to be celebrated. Maybe we could tempt him to move to Bristol and treat us with his work more often, that would be good.

Irony, Alexandra Parade, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021
Irony, Alexandra Parade, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021

This magnificent cockerel piece above Sultan’s Kebab House is as brilliant as it is unexpected. What? Who? Why? The piece bursts out of the ordinariness of its surroundings on a bright yellow background and demands attention. What a fabulous addition to this seaside town, known for its street art culture generated mainly by JPS and augmented by Banksy’s ‘Dismaland’ exhibition from a few years ago.

Irony, Alexandra Parade, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021
Irony, Alexandra Parade, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021

The piece is part of an event orchestrated by Upfest for the town, more information taken from the Upfest website is as follows:

Europe’s biggest street art festival is coming to Weston this summer.

Upfest will join forces with Weston Town Council, local artists and organisations including Culture Weston to create a series of murals on buildings across the seaside town this month.

Up-and-coming local artists from Weston, as well as artists from further afield, will be taking part in the project.

They will paint 10 different murals over 10 days, mainly focused in and around the town centre.

The initiative has been funded with a £20,000 grant from the town council.

There will not be a set theme, with artists being asked to come up with their own designs.

The murals will form part of a permanent trail around the town, and it is hoped this will help to bring people into Weston. A shortlist of artists for the project is now being drawn up.

Of course, 10 walls in 10 days is going to be a bit of a challenge for me to record, living a little bit away and only visiting occasionally, but I will try my best.

Irony, Alexandra Parade, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021
Irony, Alexandra Parade, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021

I think that this piece, more than any other, perfectly demonstrates how a piece of urban art, free for all to enjoy, can lift the spirits of a place, create a sense of pride and identity and drive inward investment. A perfect win win situation.

Irony is a genius.

3970. L Dub (30)

Birthday paint jams are a bit of a thing, and recently there seem to have been a spate of them. They are a great excuse for a bunch of friends to get out and paint together, and for people like me offer another raft of fabulous work all in one location. The perennial difficulty is having the capacity tom post about them all (an impossible task).

Turoe, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021
Turoe, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021

The birthday in question belonged to DJ Perks and these three pieces are by Turoe, Slim Pickings (TES) and Bags. The old-school character given some contemporary treatment is by Turoe and just in case we were any doubt, DJ Perks was 50.

Slim Pickings, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021
Slim Pickings, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021

Slim Pickings is metronome-like in his regularity, turning out these TES pieces time and again. Unfortunately these days, more of them end up in my archives than being posted, such is the massive turnover in Bristol at the moment. Bright bold colours and sharp lines, just what you’d expect.

Bags, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021
Bags, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021

A rather overlooked writer in Natural Adventures is Bags, probably because he doesn’t paint quite as often as his contemporaries, but that is no excuse really. This is a fine piece of writing, neatly done and kind of fun too with the hand bursting out of the ‘B’. All in all a lovely tribute to DJ Perks, who loves painting in this spot. More from this paint jam to come.