Tag: Graffiti

2695. River Avon (3)

Context is very important to our comprehension of the world around us. I passed this piece last week on a walk I rarely take and I knew I recognised the artist, but my brain just couldn’t compute who it was, because I’m not used to seeing his work outside of the places I would normally come across it. It wasn’t until the return leg of the walk that the penny dropped.

Riverside walk 010 10 January 2020_edited

This is of course a fabulous chrome piece by Slakarts that judging from its condition is fairly recent. Although I have been taking pictures of art by Slakarts for a long time, it is only recently that I have started posting them, due to finding out who he was only a few months ago. Ever since, he seems to have been churning out these faces with alarming regularity, which is all rather good really.

Those glasses are spectacleular (see what I did there?) and I imagine look striking from the opposite bank of the river.

2694. River Avon (2)

I took a riverside walk with the dog last week and found this recent and absolutely brilliant Nevergiveup (@followmyrabbits) piece. The weird thing about this was that as I was walking along the pathway I saw two men talking and I was sure I recognised one of them. I carried on anyway for about ten minutes before turning back along the path to get back to the car. I passed the two gentlemen again and the penny dropped. I had indeed recognised one of them… it was only Nevergiveup himself.

Nevergiveup, River Avon, Bristol, January 2020
Nevergiveup, River Avon, Bristol, January 2020

We had a little chat, and I asked if he had just painted this rabbit pair – he said he had not done it that day, but a weeek or two before. It was looking so fresh still.

I am however a little confused… Since the artist left Bristol for Bath, he seems to still be painting in the city with alarming regularity. I told him I can’t keep up with him and he said he can’t keep up with himself. At least I have a whole ton of rabbits in storage to share with you if things quieten down… as if.

2693. St Werburghs tunnel (131)

This is just the kind of collaboration that I absolutely love, and that one of the artists is Kid Crayon makes it a whole lot better. The other artist, I am Ian (Ian Moore) is new to me, and I understand from his Instagram account hasn’t  painted a wall for five or six years.

Kid Crayon, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020
Kid Crayon, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020

The tunnel in St Werburghs has been a very busy venue for artists this autumn/winter, I suspect because we have had so much wet weather for such a long time.

On the left of the collaboration is a snoozing king by Kid Crayon, complete with orb and sceptre, and large bags of money.

I Am Ian, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020
I Am Ian, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020

While the king snoozes, a naughty goblin-like wannabe king is making off with some stolen cash and the crown, leaving behind a mischievous fart cloud in his wake. I rather like this character and if this is anything to go by, I can’t wait for I Am Ian to hit a few more walls this year. The whole thing is a witty story beautifully portrayed, and everything I look for in a piece of street art. I salute you KC and IM. Turn the letters around and you have a new crew name MICK!

Kid Crayon and I Am Ian, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020
Kid Crayon and I Am Ian, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020

2692. St Werburghs tunnel (130)

Wow, I love it when Sled One just pitches up unannounced and then modestly produces his magic like he did in this most recent example in St Werburghs tunnel. The piece features an octopus (what is it about street art and octopi?) sporting a bucket hat and fondly embracing an umbrella, possibly a little too fondly.

Sled One, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020
Sled One, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020

There is a lot of perspective and movement in the piece, something that Sled One does so well, and he is a master at creating textures and depth with the use of shading. This is yet another crazy (in a good way) piece from the artist, and made all the more remarkable by the fact that he had a fractured wrist and ankle at the time of painting this, a week or so ago. Just brilliant.

2691. Dean Lane skate park (273)

It seems like my eyes have been opened. Either Turoe One has been painting a lot more in recent months than over the last five years or so, or I have got my eye in and am spotting his work where before it passed me by. Either way, it is great to find lots of his work and in so many styles too.

Turoe One, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020
Turoe One, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020

Turoe One is very versatile and changes his style a lot, unlike some other artists who have a very distinct style that they repeat with variations. This piece resembles a kind of blend between Soker and Dibz (or maybe that’s just me). Anyhow it is a very neat and tidy work with clean lines and for interest there is a fine pink decoration running through the piece. More Turoe One stuff in the pipeline.

2690. Dean Lane skate park (272)

This is a really interesting piece to write about because it has given me an opportunity to introduce you to an artist I have never posted before here on Natural Adventures. I have a whole ton of his work in my files, but didn’t quite know how to break the ice. The artist is Taboo, or at least that is what I will call him (her?) until I know more about them, which currently is zilch. You can see the word TABOO in reverse in this piece (I thought it said EAT when I first saw it) with the OO being made out of the eyes of the skull.

Taboo, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020
Taboo, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020

There is a definite style here that is consistent across all of his work, with quite bold lettering that is in a font all of its own. The artwork is quite crude, in so much as it is not clean and crisp like so many graffiti writers in Bristol, but it has something in the raw approach that makes it rather effective. The skull appears to be firing beams out at the letters, which I am guessing might have been a bit of an afterthought.

All in all I rather like this different kind of piece from Taboo and over time look forward to posting more of his work and understanding more about the artist. A good start.

 

 

2689. Park Street Avenue

Well, I never did get a clean shot of this great two-tone piece by RichT and now of course it has gone forever, so this is the best I have. RichT has quite an unusual style in which he tends to fill the ‘canvass’ from top to bottom with decoration and detail, there are no ‘white spaces’ in his work – busy and interesting.

RichT, Park Street Avenue, Bristol, December 2018
RichT, Park Street Avenue, Bristol, December 2018

This piece was painted on a hoarding half way up Park Street on a building that seems to have been going through a renovation for a very long time. The work has been there for most of it, but wheely bins and scaffolding have been at the scourge of decent street photography. I still felt the piece was worth posting though as I do rather like RichT’s work.

2688. North Street

This is an extraordinary paste up that I really ought to have posted some time ago, but it slipped through the net until I had a little look back through old files. It is by the Bristol-based artist Gvnly and presents his surreal style with real confidence.

Gvnly, North Street, Bristol, December 2018
Gvnly, North Street, Bristol, December 2018

At first I mistook this for a regular poster and with peripheral vision it looked like a kind of generic ‘circus coming to town’ poster. But as always with these things taking a moment to stop and look has its rewards. There is a lot going on in this colourful piece and there is quite a dreamy type of theme going on. I’m not sure what media were used in the painting, nor do I quite understand how it was turned into a poster (I’m not very good at understanding that kind of stuff). The wheatpaste stayed up for quite a long time before finally seccumbing to the elements. Something a little different from the norm in Bristol, and all the better for it.

 

 

2687. Turbo Island

Turbo Island Has seen quite a bit of action in the last month. First there was a reminder to vote in the election from DNT (not posted), then there was a happy Christmas message from Rezwonk and Decay, and then early in the new year, Mr Klue gave us this lovely abstract piece.

Mr Klue, Turbo Island, Bristol, January 2020
Mr Klue, Turbo Island, Bristol, January 2020

Nothing lasts long on this hoarding before it gets tagged, and I was a bit slow in photographing this one. I do think though that it is a great place for street/graffiti art and I would like to think that this will become a high quality high turnover space for local artists. It certainly is in a fantastic spot with a whole ton of cars passing by every day, and I think that there is an element of curation from the Peeople’s Republic of Stokes Croft.

Mr Klue has included a Mad Hatter’s hat, which is a motif used reasonably frequently in the artist’s work. Great to see a flurry of Mr Klue pieces this winter, because as many will know I am an admirer of his nicely understated work.

2686. M32 Cycle path (49)

It is a great time of year for street art because although there is not a huge amount of action (something of a relief for me I can tell you) on the streets it is a time when artists are doing their ‘first piece of the new year/decade’ and it somehow feels a bit like a fresh start.

Pekoe, M32 cycle path, Bristol, January 2020
Pekoe, M32 cycle path, Bristol, January 2020

This new one from Pekoe on the M32 cycle path is a fresh and clean start to the year. Of course the portrait piece wouldn’t be a Pekoe work without the big hair, and what magnificent hair with a crown, hearts and face concealed in it. A wonderful way to kick off January.