I seem to have posted a lot of work by Daz Cat recently, perhaps he is going through one of those productive phases that street artists seem to go through – perhaps a bit of time on his hands just now.
Daz Cat, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2018
A cat in a shirt, who’d have thought? I like Das Catz’s work a lot, it always has a bit of edge, and the characters, mostly cats and dogs, often have a little menace about them. In this piece, there is something compelling about the buttons on the shirt, my eyes are drawn to them. The piece simply wouldn’t balance properly without them.
Set against dramatic skies, that I don’t recall being as dramatic as they look in these pictures, is one of the greatest murals in Bristol to date. This is a masterpiece by the utterly brilliant fine artist Andrew Burns Colwill.
Andrew Burns Colwill, Devon Road, Bristol, July 2018
Taking up an entire wall of an end-of-terrace building the mural depicts a fabulous representation of the diverse cultural heritage of Easton. This is a part of Bristol that has embraced multi-culturalism and celebrates it with an annual feast.
Andrew Burns Colwill, Devon Road, Bristol, July 2018
I am not fully acquainted with all the characters that ABC has depicted here but I am pretty sure that they will be well known characters and figureheads from the Easton community.
Andrew Burns Colwill, Devon Road, Bristol, July 2018
I love the feast, I love the celebration, I love the sky and I love Andrew Burns Colwill. I truly believe he is one of the great story tellers of our city and he tells the stories through his vivid paintings. A true gent and a man I admire greatly – Andrew Burns Colwill is one of the outstanding talents of the city and represents much about its outspoken independence, its unique place in the UK, its tolerence, its rage, its compassion and acceptance.
Andrew Burns Colwill, Devon Road, Bristol, July 2018
Oh I just love it when I make new finds when I am actually looking for something completely different and stumble upon something like this. I was driving round Easton hunting down Andrew Burns Colwill’s new mural when I drove up Devon Road – a funny road that has a dog-leg layout, one part of which is a back street and the other a fairly busy main road.
Deamze, Devon Road, Bristol, July 2018
This is of course by Deamze, and I just don’t know how it fell outside my radar, but I am glad I found it nonetheless. Even better is that I know who the character references are which can’t be said for a lot of the 80s and 90s cartoon characters that Deamze uses.
Deamze, Devon Road, Bristol, July 2018
The character is the robot Bender from the TV series by Matt Groening (creator of the Simpsons – who have featured big time at Upfest 2018). It is all very good, and Deamze’s wildstyle writing is exceptional as always. I love the freshness of this piece.
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
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.
The first time I saw anything by Dabuten Tronko was round about the time of Upfest 2017 and I immediately liked his deconstructed rowing boats. At Upfest, artists tend to come and then go and if you get lucky they come the following year. Well I’m not sure if he planned on being at Upfest 2018, but he did come to Bristol in June and left two fine pieces of which this is the first.
Dabuten Tronko, High Street, Bristol, July 2018
There is something rather compelling about the theme he often chooses for his wall work, with a focus on small wooden rowing boats in a state of disassembly. I wonder if this is symbolic of anything in particular or an unconscious outpouring, but I expect there is quite a lot that lies beneath the surface of this work.
Note the Whysayit YSAE tag at the top of the piece.
I think I am in love with Tasha Bee’s work…there I’ve said it. I don’t know what it is about her style that presses all of my buttons, but there is something. Maybe it is the slightly 60s look and feel, maybe it is the colour palettes she uses, maybe it is the simplicity of expressions on her subjects or maybe it is that she does awesome collaborations with Face 1st. It is probably all of these and more.
Tasha Bee, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2018
This was one of two pieces I recently photographed in St Werburghs tunnel, lucky me, and each of them is equally good. The only dowenside is their location in the tunnel – the lighting is always so tricky. I think I might have got away with it this time…just.
We used to eat at Jamie’s Italian on Park Street reasonably often as it was a restaurant that the whole family liked. Sadly his business overstretched itself and had to close a whole ton of branches, including this one in Bristol. On the upside though, the hoarding on the outside has been beautifully decorated with a Cheba and Inkie collaboration.
Inkie and Cheba, Park Street, Bristol, July 2018
This piece speaks volumes about the independent and individual culture of Bristol – that street art is sanctioned and even encouraged onto one of the most iconic shopping streets in the city and that the piece itself is bright and cheery and a bold statement of pride about the street itself. The work was sponsored by the Bristol Buisness Improvement District (BID) and was painted at the start of July.
Looking at the artwork itself, it is quite difficult to see an Inkie piece and not read the word Inkie in it. I swear I read Inkie whenever I see it. Cheba dose what Cheba does and provides a splendid cosmic backdrop for the letters. A fine collaboration and ‘in your face’ (in a nice way) piece of Bristol street art.
An old collaboration, the remnants of which can still be seen in Moon Street. The writing on the left obviously belongs to Ryder and the rather scary voodoo-like character is by the elusive 2Keen, both of RAW.
Ryder and 2Keen, Moon Street, Bristol, May 2016
I have always been rather fond of this wall and can’t think why I haven’t posted it before. Ryder’s writing meets the high expectations one expects from his work, and the 2Keen piece is really rather special. His work is quite unlike anyone else’s and has a soft quality to it, almost blurry. A specialist in character teeth. Great at last to publish this one.
A wonderful collaboration between Paul Monsters and Loch Ness that has been hiding away in my archive for such a very long time. Too good to leave there, especially as I owe my debut piece to these two, Paul for all his unvelievable work on Upfest and Loch Ness for giving me my lesson in spray painting.
Paul Monsters and Loch Ness, North Street Green, July 2015
It is rare to see a piece by Paul Monsters these days that isn’t some kind of geometric design, and Loch Ness too has developed his technique and is favouring larger pieces these days. The two still collaborate, and I expect to see them both hard at work at Upfest.
I am writing this in advance, but by my estimate this post should be out the day before Upfest begins.
Europe’s largest street art festival begins in Bristol tomorrow, and I am (will be) beside myself with excitement. Time to prep cameras and make sure all batteries are powered up to the max. I’ll start to post images from the festival as soon as I am able, but regular followers will know that it take me about 9 months or so to work through them.
It is only about three months ago that I first found out about Slim Pickings. Since that time, I have met him, posted about him and found quite a few of his pieces in my archive. This one is rather interesting because it is a mirror image of his usual tag.
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2018
I don’t know if this would have been easy for him to do, or a real challenge. I would find it very difficult, because I struggle with mirror image layout. I know this because I live in a semi-detached building which has a mirrored layout on each side. When I have been next door, it does my head in. I can’t transpose the reflection in my head. Slim Pickings has left us with a perfect reflection beautifully sprayed in chrome. More to come from this No Frills artist.
Natural adventures 