What a lovely Christmas present from Mr Draws. He sprayed this enormous chrome burner just before Christmas Day and what is difficult to convey is its size. It is an impressive and fun piece.
It is so good to have a regular feed of Mr Draws pieces, which he finds time to spray, in between woking in his studio on his mountains. I love this bloke.
Back in October 2017, John D’oh had a lot of fun spraying a whole load of stencils in The Bearpit. This was one that he seemed to be particularly fond of.
It would appear to be a homage to ‘Where the Wall’, a Bristol company that offers street art tours, wall curation and graffiti experiences. This would seem to be a genuine tribute, but with a history of cynicism towards and lampooning of the establishment, one can never be too sure with John D’oh.
As a group, these stencils take on quite a dynamic colourful feel and it is interesting to see how different they look on different backgrounds. John D’oh has been very busy this winter and long may it continue.
There are two small spots at the end of Dighton Street which appear to get a new lick of paint roughly annually. Two years ago there were two musicians by Sepr and last year there were two pieces of wildstyle writing by Deamze. Now it seems the rotation continues between these two ASK members with the emergence of another two musicians by Sepr.
On the right there is a trumpeting gentleman. Sepr betrays his long love for music with these pieces and conveys not only the interesting stylised characters but a sense of the music too.
The piece on the left is a lady violinist (or is it a viola?). Unfortunately, even though these were only a few days old by the time I got to photograph them, the taggers had been at work. Kind of annoying really. I continue to love Sepr’s work.
The truth about Face F1st is that I simply can’t keep up with him at the moment, he is being so incredibly productive. Another thing about his work is that it is largely confined to Stokes Croft and the M32 roundabout. I think I have only ever seen one piece of his in Bedminster.
In this piece we see Face F1st using some rather more upbeat colours compared with the sober tones he usually uses. I’m afraid that the focus in the feature photograph is really poor, and I might have to replace the picture when I next get a chance. I really like this piece.
It is always a pleasure to see a piece in progress and, if you are lucky enough, to see it again once completed. This was one such work by Ugar, our very own Hungarian Maestro.
I am really interested in seeing how he layers his work and that in common with many other writers, he starts with draft outline letters and then fills in the background before filling the letters. This feels counter-intuitive to me…being a non-artist, I would simply slap the background down first and then work up from there…this is one of the reasons why I am not out there spraying (apart from an utter absence of talent).
The final piece of wildstyle writing is exquisite and all the more admirable for being worked onto the pre-existing colourful piece beneath it. I must confess that I had come to photograph the Erase piece that Ugar sprayed over, and was a little disappointed initially. That was until I saw the final product. I am looking forward to seeing more from Ugar in 2018.
Immediately adjacent to Gnasher’s chimpanzee in Stucley Place there is a door with a couple of wheatpastes on it. The higher of the two is by Face the Strange and features four brightly coloured suited gentlemen with half fruits or vegetables for faces. I am guessing that this has been around for a while. The piece is actually made up of four individual strips.
The lower pasteup is by Codefc featuring one of his characters with a camera head. Both pieces have similar themes and yet the individual style of the artists shines through.
I posted a piece by Codefc from Upfest 2016, but it seems that more recently he has favoured freestyle spraying, judging by his Instagram feed. I enjoy seeing artists moving through different techniques and expressing their work in different ways. This is a nice door.
I was lucky enough to pass by this wonderful abstract piece while it was being sprayed by Mr Jiver, a London artist who told me he had his roots in wildstyle writing and that there are echoes of that in his current abstract works.
The intention for this piece was that it was meant to be a collaboration, but there was a ‘no show’ from the other artist which accounts for the gaps that have been left.
I would guess that artwork like this is at risk of being criticised in the same way that art by Jackson Pollock has been criticised…that old chestnut ‘I could probably do that with my eyes shut’ kind of thing. The retort might be ‘well go ahead then’. Mr Jiver has created a thought out piece with deliberate colour selections, shapes and shading and I celebrate it.
I enjoy meeting artists when they are at work and trying to understand a little bit more about what motivates them. Insight certainly helps with interpretation. Mr Jiver – nice bloke, great work.
Not too far away from Camden Town tube station and in the direction of Camden Lock Market is an absolute jewel of a street – Stucley Place. There are a few walls here that have some lovely work, and this is the first of three posts from my visit to Camden Town in November.
Gnasher (David Nash) is an extraordinary artist who seems to be able to produce amazing photorealistic pieces with consummate ease. Last July I posted a work he produced in Leake Street tunnel featuring Guardians of the Galaxy characters. In this piece he has produced a stunning portrait of a chimpanzee that conveys a sadness and wisdom that seems to be nature’s lot in today’s world.
It is a difficult piece to photograph because of the glare, but even with these slightly dodgy pictures it is possible to see what a truly classy piece this is. So definitely worth a visit if you find yourself in the area.
You’d have to go back to July 2017 to see this, although it remained for a few months. The fine Deamze piece was sprayed on the Where the Wall curated wall in Wilder Street and was one of three pieces sprayed at that time, the others being by Aintzane Crucet and Hide2
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Deamze is the local artist of the three and probably played host to the other two, making arrangements for them to spray this wall. His is a technically fabulous piece, and the colour selections were made to blend in with the other two artists. I love the way that artists cooperate and collaborate like this, it certainly seems to bring out the best in them.
A quick one from NEVERGIVEUP in The Bearpit from a little while back. This is one of his urban rabbits, before he moved on to monsters. Clean and simple and pleasing on the eye.
Although NEVERGIVEUP was incredibly busy on the streets during the year, he appears to have slowed down a little – maybe he has a new job or some other distraction, or maybe he has simply filled all those spaces that needed filling.
Natural adventures 