More Merny mirth. The utterly unique style of this storytelling artist is always enjoyable, and forces the viewer to stop and think for a moment or two. Here the subject is busy, fixated on his phone. My interpretation is that he is telling himself he will go to sleep in one minute, knowing that his addiction to social media will not allow that to happen.
Merny, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2023
The naive style combined with the numbered tags are so much a part of Merny’s work, that there really is no need for a signature. Some may dismiss his work, but I consider it to be thoughtful, challenging and deliberate, and am cheered up every time I find a new piece.
Doors 212 – A selection of doors from Greenbank in Bristol
I am taking a little bit of a break from Croatia doors this week, to share some doors from an area in Bristol called Greenbank, which is perhaps best known for its large cemetery. It would appear that this residential area of terraced houses has a distinct and tight community. Every time I walk around the area, there are always neighbours stopping for a chat, and the people here smile and are friendly.
The community spirit overflows and is reflected in themed front doors and tiny front gardens, and I get a real sense of pride in their neighbourhood, which is a heart-warming thing to see.
No more chat from me… here are the doors:
“Seen better days” garage doors, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023Yellow door with cats on the cornice, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023Green door with a bottle on the cornice, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023Green door with dragons and a lump hammer on the cornice, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023Yellow door with a dodo and planters on the cornice, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023Plain white door with remains of a fancy surround, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023
So that’s about it for this week, from a cols and unusually snowy Bristol. May I wish you a great rest of week and weekend.
This is the final piece from a joyful collaborative paint jam from the PWA crew a few weeks ago. This section is by Soap, and rounds off the whole thing perfectly. It will be a sad day indeed when the last remaining hoardings are removed from Greenbank, and this creative space is returned to bland indifference.
Soap, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023
Soap spells out his name in chrome and yellow, with a thick blue and thin white border, set on a pink background shared by all the pieces in the collaborative space. The inclusion of the Ice King and a Face 1st inspired girl, making up the ‘O’ and ‘A’ respectively is something Soap seems to be working on at the moment and is consistent with a piece of his that I posted a few days ago. This was a rip-roaring PWA paint jam.
Soap, Face 1st, Chill and Zake, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023
The PWA crew have had a few joyful paint jams this year, and this wonderful piece from Face 1st is part of a collaboration on the Greenbank hoardings. I cannot express how much pleasure it gives me to chronicle the work of Face 1st, and since I first started writing about street art in 2015, Face 1st has been an ever-present, growing and adapting his style.
Face 1st, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023
I have no idea what the ‘spicy beef’ thing is all about, but it made me smile. Face 1st’s cheeky girl is having a lot of fun, and like so many of his pieces in the last year or two, her face is covered in mess, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. There is so much to enjoy in this piece.
It took me a little while to work out what was different about this Chill piece from his other work to date, and once I worked it out, I am baffled why it took so long, because it is so obvious. The character is not black and white, but has been filled with pink and yellow, something of a departure for Chill.
Chill, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023
The character portrait is really tight, all the lines as sharp as can be, and the fills nicely done. The detail work, for example on the teeth is first class, and it is quite easy to see his tattooing skills and attention to detail and precision shine through. The piece is bookended with some delicate flowers, another feature of Chill’s work. A lovely piece from a recent PWA paint jam.
Every time I visit Greenbank, it seems that the long wall of hoardings gets shorter. Soon, as the major housing development nears completion, this spot will cease to exist and there will be only our memories and photographs left to remind us of what a superb spot for graffiti writing and street art this has been.
Zake, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023
Right up there with my fondest recollections will be the regular PWA paint jams, of which this piece by Zake is a part of the latest. Zake has recently taken his work up a level or two, with some much more adventurous character portraits than he was painting 18 months ago. This skull in a hood draws on his strengths of using light and shade to create texture and depth. This is a really striking and memorable piece from Zake.
This bright piece from Gosia Wadada both delights and frustrates me. Firstly, it is great to see that this artist made the most of her time in Bristol, painting both here and in Cumberland Basin, however, her choice of panel to paint on, was not great, because she painted over a one third of a very fresh and magnificent portrait piece by Rozalita.
I was once told by an artist that it is a bit disrespectful to partially obscure somebody else’s work, you should either leave it or go over the whole thing, and sometimes you can tag the artist in your new replacement as an acknowledgement. But as I am frequently told, there are no rules and it is a jungle out there. In fairness, I’m not sure that Gosia Wadada would have known that the Rozlita piece was only a few days old.
Gosia Wadada, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023
Gosia Wadada has visited Bristol before (thank you, Paul H, for your Instagram post) and I will dig the piece out and post it some time soon. In this ‘swapsies’ piece, Gosia Wadada has painted two of her trademark mouths, but switched the colour combinations, to create opposites, although you might spot the small inconsistency in her approach. The mouths work well on the carefully constructed red backdrop, and overall this is a refreshing and fun piece. I would love to see more of her work in Bristol.
Ta da! This post marks something of a landmark for me and Natural Adventures… it is the 5,000th street/graffiti art post. Natural Adventures has come a long way from its origination as a place to document a journal I kept of an adventure in the South Atlantic in 1987. Haiku and street art just crept up on me, and have now become a central pillar in my life.
I cannot think of a better way to celebrate this milestone than with an outstanding and passionate piece by Rozalita AKA Rohzi.
I was fortunate enough to have a long chat with Rohzi as she was buffing the wall for this piece, and once the conversation got going, she really opened up and I was thoroughly enjoying myself until the dog decided he’d had enough and started to bark, which means he wants to go. The conversation ended a little too abruptly for my liking, but it is an occupational hazard when walking the dog and photographing street art.
Rozalita mentioned that the portrait was of people from an Amazonian tribe, and she was going to leave a hashtag on the piece to find out more, but that didn’t seem to happen. The portrait itself is exceptional and demonstrates just how far she has come over the last year or two. I do hope it isn’t too long before I get a chance to continue our chat.
Haka has been living in a purple patch of form for at least a year, and pretty much all of his work over that time has featured children’s book or comic book characters. In this piece he has painted a brilliant Percival Proudfoot Plugsley (or Plug as he was known) from the Beano Bash Street Kids.
Haka, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2023
The portrait also doubles up as the second ‘A’ in HAKA. Haka has brought a lot of joy to Bristol’s streets, shining a little light on his world of bringing up a young family, with loads of children’s characters. Gotta love this one.
The last couple of visits to Bristol by Logoe have resulted in only two or three pieces, which is worth mentioning, because typically we get to see a rash of five or six per visit. This piece was painted over the Christmas holiday period, I think, and bears all thee hallmarks of a great piece of Logoe writing.
Logoe, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2023
The colours are suitably subtle, and the palette nicely worked out. The dots are rather different in so much as they are running in vertical rows rather than the customary horizontal splash we usually see. The letters ‘Logoe’ are really nicely written, but if I am perfectly honest, slightly masked by number and size of dots. Another fine piece of writing.
Natural adventures 