A gallery of fabulous character birds and monster pieces from the talented Mr Crawls
Instagram: @mr.crawls
All photographs by Scooj
Mr Crawls
Tag: Monster
6666. Louisa Street (3)
Sometimes the simplest of pieces can be as pleasing as the most complex, and this is definitely a case of less is more. I find it quite difficult to date this piece by Mote, because it is the kind of piece he was turning out a year or two back, but it looks reasonably fresh and I don’t recall seeing it before.
The monster character is about as basic as you can get. Some features, a double border and minimal fill patterns. There is a charm and clarity in the piece that warrants its inclusion in Natural Adventures, that, and the fact that I am a fan of his work and will always try to include it if I can. Nice, clean, fun piece.
6618. Cattle Market Road (19)
I guess it only feels right that a special Christmas Day post should fall to Mote and Mr Crawls, who have been Bristol’s most productive partnership this year. Although they have been quite quiet over the past month or two, I am expecting a resumption of their characters brightening up our streets in the New Year. I think I was a little late to the party with this piece, but I don’t visit this area of Bristol too often.
The multi-eyed monster to the right is by Mote, whose presence and development has been a pleasure to witness in recent years, and all the time he is tweaking and adding ideas and techniques. Mr Crawls, too, has been developing his style and characters, and the two appear to bounce ideas off one another. Mr Crawls has had two bites of the cherry here, painting one piece on the hoarding and the other on the utility box. By having two pieces together you can see his identity and style running through, even though the characters are quite different, save the hats. More next year I hope.
6602. M32 roundabout J 3 (643)
One of the important functions of Natural Adventures is to represent the broad spectrum of graffiti and street art that I encounter on my walks in Bristol, and sometimes other cities too. I could concentrate on high-end murals or throw ups and tags, but that all becomes a bit niche and exclusive, and my intention is to share the full spectrum of free art on the walls of my adopted city.
The distinctive pieces by Scrapyardspec are part of this amazing offering, and this quirky three-eyed monster character is demanding to be looked at and enjoyed. It is more than simply a bit of fun, it is part of a series of pieces that, combined, form a presence and familiarity around the place. I like what Scrapyardspec does and how he does it.
6530. Sparke Evans Park (102)
I am seeing an awful lot more crazy character pieces by Scrapyardspec appearing on the streets of Bristol, which, as I said in a previous post, leads me to believe that he might have moved somewhere more local to the city. I am finding new piece almost on a weekly basis now.
This is quite a large specimen from Scrapyardspec on the long wall at Sparke Evans Park, squeezed in between writers. The monster character has all the features of a piece by the artist, that is to say, wibbly wobbly lines, crazy eyes, in this case three of them, and a tong hanging out from a goofy toothy mouth. More to come from Scrapyardspec soon.
6516. Dean Lane skate park (777)
Although they appear to have slowed down ever so slightly, Mote and Mr Crawls continue to keep us entertained with their creative monster collaborations. This one on the swimming pool wall has quite a festive feel about it, although it is a little early for Christmas, not that anyone told the supermarkets!
Set on a gold background, which is a progression from their recent penchant for chrome, Mr Crawls has painted one of his bird characters, it might be a penguin, looking mighty cold, wearing a woolly hat and with icicles dangling from its bill. The coloured blobs dotted around the character work incredibly well, adding a dimension our feathered friend.
Mote has created a monster unlike any other, but which holds a certain fascination in its unusualness. Some aspects of the character resemble ET, but I think that this is coincidental rather than planned. There is something a little haunting about this monster, which I guess is appropriate for the Halloween period.
6464. Redcliffe Way
A quick one today as I need to get myself sorted for a day of fishing. This is a magnificent pair of characters from Mr Crawls and Mote… the gift that keeps on giving. The piece can be found on the hoardings opposite Temple Meads station.
The trademark chrome background helps to lift the characters and give them prominence. A bird with a hat from Mr Crawls, and a lovesick monster from Mote. What’s not to like about these characters?
6446. Redcliffe Way
I arrived at Bristol Temple Meads station a little early recently, on my way to a football match in London, and had a few minutes to kill in the area around the station and managed tom photograph some pieces that I have been meaning to capture for quite a while, one of which was this monster piece by Mote.
I have given up hunting down Mote pieces, and tend to embrace them as and when I come across them, so sometimes they are already quite old by the time I get to photograph them. This is a rather attractive looking character with the trademark cross lines for pupils in the eyes, a very Mote motif. This whole panel was decorated a while back by various artists, I think to celebrate the Bristol Tattoo Festival.
Stiff
A gallery of unusual alien and monster street art from Bristol artist Stiff
Instagram: @the_stiff_show
All photographs by Scooj
6303. Cumberland Basin
This fine Mote and Mr Crawls collaboration is at the northern end of Ashton Avenue Bridge, and greets with good humour all who cross it. The pair appear to have gone with a full-on monster theme for this collaboration, combining their styles well.
Once again we see their preferred chrome background, which is a quick and easy way to identify the artists. On the left, Mote’s monster, in pink, has a little bit of Frankenstein’s monster about him, perhaps sub-consciously. On the right, Mr Crawls has gone for the melting face look, a device used by other artists such as Laic217. It works really well with this character piece. All in all, a tidy and fun collaboration.
Natural adventures 