Just to make a point I guess, I thought I’d post another Deamze burner in exactly the same place as the one in the previous post. As mentioned, these pieces are all very similar in structure and style, but each time the colour selection seems to be faultless.
There are more of these in my backlog of Bristol street art, but I will give you a break for the time being.
The master of wildstyle writing in Bristol is also known for his rather less elaborate burners, particularly in the Stokes Croft area. They all follow a similar structure and clearly show the ASK (After School Klub) tag. Another tag that these are often given is ‘oxygenthieves’ to which I must admit to knowing very little, although I think it has something to do with Soker, Epok and Old Hempsy – I would guess a crew, since they are all established Bristol writers.
I love these striking burners. They have such clear, crisp lines and colour contrasts that seem to work very well together. Stokes Croft wouldn’t be Stokes Croft without a DEAM loitering out there somewhere.
This has been a mystery for far too long, but yesterday I cracked it. This fantastic piece, and genuinely one of my absolute favourites, is a collaboration by Tom Deams (Deamze) – more about him in his rather excellent website – and Georgina Anton, a Bristol-based artist with early roots in graffiti. Her biography can be found here.
There is something so clean and soothing about this burner. The proportions are fantastic, the lettering wonderful, the word ‘utopia’ just seems to work and the design filling the letters is beautiful. It was unsigned, and so it has been very hard to identify. It was only yesterday that I caught a glimpse of the piece in Deamze’s portfolio that I was able to find out more. The piece has long since gone, but at least I can now sleep easy at night.
I first saw this work as it was being completed by ObjectØØØ on 21 April 2016. I stopped to have a chat with the artist who works nearby. The PRSC (People’s Republic of Stokes Croft) Outdoor gallery is a space where artists can display their works legally and with permission.
ObjectØØØ was putting this piece together because the previous work by Cheba had been badly tagged, after only a matter of days, so he decided to replace it.
As I have come to expect from ObjectØØØ’s work, there is a strong political/social message accompanied by swirls of whitewash and subtle patterning as you draw closer. This is quite a stark piece, where the message forms the framework for the artwork.
I am really growing to like these curious pieces and rather hope to bump into ObjectØØØ again soon to talk more with him about his work.
The thing about popular places for graffiti is that unless you visit them regularly, you will miss something. I left a gap of about four weeks between visits to the M32 roundabout between St Pauls and Easton, and probably about half of the works had changed. I don’t think I am ever going to be able to keep on top of this, but I don’t mind that really, it is just fun making new discoveries each time I venture out.
This is a lovely piece by one of my favourite artists in Bristol – Face F1st. Regular readers will know how much I like this work, so to find this one was a real pleasure. Even better, I found another one on my way to work this morning that appeared over the weekend…posting soon.
I have noticed that the designs in the letters are becoming more elaborate with each piece that Face F1st is producing, but overall the concept remains the same. Great stuff.
This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago in one of the tunnels of The Bearpit, a spot favoured by Decay. His style is so utterly unique, always using the same black, white, grey and red colours, and his freestyle approach tends to have concentric rings of shapes spreading from the centre, although I think he works from the outside in.
This is a nice political piece, demanding a stop to Tory cuts and incorporating a visual prompt. Nice drips. There is room for filling in the blank here…one for the taggers?
I knew it existed and was determined to find it and, a little by accident, I did. This Hyacinth Macaw is instantly recognisable as an Aspire piece and it is absolutely magnificent. He just seems to get better and better.
The work, which was completed at the beginning of May, absolutely captures the macaw perfectly and brings it to life. The peculiar stoop that macaws exhibit fits the space so well. This is a clever and absolutely outstanding piece. What next I wonder.
I am very pleased with these pictures. I caught a glimpse of ObjectØØØ at work last weekend on an Instagram movie made by Annikapixie in which she was showing off a new piece that she was working on…to follow. I recognised the spot and so went looking for the piece on a lunchtime walk. I found it.
ObjectØØØ has a very particular style that is quite unlike anything else I have seen in Bristol. It is very organic and combines a naturalist’s view with oddities and political thoughts. It is an acquired taste, but one I admire.
In addition ObjectØØØ has pasted a small sketch onto this piece and the close up shows that he has a very strong command of biological sciences. I can see the claw of a decapod, a scolex (from a parasitic tapeworm), dentition, wing structure, an animal cell, twigs and a climbing plant. I am interested in why he has left such a tiny sketch on his work. This stuff is quirky…and remember…’eat the rich’.
I have taken many photographs of this magnificent parrot since it was created at last year’s Upfest (2015), but somehow I just haven’t made time to put together a post. It is a difficult piece to photograph because of the white space on the wall and from the sky, which tends to bleach the picture out a bit.
The magnificent piece is by Luis Seven Martins, also known as L7M. He is another artist from Sao Paolo in Brazil (a hotbed of street art talent). Born in 1988, he has been working on street art from the age of 13. He specialises in drawing birds using a mix of spray paint and acrylics. This parrot is a beauty and one of the outstanding pieces of Upfest 2015. His Facebook page is here.
The turnover of work at Dean Lane skate park is, I am discovering, very rapid indeed. I try to walk to the area once a week, and always there are new works to look at. This is by Eraze, an artist I have not yet featured in my posts, although I have seen several recently.
This is typical of his work, and similar in form to Laic217, in that his name is usually written out in a colourful and easily legible style, with a feature element as a focal point. In this instance a dope-smoking turtle/tortoise. I have since found out that the character is by Indy Skyzone.
Eraze describes himself as a ‘graffiti loving Bristolian’ – so I guess that in my book that makes him pretty special. I look forward to seeing his work develop.
Natural adventures 