Tucked away in Montpelier, there are a few walls that appear to get a lot of attention.
This large mural is by one of Bristol’s most prolific street artists, Sepr. The work is called ‘The Picture of Grey Dorian’, and appears to have been sprayed sometime this year. It has also been tagged and largely obscured. I have not seen a clean original of this work.
I have featured other Sepr artwork at Dighton Street, Turbo Island, and Stokes Croft.
6.5/10
This mural is one of several tribute walls in Bristol dedicated to Matt Hibbert known locally as ‘Mibsy’.
Mibsy had opened a spray paint shop (King of Paint) that supplied many of the local street artists, and he was much loved within the graffiti community.
His untimely death in July 2014, he was only 39, sparked a large number of tribute works, in particular in the Stokes Croft area.
This work, I believe, was a collaboration between Jon5, Silent Hobo, Sepr (see 19 and 22), Deamze and Dotcom, all Bristol artists.
The site is an interesting one. The once magnificent building dating back to 1868 was an ironmongery and hardware store but has fallen on hard times and is now derelict.
There is also a further interesting feature that accompanies the mural. On the left hand side is a statement that has been over-painted, but can be seen in relief, which reads ‘hate is foolish’. Layer upon layer.
6.5/10
On a wall opposite the Phlegm mural, previously featured, is a beautiful stencil of a tabby cat.
The cat, by Beastie, an artist from Gloucester, has left its blue paw prints behind. This is a lovely and somewhat understated work.
Beastie has been nicknamed the Banksy of Gloucester by the local media, and he would appear to be both prolific and popular.
7/10
My mother told me I really should go and check out a beautiful bird mural in the centre of Chichester when I was visiting a week or two ago, so I did.
The mural, which overlooks the Baffins Lane car park, is by ROA, and was created during the Chichester street art festival in 2013.
Although his work appears throughout Europe and beyond, little is known about the artist from Ghent, Belgium.
He specialises in pictures of animals, often gracefully contorted in death poses. These birds however, are very much alive. I will have to look out his work in Bristol.
Zase v JPS
I don’t yet understand the ground rules or protocols that exist between street artists, but it would seem there is some minor conflict in a small passageway by the Arches on Cheltenham Road, Bristol.
An original mural by Zase adorned the side wall of Wong’s Acupuncture Clinic. This appeared before or during 2011. I only became conscious of the piece last year when I saw a wonderful JPS stencil entitled ‘Insert Punchline’ which covered the lower left hand side of the Zase work. Even at the time I saw it, part of the JPS had been sprayed over. Sometime later somebody added a rat and Banksy signature, but I doubt very much that it is an original.
I took a look at the wall last week, and it would seem that Zase has returned and restored the wall to its former status. It is a pity in a way, but at least I managed to get a picture of the JPS before it disappeared.
My wife told me yesterday about this very recent stencil work on the wall of the Highbury Vaults pub in Cotham. It is in good company, being just a few yards away from ‘Vandalism’ by Nick Walker (will post this soon).
The bubblegum boy is by Unify, an artist who appears to work in London mostly, but has done works around the world. I’ve not seen any others in Bristol, but that doesn’t mean they are not there.
It is difficult to find out much about Unify, although there is a website.
UPDATE – Somehow I lost all the original pictures of this piece, but have since photographed it again, and it is still in pristine condition. The original post was written in August 2015 and the photographs taken in June 2016.
Nestled on the intersection between Stokes Croft and Jamaica Street there is a small green space called Turbo Island. Anyone who has lived in Bristol a while will know it as a place where alcoholics and drug addicts used to congregate.
However, things are changing and the ‘People’s Republic of Stokes Croft’ are trying to persuade Bristol City Council to return the space back to the community. One of the aims is to remove the advertising hoarding (not shown – to the left of this picture). It is certainly a better space than it was a few years ago.
During the Stokes Croft Festival of arts 2014, Sepr painted this ‘scarecrow and crows sitting down together’. A great sentiment. The mural is dedicated to Bob, but I don’t know the backstory.
7.5/10
Today was the first time I have stopped to take a look at this mural by Dora, on the edge of Montpelier.
Dora is an illustrator, designer and graffiti painter, based in Bristol. She has a rather good webpage that talks about her influences.
Having looked at her portfolio, I can’t help thinking that only one half of this wall is by her. I am not sure who the other artist might be.
It is always great to find something new.
6/10
The artist of ‘Girl with the Pierced Eardrum’ needs no introduction from me. Banksy’s beautiful work appeared last year. I went to see it two days after it was completed, and already it had been spoiled by someone who had sprayed paint over the bottom left side of the work.
It appears that some restoration has happened since then, but the work was ‘clean’ for such a short while, which is a pity. Some would say it is all vandalism…you live by the sword, you die by the sword. I’m not sure I subscribe to that.
It was great to see it again today, it is beautiful.
A fabulous walk into work today through the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft took me past one of the most eye-catching murals in Bristol.
This artwork is actually a combination of several artists overwriting each other’s work.
The original bare wall on the side of the house was painted in 2008 by Phlegm, an artist from Sheffield, renowned for his works all over the world. There was also a panda under the street name.
This first work was painted over by the MM13 crew who created the magnificent wave. They spared the panda.
Phlegm returned in June 2009 to add the characteristic figures on the left.
The whole thing is stunning; one of the best walls in Bristol.
9/10
Natural adventures 