Tag: North Street

307, North Street hoarding (4)

John D’oh is a political stencil artist, and he has been oh so very busy recently. This recent piece, in a little alcove on North Street, really chimes with me. It is a promotional piece for the upcoming Upfest event and in fact there are two of the stencils side by side in this location. Technically, this piece is excellent.

John D'oh, North Street, Bristol, June 2016
John D’oh, North Street, Bristol, June 2016

The best bit about this piece is that it features a guy called Jeff, who sells ‘The Big Issue’, a magazine I have referred to previously in my posts. He is my local seller, and I like to buy my copies from him. He can usually be found in Stokes Croft, in North Bristol, but this stencil is in North Street (rather confusingly) in South Bristol.

John D'oh, North Street, Bristol, June 2016
John D’oh, North Street, Bristol, June 2016

There was a nice feature in the Bristol Post (I cannot find a link) about the stencil and how pleased Jeff was to be the subject of it. I’ll have to talk to Jeff about it next time I see him. Great work, with a great subject promoting a great event.

302. North Street, Hennesseys

I have talked before about how street art appears and disappears…it is the ephemeral nature of it that drives me to capture and record it so that it should not be entirely lost forever. There is another aspect to the appearance and disappearance of street art that manifests itself in the shape of shutter art.

One can stroll up and down a street countless times and never see half of the art on offer, unless you do it on a Sunday, late in the evening or when shops are closed for some other reason.

Copyright, North Street, Bristol, May 2016
Copyright, North Street, Bristol, May 2016

This beautiful Copyright piece is a case in point. I cannot think how many times I have walked up and down North Street, but only once have I seen this piece. Of course I photographed it immediately. Street art in most of its forms, is not just about the art itself, but also about place and time, which I guess is part of the fascination.

Copyright, North Street, Bristol, May 2016
Copyright, North Street, Bristol, May 2016

There are similarities between this piece and the collaboration recently featured between Copyright and E. Lee.

273. North Street Green (2)

This lovely wall seems to have an orderly rotation and large bags of respect. Rarely is anything here tagged, and the pieces appear to remain for several weeks before being painted over. The piece before this one was the Cheo gorilla, and it has since been replaced by a recent Mr Draws work.

Copyright and E.Lee, North Street, Bristol, May 2016
Copyright and E.Lee, North Street, Bristol, May 2016

This is a lovely collaboration by Copyright and E.Lee (who is from Chicago, and spent a little time in Bristol recently). The two figures are characteristic of Copyright’s work, so I am assuming that the frames are by E.Lee, who I think has the most distinctive signature of any street artist – a red stamped seal with the letters EL merged together.

Copyright and E.Lee, North Street, Bristol, May 2016
Copyright and E.Lee, North Street, Bristol, May 2016

I am really loving copyright’s work at the moment, both sprayed and pasted. He is gifted.

259. North Street, Workout (2)

It recently occurred to me that I am going to have to work through my backlog of Upfest 2015 pieces, because it will not be too long before they get replaced during the 2016 extravaganza and appear a little out of date. July 23-25 will see an influx of 300 artists showing off their talent, and I have to say I can’t wait. Among them will be Louis Masai, a London based artist who is renowned for his beautiful animal works.

Louis Masai, North Street, Bristol, January 2016
Louis Masai, North Street, Bristol, January 2016

Louis Masai gained an art degree from Falmouth in Cornwall, and has been living in London since 2010. More about him from his own website. This is a beautiful picture of two macaws (I seem to have posted a lot of these lately) and a clear and simple message that they belong in the wild and not in cages. I can go with that. His work is outstanding and his presence in Bristol this year will be a real bonus.

 

233. North Street, the Masonic Pub

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.

Luis Seven Martins (L7M), North Street, Bristol, May 2016
Luis Seven Martins (L7M), North Street, Bristol, May 2016

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.

Luis Seven Martins (L7M), North Street, Bristol, May 2016
Luis Seven Martins (L7M), North Street, Bristol, May 2016

232. North Street hoarding (3)

John D’oh is a very naughty political artist whose work I enjoy immensely, whether I agree with his assertions or not. Whenever I see his stuff I can’t help smiling at his cheeky nerve. I suspect it gets him into trouble occasionally, but I like the edge he brings to the Bristol street art scene. This time it is the turn of the Queen, a reference to the band of the same name and her position on Brexit as portrayed by some media outlets (in particular the Murdock News International Media group).

John D'oh, North Street, Bristol, May 2016
John D’oh, North Street, Bristol, May 2016

Not only is the content of his work noteworthy, but his execution using stencils and his profusion of work is impressive. I have a large backlog of his work, much of which is politically no longer contemporary, but nonetheless an indicator of political issues in 2010s Bristol.

168. North Street Green (1)

It was a gorgeous sunny day yesterday, and now that I am back in work after the holidays, I couldn’t wait to escape for a long lunchtime walk. I was rewarded with some new street art that I haven’t seen before. This cheeky piece is by the ubiquitous Cheo – I knew he had recently been busy from his Instagram account, but wasn’t sure where this work was.

Cheo, North Street Green, Bristol, April 2016
Cheo, North Street Green, Bristol, April 2016

I think it might be called ‘gorilla gubbins’, although that might just be a label he gave it.

Cheo, North Street Green, Bristol, April 2016
Cheo, North Street Green, Bristol, April 2016

This particular wall has changed at least three times in the last 6 months or so, and it will change again during Upfest 2016, which I am getting rather excited about. I have pictures of two other works on this wall.

Cheo, North Street Green, Bristol, April 2016
Cheo, North Street Green, Bristol, April 2016

I love the bad gorilla smoking a cigar. I think the piece is only a few days old.

 

7/10

154. North Street, bus stop at Fairfield Road

Gregos is a world renowned French street artist who makes plaster casts of his face, Paints them and then sticks them to walls. He visited Bristol in 2015 during Upfest, and this is one of his pieces. He has made more than 1000 of these face casts, mostly in Paris – I know of only two in Bristol.

Gregos, North Street, Bristol, January 2016
Gregos, North Street, Bristol, January 2016

Cosmic Traveller, a Bristol street art blogger, wrote a great piece about Gregos in January this year. It is well worth a read.

Gregos, North Street, Bristol, January 2016
Gregos, North Street, Bristol, January 2016

I can’t help really liking this original idea, and of course it’ll make my next trip to Paris just that bit more interesting.

7.5/10

138. North Street, Workout (1)

ATM is something of a bird specialist, although I featured his wonderful bee near the entrance of @Bristol back in  July 2015. In that post I referred to ATM working on a piece for Upfest 2015. This is that piece.

ATM, North Street, Bristol, January 2015
ATM, North Street, Bristol, January 2015

ATM is a tireless campaigner for a better understanding of the plight of our wildlife and he has given several interviews about his work – here is a lovely one from Inspiring City.

ATM, North Street, Bristol, January 2015
ATM, North Street, Bristol, January 2015

This hand painted image of a hen harrier is typical of his work, and although most of his work is to be seen in London, there are several in Bristol…check out Leonard Lane, for example.

7.5/10

137. North Street, No.131.

This is a fine, clean tribute to Mibsy (Mibzy) by Inkie (update – and Cheo) , that can be found at the Eastern end of North Street. It is one of several such tributes that I have featured from Stokes Croft, Gloucester Road and Cheltenham Road.

Cheo and Inkie, North Street, Bristol, January 2016
Cheo and Inkie, North Street, Bristol, January 2016

This piece, I believe, was put up around the time of Upfest 2015, and typifies the love and respect the graff/street art community had for Mibsy.

Cheo and Inkie, North Street, Bristol, January 2016
Cheo and Inkie, North Street, Bristol, January 2016

Not instantly identifiable as an Inkie, I had to do a little digging to confirm. Since writing this post, I have been informed by Tuco that the piece was a collaboration between Inkie and Cheo. Props to both.