Tag: Pillar

7076. Brunel Way (325)

Scrapyardspec, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2025
Scrapyardspec, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2025

This is something the same, but also a little different from Scrapyardspec under Brunel Way. He has used a buffed pillar (a crazy scheme devised by Bristol City Council to eradicate graffiti, which only serves to create nice clean new ‘canvasses’) to act as a solid backdrop to one of his wobbly characters.

Scrapyardspec, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2025
Scrapyardspec, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2025

Instead of filling the piece with colour, like all of his other pieces, he has gone for a simple white fill which works so well against the grey. The piece is clean and almost looks like a giant sticker, rather than a painted piece. Scrapyardspec has injected some great creativity into his standard character.

3566. Stapleton Road

This railway pillar and three others, along with a large wall could have gone one of two ways. As Network Rail assets they might have been buffed with anti-graffiti paint, and become yet another sterile, functional piece of Bristol infrastructure. Fortunately, in a project supported by Network Rail and Severnside Rail Partnership, several local artists were commissioned to decorate the pillars, and the results have been utterly outstanding. I truly hope they receive the respect they deserve.

Anna Higgie, Stapleton Road, Bristol, March 2021
Anna Higgie, Stapleton Road, Bristol, March 2021

This pillar is by Anna Higgie and presents us with a host of urban icons from Bristol such as the balloon, electric scooter, busses, flowers and nature. There is something very connected and uplifting about the piece, celebrating an urban setting.

Anna Higgie, Stapleton Road, Bristol, March 2021
Anna Higgie, Stapleton Road, Bristol, March 2021

It is so good to see that these pillars have been handed over to local artists who in turn have handed them back to the community who will enjoy them for many years to come. An inspirational project which will create a sense of local pride.

2235. M32 Spot (41)

Silent Hobo manages consistently to paint these amazing character pieces on the tall thin upright concrete pillars under the M32 motorway. This latest arrival of a Bristol youth gathering is wearing a yellow t-shirt overa shirt with collar (is that a thing?). Best of all is his fetching Jacques Cousteau red woolly hat – I want one of those… really.

Silent Hobo, M32 Spot, Bristol, May 2019
Silent Hobo, M32 Spot, Bristol, May 2019

You can just about make out another Silent Hobo character on the adjacent side of this pillar that I posted a little while back. I know I’ve said it pretty much every time I write about Silent Hobo, but he is brilliant at capturing a youth mood, without glamourising it. These are not ‘snowflakes’ but ordinary urban people caring about ordinary urban things, like in this case music (base head) and probably drum and bass at that. Always great to see a New Silent Hobo piece. I believe he has done some cricket world cup pieces in milennium square… I’ll have to take a look.

915. M32 Spot (8)

I am fully aware that today is the second day of Upfest, and that you might be expecting a post from the wonderful Bristol street art festival. I’m afraid It’s not going to happen for a while. I will have an enormous amount of work to do with photographs and getting to grips with artists  before I can start to publish. If you want instant gratification, then follow #upfest2017 in instagram, it’ll be smoking!

For now I will post this characterful piece on one of the pillars under the M32 by Deamze. The faces on this work are quite unusual, and not something that I would ordinarily associate with Deamze.

Deamze, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2017
Deamze, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2017

There is a figure on each of the four sides of the pillar, each striking a different pose. I have only posted three of them, because the fourth is impossible to photograph due to the light conditions.

Deamze, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2017
Deamze, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2017

If you want to see the fourth side, you’ll just have to get down to the M32 Spot and check it out. I rather like this piece, and love the jeans and pink shirt, and the burger looks almost good enough to eat.

833. M32 Spot (4)

A couple of weekends ago, there was a small gathering of Bristol street/graff artists underneath the M32 in the dry weather DIY skateboarding area known as the M32 Spot. The Peoples Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC) had used their reach, to encourage some artists to adorn the concrete pillars under the motorway. There will be several posts on this particular gathering.

Jee See, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2017
Jee See, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2017

First off is this fabulous piece by Jee See, whom I was fortunate enough to meet, at last, as he was just finishing off this piece (not the bloke in the picture). Square pillar works are a devil to photograph, due to the different light intensities on each of the sides and the background lighting ranging from very dark to very bright.

Jee See, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2017
Jee See, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2017

I guess the pillars must be rather challenging for the artists too. Jee See told me that Japanese the writing on the side of the pillar says Gothic Chav, although I might have got that wrong.

Jee See, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2017
Jee See, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2017

All in all this is a nicely thought out piece in which Jee See expresses his thoughts . I enjoy his work very much, and perhaps a little more now having seen him at work. An  guy with some cool things to say/spray.