A gallery of outstanding writing, portraits and landscapes by the brilliant Bristol artist Nice One.
All photographs by Scooj
Nice One
Tag: Portrait
6933. St Werburghs tunnel (498)
Jest Soubriquet is an artist with several ‘noms de plume’ such as Jest Likes and Likes Wan Tu or Likes 12, which makes things horribly difficult for my tagging his pieces, which is why I stick with the first name I came across… it just makes things simpler for me.
This is another of his wonderful colourful patchwork portraits, and probably the best I have seen so far. The highly stylised portrait features a pouting woman whose face and hair are splashed with some delightful colours, and yet somehow appears to be completely normal – if that makes sense. I mean, nobody actually looks like that, but our brains compensate for the unusual colours and presents a normal portrait – clever things brains. Clever art from Jest Soubriquet.
6929. St Werburghs tunnel (497)
I often comment about artists who paint in a particular style, and ask myself whether they could do something completely different, marking them out as a versatile artist. Well, Bean has gone the full mile with this portrait piece that couldn’t be further removed from his usual cartoon characters.
I have to say I was quite flabbergasted when I saw this, and admire Bean even more than I did before. I knew he was clearly very talented, but this portrait takes my view of him to another level. I hope he will be painting in Bristol more over the Summer months, and will wait to see what other hidden talents he has in his locker.
6920. Stokes Croft
It isn’t all that long ago that I wrote about how Bristol, although it has a super-vibrant street art scene, is less well represented on the wheatpaste side of things. Of course, when you say something like that, life has a way of proving you wrong, and I have since found a whole bunch of wheatpastes, many of them by Wilko in the Stokes Croft area.
I haven’t come across Wilko before, but I have a feeling he might be from Birmingham. He certainly made the most of his visit to Bristol, and I will try to post more of his wonderful illustrations in due course. This orange and black piece has a feel of African-influenced art and cubism (which of course are related) about it. Great to see.
6906. Moon Street (107)
Since developers moved into the area around Moon Street, I don’t visit all that often, and driving around there is a bit of a nightmare, so I generally only visit when I am on foot. I had a lovely surprise on my last visit, finding this stencil piece by Cartoonneros.
I don’t know if the piece is new or old, but the artist does seem to visit Bristol sporadically – maybe he has friends here. Furthermore, I don’t know who the character portrayed in the stencil is, but it has all the hallmarks of a Cartoonneros piece. The black lines of the stencil are sprayed over a patchwork of orange and yellow paint, creating the unique look that the artist has perfected. A reward for keeping my eyes open.
6900. M32 Cycle path (288)
For me, this post represents a lesson in always taking pictures of pieces when you can, even when the light conditions are bad, or there are obstacles in the way, because the next time you return to get pictures, the piece might have gone, as was the case with this beauty by Mind 49.
The shadow cast across the top half of this incredible portrait piece, doesn’t ruin it as much as I thought it would. The quality of the composition and the artwork shine through. Mind 49 skilfully works in a cartoon graffiti face on the daisy hat, combining two very different styles into the one piece. This is a truly outstanding piece that deserved to be seen for longer.
6894. Stokes Croft
There is no doubt about it, Kid Krishna has been smashing it recently, and indeed for quite a while now, and his recent spell has seen him turn out some outstanding work, including this intriguing piece in Stokes Croft. It is great to see Kid Krishna and others returning to this area (thanks to some new hoardings), which ten years ago was at the centre of the Bristol graffiti/street art scene.
This portrait/writing combination is quite extraordinary, and takes Kid Krishna’s work to another level. There is a sharpness and realistic feel to the piece that expands on his more abstract work more commonly seen. What this piece also demonstrates is his capacity to create some really high-end artwork. The portrait of a tattooed woman on the left, gazing heavenwards, is exceptional and shows off Kid Krishna’s ability to paint fie detail, depth and texture. To the right, the writing has a transparent quality and looks to be fragmenting or melting – the whole piece plays with us in this juxtaposition of character and letters. Brilliant!
6888. Dean Lane skate park (826)
Every day, pretty much, I see graffiti and street art and every once in a while I see something by an artist I know and I think to myself ‘this is special, this is really classy’. This clever piece of combined writing and a portrait by Conrico left me feeling that this was special, definitely a ‘keeper’.
Conrico has painted his name, but instead of a solid or patterned fill, there is a portrait of a girl behind, as if you are peering through the letters to see her. The piece is expertly executed, but at the same time incredibly modest. No fanfare, no showing off, just a really great fusion piece.
Conrico has been turning out some great pieces recently, and this one expands and continues the series. As ever, I look forward to more.
6887. Stucley Place Camden Town, London
Wandering around without a set route is quite the best way to find street art in my experience. Following a map or guide only takes you to specific places, and it is by turning down a back street, or catching a glimpse of something in your peripheral vision and going to investigate it that makes exploring places so much fun. I see too many people navigating their way around the place with their head down looking a little screen and Google Maps or some other way finder and missing all the incredible people, architecture, events or nature that surrounds us. That’s enough sanctimonious nonsense. I found this superb Drake piece while wandering about aimlessly with my head and eyes up.
This is an outstanding greyscale portrait piece by Drake, an artist whose work I have seen in Bristol, but that I don’t know much about him. The piece has a commercial element to it in so much as it is promoting Nemesis, a tattoo parlour – perhaps a friend of Drake’s. Certainly a superb piece.
6885. Harmood Street, Camden Town, London
The highlight of my recent trip to Camden Town, was finding several pieces by Irony, including this one, that I had never seen ‘in the flesh’ before. He really is one of my favourite artists, and all of his work is of the highest quality. What I particularly like is that he seems to be equally comfortable painting high-end festival walls or spots like this one – he isn’t precious at all, and is a very modest gentleman.
There is a hell of a lot going on in this wonderful detailed portrait piece, and symbolism that I don’t think I will get to the bottom of, although it is possible that he is ‘patching up’ the piece in a clever way. While writing this post, I have found out that this is a repair job on a piece that was originally painted in 2018, and so the plasters and the eye patch are probably literally covering up blemishes in the original.
The facelift is quite stunning, and as you can see from this photograph taken by the artist of the original piece, the portrait has taken on a quite different persona. It is an amazing recognition of his talent and respect from others, that his work is still there seven years on in the first place.
As ever, outstanding work. You can see more of his pieces in this short gallery.
Natural adventures 