A gallery of extraordinary portrait pieces by the magnificent Shade One.
Instagram: @shad.eone
All photographs by Scooj
Shade One
Tag: Portrait
6597. Upfest 2024 (56)
Since the stormy and wet winter weather started up in earnest about a month ago, fewer artists have been out and about, doing what they do best, a pause which frees me up to post a few pieces from Upfest earlier in the year. This one from SEPC is an absolute beauty, and one of the first I saw at this year’s festival.
SEPC is an artist from Manizales in Colombia whose colourful work embodies the connection of people in an urban environment, and his profile on the Upfest website is well worth a read. This was one of two or three pieces that the artist painted while he was in town. I love his humble approach, with plastic bags and boxes full of paint and kit for painting.
In his own words, SEPC combines photorealism with use of colour and incorporates various contextual elements. In other words, there is a lot going on in this work alongside the main portrait pieces, and all of it superbly painted. SEPC’s work was one of the real highlights of this year’s festival.
6568. M32 roundabout J3 (642)
One of the most rewarding things about writing a blog on street art and graffiti is that if you do it for long enough, you get to see new artists burst on to the scene and develop their ideas and improve their technique. An artist who has recently caught my eye is Astrea (formerly HNH), whose distinctive black and white designs are becoming more frequent and elaborate.
This is the first time I have seen Astrea add a portrait to her abstract patterns. The central character is a little bit unsettling, with star eye makeup and a tongue sticking out. The tongue looks like it has stitching running through it. The surrounding swirling design is very much in keeping with what we have seen before from Astrea. Great to see her gaining in confidence.
6562. Ikea Wall of Fame (2)
This is the second section of the long and exciting new wall of fame at Ikea. DJ and Record producer brought together street art and graffiti talent from Bristol and around the world to celebrate 30 years of his record label, Metalheads.
In this section we have an extraordinary split portrait piece by Posea. The vertical line separates the faces of DJ Doc Scott, and a version of the tin man from the Wizard of Oz, picking up the yellow brick road theme of the whole collaboration production. Posea’s skills are perfectly showcased in this contrasting portrait.
The mushrooms and flowers are courtesy of Zaki Dee and the skyline and flying monkeys (I think) are by BG183. More from this unique wall in due course.
6560. Brunel Way (303)
In the furthest southern tip of the Brunel Way spot, is a DIY skate spot and this wonderful recent combination piece from Conrico brightened up this dark spot. It is usually pretty tatty around this wall, where materials for building ramps etc. for the skate park are scattered.
The writing is nicely done, set on a swirly patterned background, but it is definitely the portrait accompanying the writing that catches the eye. I think that it is the woman’s hair which draws the eye – it is a really nice and happy portrait. Not long after Conrico painted the combination piece, the council came along and buffed the wall, although they decided to keep the portrait, which is curious really, because it is all illegal graffiti.
I believe that the buffing is done by gangs of people doing community service for some misdemeanour or other. The problem, of course, is that this is a completely fruitless exercise, and waste of grey paint, because a buffed wall is a blank canvass.
6551. Cumberland Basin
This is the second paste-up that I managed to find in Abbie Laura Smith’s latest blitz, and although I only found three pieces, I am sure that there would have been more. A little bit bedraggled, reflecting the damp conditions when I photographed this piece, the paste-up features a black and white image of a woman, reversed out in this instance, with writing incorporated throughout.
As with the last of her pieces that I posted, I can’t quite make out all the writing, but can pick up the odd line here or there, such as “The only chance left was goodbye” and “Keep that…”. Once again these might be sad or morose, but out of context it is difficult to know. Poignant pieces printed off on paper and pasted up in special places for the curious to look at.
6549. Dean Lane skate park (782)
Prompted by the racist riots (#farageriots) earlier this year, Pekoe initiated this series of pieces, which present a complete rejection of racism and fascism in a cool and humorous way. I love it that Pekoe expresses herself in this way and in doing so helps people like me to know that I am not alone in feeling sadness at the lurch to the far right many citizens of the UK have made.
The combination piece features a Pekoe portrait, and the words “hot girls hate fascists”. The colours yellow and purple are an interesting combination, and they are actually colour opposites on a colour wheel. I love this series from Pekoe, and I hope she drops more of them… as she says, lest we forget.
6482. Cumberland Basin
Jest Soubriquet is an occasional visitor to Bristol, and his work is always welcome here. I have posted a couple of his portrait pieces on Natural Adventures this year, and this third one tucked away at the left-hand side of the long wall is a true beauty.
The portrait, painted with his trademark patchwork of colours, is accompanied by a cosmic cloud scene with colours taken from, but presented differently to those used in the portrait. The three triangles unintentionally (I think) give the portrait a ‘Statue of Liberty’ look, which once seen is very difficult to unsee. This is a really refreshing approach to portrait pieces, and I hope we see more from Jest Soubriquet before too long.
6473. M32 Spot (195)
I first saw this portrait piece from a distance, and couldn’t for life of me think who the artist was and it was only when I got close enough to take some pictures that I could see it was by Bogat, of course. There is a little clue in the central panel of the baseball cap.
This is an archetypal cartoon character piece the likes of which you might see anywhere in the UK, what is a little different from Bogat in this one is the speech bubble with the rather unsavoury words “Ya mum smells like prawn cocktail”. And there we have it… subversion, art, expression, talent and fun all plastered up on a small column under the M32. It is what it is all about.
6447. Stapleton Road
Logoe and Silent Hobo are good friends and on his most recent visit to Bristol, it looks like Logoe found time to hook up with his mate and collaborate on this wonder wall. The combination of writing and story telling is original and eye-catching, and goes straight into one of my favourite collaborations of 2024. Logoe has pulled out all the stops with his distinctive script writing and produces a very tight and tidy piece with transitional coloured stripes filling the letters.
Sitting on top of the writing, Silent Hobo is telling us a story of what looks like heart break, but without the context is difficult to be sure. Rather ominously, the first panel has a woman saying ‘We’ve been through this already…’
In the next frame, a woman, is it the same woman, is saying ‘love is not enough’, a phrase that would wilt the heart of anyone on the receiving end of the comment
The final part has a man, looking a little worse for wear, saying ‘OK’, which probably means not OK. The three panels could be stand-alone pieces, or part of a continuous conversation, and I guess that it is for the viewer to decide which. A magnificent collaboration from this pair.
Natural adventures 