PWA – Natural adventures

5187. Hepburn Road (20)

The colourful nature of the Stokes Croft area is perhaps best represented by this little alleyway, known locally as ‘Crack Alley’. Although the drug dealing that used to be the USP of this corner of Bristol has moved on, the graffitied walls continue to be a feature, and every now and again an absolute beauty appears. This collaboration from PWA artists Face 1st and Zake is just such a beauty.

Face 1st, Hepburn Road, Bristol, April 2023

The PWA writing is by Face 1st, and is quite a rarity, as he usually writes FACE. The orange is really striking in this dark alley, and the depth to the letters really helps them to pop out from the wall. There are some nice shout-outs to Nightwayss, Soap and Chill too.

The character piece from Zake is brilliant and seems to portray a young tagger looking rather upset – maybe he got caught spraying walls. The shorts and t-shirt are a stroke of genius, and the body position suggests a lot of forward movement from the character. I absolutely love this, it makes me laugh, a lot. Altogether a superb collaboration from this pair.

5138. M32 roundabout J3 (461)

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2023

When I first encountered Face 1st’s work, his pieces were more commonly painted solo, with occasional PWA paint jams, particularly with Soap, but more recently he has rarely painted without some of his buddies, this piece on the M32 roundabout being an exception. Maybe all his PWA mates were busy that day.

I love the way that Face 1st constantly plays with new ideas and themes, and then adds them to his repertoire. This is a traditional Face 1st idea, a face with hair spelling FACE, but the letters are deep 3D block letters which he has been including more often recently, and there is a lot of gloopy dripping going on, something he started to include in his work about two years ago. This is a fun and eye-catching piece from the prolific Face 1st.

5101. Dean Lane skate park (577)

Zake, Chill and Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

The Pirate Wall Art (PWA) crew have already produced some outstanding collaborations this year, but this surely has to be the most striking so far. Zake, Chill and Face 1st have teamed up to produce this triptych of stylised faces.

To the left is a curious pair of faces which feel like they are symbolic of something, but I am not quite sure what – sun and moon or light and dark? Who knows. The flower face is something new that I haven’t seen from Zake before, but he carries it off really well.

In the middle of the triptych is a cartoon face by Chill. When Chill moved away from his black and white pieces, I wasn’t sure how long it would last, but I am pleased to say that his inclusion of several colours once again might indicate that this is a new direction of travel for the artist. I love the inclusion of some greenery and flowers in most of his pieces, showing a sensitive connection with nature.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

To the right, Face first has painted another group of faces, in which he continues to explore ways of peeling back the layers of our facades to reveal what lies beneath. In this case, the face with yellow hair has been split open to reveal a laughing girl emerging from inside. Some might see these pieces as gory or grotesque, I see them as a joyful exploration of emotions unearthed in a rather surgical, but playful way.

Plenty to think and enjoy about in this fine PWA collaboration.

5091. Sparke Evans Park (65)

Face 1st and Soap, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, February 2023

Not many artists are painting the long wall at Sparke Evans Park these days, since the arrest of an artist about six or seven months ago. Slowly but surely people are drifting back to the wall, but unusually for Bristol, having to keep their eyes peeled and wits about them at all times. This is a great pity, because this would be a perfect candidate for a legal wall. There is no tagging here, and the colourful wall is an added attraction for people who use the park for recreation. It has become a bit of a ‘wall of fame’, well respected and curated in a self-policing manner.

Face 1st, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, February 2023

This far end of the wall was recently painted by Face 1st and Soap in one of their PWA pairings. To the left, Face 1st continues to explore different ways in which he can slice a face up. Very rarely for the artist, he has not tried to work in the letters FACE into the piece, rather he is focussed on the task in hand, the slicing.

Soap, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, February 2023

Soap too continues to explore a theme he has been enjoying recently, spelling out his name with the ICE King for an ‘A’ and a Face 1st face for the ‘A’. Although the colours the artists have chosen are a little muted on a dull day, they are nonetheless attractive and have been beautifully worked into both pieces. Great to see something new on this wall.

5090. M32 roundabout J3 (457)

Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023

I have said in recent posts featuring Zake that his work is getting ever more adventurous and zany, well this piece on the M32 roundabout pretty much supports my assertion. This is Zake pushing boundaries and having fun.

This piece was painted as part of a PWA crew paint jam, and combining with the crew has certainly nudged his work along, perhaps being inspired and encouraged by his friends. The face is huge and green and slightly unsettling, due to the absence of pupils. Zake’s mastery of light and shade conveys real depth and creates definition of features. This is an excellent character portrait from Zake – where to next for this artist? Whole bodies? Photorealism?

5070. M32 roundabout J3 (456)

Given that Zake is knocking out his stylised face pieces at an alarming rate at the moment, there is a strong likelihood that you’ll be seeing lots of his work on Natural Adventures. For example, this is the third piece I have featured here since the start of the month.

This glorious face, especially impactful due to the black background, was painted over one of his previous pieces, and this is a spot particularly favoured by PWA artists. Zake is using his specialist skills, when it comes to light and shadow, to create great depth and exaggerated features in this smiling character’s face. Beautifully done and definitely memorable.

5043. Greenbank (74)

This is the final piece from a joyful collaborative paint jam from the PWA crew a few weeks ago. This section is by Soap, and rounds off the whole thing perfectly. It will be a sad day indeed when the last remaining hoardings are removed from Greenbank, and this creative space is returned to bland indifference.

Soap spells out his name in chrome and yellow, with a thick blue and thin white border, set on a pink background shared by all the pieces in the collaborative space. The inclusion of the Ice King and a Face 1st inspired girl, making up the ‘O’ and ‘A’ respectively is something Soap seems to be working on at the moment and is consistent with a piece of his that I posted a few days ago. This was a rip-roaring PWA paint jam.

Soap, Face 1st, Chill and Zake, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023

5037. Greenbank (73)

The PWA crew have had a few joyful paint jams this year, and this wonderful piece from Face 1st is part of a collaboration on the Greenbank hoardings. I cannot express how much pleasure it gives me to chronicle the work of Face 1st, and since I first started writing about street art in 2015, Face 1st has been an ever-present, growing and adapting his style.

Face 1st, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2023

I have no idea what the ‘spicy beef’ thing is all about, but it made me smile. Face 1st’s cheeky girl is having a lot of fun, and like so many of his pieces in the last year or two, her face is covered in mess, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. There is so much to enjoy in this piece.

5034. M32 roundabout J3 (452)

Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023

This is a cracking Soap piece from another recent PWA paint jam – these guys are certainly getting busy, and with the days starting to get noticeably longer I would expect to see quite a lot more from them in the coming weeks and months.

Soap appears to have moved on quite a bit from his skull/mouth days and has been having fun writing SOAP with a combination of characters and incredible fills and details. The Ice King cartoon character is becoming a regular feature in his work, and in this piece the ‘A’ of SOAP is a lovely nod to his PWA friend Face 1st. This is a dazzling and fin piece from Soap.

5029. Greenbank (71)

Every time I visit Greenbank, it seems that the long wall of hoardings gets shorter. Soon, as the major housing development nears completion, this spot will cease to exist and there will be only our memories and photographs left to remind us of what a superb spot for graffiti writing and street art this has been.

Right up there with my fondest recollections will be the regular PWA paint jams, of which this piece by Zake is a part of the latest. Zake has recently taken his work up a level or two, with some much more adventurous character portraits than he was painting 18 months ago. This skull in a hood draws on his strengths of using light and shade to create texture and depth. This is a really striking and memorable piece from Zake.

	Matt on 5241. M32 Cycle path (217…
	Bill Bisgood on Prophesy
	theartblogger54 on 5233. Lighthouse Community Gar…
	theartblogger54 on 5233. Lighthouse Community Gar…
	Teresa on Thursday doors – 25 May…

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: