Tag: PWA

3747. M32 roundabout J3 (328)

I am thoroughly enjoying this relatively recent design format from Face 1st, and I think that this is roughly the fifth or sixth piece that I have seen in this style. One of the pleasures of taking an interest in street art is watching how each of the artists evolve their styles and subjects… what they practice and what they choose to discard. Few things on the street/graffiti art scene remain static.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2021
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2021

This piece appeared a couple of weeks back, quietly and quickly and unusually not as part of a collaboration with PWA friends. The block letters spelling FACE are filled with the dynamic (crazy) blue hair belonging to the smiling girl, whose omnipresence is at the heart of all of Face 1st’s work. I like the darker tones of the piece, which seem to work really well. Another beauty.

3707. M32 roundabout J3 (321)

This large collaboration goes back a few weeks, and I have already posted the fourth element, the Daz Cat character, a little while ago. The remaining triptych is by Face 1st, Sage and Soap, and is really rather special.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2021
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2021

To the left is the familiar work of Face 1st painted in a dazzling chrome. The letters FACE contain a feature used by Face 1st before, the introduction of a couple of  swords. Quite what these swords symbolise I can’t say, but they appear to be driven into the smiling girl’s head, which is a little unsettling to say the least.

Sage, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2021
Sage, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2021

The middle section is, in my view, outstanding. The character by Sage just has something about it that really chimes for me. It is the perfect centrepiece to the triptych and really shows off Sage’s talent. The cartoon-style character somehow seems to fit the PWA ‘brand’ really nicely and reminds me of a very early PWA wall in St Paul’s (now gone)

Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2021
Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2021

On the right, as is so often the case in these PWA collaborations is a very nice piece of writing, also in chrome, from Soap. Lots off bones and gems in this veritable archeological/geological piece. The soap tag forms the centrepiece of tis complex piece.

Another wonderful PWA collaboration for us all to enjoy.

3665. St Werburghs tunnel (238)

At the entrance to St Werburghs tunnel, Face 1st left this beautiful trademark piece a little while back. It would seem that Face 1st has been experimenting of late with some angular block lettering which I have seen two or three times now.

Face 1st, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2021
Face 1st, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2021

As ever, there is an enormous amount of expression in the piece, something that Face 1st manages to achieve with the minimum of fuss, not dissimilar to the way Stik conveys emotion with his simple figures. I have lots of Face 1st pieces to catch up on… aargh, the backlog!

3636. Moon Street (88)

Here he is again, the beating heart, the drum-beat of Bristol graffiti art reassuring us that all’s well. Face 1st has painted this doorway in Moon Street many times in the past, but his visits to this holy place for graffiti, along with visits of other artists, have declined in frequency since the area started undergoing some major gentrification. Soon Moon Street and the nearby hotspots for street art and graffiti will be mere memories, embedded in photographic archives and digital spaces. The Bristol scene will continue to thrive though, I am sure, just in different places.

Face 1st, Moon Street, Bristol, April 2021
Face 1st, Moon Street, Bristol, April 2021

This piece is similar to one that Face 1st painter on the M32 roundabout a couple of weeks back, with a lot of pink bubblegum kind of stuff going on with the character’s hair. I think that Face 1st must have had a job lot of pink and needed to use it up. Always good and always present. Fun from this PWA perennial.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2021
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2021

3616. Cumberland Basin

Here we have a classic Face 1st piece. A wall tucked away from general view and a chuckling girl’s face splashed on it. It is pieces like this, dotted all over the city that add to the overall fabric of Bristol. Sub-consciously, many thousands of people in Bristol will have seen one of these faces, they might not have registered them, but they will have seen them, and they will process them simply as being part of the furniture of the city.

Face 1st, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2021
Face 1st, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2021

Somehow, Face 1st injects a sense of fun and mischief into his work that comes across so well. These cheeky girls probably play slightly into the hands of subversive minds (it is graffiti after all), but are entirely accessible for all to enjoy and feel free. This one is a particularly lovely ecxample.

3585. Greenbank (1)

I don’t mind admitting that it took me a long time to find this hoarding. Variously known as the cycle path or Greenbank or the Bristol to Bath cycle path, I was just too proud to ask anyone where it was and in the end found it using Google Maps – where would we be without such miracles of the modern world? This hoarding on the periphery of a huge development is about 100m long, and it has recently become an important, albeit temporary, graffiti spot.

Face 1st, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2021
Face 1st, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2021

It was nice to be greeted with this firm favourite of mine, Face 1st along with so many other familiar artists… my archive for March overfloweth! This is a standard Face 1st design with a pretty girl’s face and hair constructed with the letters FACE. I like the addition of the gold earring and the little blue and pink accents by the eye. Lots more from this wall to come.

3522. M32 roundabout J3 (285)

Well it looks very much to me like Nightwayss has joined the PWA crew, which is very exciting indeed if it is in fact the case. Here he is sandwiched between Soap and Face 1st, adopting the shared colour scheme in a fine collaboration on the :32 Roundabout.

Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2021
Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2021

On the left of the trio is a piece from Soap using the green and pink base colours shared by all three artists. Spelling out his name, Soap has incorporated some gems into the letters, something he recently did in another piece at the M32 Spot. I like it when artists pick up a new theme and run with it for a while.

Nightwayss, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2021
Nightwayss, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2021

Another recurring theme that we see from Nightwayss is a good old cassette player/radio adorned with a couple of monkeys. Great to see the PWA label.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2021
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2021

To the right is the third element of the collaboration and the ever-cheerful work from Face 1st. This giggling girl looks to have a fairly gloopy toxic head of hair, which is actually beautifully filled by Face 1st. It is impossible not to like these pieces and the wonderful crew that is Pirate Wall Art.

3511. M32 Cycle path (111)

These boys have been really enjoying themselves this Winter. Barely a week passes without a new collaboration – I genuinely don’t know how they afford the paint, but this passion conquers all obstacles. Face 1st and Soap have been painting together for longer than I have been writing this blog, which is about six years, and have developed an almost telepathic partnership that comes across in their collaborations.

Face, M32 cycle path Bristol, February 2021
Face, M32 cycle path Bristol, February 2021

They have selected a pink and yellow combination for this wall – not a pairing that I would naturally choose, but with the modest use of the yellow for highlights it works really well. Of course from Face 1st we have a smiling girl with big hair spelling FACE and liberally sprinkled with little hearts. Wass this a Valentine’s Day piece?

Soap, M32 cycle path Bristol, February 2021
Soap, M32 cycle path Bristol, February 2021

Soap, sticking to the colour brief has spelled out his name, but for the first time in a long time hasn’t incorporated his toothy motif other than by way of his tag at the bottom of the letter ‘O’. This is a lovely collaboration from a couple of artists really enjoying themselves. Keeping us all sane in these insane times.

3504. M32 Spot (107)

A really unusual piece from Soap and the third element of a collaborative wall which included Ryder and Conrico. An all black and silver/chrome design from Soap is not what I’d expect to see at all as he usually bathes his work in bright and cheerful colours.

Soap, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2021
Soap, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2021

The basic style is there from Soap with gaping mouths, and he has added a geological feel to it with a rocky appearance and gems embedded within the rock, ripe for mining. A curious piece and one that is at odds with Conrico’s and Ryder’s to the left.

3467. M32 Cycle path (106)

It is those PWA boys again working their magic, this time along the M32 cycle path. Always happy and always brightening up our lives, and let me tell you our lives need brightening up these days.

Soap, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, January 2021
Soap, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, January 2021

Soap and Face 1st tend collaborate by painting their separate pieces joined by a colour palette and some decorative features. This time thy have gone for pinks and purples and Soap, spells out SOAP with some lovely fills and a rather fetching bone across the A.

Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, January 2021
Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, January 2021

Face 1st brings us a laughing girl with FACE for hair, and carries across the same colours and some similar fills. This is yet another great collaboration from this pair.