Tag: Smiley

5289. St John’s Lane (1)

Laic217, St John's Lane, Bristol, June 2023
Laic217, St John’s Lane, Bristol, June 2023

I fell in love with this piece the moment I saw it. Of course, I am an admirer of Laic217’s work, and this piece brings together so many of his themes and his talent into one place. No skeleton this time, but a flesh and blood human character holding a spray can.

Laic217, St John's Lane, Bristol, June 2023
Laic217, St John’s Lane, Bristol, June 2023

I will focus on two or three elements of this outstanding piece; The flesh tones and shading on the face and hand are exceptional, demonstrating that he is not a skeleton one-trick pony. The chain around the character’s neck is really well done and there is a sense of weight, and that it doesn’t hang perfectly shows that Laic217 is thinking one step ahead. It is the shirt, though, that really thrills me. From time to time, Laic217 dresses his characters in patterned shirts, and somehow he manages to paint in the creases and folds, with disruption tom the pattern, in this case pink smiley faces. I have seen him use this technique before to great effect, and I think it is one of the things he does that sets him apart from others. This is a truly exceptional piece on a rather nice new hoarding.

Laic217, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021
Laic217, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021
Laic217, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2019
Laic217, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2019
Laic217, Wilder Street, Bristol, May 2019
Laic217, Wilder Street, Bristol, May 2019

4880. Dean Lane skate park (550)

Saor, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2022
Saor, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2022

Another classy piece from Saor alongside his NTS friends on the long wall at Dean Lane. His work is so on-point, always neat and tidy. He achieves this without the comfort of borders, which means that all of his lines have to be cut-in perfectly, which is a terrific skill.

Saor, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2022
Saor, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2022

The blues and yellows on a grey background work very well and are in line with the colour scheme for the whole collaborative wall. The stylised letters SAOR give way to some animation in the middle of the piece, with elements of a smiley face. This is an outstanding piece, which, to be fair, is consistent with most of his work.

3999. Sparke Evans Park (12)

It turns out that Nightwayss’ birthday celebratory paint jam corralled a great number of artists and channelled some extraordinary creativity. It is a long time, for example, since I last saw a piece from Laic217 that didn’t feature a skeleton or emaciated character.

Laic217, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, September 2021
Laic217, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, September 2021

In this wonderful piece, the Laic217 has painted a weed smoking, trippy rat, complete with a bucket hat, hoodie and trainers. This is a wonderful little character and contains a nice call out to Nightwayss too. The ‘Mc Trash’ MacDonalds paper cup in the background is a classy touch that adds a bit of commentary. Great work from the man.

3974. L Dub (31)

It would seem that Laic217 enjoys painting the walls at L Dub (Lawrence Weston) and has once again turned out a typically fine piece painted at or around the time of DJ Perk’s 50th birthday paint jam a few weeks back.

Laic217, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021
Laic217, L Dub, Bristol, September 2021

Dominated by pink and purples, the character is set on a light blue background with PAD (a crew name) and Laic217 scrawled all over it. However, we didn’t come here to admire the background… the smoking character sporting a bucket hat is wearing a magnificent trippy shirt festooned with smiley faces that ripple with every fold of the material, something that Laic217 does so well. It is a clever piece when you consider the limited colour range he has used. More excellent work from one of my faves.

3939. Moon Street (89)

This post contains two things I love about Bristol street art; Moon Street and Laic217. I think that Moon Street was central to my love for street and graffiti art, as it was on my walking route to work, along with The Bearpit. Both are, sadly, spots in decline. The Bearpit has been sanitised and painted with anti-graffiti paint, and Moon Street is on the edge of a huge gentrification development programme in the Stokes Croft area, and fewer artists visit these days, preferring other less disturbed spots.

Laic217, Moon Street, Bristol, August 2021
Laic217, Moon Street, Bristol, August 2021

This nice trippy skeleton piece is by Laic217, and I think I have said enough in previous posts about how much I enjoy his work. Three things stand out for me, the lovely folds in the hoodie material, the pink glasses and the smiley bucket hat. This piece couldn’t possibly be by anyone else.

3919. Dean Lane skate park (426)

It is a very good thing indeed that Flava136 has decided to visit Bristol several times recently, and long may it last – perhaps he should move here, that would be nice. His work is some of the cleanest you could hope to see, and by that I mean that everything, from the Emulsion backdrop to all the elements in his work are left with clean lines. There are no border lines tidying up little blemishes. Everything is perfectly painted, and this takes a lot of skill and patience.

Flava136, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2021
Flava136, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2021

The customary monster, with big teeth, is joined by a green smiley and decorated with all sorts of shapes, lines and colour schemes. The truth being tyold, I don’t think I can get enough of his pieces, each one being turned out immaculately. I don’t think I have seen a scrappy piece from the artist, ever. Superb piece, and more to come.

3781. M32 Spot (117)

Conrico is an artist who seems to do most of his painting in The Easton area, and so I assume he lives locally. As well as painting some of the regular spots, he also sprays in places I don’t know about in Easton, so I have a job to do, when I have time, to hunt some of these down. Thankfully recent piece is on a column in the M32 Spot and was easy to find.

Conrico, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2021
Conrico, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2021

Conrico has a fairly unique style that often looks more like illustration than street art… it is something to do with his ‘brush strokes’ and compositions that makes his work unique. On this fine column piece Conrico features a smiley set on a background of multicoloured Smokey vapours. An unusual and rather likeable piece.

3718. Muriel Alleyway (3)

The message from Rtiiika here is very clear ‘stop telling women to smile’. I must confess to being a little bit puzzled by the sentence. I like to think that I am reasonably well acquainted with issues of gender inequality, and sensitive to the political and societal pressures, but I don’t really understand this message. It might be something that I am unaware of, and if so need to understand better.

Rtiiika, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, May 2021
Rtiiika, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, May 2021

The artwork is wonderful and adopts the characteristic long thin lines that Rtiiika uses in her work, this time in the form of her letters. The piece is capped off with a smiley in the centre in the colour of the original we are all so familiar with. There is a juxtaposition between this smiley and the message of the piece. I like the concept of messaging like this and wonder if she will do more of it.

3100. M32 roundabout J3 (243)

Taboo clearly has a great sense of fun which really comes out in his work. He is an unconventional graffiti writer using large curvy and often erratic lettering that appears to be being used by a number of ‘new school’ artists in Bristol.

Taboo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020
Taboo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020

Taboo has incorporated a policeman, looking very much like an American cop, chasing after a smiley face that is scuttling away to the left of the piece. Although his work sometimes looks a bit ragged, I consider Taboo to be a talented street artist who is pushing the boundaries of convention.

Taboo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020
Taboo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020

The workmanship of the cop character is skilfully done and almost feels slightly underplayed and modest. On its own it would stand up as a fine piece of work. Looking forward to seeing where Taboo will take us next.

2906. Shoreditch, London

Another piece from Shoreditch in November 2018, this time in the distinctive guise of Osch. Part of his yellow circle series, this one adopts his ribbon work with a map of central London and a smiley face, although the Thames mouth is a little crooked.

Osch, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
Osch, Shoreditch, London, November 2018

Finding pieces like this by Osch is always a complete pleasure and because of their distinctiveness, they feel like a ‘collectable’ series. I have found a few before, but not living in London I guess each one discovered is very special indeed. I may have posted this one before, but I think it was in a different place. How is that even possible?.

Osch, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
Osch, Shoreditch, London, November 2018

Osch, the Stables, Camden Town, September 2016
Osch, the Stables, Camden Town, September 2016

Osch, Brick Lane, London, August 2016
Osch, Brick Lane, London, August 2016

Osch, Old Street, London, August 2016
Osch, Old Street, London, August 2016