Kool Hand and Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2022
I really enjoy these occasional collaborations from Daz Cat and Kool Hand, who have been teaming up for several years now. Their creations are steadily becoming more sophisticated and intricate as each of the artists improves and develops.
Kool Hand and Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2022
Both artists have created characters on hoverboards, cruising through a deep red, starlit sky. Kool Hand has a crocodile on a ‘Silver Surfer’ kind of board and Daz Cat has painted an elaborate Ms cat with loads of detail in the face and clothing. The whole thing is an effective and atmospheric work, creating an exciting and dynamic scene.
The creativity that is the signature of Maybe’s work continues to delight, with his constant flow of small stencil art pieces, most of which are painted under Brunel Way or the immediate area.
Maybe, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2022
This recent piece depicts a woman contemplating the stars, made slightly weird by the ‘Mr Tickle’ hand curling in full circle. These atmospheric pieces feature planets and stars heavily, and Maybe has definitely refined his technique to create these beautiful space-scapes.
At Upfest you get to see work from so many artists that you have never encountered before, and in some cases may never encounter again. Always, though, there will be some pieces that stand out or stick in the memory, for whatever reason, and this curious piece by Rinascimento Punk is one of those.
Rinascimento punk, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
The character in the piece is all a little surreal, with unfamiliar limbs attached (or in the case of the hand, unattached) to a torso and face. The hand is holding a planet (Saturn?) and I am guessing the head is in a space helmet, because the piece is entitled ‘Woman in Space’. This is an intriguing piece with loads of texture in the artwork. Great stuff.
The Maybe (or MaybePaints) factory continues to churn out more high quality and charming face pieces under Brunel Way. Maybe has definitely carved out a niche for himself in Bristol’s street art scene and is becoming established for what he does, and all of this in under a year.
Maybe, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2021
Due to his prolific painting I have to group his pieces. If I didn’t ether wouldn’t be enough room on Natural Adventures for anyone else. This first column piece combines ideas that the artist has had, with a series of three interlocking faces, the central orange one being sandwiched by two planetary space scenes.
Maybe, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2021
Another theme running through Maybe’s work is aggregating profile faces into geometric shapes, and in this piece he has three kissing pairs on three sides of a cube, which is very nicely done, adding perspective to his work.
Maybe, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2021
The third piece in this group is probably my favourite and is a little less structured. It is more of a story-telling piece with one of his face characters communicating or taking a selfie on his cell phone across an oceanic sunset. Beautiful and tranquil, it should perhaps be entitled ‘face time’. All great stuff from an artist I have yet to meet.
I am well acquainted with the work of Cheba whose intergalactic spacescapes have become something of a speciality for him and which adorn several buildings around Bristol. However, in this piece for Upfest’s 75×75 event, Cheba has gone all Day-Glo on us, and it certainly has made an impact.
Cheba, East Street, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
I must confess to not being a big fan of Day-Glo colour schemes, because they remind me of some of the dodgier aspects of 1980s design and fashion that are probably best left behind. Having said that, I do think that this is an energetic and interesting mural and has already become something of a landmark in the area. Great to see a new piece from Cheba, who has been fairly quiet over the last year or so.
I made a special effort to photograph this piece as quickly after I saw it because I never got a clean picture of its predecessor by Tom Miller that had been there for a long while on account of the difficulty of parking nearby. Lazy me. As a result, this one from 3Dom was not going to get away from me.
3Dom, Sevier Street, Bristol, December 2020
Surprises are always good, and this piece from 3Dom was certainly that. No warnings, no Instagram, it was just suddenly there one morning. The piece itself is typically crazy and surreal and has a joyful charm about it. 3Dom has signed it with his Instagram handle which makes me wonder if it was perhaps a commission, or at the very least he would have sought permission to do it. I think it is an expression of weather and space, with elements such as clouds, a rainbow, the sun combined with stars (see Orion’s belt?) a galaxy and a rocket. Nicely painted and bright and colourful. Thank you 3Dom.
There is rarely a time when I don’t enjoy seeing work by Mr Draws. His DRAW moniker will be a familiar site to any observant Bristolian in recent years, even if they haven’t considered the name any further.
Mr Draws. M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2020
In this fun piece, Mr Draws has added interest to his writing with a little spaceship sending light beams down onto his work. Although not an original concept, it is a fun idea that brought a smile to my face. Mr drwas continues to show great stamina, painting walls come rain or shine and keeping Bristol’s USP ticking over nicely.
Roughly every six months or so this wall on the side of Domestic Drain Services gets a makeover. It is not a commission as such, more like permission and the cost of the paint thrown in, the payback is that the company get a beautifully sprayed landmark that can just about be seen from this busy motorway junction.
This piece is a collaboration between SPzero76, Squirl and Kid Crayon.
SPZero76, Millpond Street, Bristol, October 2019
On the left is the highly detailed work of SPZero76 full of busy action and cartoon capers. The words ‘Lost Eats’ on the side of the rocket is a conflation of two crews, the Lost Souls, which SPZero76 and Squirl belong to and Eats which is the pairing of SPZero76 and Kid Crayon. A nice touch.
Squirl, Millpond Street, Bristol, October 2019
The central part of the collaboration is a much more tranquil almost abstract space idea going on from Squirl. I have seen a little bit of his work on his occasional visits to Bristol for Upfest so it was nice to see this contribution from him.
Kid Crayon, Millpond Street, Bristol, October 2019
Finally, on the right is a rather splendid space woman alien kind of thing with the astronaut clad in terrestrial clothes holding the earth with a little space shuttle breaking through the atmosphere. Great, imaginative stuff.
This whole collaboration seems to have the brief of space, but beyond that each artist has absolutely done his own thing, so this is a three-way individual collaboration loosely based on a single idea.
I just don’t get to see enough of Lemak’s wonderful and complex stencils. Much of his work is studio work, but occasionally we get lucky and he takes to the streets. This outstanding piece is painted on the double doors that played host to Dr Love at Upfest 2018, and more recently to the gorgeous lips of Muckrock.
Lemak, North Street, Bristol, February 2019
This work features a space scene in which two astronauts, dressed in pink and blue respectively are sharing a rather awkward space hug, in which their helmets kind of get in the way. The rest of the wall is decorated with fabulous starscapes and neon oriental letters.
Lemak, North Street, Bristol, February 2019
Zoom in a little closer to the astronauts and you get a sense of just how outstandingly good this stencil is, in which the fabric of the space suits has extraordinary texture.
perhaps this is a projection of our future where the air can no longer sustain us and we’ll all be wearing such suits.
This is a beautiful, beautiful piece.
Muckrock, North Street, Bristol, December 2018Dr. Love, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Bart says “reach for the stars” and Lemak has done just that with this fabulous space stencil. Some of you might remember that I have already posted this stencil, in a slightly different format from Park Street a few weeks back.
Lemak, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
There is little more for me to say than I have already said about Lemak and his superb artwork. His stencils are always precisely presented and always have some original thinking behind them. Checking out his Instagram account also gives you some real insight into the kind of works he is producing. Always good, never sub-standard.
Natural adventures 