Tag: St George

6732. St George skate park (23)

Mind 49, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2025
Mind 49, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2025

I missed this piece by Mind 49 last year, so it is looking a little worse for wear, although, given that it is in a skate park, it has worn well. I love the way that it has been painted onto a cracked ramp, which makes it feel like an organic part of the park, that it has always been there, kind of.

Mind 49, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2025
Mind 49, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2025

Mind 49 has been one of the great talents to emerge from the Bristol scene and has developed from a precocious talent, via an activist, into a fine painter of photorealistic portraits. Here, the beautiful profile with soft tones marking out light and shade of the face contrasts with the half-finished look of the shirt and hat. A truly fabulous piece.

6725. St George skate park (22)

3Dom and Sled One, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2025
3Dom and Sled One, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2025

One of the great ‘walls’ in Bristol, this monolith rises out of the St George skate park like something out of ‘2001 A Space Odyssey’. On the other side of the wall is a slim ramp. Pieces that are painted here tend to be higher-end works and usually have quite a long lifespan. I think I probably need to do a ‘One Wall – Many Faces’ post for this wall, simply because it has such a great heritage of artwork.

3Dom and Sled One, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2025
3Dom and Sled One, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2025

This piece is a collaboration by 3Dom and Sled One, and is a top drawer work, so typical of the artists, who have collaborated before, but perhaps not so intimately as in this skull work. There is often a lot of symbolism or a story to tell in their work, but I am not sure that I can interpret it – ideas breaking out of a soulless brain, perhaps. The top half is by 3Dom and the lower half by Sled One. And just to add to the magnificence of the piece, they have painted some amazing water droplets for good measure.

5998. St George skate park (21)

Haka, St George, Bristol, April 2024
Haka, St George, Bristol, April 2024

In recent years, Haka has shifted his focus a little away from political statements, to the softer world of children’s picture books. The act of graffiti is no less subversive, but perhaps reflects different priorities in the artist’s life right now.

Haka, St George, Bristol, April 2024
Haka, St George, Bristol, April 2024

This piece is a faithful reproduction of the iconic children’s classic ‘Not Now, Bernard’ by David McKee, with the obvious replacement of the name Bernard with Haka. The piece, painted on the reverse side of a skate ramp, is in one of Haka’s favoured spots, and is wholly appropriate given that the park is so popular with young families. More, please.

4984. St George skate park (561)

Conrico, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2023
Conrico, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2023

Conrico is an artist who sees to keep himself very busy either with commissions or his street art. Either way, there always seems to be something new by him to go out and find. This is a lovely piece on the back of a skate ramp in St George skate park, where the turnover of artwork tends to be rather slow.

Conrico, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2023
Conrico, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2023

In this piece Conrico has written his name in chrome on an oriental scene, a recurring theme for Conrico. The house on the left has beautiful architecture from, I would guess, China. A night time sky with a full moon leads across to a fox appearing from a wisp of smoke. As with most of Conrico’s work, there is a story here – I guess it is up the viewer to fill in the gaps. Lovely work, photographed on a very cold icy day.

4895. St George skate park (18)

Haka, St George, Bristol, December 2022
Haka, St George, Bristol, December 2022

Haka is working his way through characters from the Ahlberg series of children’s picture books and in this wonderful piece on the back of a ramp in St George skate park he has created Grandma Swagg from the book Cops and Robbers, giving it a contemporary twist with the words ‘Cops and Tories’. Ha ha! It is also touching that Haka has paid a little tribute to Janet Ahlberg in the bottom left.

Haka, St George, Bristol, December 2022
Haka, St George, Bristol, December 2022

This is a beauty, on a wall that Haka rather likes, and suits this piece perfectly. I love the way Haka so lovingly and faithfully recreates these characters on a large scale for us all to enjoy. I’ll bet that this one is a real favourite with younger members of the local community.

4706. St George skate park (17)

Haka, St George, Bristol, September 2022
Haka, St George, Bristol, September 2022

Haka is making the most out of his enjoyment of children’s books by Janet and Allan Ahlberg, recreating illustrations from some of their best known titles. This cheeky character is Burglar Bill.

Haka, St George, Bristol, September 2022
Haka, St George, Bristol, September 2022

Haka has recreated this piece lovingly from the book and captured the character perfectly. I think that it is really cool that the artist is channelling his bedtime stories with his creative energy and gifting us with these fun and engaging pieces. We, in Bristol, are truly blessed.

4676. St George skate park (16)

Here are a couple more small stencils from John D’oh over in the St George skate park, which is a spot that he likes to paint on a reasonably regular basis. The first piece leans very heavily on a famous Banksy ‘sandwich-board chimp’, with a different message – ‘Monkey pox… not laughing now are you’, picking up on the increasing number of cases of the virus in the UK. As always, topical and on the ball.

John D'oh, St George skate park, Bristol, August 2022
John D’oh, St George skate park, Bristol, August 2022

The second stencil is a visual/verbal pun in which John D’oh conflates a Rocky quote and image, with an image of a chicken from the film Chicken Run. The quote is – ‘One run can change your day, many runs can change your life’. All a bit of fun.

John D'oh, St George skate park, Bristol, August 2022
John D’oh, St George skate park, Bristol, August 2022

Liz Truss – our new (fourth horseman of the apocalypse) Prime Minister has gifted John D’oh with years worth of satirical material by appointing one of the least moderate, most right wing, inexperienced, ideological Cabinets ever. She will break this country, but at least her mates will have top jobs supporting her with her destruction.

I could go on for hours about just how bad things are, but I think I will keep my powder dry for when things start to unravel. Unfortunately, by then it might be too late for the poorest in our society.

4652. St George skate park (15)

John D'oh, St George skate park, Bristol, August 2022
John D’oh, St George skate park, Bristol, August 2022

John D’oh has had another recent session in St George skate park, and I was able to get up there just before going off on my holiday. This fine stencil is one of several painted on the side of a skate ramp.

John D'oh, St George skate park, Bristol, August 2022
John D’oh, St George skate park, Bristol, August 2022

The artwork is deliberately retro, which seems at odds with the gentleman looking down at a mobile phone, a clever juxtaposition. It is the message that I love, and similar to one I often repeat here on Natural Adventures, encouraging people to look up and see the world around them, absorb it and enjoy the experience. A lovely stencil piece from John D’oh.

4394. St George skate Park (14)

If only I were as quick to post John D’oh’s political commentary pieces as he is to prepare and spray his stencils… Natural Adventures would feel a bit more contemporary, but a trade-off has to happen, because there is so much high-quality street/graffiti art in Bristol, I invariably have a backlog. Within a day or two of the Rishi Sunak Spring Statement (which did little for the poorer communities facing a cost of living crisis) John D’oh had come up with this piece, although I think it was just before the furore of his wife’s non-dom status, it certainly continued to resonate.

John D'oh, St George skate park, Bristol, April 2022
John D’oh, St George skate park, Bristol, April 2022

I like it that John D’oh visits various skate parks around Bristol and beyond, because these are places where more people will get exposure to his art and his observations. It is a joy to capture and catalogue John D’oh’s work because in years to come we will be able to reflect on Tory Britain with some grounded and visceral reflections.

3631. St George skate park (13)

Sled One is a great champion for the ASK crew, and will often paint these animated letters in his inimitable style that creates so much movement and character. This is one of two such recent pieces.

Sled One, St George, Bristol, April 2021
Sled One, St George, Bristol, April 2021

The skate park at St George doesn’t have the best graffiti walls, most of the site is rolling mounds and shallow bowls, but this ramp and one at the other end offer graffiti artists some decent opportunities. This vibrant ASK would most likely have been freestyled and I imagine fairly quickly, such is the skill and talent of Sled One. More like this coming soon.