It was a version of this stunning stencil in Frogmore Street in Bristol, together with Kid Crayon’s wheatpastes that drew me into the extraordinary world of street art about five years ago. It is called ‘The Big Deal’ and represents the drug dealing that JPS witnessed in his home town of Weston-super-Mare.
JPS, Carlton Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019
Knowing what the piece represents adds a layer of sophistication to the two young and ‘innocent’ characters that appear to have appeared from the 1960s (we all dressed like this in those days) although the box over the shoulder of one of the children might be a wartime gas mask. I cannot explain just how much I love this piece, which is on Carlton Street in Weston-super-Mare, not only because of its quality of a piece, but also of how it engaged directly with me and drew me in. My favourite.
JPS, Frogmore Street, Bristol, July 2015JPS, North Pallant, Chichester
This wonderful stencil piece in Leonard lane is by John D’oh and was one of several that were painted during a bit of a spree I think. The caption ‘People think I’m Banksy’ is a reference to Massive Attack star Robert del Naja (on the right), who has been suspected of being Banksy and who some still think might be him.
John D’oh, Leonard Lane, Bristol, November 2017
It is a classic piece of John D’oh single-layer stencil work, and is emblematic of the whole Bristol street art scene and sub-culture. I have more to publish from this John D’oh session in 2017 and will get round to more of them if the lock down persists.
The Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent UK lock down has unsurprisingly seen a dramatic decrease in new street work. This, while disappointing especially given the spell of gorgeous weather we have been having, is not all bad news, as it is giving me the opportunity to unearth some not-seen-before on Natural Adventures pieces from the archives. Starting with this spray can bin stencil from John D’oh at Upfest 2016.
John D’oh, Upfest 2016, Bristol, July 2016
The organisers of Upfest had provided these drums for artists to dispose of their spray cans in an orderly fashion, and in true Upfest style, selected a few artists to decorate the bins, This one by John D’oh. I have to say I am not entirely sure who the people on the bin are, but I love the stencils in any case. In Bristolian he has written ‘John D’oh’s bin yer’, which tickled me. More Upfest 2016 work to come.
A contemporary stencil from John D’oh on the M32 cycle path was completed shortly before the lock down and mocks the insane and irrational panic buying for toilet roll that obsessed the nation. In my lifetime I’ve not seeen anything like it. In one shop I went to in the early period of this madness I saw a woman send her young son to run into the shop as it opened and grab a couple of large multi-packs – I shouldn’t think they’ve even got through a quarter of it yet. There’s nowt as queer as folk as they would say in Yorkshire.
John D’oh, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2020
I haven’t seen much from John D’oh since the Cheltenham Paint festival so this was a rather pleasant surprise in a spot that I woudn’t ordinarily associate with him. In this commentary piece he brings together his slightly caustic wit and stencil skills to present us with a retro family, fully masked, clutching their trophies as if this were quite a normal situation. This piece reminds me of the satirical cartoonist Glen Baxter, which is a compliment indeed.
This was a completely accidental find (often the most fulfilling ones). I was trying to find a cut-through in Southville, because I was sick of the traffic, and ended up turning into this cul-de-sac (I thought it was a through road) that I have passed many times before but never noticed this brilliant sheep stencil before.
Stewy, Cooperage Lane, Bristol, March 2020
I think the Stencil by Bristol’s Stewy might be reasonably new, because when I parked up and got out of my car to photograph it, I struck up a conversation with a man who was with the owner of the building, and they hadn’t seen the piece before. I told them that it was a great privilege to have such a lovely stencil on their wall, and they seemed to be in agreement. Much of Stewy’s work is one layer stencils like this one, and because of this focus and intensity they really stand out. It is such a great feeling finding something like this. It pays to go down streets you don’t normally go down, you just never know what you’ll find.
It is a funny thing, but I have always been quite nonchalant about Banksy. I love his art, I love it that he comes from Bristol but I tend to stand up for all the other artists whose work is extraordinary and who are not Banksy. However, even I got caught up in the frenzy of excitement that surrounded his visit to Bristol last Wednesday night/Thursday morning.
Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020
It is not often the artist comes back to his home city, so it always feels rather special when he does. The other thing about his work is that you have to get there quick to see it, because there are some crazy people who try to vandalise his stuff, particularly in Bristol – who knows why. And guess what, since I wrote the last sentence two days ago, an idiot has indeed vandalised the piece with some rather nasty message over the stencil girl.
Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020
These pictures are a little bit low-res, I have obviously kept the high res versions in my archive, to avoid copyright theft – something I rarely do. So sorry about the quality. The piece itself features a girl in a hoodie firing a catapult of beautiful red flowers. Is this a love message to Bristol?
Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020
The location of the piece is significant, because it is just around the corner that Banksy learned to spray paint under the watchful eye of John Nation, a youth club worker at Barton Hill youth club. John is the godfather of Bristol street art, and what he doesn’t know isn’t worth knowing about.
Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020
There was a constant stream of people gathering at the wall when I made it down there on Friday, and it was great to witness their sense of awe that something special had happened here and that they were able to share in it. I couldn’t resist photographing this gentleman with his motorbike, he said the selfie was for his motor club which I thought was very sweet.
Banksy, Marsh Lane, Bristol, February 2020
You can get a sense of the flow of people from the final picture. The nice fellow in the yellow check shirt had come over from Swansea just to see this wall. I bet they are all glad that they did when they did knowing that it has now been vandalised.
A special day for a hunter and a special day for Bristol.
A stencil artist whose work I have always admired is London’s Unify. Unify’s work, for me has a real human touch, grabbing the viewer’s attention through an emotional draw. These works are more than illustrations they are stories, sometimes political, sometimes satirical, sometimes child-like and they are all pretty powerful.
Unify, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
This beautiful small stencil depicts a young girl painting some little red hearts that collectively form a peace symbol, something that is used a lot in Unify’s work. It is a touching piece full of hope, and beautifully presented between these two flowerpots.
More from JPS in his home town, with this delightful young gladiator stencil. I don’t know the back-story to this piece, but there surely is one. The young bespectacled gladiator is holding up a keyboard for a shield, is this a metaphor? Is the boy hiding behind his technology? Is the character someone we know, a famous person?
JPS, Richmond Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019
As ever the stencil is stunningly well executed and the quality is really noticeable in the detail on the keyboard. If you are a fan of JPS’ work then a trip to WSM is an absolute must, and part of the fun is in finding these stencils dotted around the town.
Since acquiring a dog two years ago, I have managed to turn taking him for walks to my advantage, visiting street art hotspots in Bristol and beyond in the name of exercise duty. One such ‘walk’ was in the form of a day trip last summer that he and I took to Weston-super-Mare. Here he is photobombing a fabulous Yoda stencil by JPS. The dog actually only makes rare appearances on Natural Adventures despite being with me for most of my photography sessions.
JPS, High Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019
Having just seen the final film of the Star Wars saga, it feels appropriate to post this piece at this time, and JPS has as you would expect turned out a masterful piece he has. The pictures are a bit bleached out, an artefact of me getting used to photo editor and not making a great job of it.
Incidentally, the dog pee on the Yoda was absolutely not the work of my animal, he has far too much respect for street artists.
A gallery of wonderful stencil pieces by JPS (who originally hails from Weston-super-Mare)
All photographs taken by Scooj
JPS, Carlton Street, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021JPS, Victoria Square, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021JPS, Victoria Square, Weston-super-Mare, September 2021JPS, Frogmore Street, Bristol, August 2020JPS, Carlton Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Richmond Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Richmond Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, High Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Back alley, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Alma Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Meadow Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Rear Oxford Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Rear Oxford Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019JPS, Frogmore Street, Bristol, August 2019JPS, Frogmore Street, Bristol, August 2019JPS, the Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016JPS, Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016JPS, Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016JPS, Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016JPS, University Road, Bristol, August 2014JPS, Gloucester Road, Bristol, August 2015JPS, York Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016JPS, West Pallant, Chichester, August 2016JPS, West Pallant, Chichester, August 2016JPS, Richmond Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016JPS, Richmond Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2016JPS, Shockwave, North Street, Bristol, September 2015JPS, Shockwave, North Street, Bristol, September 2015JPS, Girl on swing, Park Row, Bristol, November 2015JPS, Frogmore Street, Bristol, July 2015JPS, Culver Street, Bristol, September 2015JPS, Culver Street, Bristol, September 2015JPS, North Pallant, ChichesterJPS, North Pallant, Chichester
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