Tag: Stencil

2628. Shoreditch, London (35)

There is a great problem with street art, and that is that there is simply too much of it. I would think that for every piece I feature in Natural Adventures, there are probably two others I have photographed that never make it. That is why going back through my archives is such fun, bringing dormant pieces back to life.

Jaune, Shoreditch, London, April 2019
Jaune, Shoreditch, London, April 2019

This is a small piece from a trip I made to Shoreditch back in April this year painted by the artist Jaune, who specialises in pictures of waste disposal workers often in miniature like this one. It is great going to London occasionally hunting for street art, because there are many more internaional artists who visit there, compared with the provinces. Jaune I believe is from Brussels in Belgium, but I have never seen any of his work in Bristol.

2594. Upfest 2018 (165)

At Upfest 2018 there were a great many stencil artworks , which was great to see, including this cracker from S.A.S-Art. With a touch of menace and rebellion about it, this piece conjures up struggles with established authority, something of a common occurrence these days.

S.A.S-Art, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
S.A.S-Art, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

The stencil looks like a fairly straight forward 3 layers, but what lifts it from the crowd is the background setting which looks like the piece could be set in a war zone sort of thing. A brave and atmospheric piece.

2593. Upfest 2018 (164)

This is the second great stencil I have seen from Random – the first was at Upfest 2017. There are a couple of features that are in common with these two pieces. The first is that they are multilayer greyscale stencils, presented on a black background and the second is that they have a political element to them.

Random, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Random, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

This piece makes reference to the repeal of the 8th Irish amendment which was to remove the constitutional ban on abortion which was signed in to law on 18 September 2018. The piece itself I guess is in some way symbolic, but it is the execution of the technique that is very tidy indeed. A fine work from Random.

Random, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Random, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

2575. Cheltenham 2019 (20)

I have come across RTC a couple of times at Upfest in Bristol and really like his stencil work. This piece featuring Stephen Hawking reinforces my admiration. Many regular readers will know that I consider multi-layered stencils to be a highly skilled art form, and one that is probably misunderstood in terms of the hard work that goes into a piece like this one.

RTC, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
RTC, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

I believe RTC is a local Cheltenham artist, so it must be especially pleasing for him to be able to do a piece at the festival. I am guessing that RTC is referencing one of several books by Stephen Hawking in this piece, and most likely ‘a Brief History of Time. This is a truly excellent stencil piece.

2552. Cheltenham 2019 (18)

Being so close to Bristol, the Cheltenham Paint Festival is crowded with artists that I am really familiar with, who make the short journey up the M5 or on the train. This is a lovely piece called ‘I Hear You’ by Stephen Quick which according to his Twitter feed is a call to arms to all the unheard voices now being heard.

Stephen Quick, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
Stephen Quick, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

Stephen Quick’s pieces historically used to be complex stencils, but more recently he has taken to painting freehand in a stencil style. He uses a brilliant mash-up approach to his work combining film or TV elements and to illustrate this here are his #hashtags for this piece on social media:

Streetart, urbanart, portrait, power, woman, superhero, shera, teenagemutantninjaturtles, mural, cheltenhampaintfestival, cheltenham, painting, art, artofinstagram, spraypaint, acrylicpainting, stencilart.

A really fine piece. Bravo.

2551. Cheltenham 2019 (17)

A beautiful and understated little stencil piece by M-one that for me pretty much stole the show at the Cheltenham Paint Festival this year. I haven’t come across the artist before but I believe he lives in Southsea.

M-One, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
M-One, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

What is so clever about this stencil is not only the placement and the illusion that the hole is a real one, but that the rust colour he has used kind of blends in with the rusty drips on the tiles behind. I’m not sure if this was his only piece at the festival or if there is another one somewhere in my archive. I’ll find out soon enough. Brilliant piece.

2550. Cheltenham 2019 (16)

One of the first pieces to be completed at this year’s Cheltenham Paint Festival was this homage to Nadiya Hussain, the Great British Bake Off winner and now celebrity chef, by RJ77 who I believe might be quite local but I’m not sure why I think that.

RJ77, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
RJ77, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

RJ77 has stuck well to the theme of the festival and his book is Nadiya Hussain’s ‘Time to Eat’ cookery book. He is a very talented stencil artist and this greyscale piece looks like it has maybe eight or nine layers – gotta love those drips too. He painted a lovely piece at Upfest 2018 which I posted a little while back. I’d love to see more of his stuff, but might have to wait for more festivals to see it.

RJ77, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
RJ77, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Bacon Street, Shoreditch, London

There are some streets that are so heavily festooned with street art, graffiti art, bombing and tags that it can become easy to overlook some gems in amongst all the noise. One such piece is this gorgeous stencil by C215.

C215, Bacon Street, Shoreditch, London, April 2019
C215, Bacon Street, Shoreditch, London, April 2019

The occupiers of 21 Bacon Street may not appreciate it, but they are privileged that their door has been chosen for such a magnificent and technically brilliant stencil. For me, finding small pieces like this is what makes the effort I put into seeking out art on walls so utterly worth it. Great work from C215.

2518. Bedminster

Another one from my archive, but the piece, by Kin Dose is somewhat older than my photograph of it. Positioned in a bricked up gateway this stencil is perfectly framed, and is sited in an area without much street art itself, but the surrounding areas are awash with it.

Kin Dose, Bedminster, Bristol, April 2019
Kin Dose, Bedminster, Bristol, April 2019

I have seen this owl stencil a few times in Bristol, but each one has a different background of colours and swirls, this one with a big bright hunter’s moon. This is what Kin Dose brings to his stencil work, each piece is distinct and different even though at it’s heart is the same core piece. A nice find.

Kin Dose, Redcliffe Way, Bristol, August 2019
Kin Dose, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2018

2483. Cheltenham 2019 (7)

It seems pretty timely to be posting this stencil by John D’oh at this year’s Cheltenham Paint Festival, because it is impossible to keep Boris out of the headlines. I realise that views on this blustering champion of capitalism are mixed, and that he is immensely popular with little Britain Tories, I however remain firmly in the other corner, and as it would seem so does John D’oh.

John D'oh, Paint festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
John D’oh, Paint festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

This single layer stencil takes a pop at Boris Johnson making the case that there is no excuse for stupidity with the words:

Ignorance can be educated, crazy can be medicated, but there is no cure for stupidity.

I am pretty certain that Boris’ prime ministership will very shortly be coming to an end, but I think we can be fairly sure he’ll be making headlines for some time to come. This can only be good news for the fertile creative mind of John D’oh and the rest of us who enjoy his slightly subversive work.