All artists derive their influences from somewhere. Sometimes these influences are overtly acknowledged and deliberately expressed in their work, and this stencil by JPS is one such example. There is more than a simple nod to Banksy in this piece called ‘balloon girl’.
JPS, Alma Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019
There used to be a stencil of balloon girl (with red balloons) in Park Row in Bristol, but I don’t think it is there any more. I think, more than any other artist, Jps’ work is often mistaken for the work of Banksy, and it is not hard to see why. Love this piece.
EEEK! What a wonderful anamorphic spider stencil from JPS in Weston-super-Mare. This piece is one of three small stencils adorning a shop front on Meadow Street. The remarkable thing about JPS’ art in WSM is how incredibly fresh most of it looks, and how few of the pieces are tagged.
JPS, Meadow Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019
The patterns on this spider and the shadows it appears to cast on the wall make this, for me, an outstanding stencil. I am guessing that all the little bristles on the legs were painted by hand, as I don’t think that even JPS would have the patience to cut each of those on the stencil. A seriously classy small piece.
I recently took a trip (mainly to give the dog somewhere different to experience) to Weston-super-Mare, and it hadn’t changed much from the last time I visited a couple of years back. What I was able to do however was explore the town for JPS street art, and naturally this is the place to do it.
JPS, Rear Oxford Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019
In my view, JPS doesn’t come to Bristol nearly enough, but WSM is his manor and that is where so much of his work is. I think this piece of a youing skateboarder is reasonably recent, but I have no real way of knowing. I understand that JPS now lives in Bavaria, but I am sure that he returns now and again to his old stomping ground.
JPS, Rear Oxford Street, Weston-super-Mare, August 2019
This piece, like all of his stencils is beautifully intricate and has been specifically placed to give the impression that the child is skating over the street sign. This is just the first of many posts I will be bringing to Natural Adventures over the coming days/months from WSM featuring JPS, Fawn and PZY.
Way back at Upfest 2016, I bee W was the first street artist at a festival that I had the courage to speak to, shortly before I spoke with Dice 67 (who I later went on to conduct my first, and so far only, interview). Turns out that the vast majority of street artists are lovely people and even at festivals make time for a quick chat.
I bee W, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
I bee W is a stencil artist whose stencils are often placed on carefully crafted or textured backgrounds and so become part of something bigger than the stencil alone. There is a story here, but I’ll be damned if I know what it is. A lady in a bikini bookended by a pair of seahorses. It is a pretty piece albeit slightly surreal. I have a few more of his pieces lurking in my archives, so I’ll have to dig them out.
That rounds off this series of ten Upfest 2018 catch up posts, but I’ll be doing more over the autumn and winter as there are still so many I haven’t yet posted.
This is a magnificent piece by Deeds, so full of movement. Really stylish and classy. Although I am familiar with the name of the artist, he has been spray painting with stencils since the 1980s, I am not very familiar with his work.
Deeds, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
In this piece The stencil of the horse appears to have been done in staggered sections to give it that feeling of movement, and the bright blue strips just seem to emphasise it. In the WIP shot above, you can see that he worked on the piece from the top down on the already prepped red background. A classy piece.
I think that this is the fifth stencil/wheatpaste by About Ponny that I have posted from Upfest 2018 and in my mind every single one of them is a belter. In each it is both the skill of the work and positioning and the extraordinary content that makes these outstanding wheatpastes.
About Ponny, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
About Ponny has a knack of portraying human pain and suffering without sentiment or compassion. These are raw pieces which strike at your heart and made even more effective by their low-key sitings. I had not been aware of About Ponny’s work before Upfest 2018, but on the back of these have become a big fan.
Sometimes you glance a piece of street art when driving about the place and make a mental note to go back on foot. This is one of those, and well worth the legwork to find it. It is a beautiful stencil of an owl by Kin Dose, which I figured was several years old, but is probably less than 18 months old if streetview is anything to go by.
Kin Dose, Redcliffe Way, Bristol, August 2019
The first observation is that this spot is a prime location for a stencil. Blocked out windows like this always make such fantastic framed backdrops for street art. I think that this is a barn owl, and the stencil is in very much the same style as his 2018 Upfest stencils, with the animal sprayed over a coloured swirl background. When I spoke to Kin Dose earlier this summer, he said that he has moved away from doing stencils because the cutting out process is tedious and he is preferring his spray-brush style at the moment. Lovely piece.
The stencil in this picture is the second I have posted, although it was the first I had found, by Yoshi. It is an interesting piece of a man, casually dressed, looking at a goldfish in a bowl which is floating away under a blue balloon. Heaven only knows what is going on here, maybe the artist suffers from separation anxiety or something like that. Whatever the story, it is an interesting piece from this relative newcomer.
Yoshi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2019
The original piece had one question mark over the man’s head, but the additional question marks were added later, presumably by the artist who sprayed the pink pondering face on the left that seems to also be wondering what is going on. It is nice to see this connection and succession between two pieces.
I love it when you start to see the work of an artist who has previously been off the radar, and recently I have become aware of a couple of stencils by Yoshi of which this owl at St Werburghs is one. Actually it is a cat owl, and if you look carefully at the face you’ll see why.
Yoshi, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2019
It would seem that Yoshi is reasonably new to the street art scene and is very much in a discovery phase of his work with sencils, trying out different materials and ideas. Yoshi has a good Instagram feed that offers a little bit of narrative and insight into his work, which is great, I also have noticed that there a couple more stencils I need to go out and find. Looking forward to seeing more work from Yoshi.
I love this beautiful stencil by JPS for so many reasons. Firstly, and I make no bones about this, it is bloody brilliant. Secondly, it was the art of JPS (and Kid Crayon) in this area that led me down this path of discovery several years and as a result has brought me a great deal of happiness.
JPS, Frogmore Street, Bristol, August 2019
The cat is on the side of the King’s Shilling in Frogmore Street and is adjacent to his gladiator piece and round the corner from his ‘Big Deal’ stencil… a proper little JPS hotspot. My only complaint is that he doesn’t do nearly enough work in Bristol, and we have to wait literally years for him to come and paint.
JPS, Frogmore Street, Bristol, August 2019
The cat is, as I said at the top, beautiful. So elegant and full of poise, and it could easily be mistaken for a real cat at a glance. The other clever thing I should point out, that once spoken about cannot be taken back (spoiler alert), is that the markings on the cat’s flank spell out JPS.
I know of at least one other JPS cat which is in West Pallant in Chichester, an altogether more colourful cat. I love, love this stencil and am pleased that JPS made a recent visit to Bristol to spray it. It is especially good that it is very close to where I work and I can see it as often as I choose. Thank you JPS.
Natural adventures 