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.
Well, well, well this piece by John D’oh caused something of a stir locally, and I shall try and give a brief description of why. It first appeared down a little side lane off St Michael’s hill about three weeks ago. I had spotted it from a bus on my way to work and registered it as one to come back to to photograph. The first lesson here is always take pictures of street art when you see it, because if you wait it will be gone next time you pass by, and this is exactly what happened with this.
The following week I was on my way to five-a-side football and it was still there and I made a mental note of coming back ASAP to take some pictures. On my way home an hour and a half later it had been buffed with white paint.
At pretty much the same time, there was a story on the Bristol Live website that it might be a Banksy, and stories like this always cause a stir. The piece is actually a clever adaptation of a Banksy work painted in Los Angeles entitled ‘Playhouse foreclosure‘. The core elements are the same, but the builder is absent, and the little girl is standing on the other side of the playhouse facing the other way.
John D’oh, St Michael’s Hill, Bristol, July 2019
The central point of the piece however was to enter into the realms of debate over the copyright of street art. It is critical of the stance taken by Banksy (and his lawyers) who recently won a case against a museum in Milan for selling Banksy Merchandise. Banksy has always had a pretty firm position of being against copyright and intellectual property rights, so this piece is simply highlighting the hypocrisy.
Having said that, this is a really difficult area for street artists and one that causes a lot of lively discussion. I know that John D’oh admires Banksy greatly, and has in the past used Banksy’s work and inspiration for his own work. In this instance I think he is being deliberately provocative to highlight this copyright/ideology minefield.
So how did I get my pictures? Well the great thing about stencils is that they can be used again and again, and within a couple of days, John D’oh had returned and repainted the piece (you can see the white paint that had been used to buff the original). Who buffed it in the first place and why, well we might never know, but all’s well that ends well.
This piece has been lurking in my archives for quite a long time now, but what better time to dig it out than right now? It is of course by the brilliant political commentator John D’oh and was created back in July 2016, and who’d have thought after all this time we’d still be caught up in a Boris Johnson circus?
John D’oh, North Street, Bristol, July 2016
The Michael referred to in this witty Forrest Gump pastiche would of course be Gove, and surprise, surprise here they both are making headlines in the contest for leadership of the Conservative Party. What a dismal mess this country is in, and what a sad indictment that the leader of our country will be chosen not by the electorate, but by a small number of fee-paying conservatives. There is no hope other than that the appointment of a clown for PM might just bury the Tories for the next 15 years.
It is galling that the mess we are in was not created in the aspiration to make life in the UK better for all, but simply to shore up the division in the Conservative party, and guess what, they F*cked that up good and proper as well.
I love wheatpastes (in case you hadn’t noticed) and at Upfest 2018 we were blessed with a series of poignant and thought provoking stencil paste ups by About Ponny. I was particularly moved by these small scenes, each one depicting the marginalised or forgotten, the vulnerable or neglected.
About Ponny, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
This one, produced in sepia tones, shows two small children sheltering under a small basket, and has overtones of iconic images from the Vietnam or Cambodian conflicts. There is so much emotion and sadness and pity captured in this image. Really, truly this is an outstanding piece of art.
Over the course of the three day Upfest street art festival, visitors are treated to a huge display of artistic talent, which includes a some exceptional stencils, most of which are allocated these meter square boards at the St Francis church location. This extraordinary four or five layer stencil is by midlands self-taught artist RJ77 (there is hope for me yet).
RJ77, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
This mysterious image is rather compelling and looking at it I want to know more. What’s the story? Is it simply a pose or is there more going on? I am a bit of a sucker for these monochromatic stencils, and I’ll have to look out for more from RJ77.
Wow, just wow, another wonderful paste up from Tian down in Stokes Croft. This one features a boxer, but I fear I don’t know which one. I have Googled Muhammad Ali, it might be him; Apollo Creed, it’s not him; Joe Foreman, it might be him when he had hair; Joe Frazier, I don’t think it’s him. And there my knowledge of boxers dries up… any ideas?
Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, May 2019
The wheatpaste itself is a beautiful stencil using his preferred yellow/sepia tones, I just don’t think I can get enough of his work and rather joyfully I have a whole load more to post over the coming weeks.
Back to Bristol now, after a short excursion to London, and a more familiar street art scene altogether. This is the second of two recent finds by John D’oh in Horfield skate park. I suppose it is possible that they were produced around the same time.
John D’oh, Horfield skate park, Bristol, April 2019
This stencil features Batman and a quote from John D’oh that reads ‘I son’t want Michael Gove as Prime Minister I want Batman AKA Jeremy Corbyn’. This is in reference to a televised speech made by Michael Gove in which the automated subtitles said Batman instead of ‘that man’ when he was talking about the leader of the opposition. Very funny really, and great work from John D’oh to capture it in this way. I think we’d all prefer Batman to any of the potential candidates in the Tory party right now. What an utter shower of toxic right-wingers.
Natural adventures 