Stephen Quick

6401. The Tobacco Factory

Stephen Quick, The Tobacco Factory, Bristol, September 2024

I am on a bit of a tight time schedule this morning because I have to get a train to London to watch my beloved Arsenal taking on Leicester City in the Premier League. Actually I don’t ‘have’ to, I want to. This is going to be a quick one, in more ways than one… it is a recent panel piece by Stephen Quick.

Stephen Quick has been a favourite of mine for many years, and manages to transition between his studio work and his street work seamlessly, appearing to be equally comfortable with both. His stencil work is outstanding and he augments his pieces with a little brush work to tidy things up. The piece was painted as part of the South Bristol Arts Trail and is exhibited in the outdoor cafe at the Tobacco Factory. The piece honours the strong females in his life. Very nice work.

6266. Cheltenham Paint Festival 2024 (1)

Curtis Hylton, Cheltenham Paint Festival 2024, Barnyard Close, Cheltenham, July 2024

A couple of weekends ago I managed to spend a day at the Cheltenham Paint festival, which was amazing, and organiser Andy ‘Dice’ Davies and his team should be congratulated for building the event into one of the best paint festivals in the UK, and in a town that has quite a small graffiti/street art sub-culture. I took so many pictures of pieces from this year and previous years, that I will be bunching them together in my posts of the festival, due to sheer volume of photographs in my folders.

Here we start with a wonderful piece from Curtis Hilton on the edge of the town, with a signature piece of a bird composed of flower petals.

DFC1848, Cheltenham Paint Festival 2024, Honeybourne Line tunnel, Cheltenham, July 2024

Next up is a large piece by local artist DFC1848. How magnificently the gold colour on the diver’s helmet picks up the texture of the wall and appears to glisten. Really nice cartoon character fun.

Stephen Quick, Cheltenham Paint Festival 2024, North Place car park, Cheltenham, July 2024

Finally, for this first burst of three pieces from the festival, a stunner from Stephen Quick, a Bristol Stencil Artist, who I caught up with for a moment. He said the he left the peeling white paint on purpose to add texture and interest to the piece. Such a nice man by the way. More of these Cheltenham compilations to follow.

5021. Tobacco Factory

Stephen Quick, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, February 2023

I’m not quite sure if this actually qualifies as street art, even though it is by a studio/street artist, Stephen Quick, and was hanging up outside at the Tobacco Factory. The piece was for sale, alongside three or four others, in the outdoor café area. The resolution isn’t too great because it was quite dark when I took the pictures and I had to lean over some customers rather awkwardly.

I am a huge fan of Stephen Quick’s work, and have enjoyed observing him grow over the years. More than that, I think I’d really like to own an original, but I think I’d better start saving up now. This piece is called ‘Crying Woman’ and is an absolute belter. Some of you might note that the background is courtesy of Paul Monsters. I think I might have to return to the Tobacco Factory soon and take some better pictures.

A gallery of outstanding stencil work from Bristol artist Stephen Quick

Instagram: @splinteredstudios

Twitter: @StephenQuickArt

Facebook: Stephen Quick

all photographs by Scooj

Stephen Quick, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Stephen Quick, Raleigh Road, Bristol, July 2018

Stephen Quick, Raleigh Road, Bristol, June 2018

Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

Stephen Quick, Raleigh Road Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2017

Stephen Quick and Hannah Adamaszek, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2017

Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Stephen Quick, Raleigh Road, Bristol, June 2016

Stephen Quick, Raleigh Road, Bristol, January 2016

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’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.

1991. Upfest 2018 (127)

Always, always a firm favourite with me are the pop culture stencils by Stephen Quick, a brilliant Bristol artist and Upfest regular. This piece ‘Can stand up, will stand up’ is one of a series of similar pieces that he has created with this character.

There are several cultural references in the piece, which include the obvious homage to Star Wars, but also there is the sword of He Man and the bracelet (not in this picture) of Wonder Woman. His style is unique and vibrant, and I always look forward to a quick annual catch up at Upfest.

1599. Raleigh Road, Tobacco Factory (13)

Well now, here is another fabulous stencil by Stephen Quick, and due to its location in a car park is almost impossible to photograph, so I will rebrand these images as ‘arty’ on account of the fine reflections on the shiny black bonnet of the annoying car parked in front of the piece.

Once again Stephen Quick spoils us with an image of an iconic figure in the shape of Totoro. The piece is called ‘I bet you’re Totoro and is a direct reference to a massive manga film I have never seen, made in 1988, ‘My Neighbour Totoro‘. Exposing my ignorance even further, I am not sure who the lady in the picture is, but I am sure she is probably famous. I am not very good with Iconic references and usually do really badly on those online quizzes you see from time to time. Now ask me something about natural history and I am onto a winner.

This is a really fabulous and intricate stencil and I know that Stephen spends many hours preparing for these pieces. Maybe one day he could give me some basic tips for my ambitions one day to join the ranks of Bristol street artists.

1568. Raleigh Road, Tobacco Factory (11)

I first became aware of Stephen Quick’s work only a few metres from this spot with his fabulous kiss between Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford. To this day I am a big fan of his intricate stencils featuring contemporary stars and icons in familiar poses with a commentary twist.

This piece, a representation of the damage done to the reputation of Facebook in the light of recent scandals, brilliantly portrays the difficulties facing the company. I don’t know if it is intentional or not, but as if to rub salt into the wound, Quick has added his Twitter and Instagram account details at the bottom of the piece in the corporate colour of Facebook. Hah!

It is not only the witty content of his work that I am attracted to but it is the brilliant technical approach to his multi-layered pieces that amazes. He posts a lot of videos and pictures of his pieces in production on his website, Splintered Studios, and I thoroughly recommend a visit. All good.

1169. Upfest 2017 (108)

This is a wonderful piece by Stephen Quick, a brilliant Bristol stencil artist and, I understand, YouTuber. I have to say that I never got to see this piece in its finished state, which I am really annoyed about, but have seen it on Digital Social Media and it looks spectacular.

Stephen has a style that mixes and merges ideas and iconic figures to produce blended stencils of the highest quality. Stephen quick has a lot to say about this piece on his website, and to save myself the time I have pinched his text and offer it below:

‘Pop Girl’ is my modern day mash up, pop culture heroine. My idea being if my recent generation get a call to arms we will arm ourselves with items from our pop upbringing, Inspired by Tank Girl, she wears a R2D2 helmet, armed with the Sword of Omen from Thundercats, with good luck charms from Harry Potter and The Legend of Zelda, she is ready to take on the world!

In my pictures, the Harry Postter charms are missing. and background not completed, but I didn’t want to leave it out of my Upfest updates. I do like his work very much.

834. Raleigh Road, Tobacco Factory (9)

I love the stencil work of Stephen Quick, and I love Star Wars, so this was a nice treat for me to find. The piece is attached next to the front gate of the car park to the Tobacco Factory and looks out onto the street with a quiet modesty.

I guess it is a tribute piece to the amazing Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. Stephen Quick is becoming a bit of a specialist at tributes to the stars…which is a little unfortunate, but they are also a wonderful way of recognising how important these people are in our lives.

A New Hope is simply shortened to HOPE – there is a story here somewhere. Simple, moving and some great drips. Nice work from Stephen.

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