A gallery of unusual alien and monster street art from Bristol artist Stiff
Instagram: @the_stiff_show
All photographs by Scooj
Stiff
Tag: Stiff
6145. Dean Lane skate park (726)
It has been a while since I last saw a piece by Stiff, and while finding his work is always a great pleasure, I don’t think that this is one of his finest. The main problem I have with this piece is that I am not quite sure what it is, as the colours are rather dark and the elements not clearly defined.
Stiff usually paints weird and wonderful aliens and monsters, and I guess that this is another one to add to his menagerie. I feel it is important to post as much as I can from all artists, warts an all, because I like to reflect the full spectrum of art and graffiti writing in the city. Looking forward to Stiff’s next piece.
5366. St Werburghs tunnel (372)
I managed to snap this piece by Stiff just before heading off on my holiday, which I was pleased about, because, for whatever reason, his work never seems to last very long. His work tends to be on the alien theme and in this piece a red monster is sticking its toothy tongue (?) out of a very toothy mouth.
Stiff pretty much always paints on a black background, which tends to bring a focus on the monster/alien. Red on black works very well, and this is a striking piece. There appears to be a square speech bubble at the base of the piece, but it contains nothing – I am not too sure what that is all about. It is always great to find one of Stiff’s sporadic pieces.
5150. St Werburghs tunnel (365)
Because Stiff paints only rarely, it is always a pleasant surprise to come across one of his pieces. Stiff is one of two Bristol artists who regularly (almost exclusively) feature alien scenes in their work, the other being Nugmoose. Their styles, however, are quite different, and they are easy to distinguish from one another.
Stiff always paints on a black buffed wall, which instantly marks out the piece as one of his, and also provides a clean canvass on which to work. In this scene, a man is looking at a doppelgänger of himself, which turns out not to be all that it seems. His look of horror is comical, as tentacles reach out to catch him. A lovely story piece by Stiff.
5079. Dean Lane skate park (573)
Trawling through the archives is actually immensely enjoyable, but also very distracting. Another piece I rescued from incarceration is this rather fun scene, painted by Stiff.
As with some other artists in Bristol, aliens feature very strongly in Stiff’s work, and here we have an alien and a human interacting with some electricity generating equipment. There is a story here being told, but I’m not sure that I quite get it. Time machine perhaps? Anyhow, Stiff has a great knack for creating interesting and absorbing scenes like this one.
4951. Cumberland Basin
I have a feeling that I never posted this piece by Stiff at the time (June 2022) it was painted, because it wasn’t quite finished, and when I returned to photograph it in its final glory it had already been painted over. I have decided to share it now, simply because I like his unique take, and enjoy his art. Furthermore, I was lucky enough to meet him for the first time when he painted this piece, as he tends to be quite elusive.
Stiff usually paints some kind of alien character as the subject of his work, and I think that artists choose to paint aliens or monsters, because there are no references against which they can be judged, and you can be as creative as your imagination allows, in a way that portrait artists, for example, can’t. Nice work from Stiff.
4873. Dean Lane skate park (547)
Just when you’ve forgotten all about him, Stiff turns up with another interesting piece, this one tucked away on the swimming pool wall behind the fence. Although not a green monster this time, the robot character does align with his ‘other world’ theme that he is so fond of.
Stiff has prepped his wall well, which I like, in a dark blue, almost glossy colour which brings out the character’s red really well. The robot itself is nicely done, and is rounded off perfectly with a plasma bolt running through its head. A nice piece and reminder of the vast pool of talent we have in Bristol.
4544. Dean Lane skate park (504)
I have an unwritten rule about taking pictures of street art, and it that one should always take a picture when you have the opportunity, even if the light is bad, or there are obstructions, because when you return to the spot, for a cleaner shot, it might have been overpainted. These photographs of a recent Stiff piece in Dean Lane have dappled sunlight across them, but they are the only pictures I have, it didn’t last long and wasn’t there when I went back.
I was lucky enough to meet Stiff for the first time just over a week ago, while he was painting with the Bristol Womxn Mural Collective in Cumberland Basin, and he confirmed to me that he enjoys painting monsters and using the colour green. Stiff doesn’t paint very often, so the chances of meeting him are rather slight. This piece, like his others, is creative, fun and monsterish, and painted with a lightness of touch that is without pretension. Another one for the collection of beasts.
4007. Brunel Way (125)
This piece under Brunel Way is something of a rarity. It is by Stiff, who doesn’t paint walls all that often, and this is only the second piece of his that I have posted on Natural Adventures, although I know I have a third somewhere (just found it labelled Unknown!).
I love his cartoon compositions that tell fabulous stories in his preferred format of black background and green and white artwork. The alien/quirky scientist face-off is beautifully animated and very nicely sprayed. A bit of fun and a welcome surprise. I would love to see more from Stiff.
3868. Dean Lane skate park (423)
From time to time unusual pieces appear in the regular spots in Bristol, unusual not only for the content or subject matter but also for the rarity of the artist’s work. This is a piece from a street artist called Stif or Stiff, who I know absolutely nothing about, but who has hit this Dean Lane wall a couple of times over recent months.
This piece from January this year features a kind of of robot wasp creature in grey and lime green. Definitely an unusual piece but set out nicely on the black background. I have another more recent piece from the artist which I will try to post soon.
Natural adventures 