Tag: Street art

4720. Elton Street (10)

The Hass, Elton Street, Bristol, September 2022
The Hass, Elton Street, Bristol, September 2022

What an absolute stunner from The Hass. There is little more to say about it really. The portrait piece is a little bit similar in style to some of the recent pieces by Hazard, combining a photorealistic portrait with repetition and abstract ideas, and some interesting colour tones as well.

The Hass, Elton Street, Bristol, September 2022
The Hass, Elton Street, Bristol, September 2022

The more I look at the piece, the more I see. The incomplete portrait tricks your brain into completing it. It is quite incredible to think that this has all been painted with spray cans and not a paint brush in sight. I really don’t know how these guys do it. A masterpiece from The Hass.

4719. Upfest 2022 (50)

Taker One, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Taker One, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

This is definitely one for the cat lovers. Last year, the walls and shutter of ‘For the Pets’ pet shop on East street were adorned with some ultra-cute animals painted by Roo – a difficult act to follow, but Taker One has taken up the baton and excelled.

Taker One, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Taker One, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

There are three cats painted on the sides of the corner shop in a photorealistic style and using mono colour tints, creating a fabulous effect. The cats are absolutely gorgeous and full of character.

Taker One, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Taker One, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

Each cat is painted in a different colour tone, but my brain doesn’t interpret this as in any way strange, they simply look like cats. These cats definitely deserved a permanent wall, and it is reassuring to know that they will be here, most likely, until the next Upfest.

Taker One, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Taker One, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

Taker One is a mural artist from Hungary, and these cats add to his spectacular negative/positive portrait piece from Upfest 2016, which was a real hit. I sincerely hope that this extremely talented artist is able to return again to Bristol and wow us with his incredible art.

Takerone, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Takerone, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

4718. Upfest 2022 (49)

Elf, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Elf, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

A noticeable difference between Upfest and the everyday street art scene in Bristol is the ratio of character pieces to graffiti writing. At Upfest I would guess that there are three character pieces to each graffiti writing piece, whereas on the street, it is much more like a 1:3, 4 or 5 ratio the other way round. This is just a brief explanation of why there are so many character pieces from Upfest on Natural Adventures.

Elf, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Elf, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

This is a rather touching piece by Elf, featuring a creature cuddling a little baby. I don’t know much at all about the artist, but her full moniker is Elfkunst, which translated from the German means Elf art, so I guess she is German speaking (German or Swiss).

The work is eye-catching and beautifully presented. All the lines are neat and tidy. The little details and patterns bring the whole thing to life. Cute, cuddly creatures, with a touch of mystery and edge.

4717. Upfest 2022 (48)

Octofly Art, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Octofly Art, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

You get to meet an awful lot of colourful characters at Upfest, both participating artist as well as other visitors. One of my favourite people to meet is Octofly, a wonderful character artist from Italy. Octofly is always up for a chat and has an infectious cheerful disposition.

Octofly Art, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Octofly Art, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

This is a witty piece featuring a dinosaur sipping on a cup of tea, entitled Tea Rex. To be witty is one thing, to be witty in a foreign language is next level. The whole piece on a rather slender board is delightfully well composed and sharp as anything. A really great piece from Octofly.

4716. Upfest 2022 (47)

J. Sharples, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
J. Sharples, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

I thoroughly enjoyed this year’s Upfest, which was made even better by my daughter accompanying me on one of the days. It is the first time that any family member has shown any real enthusiasm for my passion and I felt very supported. Fortunately there was a really good mix of works in progress and completed pieces for my daughter to enjoy.

J. Sharples, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
J. Sharples, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

This gorilla piece from Jay Sharples is a classic piece of character street art. The background is in complete harmony with the portraits which are perfectly clean and crisp. It is always a pleasure to see his work when he visits Bristol for Upfest.

4715. Upfest 2022 (46)

Korp, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Korp, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

It will take me all year to post everything I want to post from Upfest, so you will have to be patient. I have to intersperse the Upfest pieces with the contemporary work that appears on the streets of Bristol every day. This is a wonderful piece from Koop, an artist I have seen a fair bit on the Festival circuit.

Korp, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Korp, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

Korp creates these rather endearing creature characters – I think that they are worms – and this is quite the best one I have seen to date. There is something about the colours in this one that work so well. The feathers are beautifully worked and the whole piece is very neat and tidy with crisp, sharp lines. Look out for more from Korp, coming soon.

4714. Chatterton Square (5)

Acer One and Andy Council, Chatterton Square, Bristol, September 2022
Acer One and Andy Council, Chatterton Square, Bristol, September 2022

One of the great joys of the long hot summer has been the frequency of pieces and collaborations from Acer One and Andy Council, two of Bristol’s best established and well know artists. Their sharply contrasting styles seem to work so well together, and this piece is one of the best examples of a truly collaborative effort.

Acer One and Andy Council, Chatterton Square, Bristol, September 2022
Acer One and Andy Council, Chatterton Square, Bristol, September 2022

Acer One is responsible for the incredible geometric background and the rainbow curve (with all the right colours in the right order), creating a perfect backdrop for Andy Council’s prehistoric creatures. Andy Council has been painting these ammonites an awful lot recently, but these ones are absolute beauties. I love the way the tentacles of the ammonites interact with Acer’s rainbow line. A very classy piece indeed.

4713. St Werburghs tunnel (310)

Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2022
Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2022

I am pretty sure that when I last posted a Hypo piece I said that his work was somewhat underrepresented on Natural Adventures, so I hope this post is in some small way addressing this.

Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2022
Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2022

Painted in the tunnel alongside his friends, this piece is a real beauty and pretty much on point. The letters spell Hypo, and have four tones of red making up the fills. There are some nice details and accent flashes, and a 3D drop-shadow with a disappearing point in the middle of the piece, something that Hypo certainly seems to favour. This is a really decent piece of writing from the artist.

4712. Spake Evans Park (56)

Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2022
Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2022

Evey has been out and about much more this summer, or at least that is how it feels, and with each outing her work is improving. Her letters are large and obvious, spelling out EVEN, with a focus on the variation of fills.

Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2022
Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2022

This one was painted as part of a collaborative wall and is notable for its horizontal fills of at least six colours. There is something not quite consistent with the drop-shadow on the stars, but that is a small detail, all in all this is a bright, fun piece from Evey.

4711. M32 roundabout J3 (430)

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2022
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2022

This Face 1st piece on the M32 roundabout is a little bit hidden away, and doesn’t appear to have done the rounds on Instagram as much as some of his other recent pieces, it is however an absolute beauty.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2022
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2022

Face 1st usually paints in three basic formats; writing the word FACE with a face in one of the letters, painting a girl figure (usually smiling) or painting a girl’s face with the work FACE appearing in the hair. This piece is in the latter format. The happy face is splashed with wonderfully complementary colours and lots of dripping gloop. Another fun piece from Face 1st.