A little bit of a milestone today for Natural Adventures – this is the 500th post from Dean Lane skate park, and we mark it with a small and slightly weird piece from Sprat. Any fish-based street art will always get my seal of approval, and there is something about the bonkersness of this piece that really tickles me.
Sprat, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2022
This is only the second piece I have posted by Sprat, but I am certain that there will be many more to come. The fish has legs and is running. It is quite a straightforward piece, contained within a black border. I think the impact of the piece that it is an unusual image, out of the ordinary, and therefore eye-catching. The location on a raised section of wall also adds to the quirkiness of it. I’ll be on the lookout for more from Sprat.
This is brilliant from Pelmo. A compound piece telling a wonderful story, but you have to keep your eyes open. I, and many others, missed the point of this piece, simply by breaking the first rule of looking at street art… Always, always look up! I thought the character in the feature image was the whole piece, a climber at the bottom of a rope – it was new, it was different, and it was by Pelmo, which was more than enough for me. However, I hadn’t looked up.
Pelmo, New Stadium Road, Bristol, June 2022
The whole piece has another climber at the top of the rope, hanging down from the top of the tunnel entrance. How on earth did I miss this? I only found out when Pelmo responded to a post on Instagram from another photographer who had also missed the top climber. D’oh!
Pelmo, New Stadium Road, Bristol, June 2022
When I spoke to Pelmo at Upfest he suggested that he might be trying a few more of these ‘compound’ pieces in the future, which would be wonderful if happens. Expect to see some more orange and red pieces coming from Pelmo, as he seems to be favouring these colours at the moment.
Felix Braun (FLX), Nelson Street, Bristol, June 2022
Anyone who visits the centre of Bristol can’t have missed that there has been a lot of redevelopment work going on in Nelson Street, Broad Street and the surrounding area. This rather seedy backwater has, over the last two years undergone a bit of a face lift and is being opened soon as a huge, 250 bedroom, hotel owned by the Clayton chain. Let’s hope they can find enough workers to staff it! Unlike many developments, this one has retained some significant existing murals and commissioned a new one by the old master, Felix Braun.
Felix Braun (FLX), Nelson Street, Bristol, June 2022
Felix Braun or FLX is one of the godfathers of Bristol street art and author of the book ‘Children of the Can’ a ‘must-have’ for enthusiasts of the Bristol scene. His artwork has taken on a highly designed stylised look in recent years, and this huge mural is a gorgeous reminder of his talent. Abstract figures at the base of the piece draw your eyes in before sending them upwards towards the giant figure and it’s shadow. There is something very pleasing about the piece overall, and it is great to see FLX’s work in the heart of the city.
I enjoy enormously seeing street art when I am visiting other parts of the UK or other countries, but I am conflicted when it comes to writing about what I see, because invariably I know nothing about the artists. This magnificent mural by Tamara Alves is a case in point.
Tamara Alves, Porto, Portugal, June 2022
I’m not quite sure what area of Porto we were in when we saw this, but the image is a striking one with a beautiful woman wrapped in an embrace of arms and hands. Tamara Alves is a massively talented artist from Lisbon, and you can read more about her on her very nice website. This was one of several large murals we saw in Porto.
Porto is a city spanning the north and south banks of the River Douro, across which there are six remarkable bridges, each with its own unique design and purpose. Perhaps the most impressive and iconic bridge is the Luis I Bridge, designed by Theophile Seyrig, a student of Gustave Eiffel, which has a lower and upper level. The upper level is now a metro and pedestrian route and offers some of the finest views of Porto from its span. Heading north on the bridge, this impressive mural by Frederico Draw looms large on the left-hand side of the bridge.
Frederico Draw, Porto, Portugal, June 2022
I know nothing of the artist, and a quick Google search took me to his Facebook page which contained little information. As my primary focus is on Bristol street art, I will leave it to the ‘resource investigators’ among you to find out more. The piece itself is a wonderfully blended portrait, making full use of the derelict wall as a backdrop, and is certainly eye-catching from quite some distance. I love the little shrine at the bottom left of the wall too. A cracking piece by a cracking bridge in a cracking city.
While there is a full spectrum of street art and graffiti in Porto, from high-end worldies to tags and burners, there seems to be a particular acceptance of using street art to decorate utility boxes in many parts of the old city. An artist who has taken full advantage of this is Oaktree, who paints delightful scenes with brushes either directly onto the surface or as wheatpastes.
Oaktree, Porto, Portugal, June 2022
There is something beautiful and nurturing about Oaktree’s designs that fit the spaces expertly and add a touch of colour to the streets, enhancing the visual amenity of the utility boxes in a way that is commensurate with Porto’s highly decorative streets.
Oaktree, Porto, Portugal, June 2022
Oaktree’s pieces contain characters going about their everyday business or joined in an embrace and whatever they are doing there is a feeling of care, love and kindness that pervades each piece.
Oaktree, Porto, Portugal, June 2022
I was a little surprised when I got back hoe just how many Oaktree pieces I had photographed, and rather than post each one separately, I thought it would be a good idea to post this mini-gallery instead.
Oaktree, Porto, Portugal, June 2022
How great it would be if all local authorities around the world were as enlightened as Porto’s, and permitted or even encouraged the decoration of utility boxes, which, let’s face it, are among the ugliest structures known to man.
Oaktree, Porto, Portugal, June 2022
The final piece in this collection is a large wheatpaste, and perhaps my favourite of all the Oaktree pieces I saw, with its simple, rather dreamy design. If you are lucky enough to visit Porto, be sure to search out these little gems.
Although I am well aware of the incredibly innovative work of Vhils, I have only ever seen one of his works before and that, rather weirdly, is in Exeter, which I wrote about a few years ago. Vhils has a rather interesting technique, which is to chip away at a rendered wall and ‘etch’ a portrait into the wall, providing enormous texture and depth. Some of his pieces almost look like something printed off using a dot matrix printer (remember those?).
Vhils, Porto, Portugal, June 2022
My daughter and I stumbled across this piece quite by accident while strolling along the north bank of the River Douro. At first inspection, I thought that the piece was in some way damaged on the left-hand side, but then realised it was meant to look like a tree blending with a portrait. I always wonder whether this method of ‘sculpting’ does any damage to the building, but I guess it isn’t really my concern. I believe it was created in April 2016, and has barely changed at all since then.
It is unlikely, but it might have escaped your attention that I recently went on a short break to Porto, Portugal, with my daughter, and we had the most incredible time. No pressure, no worries and the freedom to wander round a city with absolutely no agenda or plan. This is the way to see incredible things and make great discoveries.
Like many great cities in Europe, Porto has a graffiti and street art scene, which although still quite young, is most impressive nonetheless. This is the first of several posts of street art from the trip.
Bordallo II, Porto, Portugal, June 2022
Of course, anyone who follows street art will have seen work by Bordallo II on digital media, but to come across a piece (completely by accident – it was my daughter who spotted it down a back street) and see it is the flesh is quite something else. Bordallo II, a Portuguese artist, creates his work from scraps of waste material which he attaches to a wall and paints to create extraordinary ‘installation sculptures’ of animals.
This piece on the south side of the Douro river depicts a rabbit in two halves, the left-hand side is dull and depressing, the right-hand side is colourful, vibrant and optimistic. The piece demonstrates the incredible skill of the artist to create something from nothing and generate different emotions from the viewer within the same work. One less artist on the bucket list.
I just don’t seem to see enough of Soge’s work, but it is great to know that he is still in Bristol and taking a can to a wall once in a while. This recent piece was painted alongside Hire and other artists I am not so familiar with in a session in the tunnel
Soge, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2022
The scratchy writing spelling out SOGE is typical of his writing, and the pink and yellow-bordered purple letters appear to be sitting on a cosmic nebula-type setting. A fine piece of writing from a great writer who needs to get out more (IMO).
I don’t think that there has ever been a time when I have not been excited to find a piece by Kid Crayon. His work has been at the heart of my love for street art, and he is probably the street artist I have followed most closely over the last six years or so.
Kid Crayon, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2022
This piece is quite unlike anything we might expect from Kid Crayon, but there is a reason for that, He painted it as a part of the Secret Writer name exchange idea, where writers wrote the name of another artist (supposedly anonymously – although Kid Crayon signed this one). He was honouring the artist Rasexone1 and in turn Kid Crayon’s name was written by Magnesone. What a stupendous idea and one that binds the street art community, but a bit confusing for people like me who are trying to untangle and make sense of the whole scene.
In addition, this was the first Kid Crayon piece I had seen in a long time and I asked him, at the Upfest festival, why he has hardly been painting lately. His answer was great news… he has been working flat out with some big commissions, and that for an artist is something to cherish. More posts of his even more recent work coming soon.
Natural adventures 