Here we have another classy piece of writing from Benjimagnetic on the roundabout. Although he is going through a simplification of his rather busy and frenetic style, the work is so unmistakably his.
The colour selectionsare rather nice, with the pale blue border and 3D shadow working well with the red letters. The shapes of the letters are rather pleasing, and the shadings, both blue and red are very nicely crafted. Another fine piece of graffiti writing from Benjimagnetic.
This is an absolutely wonderful piece from Oma, and her first appearance on Natural Adventures. Oma’s style is something so refreshing and different in Bristol and definitely feels like the work of a studio artist transitioning onto the street – I don’t know if that is the case or not, but that is how it comes across to me.
This portrait depicts an elderly man (an unusual subject in street art) using a magnifying glass to look at something. You can see the shading influences of Zake in this piece, which is no surprise as Oma usually paints alongside him and I believe he is coaching her along the way. The colours and bold and stand out, but it is the overall subject and style that I find fascinating. I am so looking forward to seeing a whole ton more work from Oma.
As if things weren’t busy enough on the streets of Bristol, I take a week’s holiday, and the turnover of pieces has been phenomenal. Possibly the pick of the bunch (but I am biased) is this door piece from Laic217.
Laic217 seems to have settled into a pattern of painting that I can just about keep up with, roughly a couple per month, which seems sensible to me. This piece is perhaps a little more unsettling than some of his skeleton pieces, because of the satanic references. The face is a design idea I have not seen from Laic217 before, but it has a horror film feel about it.
As always the execution of the piece is first class and the detail in the character’s coat, the creases and yellow cord, are fabulous. The blue smoke too is nicely done. Laic217 keeps on turning out brilliant work, no fuss, no bother.
An artist who seems to be going from strength to strength with his superb caligraffiti is Stivs, who I always think is slightly underrepresented on Natural Adventures, a situation that I must remedy.
I went back to this spot yesterday to re-photograph this gorgeous piece, because my original pictures are slightly out of focus. I haven’t processed the new pictures yet, but when I do I will replace the originals. The brush-stroke calligraphy spelling out STIVS is sensational, and the colour selections of black and red will always draw attention. A very fine piece indeed.
Another artist whose work I very much admire and who is no stranger to Upfest is Envol, and he returned to Bristol to paint one of his distinctive pieces just off North Street. I was lucky enough to meet him while he was painting this and he stopped for a while for a great chat. It turns out that he is good friends with Fanakapan, another very talented London artist and one who has also painted at Upfest in the past.
While I managed to photograph the piece as a work in progress, by the time I came back to photograph the final finished piece it had been vandalised, along with several other Upfest murals, by some misguided (and probably ill) idiot. Thankfully the piece was fully restored and is as good as new.
Envol creates these sharp and clean pieces incorporating parts of the body with abstract shapes and patterns, and sometimes disrupting them with white space. They are quite surreal, and at times remind me a little of Giorgio de Chirico fused with Matisse’s cut outs. Beautiful to look at and thought-provoking. This piece is another fabulous contribution to Upfest’s 75×75 event.
This is the second Liskeard piece I have posted by Stuart H Taylor, on a building festooned with his work in this small Cornish town. The piece is a biblical scene of Moses parting the Red Sea, and is most impressive if not a little incongruous.
As with his other pieces, this is not painted using spray paints, but with brushes and the overall impact is impressive on this little back stairway. In a town that doesn’t have a graffiti culture to speak of, it is great to find this little artistic oasis.
The artwork is clearly that of a trained artist, and there is an obvious likeness to Charlton Heston and a famous still image taken from the film the Ten Commandments. What fortune finding this spot.
I first came across the work of Elaine Carr (Instagram – Cuicasolo) when I saw her iconic ‘Bristol’ piece in Dean Lane, painted across someone’s garden fence and gates. It was obvious even then that she is a talented artist and designer. Elaine Carr has a career in model making and set design, amongst other things, and has had little time for painting street walls, but from the small number of pieces I have seen, they are first class.
Although a little tricky to access, this is a beautiful and very stylish mural by Elaine Carr in the little outdoor seating area of the Hen and Chicken on North Street. The architectural design has all sorts of false perspectives and 3D tricks, not unlike the work of Escher. The subtle tones and colours are sublime and the including of a little bit of green landscape is very clever. I love this piece, which amply demonstrates the range and variety of walls painted at this year’s Upfest 75×75 event.
This little concrete corner underneath Brunel Way is becoming a bit of a Pekoe gallery, with several of her quick column portraits on display at the moment. In fact I am posting this most recent piece before I have posted the one you can see behind it, due to my current backlog (many hundreds of unpublished photographs).
I like these quick portraits that Pekoe paints, because although they are a little rough around the edges, they still have the charm and emotion of her larger portrait pieces. The colours Pekoe has chosen for this one work nicely together and certainly add a little interest to this rather dull and grey place. Hurrah for Pekoe who just keeps going.
For the first time during Upfest’s 75 walls in 75 days summer event I find myself a little baffled. This piece by Jay Sharples, an Upfest veteran, leaves me a little cold. It is technically beautifully painted and has a very strong design element which works well in the space, but it just doesn’t do it for me, which is a pity, because I like Jay Sharples’ work very much. I guess I can’t like everything.
The black and pink stripes are very striking and the contrast is very eye-catching. I am guessing that there was a lot of masking tape involved in the painting of this piece. I have a feeling that Jay Sharples may have left us a little present elsewhere in Bristol, rather more akin to his usual work. I thought I’d just include a previous Upfest piece from the artist below for comparison.
I spend a fair bit of my spare time immersed in the world of street art and graffiti art and even when I am on holiday, the antennae are out and working overtime. On a recent family holiday to Cornwall, we had opted for an Indian takeaway one evening, rather than cook (in holiday mode). Before I picked up the food, I thought I’d do a quick Google Maps search of the streets in Liskeard to get my bearings. As luck would have it, the building opposite the takeaway had several rather nice pieces painted on it (not a common sight anywhere in Cornwall), all of them by an artist called Stuart H Taylor.
This stunning piece was one of the murals, with more to come soon, and rather blew my socks off. I think that his work is brush painted rather than using spray cans, but Stuart H Taylor has created a very clever stencil effect using shades and tones that make this really stand out. The reflected scene in the sunglasses is not a new idea, but has been very well executed and one is left pondering what is going on. What a bonus to find this piece and more on holiday, feeding my habit.
Natural adventures 