Another throwback to Upfest 2016 and this lovely Minion piece by The Agent. Not only is The Agent a street artist and regular at Upfest, but he is also a central part of the ‘on the ground’ logistics team for the event and can be seen pretty much everywhere at the festival checking things are going smoothly.
The Agent, Upfest 2016, Bristol, July 2016
Known for his Minion pieces (from the film Despicable Me), he is also the father of another prominent Bristol street artist. This piece typifies his strong links with the festival and screams out fun. A nice piece.
Like many of these archive posts from Upfests passim, it is hard to understand why I haven’t posted this one from SkyHigh and Roo before. I can only think that it is because I never got a clean shot of the finished collaboration.
SkyHigh and Roo, Upfest 2016, Bristol, July 2016
These two London-based artists collaborate often, and where you find a SkyHigh piece, there is usually a Roo piece nearby. I took these pictures just as Roo (who previously I have assigned a male gender – dammit) was putting the finishing touches to her work. I suspect the lower right hand quadrant is not quite finished in these pictures.
SkyHigh, Upfest 2016, Bristol, July 2016
The SkyHigh half of the collaboration spells out SKY in his characteristic variety of block letters, each different from the next, and the colours used here are incredibly bright and cheerful. This is first class graffiti writing.
Roo, Upfest 2016, Bristol, July 2016
Roo has painted what I think is a dog, but looks a lot like a moose without antlers to me. The mischievous character has been spraying the letters Roo in magenta paint on the wall behind – a nice idea executed really well. This is a fine collaboration and I can only apologise for not sharing it before. (lots more apologies to come as I continue to scour the archives).
Somehow, since the lock down I have a lot less free time than I had before, which feels rather counter-intuitive. I am still working full time, only at home and mostly on Covid-19 communications. The kids are at home all the time and there is no respite from looking after them 24/7. The dog still needs walks. My wife too is working full time at home and occupies the study to work, which is where our main computer resides, and all my associated street art files etc.
The upshot is that I am writing these posts in the few minutes I can when my wife takes a shower in the morning. I am on leave next week, and might be able to write a whole bunch of posts to get a little bit ahead. I don’t like flying by the seat of my pants.
Rusk, Upfest 2016, Bristol, July 2016
This is a stunning piece from the perfectionist Rusk on the RAW wall at Upfest 2016. I consider this to be an outstanding piece of writing and somehow Rusk, using highlights, has managed to create a metallic effect, so the whole thing looks like the side of a car or something like that. I can’t understand why I’ve not posted this before. Worth the wait.
The Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent UK lock down has unsurprisingly seen a dramatic decrease in new street work. This, while disappointing especially given the spell of gorgeous weather we have been having, is not all bad news, as it is giving me the opportunity to unearth some not-seen-before on Natural Adventures pieces from the archives. Starting with this spray can bin stencil from John D’oh at Upfest 2016.
John D’oh, Upfest 2016, Bristol, July 2016
The organisers of Upfest had provided these drums for artists to dispose of their spray cans in an orderly fashion, and in true Upfest style, selected a few artists to decorate the bins, This one by John D’oh. I have to say I am not entirely sure who the people on the bin are, but I love the stencils in any case. In Bristolian he has written ‘John D’oh’s bin yer’, which tickled me. More Upfest 2016 work to come.
This is one of the last pre-lock down pieces from March this year (photographed in April) that I have (not strictly true, as I do have more, but it is the last one I am posting for a while, before I start on a trip through the archives. Painted by Bnie, this beautiful piece of graffiti writing was sprayed at the same time as Hazard and Smak decorated this hoarding (see yesterday’s post).
Bnie, Upper York Street, Bristol, April 2020
This, I think, is the crispest, cleanest piece I have seen from Bnie to date and shows off her talents perfectly.The alternation of graded yellow and blue fills is really nicely done and the patterned 3D shading, a bit of a Bnie trademark, is superb. A classy piece.
On the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft wall in Jamaica Street, this simple and kind collaboration celebrates our amazing (underfunded) NHS, in a gesture of love for all the hard work they are doing in this difficult time. The collaboration by 3Dom and Sepr is a collaboration in name only as the artists each painted their halves separately on different days, following social distancing guidelines.
3Dom, Jamaica Street, Bristol, April 2020
On the left is an exquisite piece of script writing in NHS blue. 3Dom has managed to write these delicate letters with the tops and bottoms appearing to vaporize into a white mist. The subtle cream shading just to the right of the letters helps them to stand out a bit more. This is beautiful, technical writing.
Sepr, Jamaica Street, Bristol, April 2020
Painted the following morning is this wonderful heart by Sepr. Simply done and conveying all the right emotions for the circumstances. I don’t know how he does it, but Sepr can even manage to get his retro style into a heart. Fantastic.
As I have said before, we must also celebrate all other key workers and public/civil services that are keeping us all safe and well.
On the footbridge over the railway that divides St Werburghs and Montpelier is this lovely panel piece by Lobe. I had no idea it was here and can’t tell you how old it is, but it looks pretty fresh to me, and if it is old, has weathered pretty well.
Lobe, Montpelier, Bristol, April 2020
I think that finding pieces that you don’t know about is by far the most rewarding for a street art hunter (incidentally a phrase I dislike – it has the ring of ‘trainspotter’ about it), and when it is by an artist you admire that makes it a little more special. Lobe has managed to get the piece to fit the space perfectly, and some thought has gone into it. Great hair and hat. Love the piece… perhaps she should to more here.
On Turbo Island, one of the spots in Bristol that often exposes some of our greatest social problems in the city, is this wonderful message of thanks from Ryder to the National Health Service. Of course we must shout out to not only the NHS but also care home workers, all key workers, public servants and civil servants who are keeping this country ticking over during this difficult period. Notable by their absence in this list of heroes are bankers and hedge fund managers – I seem to remember the nation bailing them out about a decade ago. How quiet they are right now, speculating about how much money they can make when we come out of this crisis. Leopards never change their spots.
Ryder, Turbo Island, Bristol, April 2020
Ryder has managed to get out during lock down to create this piece, and I guess it could be interpreted as mental and physical exercise, and I guess he may have worn a mask when painting it. Just to emphasise the point about some of the social problems in this area, the plastic object directly in front of the wall is a sleeping bag/tent for some poor homeless person.
Thank you Ryder for raising the spirits of Bristol citizens at this time.
This piece, in the heart of Stokes Croft came as a complete surprise to me on one of my Covid-19 dog walks last week. It is by the wonderful Pekoe and painted over one of her previous pieces here, and from that I can guess that this is one of her favoured spots.
Pekoe, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2020
There is always a lot of emotion in Pekoe’s pieces, sometimes happy, often sad, but this one look different particularly downcast. Maybe the sadness is reflective of the Coronavirus pandemic and all the baggage that comes with it.
All the trademarks are here, a colourful face, big hair in multi-colours with lots of symbols in it and a tear. Another fine piece from Pekoe.
It took me a rather long time to find this collaboration from Face 1st and Soap. I knew it was in St Paul’s but it was not in the bit of St Paul’s where I thought it was. I found it on one of my Covid-19 dog walks, where I tend to walk down as many side streets as I possibly can – poor dog, gets dragged all over the place.
Face 1st, Brook Road, Bristol, April 2020
Painted just before lock-down, the Face 1st half visits a theme he has been experimenting with lately of a face being inside a face and I think it works very well. He has an amazing talent for conveying the emtion of his faces with such simple features, just a mouth and eyes, this one seems to be having fun.
Soap, Brook Road, Bristol, April 2020
The Soap side of the collaboration continues the theme of being part above and part below a waterline and the colour of the paints used is commensurate with this difference and is skilfully done (by both artists in fact). Overall this is a lovely collaboration. Due to the very bright conditions, the colours are not quite so well represented in these pictures.
Natural adventures 