It is the shape and style of the letters that give this artist away, it is of course Cort, but he has recently taken to writing PAD, although here it looks like PIADY. There are many things to admire in this piece, which was painted solo, rather than with his friend Laic217.
Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
The two contrasting backgrounds of pink and blue add interest to the piece and the little details such as the red dots and lines and the gold rings are typical motifs used by the artist and ones that make his work so distinctive. Unusual and full of interest.
Well, well, well this piece by John D’oh caused something of a stir locally, and I shall try and give a brief description of why. It first appeared down a little side lane off St Michael’s hill about three weeks ago. I had spotted it from a bus on my way to work and registered it as one to come back to to photograph. The first lesson here is always take pictures of street art when you see it, because if you wait it will be gone next time you pass by, and this is exactly what happened with this.
The following week I was on my way to five-a-side football and it was still there and I made a mental note of coming back ASAP to take some pictures. On my way home an hour and a half later it had been buffed with white paint.
At pretty much the same time, there was a story on the Bristol Live website that it might be a Banksy, and stories like this always cause a stir. The piece is actually a clever adaptation of a Banksy work painted in Los Angeles entitled ‘Playhouse foreclosure‘. The core elements are the same, but the builder is absent, and the little girl is standing on the other side of the playhouse facing the other way.
John D’oh, St Michael’s Hill, Bristol, July 2019
The central point of the piece however was to enter into the realms of debate over the copyright of street art. It is critical of the stance taken by Banksy (and his lawyers) who recently won a case against a museum in Milan for selling Banksy Merchandise. Banksy has always had a pretty firm position of being against copyright and intellectual property rights, so this piece is simply highlighting the hypocrisy.
Having said that, this is a really difficult area for street artists and one that causes a lot of lively discussion. I know that John D’oh admires Banksy greatly, and has in the past used Banksy’s work and inspiration for his own work. In this instance I think he is being deliberately provocative to highlight this copyright/ideology minefield.
So how did I get my pictures? Well the great thing about stencils is that they can be used again and again, and within a couple of days, John D’oh had returned and repainted the piece (you can see the white paint that had been used to buff the original). Who buffed it in the first place and why, well we might never know, but all’s well that ends well.
So I have two people to thank for pointing me in the direction of this out-of the-way graffiti spot in Lawrence Weston, Paul Harrison and DJPerks, and how fitting that when I got there for the first time, one of the first pieces I saw was by DJPerks himself.
DJPerks, L Dub, Bristol, July 2019
I have met DJPerks a couple of times because he, like Paul and me, does the rounds photographing street art and posting it on Instagram. What I was not quite so clear about, and this is a tribute to his modesty, is that he is an accomplished spray painter too. He has been a bit busy about the place lately and this is a really rather tasty piece.
The writing is good, and the pattern radiating out from a central vanishing point is great. Hats off the DJPerks for this one. What I particularly like is his shout-outs to a whole ton of Bristol artists all around the piece, artists who give him inspiration and encouragement. More to come from DJPerks.
It is impossible to tire of the beautiful and bold writing of Subtle. This magnificent recent piece in Dean Lane is a perfect example of his writing style that is always so instantly recognisable.
Subtle, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
I like the fact that he has taken time to prepare the wall properly and chosen such a magnificent pink/magentafor the letters which are so cleanly painted. As is often the case with his work he has included just a few little highlights on the letters that lift the whole thing up another level. Subtle consistently turns out these superb pieces, which in this case is anything but subtle.
Well this is another magnificent mural from Michele Curtis and Paintsmiths in the series of seven saints of St Pauls that celebrates the life of Audley Evans who played a leading role in the Bristol bus boycott, a campaign that overturned a racist ban on hiring black or ethnic minority staff to work on the buses in Bristol in the early 1960s.
Michele Curtis and Paintsmiths, Norrisville Road, Bristol, July 2019
There is a rather touching video on the Bristol Live website featuring Audley Evans’ daughter who talks about the mural and her father. The project is a truly inspired one and is a fantastic way of celebrating the great contribution made to the civil rights movement in Bristol by immigrants who arrived in a hostile and racist country, but through their persistence and persuasion made changes that have greatly enhanced our city and country.
Michele Curtis and Paintsmiths, Norrisville Road, Bristol, July 2019
Technicaly, this mural is spectacular, and you’d expect nothing less from these amazingly talented artists. The portrait is striking, but it is also the wonderful and vibrant design and beautiful flowers that injects vigour and celebration into the whole piece. Utterly worth a trip to see it.
Only a couple of weeks ago I posted a piece by this artist, Bandito, from Upfest 2018 and stated that I didn’t know anything about him, well the same applies today. In that post I referenced a recent piece by him, and this is it.
Bandito, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2019
I am a big fan of tidy, clean and well-executed writing, and this one ticks all my boxes. His three-colour layering works very nicely, and the accent touches such as the stars and the yellow dusting around the outside of the piece are nicely done. I think I’ll need to keep my eyes peeled to see if I can find more from Bandito.
I am enjoying the amount of work that DNT is getting through at the moment, and so much of it is within a stone’s throw of my walk to work, which makes it particularly easy to find.
DNT, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2019
This rather intimidating ‘otherworldly’ face is staring out of a set of doors that play host to so many wonderful pieces of street art and which I featured last week in my Thursday doors post. I rather like the way, deliberately or otherwise, DNT has managed to incorporate the work (underneath) of abstract artist Run Z into this by using the same blue to accent the eyes.
This wall was painted my the irrepressible Nightwayss during the Easton Art Trail and can be found on a small road just off the dog-leg of Devon Road. It is a wonderfully creative piece, with a tortoise carryinga boogie box on his back.
Nightwayss, Devon Road, Bristol, July 2019
As with all Nightwayss’ pieces there is a monkey, in fact there are two, playing with the casette door and buttons. I am thoroughly enjoying his work at the moment which is usually presented in blacks and greys with splashes of colour to lift the whole thing. He is being a very, very busy man.
It just keeps getting better and better from Decay, and there seems to be a joyful freedom about his work at the moment. This gorgeous piece is just by the entrance to St Werburghs tunnel and has an instant presence or class about it.
Decay, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2019
The wall is not high and so Decay has had to vertically squeeze his writing into a limited space, creating more regularity to his letter heights than he is used to when he has more space. Perhaps this is why this piece looks rather different from his recent writing pattern. It might also be the great colour selections and fill in his letters. Whatever it is, I think that this is a very nice piece indeed from one of the most productive artists in Bristol this year.
The M32 Spot is an interesting location. It is sited under an elevated section of the M32, the main artery into Bristol from the M4 motorway. There is a DIY skatepark which is used by skateboarders, predominantly when it is wet (a barrier to skating), but most of the time is fairly quiet. It is also a bit of a graffiti/street art hotspot.
In addition to the skatepark, there is a fenced-off area through which a concreted section of the River Frome is channelled via a culvert under the city and which eventually discharges into the New Cut. I have never quite worked out how to get over the fence to this section of concrete, unlike many graffiti/street artists who have plastered the walls with their work, so my pictures a limited to long-distance shots like this one through the fence railings.
Stupid Stupid Meathole and Panskaribas, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2019
It is a pity that this collaboration between Stupid Stupid Meathole and Panskaribas is so inaccessible, because it really deserves to be seen by more people than the very few who would bother to look here.
The piece features one of Stupid Stupid Meathole’s grotesque worms, this one with two heads, looking like it is being ridden by a couple of Panskaribas’s characters. The whole thing is badged as a Reseau collaboration, and it is possible that there is a third artist involved (the boxes) but I am not sure. I’ve yet to meet these artists, but it is only a matter of time I guess. What would we do without zoom lenses?
Natural adventures 