Vibrant and sharp, this is a magnbificent bit of graffiti writing from Rezwonk and the left-hand half of a collaborative wall with Rusk. What really brings this piece to life is the clean letters and striking blue trim, it’s really something special.
Rezwonk, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2019
Rezwonk, or Rezer as he writes, has been incredibly busy with his street work this spring/summer and he seems to enjoy painting with othert artists, often with Decay and Nightwayss. It is funny how these artists rise through the mist of anonymity. I think Rezwonk first hit my radar back in the summer of 2017, before that I can’t recall ever seeing any of his work. This is one of his best (IMHO).
DNT is on something of a roll at the moment, painting all spare corners in the Stokes Croft area, which is very much his ‘manor’. This piece is typical of his work using plenty of colour and shapes to create a recogniasble form, in this case a screaming monster face.
DNT, Thomas Street, Bristol, June 2019
I like his style which is quite distinct and unlike other artists in Bristol. It is almost like a stained glass structure, with panels of different colours coming together to make a whole where the individual constituent parts on their own wouldn’t make any sense. It would appear that DNT has found his summer mojo and is enjoying his art at the moment.
A few more doors that have seen better days, or if you’d like to look at them through a different lens, might have been given a second and rather more interesting life.
Abandoned door, Bristol, June 2019Is this the same abandoned door? and can you see the door behind all the posters? Stokes Croft, Bristol, June 2019Jody door, North Street, Bristol, June 2019Archway and door in Leonard Lane, Bristol, March 2019Character-building? tagged doors in Moon Street, Bristol, June 2019
So there we are for another week.
If you’d like to see more doors take a good look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the orchestrator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
I have always loved the work of Kid Crayon, and this fabulous burner in Dean Lane completely reinforces my view. The colours, brick red and two shades of green, work really well together and lift this piece away from the wall. Classy.
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
It seems that in recent months Kid Crayon has been enjoying his burners and also creating monsters. I’m very much looking forward to seeing more work like this in the near future. If you want to hear more from this lovely artist, thre is a great podcast interview with him from April on The Rough Skecth Podcast – an interesting insight into the life of an illustrator/urban artist.
It was a real pleasure to find myself in the company of so many great Bristol artists at the 25 year anniversary celebrations at the Tobacco Factory, and none more so than Pelmo, whose work I have admired for some time. It was nice to meet him for the first time and to find out a little bit about how he likes to work.
Pelmo, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2019
In creating this piece, featuring one of his outsized characters, he had decided to abandon his spray cans on environmental grounds and use paint and brushes, which was a first for him on a wall. Set in a skyscraper landscape, the large gentleman is posing with a ballet dancer, and there is an interesting and rather sad synergy between the two of them. I like the piece very much, but I wonder if the large amount of white space works on this scale.
It somehow always feels special finding an Inkie piece, probably because his work is so well known and sought after, and yet here he is creating something magical in Dean Land skate park.
Inkie, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
This beautiful piece features one of Inkie’s trademark profile portraits of a girl with long flowing locks of hair and some block writing INK. When I look at this, I can’t make up my mind which way her body is facing, towards us or away from us, I think the latter.
Inkie, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
It is not all that long ago when this wall lost a whole ton of its render and years of paint layers. I thought the wall might be doomed, but somehow looking at it now, you wouldn’t eve know it had happened. Lovely work from Inkie.
The curved wall in Dean Lane skatepark has been getting a lot of action lately and this pink blobby piece by Stupid Stupid Meathole only lasted a few days before being replaced by Inkie (see next post).
Stupid Stupid Meathole, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
I have always rather enjoyed the faintly grotesque nature of Stupid Stupid Meathole’s work, and this piece with three eyes staring out of it is itself overwritten by the same artist with a little throw up saying ‘Hole’. I’m not certain that many people will have seen this piece, so it is just as well that I got there to record it for posterity.
We live in curious times. In the UK we have been enduring an insane paralysis brought about by Brexit, something that has irreversibly divided the nation. In the United States, the most powerful man in the world, President Donald Trump, sets an uneasy tone which resonates globally as his uncompromising ‘business man’ approach to politics destabilises all around him in his efforts to deliver an America first agenda. And yet all this pales into insignificance in the light of two of the most pressing issues in human history… climate change and biodiversity loss.
Jody, Upfest, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2019
In such moments unlikely heroes arise, and none more unlikely than sixteen year-old Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg. This incredible painting by Bristol’s Jody, part of Upfest’s Summer Editions programme, is a worthy tribute to a young girl whose voice speaks for millions and whose direct messages have contributed to a change in how governments listen to this narrative. Of course listening and acting are two different things, but Greta seems to be in no mood to stop campaigning just yet.
Jody, Upfest, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2019
Jody, Upfest, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2019
Jody spent a couple of weeks creating this piece and I saw him on a few occasions while he was painting it. We chatted briefly, and I was rather pleased to find out that he has read some of my posts on Natural Adventures. He said that my reviews of his work were kind, and I rather foolishly said that I was kind to everyone, which then made me feel like I was saying that his work was not special. Well let’s put that straight right now… his work is exceptional and of the highest quality and this will I’m sure become an Iconic image of Greta. I believe that pictures and stories about it have already gone global.
Jody, Upfest, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2019
It is funny how Greta Thunberg has become a world leader in taking these issues to governments and citizens and bringing climate change up the agenda. Of course, other campaigners have been banging on about this for decades, but somehow her arrival and campaigning came just at the right time, following huge public opinion shifts around the issue of single use plastics, themselves probably prompted by the amazing work of the BBC and Blue Planet 2 and of course Sir David Attenborough.
We have reached a crossroads, and nations must decide how they are going to meet the challenges of Climate change and biodiversity loss. I would say at this point (and I apologise for pointing this out) that there is a strong correlation between Brexiteers and Trumpists (small ‘c’ conservatives) and climate change denial/apathy or even charges of conspiracy. What these people have not registered or acknowledged is that climate change and biodiversity loss will not discriminate against those people they impact upon, nobody will be immune.
We will all lose unless something is done. Large businesses and their shareholders will lose money and maybe collapse; coastal cities and towns will become battered by increasing frequency of storms and rising sea levels; insurance companies will struggle to operate models that can cope with the claims made; more people will go hungry as crops ruin, trade collapses and selfishness protects the rich.
A bleak future for all of us, and the ‘flat earthers’ who don’t want to face up to these challenges put all of us at risk by their deliberating and self-protection. Fools. Look no further than the man-made islands in Dubai and the most fantastic monuments to human folly – built on funds from fossil fuels, these islands will inundate as sea levels rise. You couldn’t make it up.
Here endeth the rant.
Jody, Upfest, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, June 2019
I thank Upfest for making this happen. I thank Jody for choosing to paint this outstanding piece. I thank Greta Thunberg for giving me hope and inspiration. I have dedicated my life to the environment personally and professionally and at last I feel we might be approaching a tipping point where public opinion influences public policy.
Jody, Upfest, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, June 2019
Let’s hope that this iconic piece and iconic young woman continue to inspire us all (even those who disagree with their message, in fact especially those who disagree with their message).
Two weekends ago there was a special event held at the Tobacco Factory to celebrate 25 years since becoming a Bristol arts venue. As part of those celebrations the Tobacco Factory teamed up with Upfest who organised some artists to paint the car park walls under the Summer Editions banner. A firm favourite for such events is the wonderful Alex Lucas who painted this gorgeous piece.
Alex Lucas, The Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2019
Entitled ‘Pipe peace’ the illustration is based on a particular type of smoking pipe, used by a number of Native American cultures in their sacred ceremonies (so Alex tells us in her Instagram feed). I guess the link is tobacco.
The pipe reminds me that one of my closest friends at school, and indeed a next door neighbour, had a peace pipe in his house which belonged to his father. His father was an illustrator of children’s books, all of which were Native American stories, brought to life with the most extraordinarily detailed drawings using Rotring ink pens. I loved the books he created and the illustrations were sublime. His name was Paul Goble and I was always full of admiration of his work. I just read on the Wikipedia page that he passed away in 2017, which has made me feel very sad indeed. I digress…
Alex Lucas, The Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2019
Alex was very busy with her work when I went to the 25th anniversary celebrations, and I had my dog with me, so I wasn’t really able to have a chat, especially as my dog might have upset her dog which was in the crate next to her. I really like this piece, the lines are so clean and the simple four colours work so well together, a little reminiscent of the Dr Seuss illustrative style. Definitely worth a trip.
What a fabulous piece this is by Rusk. I don’t tend to associate his work with character pieces, but this burner/character combo is a real winner. I never read any of the Garfield cartoons, but certainly know who he is, and this lazy cat is brilliantly suspended in the ‘U’ of Rusk.
Rusk, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2019
The writing, as you would expect from Rusk is absolutely first class and the colour combinations absolutely perfect. That red is ‘to die for’. This piece was painted alongside an excellent Rezwonk piece (to follow) a couple of weeks back. Really great piece.
Natural adventures 