Busy, busy, busy like a bee, a Tasha Bee, who I fear may have ants in her pants. It seems that Tasha Bee never sits still and is just incredibly productive, spraying her beautiful faces here, there and everywhere. I cannot keep up.
This gorgeous one is from a couple of weeks back and has a lovely colour palette…there is something about that soft green face that due to its faintness draws you in to take a closer look. This is Tasha Bee at her best.
Hemper is something of an enigma, as indeed are so many street artists in Bristol. Other than that he has long experience spraying in the city and that he is highly regarded by his peers, I really know very little about him.
This is a wonderfully sophisticated piece of wildstyle writing that disguises the letters HEMS, each of the letters in alternate white or black paint. The interlocking of the letters is something of a marvel, and just looking at the piece makes my mind boggle. It really is very good.
I particularly like the little green spheres that set the whole thing off, and feel that without them it might have looked a little sterile. This is the second piece I have posted from a recent paint jam at this spot.
Deep in the heart of St Werburghs tunnel, and painted in insipid colours to match the poor and rather orange lighting, is this magnificent piece by Zake. I have only recently tracked him down on Instagram, and he doesn’t give away much, so for the time being I can’t shed much light on the piece nor the artist.
I have only seen his column pieces under the M32 to date, so this was a real treat of a find. The piece as a whole is mildly disturbing, probably in part because of the lack of pupils in the eyes and the centipedes framing the faces, let alone what is coming out of their mouths. This is such an original piece and one that really works for me, but it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Hurrah – I just love it when paint jams are held on this wall. There is clearly some organising that goes on to buff the entire length of wall in a common colour and for all the artists to share a colour scheme. This is the first of several posts from this particular recent gathering and I chose to start with Rowdy, because it is a while since I posted any of his work.
One of the godfathers of Bristol street art, Rowdy shows us the way with a stack of his trademark crocodiles that can be found scattered all over the City. A simple concept stylishly presented and emblematic of the Bristol scene. I love this piece, and just take a look at the detail in the eyes. What does it al mean?
This is an absolutely stunning piece of 3D writing by one of Bristol’s most talented young artists, Sikoh. There are only two other artists I know of in Bristol who can form 3D lettering as well as this and they are Zase and Lokey, so he is in very good company indeed.
The letters spell out ‘Inspectah Deck’ and it is a tribute to the rapper/producer/actor. It is at this point that I have to disclose that my knowledge of rap and hip hop are not good, and despite an eclectic taste in music and good education, I know little of this genre…a major disadvantage for a street/graffiti art rapporteur. So I’ll focus on the art rather than the subject of the art. I’ll not say too much about this piece, because its quality is evident. Take a while to marvel at the shadows and accents. This is a beauty.
This quick one from Soap is another fine example of a Halloween piece which cleverly incorporates a pumpkin into the trademark design that Soap uses. The eyes doubling up as mouths complete with tongue and teeth works pretty well for a spooky effect, but is something Soap does with many of his pieces.
The columns in the M32 spot really lend themselves to these smaller vertical works, and because each one has four sides there is a whole lot of ‘canvas’ for artists to work with. Always fun with Soap.
I have known about this wonderful piece by Decay for quite some time, but just haven’t had the time to get to this part of St Pauls until very recently. The abstract work was painted to mark the St Pauls carnival and Decay has exchanged his usual greys, blacks and reds for the Rastafarian colours of red, gold and green.
I feel like I have had slight withdrawal symptoms from having seen so little of Decay’s work since Upfest, so finding this was just what the doctor ordered. His abstract formation, or variations of it, are always pleasing to the eye and so distinctive that no signature is required. Nobody else does anything like this.
Well, well, well it would seem that Mr Klue has rediscovered his mojo, which is absolutely brilliant news for this king of abstract street art in Bristol and is also pretty good news for me too.
Over recent weeks Mr Klue has been turning out a whole load of excellent pieces, mostly in St Werburghs tunnel, and this one was form the very end of October. I mentioned before that there had been a great crop of Halloween pieces this year and this is one of them.
Much of Mr Klue’s work is peaceful and calming, but a quick glance of some of the detail in this one shows a fair amount of menace…the chainsaws are particularly horrific. I love this piece, and it really brings out another side to the talents of Mr Klue. One of my all-time favourite Halloween pieces.
I think this one from qWeRT goes back to roughly the time of Upfest 2018 and is pasted on a door, along with multiple other wheatpastes – you can see one from Losthills just to the left – that is opposite one of the Upfest feature walls.
I am always happy finding qWeRT wheatpastes, it is a little bit of a game to hunt them down, and I am pretty safe in the knowledge that there are others in Bristol that I have yet to find. The googly-eyed character is in loving mode in this piece.
I realise that it must get a bit wearing for regular readers of Natural Adventures to keep seeing pieces by some of the more productive street artists in Bristol, but I shall not apologise for it. Artists like Face 1st are the lifeblood of any urban street art scene and without them we would be left with high-end commission-based artists painting in sterile environments, and frankly who wants that? Not me.
This is a beautiful piece from Face 1st, and the colour selection is rather special. For those not in the know, you should be able to make out the letters FACE in the hair/decoration around the face…for example the C is around the left of the face, and the E is to the right. So good.
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