A collection of fantastic stencil art by Bristol street artist John D’oh
Published on 17 October to celebrate the publication of his new book “Street Art and Graffiti” – Buy it here
All photographs taken by Scooj
John D’oh
Tag: Street art
1785. Upfest 2018 (61)
This might be the most high-profile piece at Upfest 2018 and was possibly the most photographed wall of the festival. It is by the outstanding duo Nomad Clan whose fisherman and octopus wowed visitors at last year’s event.
This piece combines two themes for the festival in a beautiful way; The Simpsons and Bristol Women’s Voice celebrating 100 years of the first women getting the vote. Lisa Simpson is the perfect choice as a champion for women and I think this piece is entitled #bemorelisa. All walls have to start somewhere and this one starts with a grid.
Nomad Clan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Nomad Clan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Nomad Clan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
The whole thing took about three days to complete and is a real tour de force from Nomad Clan. They really do excel at these large walls and seem to have the capacity to paint them with such apparent ease.
It is easy to see just why this was such a popular piece at the festival from the sheer scale, but for me it is the Lisa Simpson that leaps out, there is something about her face and eyes that works for me.
I am not sure who the other character is, but with the loud hailer, it is obvious that this is all about Women’s voice. An impressive work, although I am probably more fond of last year’s piece.
1784. Waterloo Place (3)
Adjacent to the Sofa Project back yard is another yard that is a bit of a street art goldmine. First up from this little backwater is this gorgeous piece by Voyder, characteristically sharp and of very high quality.
With a vanishing point somewhere behind the lettering this piece stands out from the wall and the flash across the middle gives the impression of a reflective band of sunlight as if the piece is being tilted side to side. Now sunlight…that would make a refreshing change. Beautiful piece of writing as always.
1783. Waterloo Place (2)
I was first alerted to this Kleiner Shames piece on Instagram, but from the pictures I saw I just couldn’t get the location. In the end I had to message one of my street art buddies to find out where it was…which looking at it now with hindsight is blooming obvious. There is a charity in Bristol called the SOFA Project (Shift Old Furniture Around) which has two locations one of which, the Old Market store, has a walled yard where this piece is sprayed. The charity sells on old furniture, donated locally, to those less able to afford new furniture. A worthy venture.
On to this stunning piece by my favourite ex-Bristol artist, Kleiner Shames. Most of his wall work is writing, with the odd exception, and he tends to spell out the letters FOIS which spells out ‘time’ in french. The lettering here is so easy on the eye and beautifully designed. Every time I see pieces like this I feel there must be an element of art deco architectural influence going onm, or at least that is what it looks like to me. This is a very fine piece indeed.
1782. St Werburghs tunnel (44)
So back we go now to St Werburghs tunnel where we find another Face 1st piece, this time it is just the face and hair which has a leaf-like appearance. I think the hair might spell Face, as in other works by the artist, but I fear I am losing my grasp a little and see writing in things where there is none.
I think that Face 1st tends to do a couple of these at a time when there is a paint jam in the tunnel, because there always seems to be something by him in there at any one time. This piece features his commonly used purples and pinks which often dominate his colour palettes.
1781. Thomas Street (2)
On the same recently erected hoarding in Thomas Street where Sled One sprayed his banana piece, is this wonderful organic piece of wildstyle writing from Ments. Normally Ments writes his name, but this piece is so cryptic that although I suspect it says his name I can’t quite make it out, other than an S at the end.
I have always liked the work of Ments because it is so different from pretty much all the rest of the writers in Bristol, usually adopting this mystical, swirly, other-worldly style. His colours often incorporate these purples and oranges. The note ‘Save Hamilton House’ refers to a campaign to protect a building just across the other side of the main road which is at risk of demolition and redevelopment. There are many local studios for artists and the like in Hamilton House and redevelopment would break up this very tight community in Stokes Croft.
1780. Thomas Street (1)
They really don’t come any better than Sled One. His bizarre creations have a dream-like cartoon style to them, but it is the immaculate execution of his work that is most notable. His lines and shading as well as extraordinary textures, for example the banana in this piece, seem to flow effortlessly from his spray can. It would be impressive enough if this piece were created with paint brushes…it is a small miracle with spray cans.
The element of humour also must not be overlooked and although a little gory, the concept of a banana slipping over on a human is a funny one. The little finger skateboard is a little nod to Sled One’s other passion which is skateboarding, and his Facebook stream has several videos of his skills for all to see. The piece is exquisite.
The permission to paint the hoardings was arranged by Where the Wall who offer street art tours around Bristol.
1779. St Werburghs tunnel (43)
I really hope you don’t get bored with seeing pieces by Face 1st. If you do, then just skip over this one and the next one in about four posts time and so on. You see, I like his work a lot and he manages to hit the streets a lot, which means his work will feature here a lot.
This is an absolute blinder from Face 1st in St Werburghs tunnel and I had to do quite a lot of colour management on my photo editor to bring out the true colours that were swamped with orange light in my originals. Because of this manipulation these pictures can never be a true representation of the piece, so things like this really need to be seen in the flesh. Two faces and lots of adornment…each of the tear-drop things decorated differently, but each given that 3D feel. Lovely piece.
1778. The Bearpit (163)
Things have really slowed down at The Bearpit recently and most of the walls are becoming congested with fly posters and tagging. It has got a whole lot worse and more trashy since Bristol City Council came down hard on the street art scene and buffed all the walls – unintended consequences and all that…
In among all the sleezyness is this really classy piece recently sprayed by DNT. It is a floral tribute piece to a friend of his, Derek Williams, who passed away, I guess recently. In a touching Instagram post he says that Derek was one of the first people he met when he arrived in Bristol in 1990 and treated him normally. There is a big back-story there of which we only get a glimpse.
As tributes go, this is a really heartfelt and carefully crafted piece and from the Autumn colours to the whole tone of the piece you can see it is a labour of love. Lovely tribute.
1777. M32 roundabout J3 (98)
I am used to seeing NEVERGIVEUP’s urban (and occasionally rural) bunnies and his monsters. Less often seen are his wildstyle writings such as this one which he did together with Soge whose piece is just to the right.
The writing says EBOK, and although I don’t know what it means, I seem to recall it isn’t very savoury. It seems to me that spray painting comes so easily to this artist and that every time I have met him he has been very relaxed and calm. Hugely talented and a lot of fun too, he has just started up an Instagram account called ‘followmyrabbits’ in which he is posting rabbits he has left lying around all over the place…and not just in Bristol.
Natural adventures 