This is my favourite wall in Bristol. It is small and self contained, and has been shared by a wide variety of artists over the last couple of years. The latest resident is Deamze with one of his tight angular wildstyle pieces – no characters on this one.
To the untrained eye, this might appear to be just a random bunch of lines and jags. It actally spells out DEAM, and it has a little ASK, the crew name, to the left of the piece. Deamze just keeps on churning out his excellent work.
The board has been nicely grey washed, making it a perfect backdrop for this superb clean piece of wildstyle writing from Subtle. It has been a little while since I saw anything by him, but this is one of at least two recent works I know about.
It is always nice to se his work on the streets, it keeps things fresh. In my view, this is a very classy piece of writing. I hope it is the beginning of many more pieces from another one of bristol’s talented pool of graffiti writers.
On an environmental leave day a couple of weeks back I was litter picking down on the New Cut, the diverted course of the tidal River Avon in Bristol. During the litter pick, one of my colleagues asked whether I had looked at a piece of street art she has been telling me about for a little while. During the lunch break, I took a short walk into Bedminster where the mural was, not far from the New Cut.
I found the piece, and instantly saw that it was by Andrew Burns Colwill, his style is so distinctive. This piece has breathed new life into what was previously a bland wall and brought with it an exotic feel – street art for a local community. It is beautiful.
This work has a lovely watercolour quality to it. The details of the piece poke through a misty haze, and the derelict archway give it a classical feel, the whole thing being soulful, peaceful and romantic. I’m not sure if the church is based on a real one or whether it is from Burns Colwill’s mind, probably the latter.
I am a big fan of Andrew Burns Colwill’s work, and have found him great company on the few occasions I have met him. One day I will go for that drink with him and get that interview he agreed to some months ago!
This is the second stunning piece that has recently been commissioned (I guess) on the hoardings outside the site where the library used to be. You can read more about my thoughts on this here. The shark here is absolutely amazing and Sophie’s trademark drips are to die for. I honestly think this is one of the best street pieces I have seen in a little while.
Sophie Long has captured the form and slow movement of the shark perfectly and the reflected light ripples across the dorsal surface. Of course, as someone with a marine biology training, I am particularly taken with this piece. Sophie Long is a local artist whose work I have seen before, but not posted yet. Her website gives you a good insight into some of her work.
Well here’s the ton up and it’s still only November…who knows I might actually complete my Upfest 2017 posts before Upfest 2018! This is a beautiful piece by Rory McCann who has used his art to help him overcome his childhood health problems with arthrtis. His passion for drawing in those early years has grown to larger scale murals.
Much of his work is about the environment and wildlife in the hope that it will help people to connect with nature. So far he has painted more than 80 large murals in schools, hospitals and public spaces, some of which you can see on his website. This Upfest lion is a stunner – those eyes! One of the truly memorable pieces this year – it was a pity it was a bit tucked away in the Ashton Gate stadium entrance as his work surely deserves more exposure.
I am rather fond of this fishing collaboration between Shane Ha and Niall O’Lochlainn, neither of whose work I have come across before (I think). Both are artists and illustrators from Dublin although I’m not sure if they have collaborated before.
In doing just a little Instagram research on this piece I have rather fortuitously come across a couple of extra pieces they left behind in Bristol, so I will be popsting those before too long I hope.
I was trying to establish which artist did which character, but I’m not sure I can tell, and this might be one of those examples of a collaboration where they both did bits of both. I’m not sure I will ever know. Nice piece.
Rob Wass took a lot of care and attention in producing this piece, and was out on both days, dodging the showers like everyone else. Some of you may remember his beautiful fox from Upfest 2015 which shares the same distinctive characteristics with this beautiful tree.
Simplicity splashed with carefully selected colours leaves us with a very pleasing piece that generates a sense of calm and connection with our environment…I think I am a fan of his work.
My guess is that this is a cheeky little unofficial piece by Whysayit at Upfest this year. To my reasonably trained eye this looks like an opportunistic ‘quick one’ from an artist beter known for his ‘marginally less than legal’ tags and graffiti art all over the City.
It is a nice piece executed in his square style, which looks like it was put up in a bit of a hurry. I suspect he saw a free board at the festival and took his chance to make his mark, and why not? Festivals run the risk of being too clinical and up their own backsides with ‘corporate’ pieces – it is only when we have some real local street/graffiti artists that we remind ourselves what this is all about. Thank you YSAE.
Perhaps better known for his smaller pieces, stencils and wheatpastes, this large blue face by Beastie came as a bit of a surprise to me at Upfest, so much so that I didn’t even know it was by him when I photographed it.
This was a striking piece that stood out and grabbed the attention and would appear to have an environmental theme to it too. It is interesting that this year’s Upfest appeared to have quite a lot of large portraits, many in single shades of one colour – maybe it is a thing or maybe just coincedence.
Looking forward to seeing what direction Beastie takes with his street art as his work is always interesting.
I was so glad to have found this piece because I have seen it so many times on digital social media. As it turns out, it was about a one minute walk from our hotel, but because of its orientation I only saw it on the last day of our trip.
Somewhat iconic, Gumshoe’s (Angela China) art is so very eyecatching and original. The piece of course has some chewing gum sticking to footwear, in this instance a high-heeled boot. Her art is overtly erotic, which makes it intereting to be so exposed on the street. A piece like this in the UK would probably be dogged or sabotaged by those who might be offended. We rarely see work like this in Bristol, which in my view is a pity.
A superb piece and one I will remember from the trip.
Natural adventures 