Walking with my family on the obligatory clothes shopping trip in SoHo, we came across this magnificent tiger by Sonny. It is difficult to convey just how spectacular this piece is. Furthermore the piece is actually raising awareness for the global campaign ‘Project Cat‘ which aims to protect wild tigers and their habitat.
Sonny, SoHo, New York, October 2017
Looking at his website, it seems that Sonny is a specialist in painting large wildlife pieces, and has a special talent for this. I love the way he incorporates patterns into the face of the tiger and how cleverly the colours dribble down from the face to create a pool of blue and yellow.
I have the most enormous backlog of images to post, and can see that the only way to share as many of them as I can is to have slightly shorter written descriptions of the artists and their work, particularly with the non-Bristol street art, which takes me a lot longer to research.
Jerkface, Mott Street, New York, October 2017
On my recent trip to New York I was lucky enough to be staying in the lower East Side where there are amazing street/graffiti art surprises literally around every corner. This clever Mickey Mouse piece is by Jerkface who produces some amazing works in this grand cartoon style. Unfortunately his beautiful website reveals little about the artist.
Jerkface, Mott Street, New York, October 2017
This was one of my landmark finds from my trip, and I think it had only recently been sprayed.
Somewhat reminiscent of Banksy’s work or Unify or JPS, this lovely piece by Dotmaster Is just about perfect for this wall. Situated under a camden council sign stating ‘bill stickers will be prosecuted’. The corny old joke suggests that graffiti under the sign should read ‘Bill Stickers is innocent’ but the joke is a hundred years old.
Dotmaster, Camden Town, London, September 2016
This beautifully executed piece presents us with a naughty child spraying that most sacred of images, a heart, on the wall. A picture within a picture. I love this and pretty much everything about it, but I know little or nothing about the artist, but his biography on his website gives you a flavour. I love his comment:
It is impossible not to marvel at the work of Dan Kitchener, and the incredible atmospheric cityscapes he produces. One of the other things that he works on are his ‘speed paintings’ which are insanely brilliant photorealistic pictures – I strongly recommend that you take a look at his Instagram account to check these out.
Dan Kitchener, Hanbury Street, London, September 2016
I took these pictures last year when I was working two days a week in London and used my overnight stays as an opportunity to go to Shoreditch or Camden Town to check out the street/graffiti art.
Dan Kitchener, Hanbury Street, London, September 2016
This amazing piece by Dan Kitchener was actually hiding a little secret, which is pretty much invisible until you get close up to the piece. In amongst the cars and lights in this street scene there are three masks by Gregos.
Gregos, Hanbury Street, London, September 2016
Ther masks are different sizes and have three different expressions. Dan Kitchener has sprayed over these sensitively, but I am not sure if this was some kind of collaboration or if the masks had been there and Dan Kitchener simply sprayed over them at a later date. I’m not sure it matters too much, because on this wall you have such unbelievable creativity and two for the price of one.
Now this is a beautiful recent piece by Jody, and make no mistake I rate this extremely highly. I am however slightly conflicted by its placement. As part of Government public spending cuts, Local Authorities have had to make some difficult choices. Closing under-used libraries has been one way of reducing costs, and generating income from sale of the land. This hoarding has been erected around the building site that was formerly the library.
I am not particularly conflicted about any of that though, my issue is that the construction firm have gone out of their way (it seems) to avoid attracting graffiti to the hoardings (in an area where hoardings quickly become ‘decorated’). As part of this, they have commissioned two great street artists to complete panels, of which this is one. I suppose what bothers me is that it is that the message this sends out is that these boards are ok for some artists, but not for others. Who decides? On what grounds? How do the artists feel about this? It all feels a little uncomfortable.
Jody, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, November 2017
Putting all of that aside though, I think that this is absolutely stunning, and I consider this piece by Jody to be as good as any other I have seen of his. He does beautiful women’s faces to perfection, and I like the way the hair morphs into a smokey cloud.
Jody, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, November 2017
What a treat for me to be able to walk past this every day on my way to work. It will be interesting to see how the graffiti community treat this. Jody is held in high regard, but there are some taggers out there who have no respect and they may take exception to this hoarding being for the select few and not the many.
Although Laic217 seems to be slightly less busy on the streets than he was say, six months ago, he is still producing regular pieces, which is great for me as it is no secret that I love his work.
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2017
This piece contains the familiar format of a skeleton in a tracksuit sprayiong out the letters LAIC. The two components of the piece blend realy well and I love the color selections across the whole piece.
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2017
He has sprayed this in a particularly narrow passage which explains why there aren’t any decent front on pictures of this piece. As always, a real pleasure to share his work with you.
This is the second piece by an unknown artist I have posted in the space of a week, which is really unusual for me, but I don’t think I will ever uncover the mystery of this one as it is so unlike anything I have seen in Bristol before.
Unknown artist, The Bearpit, Bristol, August 2017
There are two faces adjacent to one another that ahve the appearance of having been etched out of the thick layers of paint laid down on this tunnel wall. They are in fact painted but in this really unusual style.
Unknown artist, The Bearpit, Bristol, August 2017
The face on the right hand side appears to be more complete that the other one and is lighting up a ‘cigarette’. The shading and colours used for the piece are from an interesting and varied palette; for example the thumb is made up of greens, yellows, pinks and reds.
Not knowing who the artist is was not a good enough excuse for not posting this piece. I like it a lot.
I wasn’t really looking for this tiny wheatpaste, and in fact must have walked past it many times before noticing it, but notice it I did and I am pleased to have done so. It is by the talented Beastie who seems to be at home with large or small murals or wheatpastes in equal measure.
Beastie, Jamaica Street, Bristol, August 2017
This piece is opposite the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC) outdoor gallery in Jamaica Street. I think the paste up is of a great tit, but it is difficult to be sure in black and white. This is what I love about street art – it is out there, you simply need to go out and find it.
This lovely piece by Andy Council is in South East Bristol, in an area I don’t pass through too often, except when visiting the reptile shop to get supplies for my daughter’s chameleon, George. I managed to stop and take these pictures on one such trip.
Andy Council, Chalks Road, Bristol, July 2017
I think the piece has has been around since early 2017, and you can see from the foliage growing in front of it that it was not recent even in July when I took the picture. As with all Andy Council’s pieces, there are numerous references to Bristol and the locality in the buildings that make up this ram with a fish tail, which I recognise as the star sign representation of Capricorn, being one myself. It is always good to see the iconic Clifton suspension bridge included in street art.
Andy Council, Chalks Road, Bristol, July 2017
I like this piece very much. It is unusual and incorporates some interesting colour selections commensurate with the two halves of the beast. Well thought out and as always, well executed.
Deamze owns this wall. I have only ever seen pieces by him here. Maybe that is an accident of my infrequent visits, or maybe he just owns the wall. Deamze also owns this style of wildstyle writing accompanied by a cartoon character – he carries it off every time.
Deamze, M32 cycle path, Bristol, July 2017
The writing in this piece is exceptional – set on a cartoon brick wall and some puddles, the jagged lettering contrasts and stands out. I have tried a few Google searches to try and work out who the character is, and looking at the picture kind of rings a bell, but I have thus far drawn a blank.
Deamze, M32 cycle path, Bristol, July 2017
I have several more Deamze pieces from this wall sitting in my archives. If only I had more time…
Natural adventures 