I was in two minds about posting about this Laic217 piece, because it is so unlike anything I have seen from him before, and something of a departure from the trajectory he has been on recently. I am not too sure also that I like it very much…it might be something to do with the insipid colours. But hey this blog isn’t just about what I like, it is about what I see.
Laic217, M32 Roundabout, Bristol, April 2017
Actually, now that I am scrutinising it a little more thoroughly, there is quite a lot here to like. The animal, the alien in a spaceship over eyes and the customary brick wall. I guess the monochrome approach is something I’ve not seen before from this artist (spoiler alert…but I have seen since).
Laic217, M32 Roundabout, Bristol, April 2017
Not the best, but still something rather compelling about his work, and how much has he improved over the last year?
Street art and graffiti can often tell a story about the ever-evolving scene. The original piece by Angus, which is one of his favourite stencil concepts was sprayed as part of the paint jam in the Bearpit over Easter.
Angus, The Bearpit, Bristol, April 2017
Angus had completed the work by the time I got down there, but it was still in pristine condition. Now, I understand that taggers really have very little time for stencil art, and don’t take long to spoil it, or ‘add’ to it with their own scrawlings and witticisms. By the time I went back the next day there were already quite a few tags on the piece.
Angus with extras from Dice 67, The Bearpit, Bristol, April 2017
How brilliant then, that Dice 67 went the extra mile and augmented the piece with a fabulous stencil of his daughter spraying the words ‘I must not write on the walls’. How brilliant is that – a living piece that takes a pop at taggers, but in a really clever way, and sets the piece off beautifully. Evolution.
Angus with extras from Dice 67, The Bearpit, Bristol, April 2017
Sirens is an artist that I have only recently come across, and I have to say that on both occasions I have met him, I really enjoyed our conversations and what he has to say about his art.
Sirens, The Bearpit, Bristol, April 2017
His work is on the fine art side of the spectrum, and it is possible to see that there might be numerous influences in his work. This piece, again of an industrial environment is in one of the tunnels of The Bearpit, and offers both a depressing scene, and also an uplifting one in the single work. I like his style, and believe he is still developing, so I await further appearances and opportunities to chat.
There are two artists in Bristol who are performing at the top of their game at the moment, Deamze and Voyder. Deamze consistantly turns out superb wildstyle pieces and absorbs styles and characters into his pieces with ease, but it is Voyder who, in my opinion, is hitting a new level with his work.
Deamze, Waterloo Place, Bristol, April 2017
This bright collaboration can be found on the wall at the back of the Sofa Project in Old Market. It is so, so good that it really does have to be seen in the flesh. There is a consistent thread of the colour scheme and a diagonal line through both pieces that cuts through the writing, and with which both artists have treated the line as a breaking point in the work – so thought out and skilful.
Deamze, Waterloo Place, Bristol, April 2017
I would like to focus a little – which is hard to do with two such immense pieces – on Voyder’s half of the collaboration, because I think this is the best piece I have seen from him, ever. The neon line zig-zagging through the Lichtenstein influenced brush strokes is masterful. Look at the shadows and the light that radiates from the neon. Just amazing.
Voyder, Waterloo Place, Bristol, April 2017
Voyder has mastered his technique, and I don’t quite know where he goes from here. He has just been getting better and better with every piece and I consider him to be the king of writing in Bristol right now. If you don’t agree, just get down and take a close look at this piece. The best collaborative piece of the year so far as far as I am concerned. Love it (just in case you hadn’t figured that yet).
Some real luck with this one. I was returning from dropping my niece off at Temple Meads station and deliberately drove home via a few graffiti spots, and whose work should I see on the hoardings at the top of Ashley Road…Silent Hobo.
Silent Hobo, Ashley Road, Bristol, April 2017
I hadn’t seen or met him before so I wasn’t going to miss this chance and found a place to park and went to introduce myself. He was spraying with another artist who was working on the wildstyle writing in the middle of the piece. This was Logoe, who I was told by Silent Hobo is a celebrated Bristol graffiti artist from years gone by, and has just returned to the city – this is his first back since his homecoming.
Silent Hobo and Logoe, Ashley Road, Bristol, April 2017
Both were absolute gents and didn’t appear to mind me stopping to watch a while and chat a bit. I asked why Silent Hobo had appeared to have a break and was now, over recent weeks, churning out pieces very regularly…well it was all down to childcare…ah the freedom that childcare affords us parents.
Logoe, Ashley Road, Bristol, April 2017
The whole piece works well, I have always liked Silent Hobo’s anime influenced characters, and Logoe’s writing is a real treat.
Silent Hobo and Logoe, Ashley Road, Bristol, April 2017
The piece is in an area that tends to get very badly tagged very quickly – it will be interesting to see how long this lasts. So far it has survived two weeks unscathed – recognition of the status and quality of the work.
Silent Hobo and Logoe, Ashley Road, Bristol, April 2017Silent Hobo and Logoe, Ashley Road, Bristol, April 2017
This piece from our very own Jody (when I say ‘our’, I mean Bristol’s) was something of a promotional stunt for Huff Post. He had been lined up to do a live spray, during which he unveiled the new Huff Post logo – the video has had more than 200k views…not bad really.
Jody and Cheo, North Street, Bristol, April 2017
Not long after the piece was completed and the brouhaha had subsided, the logo was painted out, and then not too long after that, Cheo sprayed a bee on the hand. One in the eye for the corporates.
Jody and Cheo, North Street, Bristol, April 2017
This coming together, albeit a bit haphazardly, leaves us with a really rather wonderful piece. The grayscale hand, so beautifully crafted, is the prefect partner for the vibrant and rather cheeky bee. Glad I got to see the completed thing before I knew about the backstory.
Whenever I go out looking for street art and graffiti I always live in hope that I might find an artist at work, and this meeting with Copyright and Paul Monsters and indeed Gemma Compton who was just there (she and Copyright are married), signalled the start of something of a purple patch for me meeting artists. I don’t know if it is luck or what, but it is always great to stop and have a chat.
Copyright and Paul Monsters, North Street, Bristol, April 2017
This is a really amazing collaboration between the two, Copyright’s beautiful women’s faces and the geometry of Paul Monster’s colourful patterns complement each other perfectly. I happen to know at the time of writing that they have worked together again since, because I found them again…more on this one some other time.
Copyright and Paul Monsters, North Street, Bristol, April 2017
Paul doesn’t get out to spray much these days because he is working flat out with Upfest the organising team in their office in North Street. If you take a look at the list of artists for the 2017 festival, you have Paul to thank, as he put it all together.
Copyright and Paul Monsters, North Street, Bristol, April 2017Copyright and Paul Monsters, North Street, Bristol, April 2017
I saw this piece recently and had to do a double take. It is by Zase and Dekor, but so unlike anything I have seen from them before. Not the highly polished, meticulous work I am used to seeing, rather a fun quick piece, that almost looks incomplete. Nothing like this or even this which I have posted before.
Zase and Dekor, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2017
The wildstyle writing clearly spells out Zase, and the characters are clearly influenced by the hand of Dekor, but somehow the whole doesn’t look like a work from them.
Zase and Dekor, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2017
In a way it is great to see artists letting their hair down and just having fun. No pressure, no commission, just fun.
Si2, operating as ‘Hull Graffiti’ is a creative artist whose work is full of cartoon style characters. Look no further than his Facebook page to see the prolific high standard work he consistently turns out.
Si2, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
His upfest piece is full of fun and energy, something of a USP for Si2. His biography for Upfest 2017 (yes, the list of Upfest 2017 artists is now out) reads as follows (with grammatical corrections):
Hull based professional graff writer and member of long running Newcastle crew 3rd Teem Kingz. Apex predator character writer only paints original work for pleasure and profit. Lives and loves graff and prefers to let his vast body of work speak for him, although most will know him as ‘the guy who paints the bins’.
A pair of great wheatpasters occupuying the same space at Upfest, which is often the case when there are only a limited number of ‘public’ utility boxes of one sort or another to choose from.
Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
The first of these excellent paste ups is by Losthills featuring his wonderful Jake the Dog, the second is a weird and wonderful pigeon headed gentleman by Face the Strange (I guess his name gives away his artistic direction).
Face the Strange and Losthills, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
These two artists really brought some colour and fun to North Street, along with all the other wheatpasters. I fear it is an underrated form of street art, but I am a big fan.
Natural adventures 