This is a quick one from Whysayit in Upper York Street, replacing one he had there before. It is also a quick one from me. I like Whysayit’s work, and the way that he fist his moniker into the space available, always retaining his characteristic ‘font’. While not his best or most colourful piece, it is still skilfully worked.
The Bearpit is probably the most productive street art spot in Bristol. It has four subways and stairways so there is a great deal of wall space in this central location. In any week there could be as many as twenty new pieces, but typically it might be five or six. This piece from Jee See appeared after a weekend when quite a few artists descended into the pit for a bit of a session.
This is something rather different from Jee See. I am used to seeing his ‘seismic’ burners and his stencils of girls with ‘castro’ hats, but I’ve not seen piece like this before. I rather like it, even if the subject matter has a rather dark undertone to it.
This nice piece by SPZero76 was painted a few weeks back in the company of Cheba (the galactic bits to the left of the piece) and Kid Crayon whose pieces I have very recently posted.
I am beginning to think the animal I keep calling a raccoon might actually be a dog. I say this because Raccoons aren’t really a part of our British wildlife assemblage, so why would he feature one in his works? Yup it is a dog. As an aside, it makes me laugh when Hollywood movies, purporting to be set in England, make the terrible mistake of featuring raccoons (identifiable to an American audience, but a complete mystery to us Brits). One such movie was the recent 101 Dalmations live remake. Look out for it.
I’m not too sure who the ‘space lady’ is in this piece, but I like it that she has a spray can, just like so many of his characters do.
No prizes at all for guessing who this is by. Hardly a week goes by without posting something by Laic217. This piece is a bit of a throwback to his format of spelling his name and incorporating a feature piece into it. Most of his recent works have been distorted portraits.
Looking back at some of his similar pieces from about a year back, it is easy to see how his work is constantly and consistently improving. The fiery flame work is nicely done in this piece, and he really does seem to enjoy his skulls.
This was a quick one by Mr Draws in The Bearpit. Mr Draws is another Bristol street artist who is hitting something of a purple patch in terms of productivity. I had always assumed that the Winter and early Spring were not particularly busy times for street/graffiti artists, but that has not been the case this year. I wonder if some of that is attributable to the relatively dry winter period we have had this year.
So we come back to mountains by Mr Draws, although these are a little more stylised than some of his previous peaks. If I were to be critical I would say that this looks like it was done really quickly. I remain, however very fond of his pieces…they are so different from the norm, and easily identifiable.
Following on then from the previous post, this is the piece that Kid Crayon created to cover up the one he had been unhappy with just a few days before. This is something more familiar altogether from the Bristol regular.
The piece that this replaced was had been sprayed at the same time as a piece on the adjacent wall by SPZero76, and it really does seem that these two do like painting together. I also note that he references the ‘EAT crew’. I am guessing that this is what these two artists call themselves when they spray together, and would explain a recent collaboration posted here a few days ago.
This is back to the familiar style of Kid Crayon, but it seems as though he has abandoned the floating crayon, which I think is a pity as it was part of his USP. I like this piece though.
When I first found this piece in The Bearpit, it felt somehow familiar, but it was unsigned and I wasn’t sure who the artist was. A bit of a google search threw up nothing. It wasn’t until another piece went up over it a few days later that I found out who it was by.
It is quite an unusual piece by Kid Crayon, but contains none of his tell-tale features – no crayon, no blue faces, no signature. It turns out that he didn’t like it much and went over it with another piece a few days later, and my next post is about that newer work.
I am a big fan of Kid Crayon, and have to say that I quite like this enigmatic piece, and in one small way I am disappointed that I discovered the mystery behind it. I thought we were witnessing the emergence of a new artist on the streets of Bristol.
This is one I have held on to for a long time, and I did so because it is a really great piece. I hadn’t published it because the artist, Shab, has only recently come onto my radar. Of course, I am now finding his work everywhere…that seems to be the way of things.
This piece was from Upfest 2015, and managed to remain for quite some time. There are still some remnants of it there today, just. I really love this piece and the way Shab captures the figures. There is a touch of what looks like an African influence going on. A firm favourite.
Face F1st seems to have upped his game recently, producing pieces all over the city, and continuing to develop his style. Together with Laic217, he seems to be ‘in the groove’ at the moment.
This piece is on a famous wall with pieces from several Bristol artists on it including a piece by Mr Sleven (the three-eyed characters). I really like this piece by Face F1st, it feels like more time and effort has gone into its production and the face is simple and also wonderfully expressive.
I have more pieces by Face F1st in my pending folders, but I think this is the best so far.
Some of the artists who painted at Upfest are a little elusive. This piece is by Rupertty, and there is very little I can find out about him…there wasn’t even a programme entry for him. He does have an Instagram account, but there is little there to go on other than some rather nice wildstyle pieces.
I guess some people keep a lower profile than others. I felt that this was a rather low-profile piece and that it feels unfinished, although I think this is it. I think this piece really shows off the diversity of styles that Upfest has to offer. Something for everyone.
Natural adventures 