Tag: Street art

241. M32 Roundabout, Junction 3 (9)

The thing about popular places for graffiti is that unless you visit them regularly, you will miss something. I left a gap of about four weeks between visits to the M32 roundabout between St Pauls and Easton, and probably about half of the works had changed. I don’t think I am ever going to be able to keep on top of this, but I don’t mind that really, it is just fun making new discoveries each time I venture out.

Face F1st, M32 Roundabout, Bristol, May 2016
Face F1st, M32 Roundabout, Bristol, May 2016

This is a lovely piece by one of my favourite artists in Bristol – Face F1st. Regular readers will know how much I like this work, so to find this one was a real pleasure. Even better, I found another one on my way to work this morning that appeared over the weekend…posting soon.

Face F1st, M32 Roundabout, Bristol, May 2016
Face F1st, M32 Roundabout, Bristol, May 2016

I have noticed that the designs in the letters are becoming more elaborate with each piece that Face F1st is producing, but overall the concept remains the same. Great stuff.

240. Napier Road, pedestrian tunnel

This is the first, and not entirely typical, work by Angry Face that I have featured. His faces appear all over Bristol, and judging by his Facebook feed in numerous other cities as well. I believe he might recently have been ‘on tour’ in Lisbon and Barcelona.

Angry Face, Napier Road, Bristol, May 2016
Angry Face, Napier Road, Bristol, May 2016

I don’t know very much about him and will try to dig out more. I had always assumed he was a Bristol artist, because of the sheer number of his pieces around the City. It would seem that all of his works are illegal throw ups. There are several examples of his work that are outline only, without the completed colours…maybe he was disturbed whilst spraying. Ubiquitous, unique and always angry, there is something comforting about his work.

239. The Bearpit (17)

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago in one of the tunnels of The Bearpit, a spot favoured by Decay. His style is so utterly unique,  always using the same black, white, grey and red colours, and his freestyle approach tends to have concentric rings of shapes spreading from the centre, although I think he works from the outside in.

Decay, The Bearpit, Bristol, May 2016
Decay, The Bearpit, Bristol, May 2016

This is a nice political piece, demanding a stop to Tory cuts and incorporating a visual prompt. Nice drips. There is room for filling in the blank here…one for the taggers?

238. Wilder Street (3)

I knew it existed and was determined to find it and, a little by accident, I did. This Hyacinth Macaw is instantly recognisable as an Aspire piece and it is absolutely magnificent. He just seems to get better and better.

Aspire, Wilder Street, Bristol, May 2016
Aspire, Wilder Street, Bristol, May 2016

The work, which was completed at the beginning of May, absolutely captures the macaw perfectly and brings it to life. The peculiar stoop that macaws exhibit fits the space so well. This is a clever and absolutely outstanding piece. What next I wonder.

Aspire, Wilder Street, Bristol, May 2016
Aspire, Wilder Street, Bristol, May 2016

237. The Bearpit (16)

At one corner of The Bearpit, there is a large advertising cube which rises above the sunken area and can be viewed at the road level. It is a very prominent landmark when arriving in the centre of town. What is great about it is that it is not festooned with corporate marketing or consumer products. No…this is a place for messages to the people of Bristol by the people of Bristol. Some messages are politically inert, others are political commentary presented in a way so typical of this area.

Sepr, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2016
Sepr, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2016

This piece by Sepr is an interesting statement, a bomb holding hands with children – more thoughtful than the latest Mercedes model or Insurance company.

Sepr, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2016
Sepr, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2016

There is something slightly unsettling about the piece, the smiling bomb, the silhouetted children. I think this work has just been replaced very recently. You can see on the adjacent face a message ‘Peace – and not just for Christmas’.

Sepr, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2016
Sepr, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2016

236. Ashley Road (6)

Another splendid paste up by Copyright. I featured another of his posters last week from Dean Lane skate park, and as a pair they are quite brilliant. How much I would love to own them and have them hanging at home.

Copyright, Ashley Road, Bristol, May 2016
Copyright, Ashley Road, Bristol, May 2016

His work is technically superb and his subjects always beautiful. Better than that though is the location and framing of this wheatpaste. Copyright has put some thought into how it should look…a common trait with pasters. Since seeing these two wonderful works I have found two more sprayed walls by Copyright, so plenty to keep me busy. The backlog is ever growing.

235. Wilder Street (2)

Another great find, that I had seen on the Interweb, but tracked down recently on one of my walks. This is another acid house trippy piece by Laic217 similar to the one on Moon Street. In this case though the face is melting vertically rather than horizontally.

Laic217, Wilder Street, Bristol, May 2016
Laic217, Wilder Street, Bristol, May 2016

There is something about Laic217’s pieces that I really like. They are quite raw, but rather potent. They will stand out in a crowd, so there is something special there. I will be posting more of his work soon.

Laic217, Wilder Street, Bristol, May 2016
Laic217, Wilder Street, Bristol, May 2016

234. Dean Lane skate park (4)

I am very pleased with these pictures. I caught a glimpse of ObjectØØØ at work last weekend on an Instagram movie made by Annikapixie in which she was showing off a new piece that she was working on…to follow. I recognised the spot and so went looking for the piece on a lunchtime walk. I found it.

ObjectØØØ, Dean Lane skate park, Bristol, May 2016
ObjectØØØ, Dean Lane skate park, Bristol, May 2016

ObjectØØØ has a very particular style that is quite unlike anything else I have seen in Bristol. It is very organic and combines a naturalist’s view with oddities and political thoughts. It is an acquired taste, but one I admire.

ObjectØØØ, Dean Lane skate park, Bristol, May 2016
ObjectØØØ, Dean Lane skate park, Bristol, May 2016

In addition ObjectØØØ has pasted a small sketch onto this piece and the close up shows that he has a very strong command of biological sciences. I can see the claw of a decapod, a scolex (from a parasitic tapeworm), dentition, wing structure, an animal cell, twigs and a climbing plant. I am interested in why he has left such a tiny sketch on his work. This stuff is quirky…and remember…’eat the rich’.

233. North Street, the Masonic Pub

I have taken many photographs of this magnificent parrot since it was created at last year’s Upfest (2015), but somehow I just haven’t made time to put together a post. It is a difficult piece to photograph because of the white space on the wall and from the sky, which tends to bleach the picture out a bit.

Luis Seven Martins (L7M), North Street, Bristol, May 2016
Luis Seven Martins (L7M), North Street, Bristol, May 2016

The magnificent piece is by Luis Seven Martins, also known as L7M. He is another artist from Sao Paolo in Brazil (a hotbed of street art talent). Born in 1988, he has been working on street art from the age of 13. He specialises in drawing birds using a mix of spray paint and acrylics. This parrot is a beauty and one of the outstanding pieces of Upfest 2015. His Facebook page is here.

Luis Seven Martins (L7M), North Street, Bristol, May 2016
Luis Seven Martins (L7M), North Street, Bristol, May 2016

232. North Street hoarding (3)

John D’oh is a very naughty political artist whose work I enjoy immensely, whether I agree with his assertions or not. Whenever I see his stuff I can’t help smiling at his cheeky nerve. I suspect it gets him into trouble occasionally, but I like the edge he brings to the Bristol street art scene. This time it is the turn of the Queen, a reference to the band of the same name and her position on Brexit as portrayed by some media outlets (in particular the Murdock News International Media group).

John D'oh, North Street, Bristol, May 2016
John D’oh, North Street, Bristol, May 2016

Not only is the content of his work noteworthy, but his execution using stencils and his profusion of work is impressive. I have a large backlog of his work, much of which is politically no longer contemporary, but nonetheless an indicator of political issues in 2010s Bristol.