Tag: Tag

4875. Dean Lane skate park (548)

Mote, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022
Mote, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022

What a fine and colourful monster character from Mote on the swimming pool wall at Dean Lane. Once again we see Mote spreading his wings both in terms of location and design of his work.

Mote, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022
Mote, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022

This is arguably Mote’s most colourful piece yet, which is some achievement for an artist who is fond of his colours. Unfortunately the piece has been a little tagged, although not too much to the detriment of the overall impact it has. Although I fully understand where tagging sits in the overall spectrum of street/graffiti art, I do sometimes question what sort of empty minds get kicks out of it. Probably showing my age there. A nice vibrant piece from Mote.

3907. M32 roundabout (345)

On environmental grounds I am not totally on-board with the trend of spray painting onto cling film suspended between two posts. The effect is a good one and it does create ‘walls’ where none exist, but the plastic waste and disposability doesn’t work for me. I have to be careful though, because spray paint isn’t particularly environmentally friendly and I could end up tying myself in knots.

Ryder and T-Rex, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2021
Ryder and T-Rex, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2021

All of that said, I do like the creativity of these mega-tag pieces by Ryder and T-Rex. These tags can be found all over Bristol, but these ones are temporary and ephemeral, and not in any danger of being over-painted. The ‘R’ character is by Ryder and the dinosaur head by T-Rex and the two fuse in the form of a true collaboration.

Ryder, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2021
Ryder, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2021

The second piece is by Ryder and typical of his ‘R’ tags. I don’t know if it is more difficult to paint onto cling film, but I expect it is not as forgiving of mistakes, but then again these artists don’t make many of those. An interesting addition to the array of street art possibilities.

3702. Dean Lane skate park (417)

I fully expect that these foxes by Nebeldac will become a reasonably regular feature of Natural Adventures, although some of the ‘rougher’ ones might get swept up into a compilation.

Nebeldac, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2021
Nebeldac, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2021

This chrome fox appeared in Dean Lane a couple of weeks back and is really rather cool, making the most of a rare day of sunshine in what has been a very wet and miserable Ma. Nice to see the foxes appearing all over the place.

3681. Cumberland Basin

Over the last six months or so, these foxes have been appearing pretty much all over the city, but with a concentration down by the river on both sides. Some of these foxes are a bit quick and dirty, but others, like this one, have been painted beautifully by yet another artist new to Natural Adventures, Nebeldac.

Nebeldac, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2021
Nebeldac, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2021

This was painted of a large paint jam on the long wall at Cumberland Basin, most of which I still haven’t posted (a wealth of riches). The fox is a creature synonymous with Bristol which is famed for its urban fox population. I mentioned it once before, but when I first moved to this fine city, I was lucky enough to get an allotment and at that time the population density of foxes there was the highest recorded anywhere in the country. Sadly the introduction of wheely bins and an outbreak of mange all but decimated the population. We now have a healthy population of healthy foxes.

Expect to see more of these foxes from Nebeldac, I have dozens in my archive.

3602. Purdown HAA Battery (26)

There are dozens of these mega-tags all over Bristol and it took me quite a long time before I realised that they were by Sage. This one at the Purdown battery has an outstanding view of North Bristol behind it… such a great location.

Sage, Purdown, Bristol, March 2021
Sage, Purdown, Bristol, March 2021

Most of these mega-tags are monochrome quick ones, but it seems that Sage has taken a wee bit more time with this one, giving his capped character  little bit of extra decoration. Often, the location can be as important as the art, and I think this is a good example of that.

3594. M32 Spot (111)

Another day, another debut on Natural Adventures, this time from Pie Bolar. In recent weeks I have seen quite a few of these mega tags about the place, and because they are much more than simple tags and that they are likely to develop in some way over time, I am happy to drop a post, which is likely to be the first of many.

Pie Bolar, M32 Spot, Bristol, March 2021
Pie Bolar, M32 Spot, Bristol, March 2021

Graffiti and street art is such an enormous ‘church’ with a vast range of styles and capabilities. Some artists do something different each time they hit a wall, others choose a motif and repeat it again and again with subtle design or colour changes, for example Slim Pickings with his TES. This character tag by Pie Bolar presents a severed head wearing sun glasses. It is an unusual image, but sticks in the mind and is easily spotted in amongst all the other graffiti. Watch this space fro more from the artist.

Thursday doors – 11 March 2021

Doors 141- Mr Bloopy doors

This week I have compiled a little collection of doors that have been tagged with a Mr Bloopy. These tags can be found absolutely everywhere Bristol, not only on doors, so this is a very small subset of these happy-go-lucky tags. One or two have appeared on Thursday doors before, but never in a collection like this. Enjoy.

Mr Bloopy door, Bristol, July 2019
Mr Bloopy door, Bristol, July 2019

Mr Bloopy door, Bristol, March 2021
Mr Bloopy door, Bristol, March 2021

Mr Bloopy door, Bristol, February 2017
Mr Bloopy door, Bristol, February 2017

Mr Bloopy door, Bristol, March 2021
Mr Bloopy door, Bristol, March 2021

Mr Bloopy door, Bristol, March 2019
Mr Bloopy door, Bristol, March 2019

Mr Bloopy tag on a knackered old door, Bristol, July 2020
Mr Bloopy tag on a knackered old door, Bristol, July 2020

Tagged door (that tag again), St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
Tagged door (that tag again), St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020

Tagged door, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2019
Tagged door, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2019

Another busy week for me so I’m afraid that’s yer lot. Enjoy the emerging spring (those of you in the Northern Hemisphere) and let’s look forward to some pro[er door action soon.

If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors  from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.

by Scooj

3510. Lawrence Hill roundabout (15)

I don’t get over to Lawrence Hill roundabout all that often, so there is always something there that I haven’t seen before. However, the disadvantage of not regularly visiting is that any pieces new to me can be quite tired looking or tagged.

Mudra, Lawrence Hill Roundabout, Bristol, February 2021
Mudra, Lawrence Hill Roundabout, Bristol, February 2021

Mudra has had a big impact since arriving in Bristol last year and has made his presence known all over the city with his distinctive pink faces and colourful writing. Although tagged, this moustached character with a distinctive outlined red nose is still looking rather bright, and I am pleased to have stumbled across it. Not long before I’ll have enough of his work to post a gallery.

3440. Frome side (7)

There are some pieces that will have very limited audiences, and this is one of them. Soap has painted one of his trademark smiley mouth-skull pieces on the back of a pillar under the M32 overlooking the River Frome. The only way of getting to see it is by dropping down under the motorway and walking along the reinforced bank of the River Frome. It can’t even be seen from the overlooking M32 Spot.

Soap, Frome side, Bristol, December 2020
Soap, Frome side, Bristol, December 2020

One might ask why paint something that so few people will see, but that might be missing the point a bit about the motivations behind why graffiti and street artists do what they do. It tends to be for the love of doing it. This is a particularly nice example of his mouthy face, with a lovely yellow background and sharp lines with some nice fills. The white highlights work really well to give it that 3D lift. A great column piece.

3439. Cumberland Basin

As gentrification in the city picks up pace, traditional graffiti hot spots are becoming fewer and fewer – there is often a stay of execution while hoardings go up around a development, but eventually these come down revealing pristine new student accommodations or other unaffordable housing, inappropriate for the communities that live near these developments. One of the knock-on effects is that the turnover of street art/graffiti on the remaining walls has increased considerably. This wall in the Cumberland Basin is a great example of a wall that is changing more and more frequently.

Slakarts, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2020
Slakarts, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2020

Slakarts gives us a double-vision version of his smiling three-quarter profile mega-tag in this happy piece alongside Rezwonk, just to the right. Slakarts has been turning these out on a reasonably regular basis over the last six months or so but they all face the same direction – it would be interesting to see if he could replicate them looking the other way. There is something quite seductive about this piece – it is unusual and set in a vibrant context. Expect more like this before too long.