6227. Upfest 2024 (42)

Rob Lee, Upfest 2024, West Street, Bristol, July 2024
Rob Lee, Upfest 2024, West Street, Bristol, July 2024

Some murals can only really work at scale, and this is one of them. The relatively simple design by Rob Lee becomes something utterly awesome when plastered on the side of an entire building. I don’t think that visitors to the occupiers of the building would have any difficulty in finding the address… “err, it’s the one with the big pink, yellow, green, blue and lilac stripes on it – you can’t miss it”.

Rob Lee, Upfest 2024, West Street, Bristol, May 2024
Rob Lee, Upfest 2024, West Street, Bristol, May 2024

Although the design might be reasonably straightforward, there is a lot of technical subtlety in it, especially with the transition of shades of colour marking the bends in the stripes. The piece would be somewhat bland without the rippling of the stripes and the depth it gives the whole piece. Painting the colours on a black background is a master-stroke, and rounds things off perfectly.

Rob Lee, Upfest 2024, West Street, Bristol, July 2024
Rob Lee, Upfest 2024, West Street, Bristol, July 2024

I have come across a piece by Rob Lee once before, last autumn in Sheffield, and some of you might remember the post. I like the Sheffield piece, but this Upfest one definitely trumps it!

Rob Lee, Sheffield, November 2023
Rob Lee, Sheffield, November 2023

6226. Upfest 2024 (41)

Hazard, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, May 2024
Hazard, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, May 2024

Just like many other communities, the Bristol artist community is in a constant state of flux, with many new artists moving to the city as others move out. One of the most significant recent departures has been that of Hazard, who I believe has moved to the North of England, possibly to Leeds. This is a huge loss for Bristol, but her connections with the city mean that she will return from time to time, I am sure, like she did to paint this beauty for Upfest 2024.

Hazard, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, May 2024
Hazard, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, May 2024

The portrait piece with its patchwork of coloured shapes slightly underplays her brilliance – perhaps it is the slightly awkward spot, or the dark tones she has used, but it doesn’t leap out at you like many of her pieces do. It is a piece that you need to stop and look at and admire, but all too often people simply stroll by, focussed on their phone screens. I definitely miss Hazard’s regular interventions, but that makes each of her appearances now even more precious.

6225. Dean Lane skate park (736)

Zake and Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024
Zake and Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024

I’ll let you into a small and rather unimportant secret… I wrote this post yesterday because today I am going to visit Cheltenham tomorrow for the Cheltenham Paint Festival, which this year has an extraordinary line up, so expect some rather nice posts in about 2-3 weeks time. I am so pleased for Dice67, AKA Andy Davies, who has been running the festival since its inception, which is just becoming bigger and bigger with each year.

Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024
Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024

This is a rather nice collaboration from PWA duo Zake and Face 1st in the narrow bit between a building and a skate ramp, hence the rather odd angle in the top photograph. Zake has painted a character yelling, painted with as much relief and texture as it is possible to get.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024
Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024

Face 1st has painted his name in rather fetching reds and pinks with some interesting cross-hatching in the ‘c’ and in the hair of the laughing girl. I like the way that Face 1st has been experimenting with his writing a lot lately, although I miss his full body character pieces – I guess you can’t have it all!

6224. Cumberland Basin

Ments, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
Ments, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

This piece from Ments, painted as part of a wider paint jam, is a joy to behold. I am always going on about how we just don’t see enough of Ments’ work these days, and here is the second piece since May, the other being at Upfest. There is no doubt that Ments has pulled out all the stops with this one.

Ments, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
Ments, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

His characteristic ‘organic’ writing is full of mystery and shapes and textures of planet earth, like chemistry mixed up with geometry and art – a delightful combination. From what we see, there is no way of knowing what the letters spell, but it is probably a good guess to imagine that it says MENTS. There is so much to admire in the intricate details and interactions between the forms and colours in the piece. Outstanding.

6223. Dean Lane skate park (735)

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024

Recently I have managed to miss out on a couple of Hire pieces, because I have just been too slow, and for some reason, his work has been getting overpainted quite quickly lately. I think it is bad timing on his part more than anything more sinister than that. So I was particularly pleased to catch this one.

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024

I have been an enormous fan of Hire’s since the first pieces I saw, many years ago. He consistently turns out brilliant graffiti writing and occasional rabbits to such a high level of precision. In this piece he has used the willing combination of pink and blue to create his HIRE lettering, but what I particularly like here is the interaction between the letters and the brown background, which is impacted by, and augments the letter shapes. Very nice work from Hire.

6222. Cumberland Basin.

The Art of Sok and Smak, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
The Art of Sok and Smak, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

In the seventies I might have described this piece as ‘smashing’, and as a child of the seventies I am going to describe this outstanding collaboration between The Art of Sok and Smak as smashing. I was lucky enough to meet with and chat to both artists the night before they painted this wall as part of a larger jam, at Merny’s exhibition opening, which had a great turnout.

The Art of Sok and Smak, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
The Art of Sok and Smak, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

The two artists have worked together perfectly to produce this character/writing combination. Smak’s writing is absolutely sensational and in addition to that, he has created a perfect tropical sunset backdrop with The Art of Sok’s character presented in the foreground – beautifully comnposed.

The Art of Sok, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
The Art of Sok, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

During his short trip to Bristol, The Art of Sok, who it turns out is a lovely bloke, dropped a few pieces about the place which I will naturally post in due course. The cartoon-style character is pretty much perfect in its precision, which is how The Art of Sok rolls. He told me that he likes to get his finished pieces to resemble as closely as possible his draft, so it is all very much worked out in advance, and he has the skills to execute his plan to the letter. This is an excellent collaboration.

6221. M32 Spot (189)

Nuke, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2024
Nuke, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2024

This is the second piece by Nuke to appear on Natural Adventures, although it was the first to be painted, in chronological order, of the two. I’m not too sure if the two pieces were a one (two)-off and left during a visit to the city, or whether we can expect more to follow. I suspect the former.

Nuke, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2024
Nuke, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2024

His work, even though I have only seen the two pieces, is instantly recognisable in the delivery of a character/writing combination that has a haunting and slightly dark vibe about it. There is a blending between the ghostly portrait and the wildstyle letters, that works really well, and the colours reflect upwards from the base, and the white light is projected from the top left. Very nicely done.

6220. Greenbank (128)

Daz Cat, Greenbank, Bristol, July 2024
Daz Cat, Greenbank, Bristol, July 2024

It feels like Daz Cat is pushing all sorts of boundaries at the moment and painting with a freedom in both style and content that is a pleasure to witness. There is a lot going on in this free-flowing story-telling piece in Greenbank.

Daz Cat, Greenbank, Bristol, July 2024
Daz Cat, Greenbank, Bristol, July 2024

I can see a lady surrounded by purple/lilac cats, but the intriguing part of this piece is the two ‘robot’ arms that rather randomly seem to have landed in amongst them and are smoking from the arm sockets. There is a story which is skilfully illustrated, but it is a story belonging very much to the artist – as viewers we can only concoct our own stories. Great work from Daz Cat.

Swallow-tailed moth

Swallow-tailed moth, Ourapteryx sambucaria, Redland, Bristol, July 2024
Swallow-tailed moth, Ourapteryx sambucaria, Redland, Bristol, July 2024

.

Lured by a false moon

a nighttime visitor comes

conspicuous hue

.

by Scooj

6219. Brunel Way (280)

Nips, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2024
Nips, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2024

One of the great joys of being a street art hunter and chronicler is the sheer number of endorphin ‘mini-snacks’ one gets exposed to on each exploratory walk. Some artists elicit slightly more excitement than others, and there doesn’t seem to be any logical explanation for why that might be. One artist whose work I particularly enjoy seeing is Nips, and it feels like there is progression with every new piece.

Nips, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2024
Nips, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2024

I would say that Nips is a bit of a fills specialist, keeping her general letter shapes constant, while experimenting with colours and patterns in the fills and in that respect, she has excelled in this stunner. Her selection of colours and outstanding designs within the letters is utterly joyful. The whole thing looks rather like a sophisticated wallpaper design, and that is meant as a compliment. Nips continues, I am pleased to say, with her trademark face appearing as the dot of the ‘i’. More endorphins please.