Rob Wass took a lot of care and attention in producing this piece, and was out on both days, dodging the showers like everyone else. Some of you may remember his beautiful fox from Upfest 2015 which shares the same distinctive characteristics with this beautiful tree.
Rob Wass, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Simplicity splashed with carefully selected colours leaves us with a very pleasing piece that generates a sense of calm and connection with our environment…I think I am a fan of his work.
My guess is that this is a cheeky little unofficial piece by Whysayit at Upfest this year. To my reasonably trained eye this looks like an opportunistic ‘quick one’ from an artist beter known for his ‘marginally less than legal’ tags and graffiti art all over the City.
Whysayit, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
It is a nice piece executed in his square style, which looks like it was put up in a bit of a hurry. I suspect he saw a free board at the festival and took his chance to make his mark, and why not? Festivals run the risk of being too clinical and up their own backsides with ‘corporate’ pieces – it is only when we have some real local street/graffiti artists that we remind ourselves what this is all about. Thank you YSAE.
Perhaps better known for his smaller pieces, stencils and wheatpastes, this large blue face by Beastie came as a bit of a surprise to me at Upfest, so much so that I didn’t even know it was by him when I photographed it.
Beastie, Upfest, Bristol, July2017
This was a striking piece that stood out and grabbed the attention and would appear to have an environmental theme to it too. It is interesting that this year’s Upfest appeared to have quite a lot of large portraits, many in single shades of one colour – maybe it is a thing or maybe just coincedence.
Beastie, Upfest, Bristol, July2017
Looking forward to seeing what direction Beastie takes with his street art as his work is always interesting.
Somewhat reminiscent of Banksy’s work or Unify or JPS, this lovely piece by Dotmaster Is just about perfect for this wall. Situated under a camden council sign stating ‘bill stickers will be prosecuted’. The corny old joke suggests that graffiti under the sign should read ‘Bill Stickers is innocent’ but the joke is a hundred years old.
Dotmaster, Camden Town, London, September 2016
This beautifully executed piece presents us with a naughty child spraying that most sacred of images, a heart, on the wall. A picture within a picture. I love this and pretty much everything about it, but I know little or nothing about the artist, but his biography on his website gives you a flavour. I love his comment:
Now this is a beautiful recent piece by Jody, and make no mistake I rate this extremely highly. I am however slightly conflicted by its placement. As part of Government public spending cuts, Local Authorities have had to make some difficult choices. Closing under-used libraries has been one way of reducing costs, and generating income from sale of the land. This hoarding has been erected around the building site that was formerly the library.
I am not particularly conflicted about any of that though, my issue is that the construction firm have gone out of their way (it seems) to avoid attracting graffiti to the hoardings (in an area where hoardings quickly become ‘decorated’). As part of this, they have commissioned two great street artists to complete panels, of which this is one. I suppose what bothers me is that it is that the message this sends out is that these boards are ok for some artists, but not for others. Who decides? On what grounds? How do the artists feel about this? It all feels a little uncomfortable.
Jody, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, November 2017
Putting all of that aside though, I think that this is absolutely stunning, and I consider this piece by Jody to be as good as any other I have seen of his. He does beautiful women’s faces to perfection, and I like the way the hair morphs into a smokey cloud.
Jody, Cheltenham Road, Bristol, November 2017
What a treat for me to be able to walk past this every day on my way to work. It will be interesting to see how the graffiti community treat this. Jody is held in high regard, but there are some taggers out there who have no respect and they may take exception to this hoarding being for the select few and not the many.
Although Laic217 seems to be slightly less busy on the streets than he was say, six months ago, he is still producing regular pieces, which is great for me as it is no secret that I love his work.
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2017
This piece contains the familiar format of a skeleton in a tracksuit sprayiong out the letters LAIC. The two components of the piece blend realy well and I love the color selections across the whole piece.
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2017
He has sprayed this in a particularly narrow passage which explains why there aren’t any decent front on pictures of this piece. As always, a real pleasure to share his work with you.
This is the second piece by an unknown artist I have posted in the space of a week, which is really unusual for me, but I don’t think I will ever uncover the mystery of this one as it is so unlike anything I have seen in Bristol before.
Unknown artist, The Bearpit, Bristol, August 2017
There are two faces adjacent to one another that ahve the appearance of having been etched out of the thick layers of paint laid down on this tunnel wall. They are in fact painted but in this really unusual style.
Unknown artist, The Bearpit, Bristol, August 2017
The face on the right hand side appears to be more complete that the other one and is lighting up a ‘cigarette’. The shading and colours used for the piece are from an interesting and varied palette; for example the thumb is made up of greens, yellows, pinks and reds.
Not knowing who the artist is was not a good enough excuse for not posting this piece. I like it a lot.
I wasn’t really looking for this tiny wheatpaste, and in fact must have walked past it many times before noticing it, but notice it I did and I am pleased to have done so. It is by the talented Beastie who seems to be at home with large or small murals or wheatpastes in equal measure.
Beastie, Jamaica Street, Bristol, August 2017
This piece is opposite the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC) outdoor gallery in Jamaica Street. I think the paste up is of a great tit, but it is difficult to be sure in black and white. This is what I love about street art – it is out there, you simply need to go out and find it.