Tag: Urban

926. Wilder Street (16)

Decay is a very fast worker, and this was the second piece that he sprayed on this particular day back in April after a paint jam in The Bearpit. Although much of his work follows a similar formula, each piece is different, and brings his hallmark to a wall.

Decay, Wilder Street, Bristol, April 2017
Decay, Wilder Street, Bristol, April 2017

I wanted to post this piece before It got lost in my archive (like hundreds of others) and before I get too carried away with Upfest 2017 pictures. Those of you who know the Bristol street art scene will notice the work of another great abstract graffiti artist, Mr Klue, just to the left of this piece.

Decay, Wilder Street, Bristol, April 2017
Decay, Wilder Street, Bristol, April 2017

It is interesting to see how Decay has sprayed beyond the doorway as if it wasn’t even there, mentally filling in the gaps. Happy face.

925. The Bearpit (81)

This piece was one of a series of ‘quick ones’ from Kid Crayon, and if I understood correctly, part of passing his skills on to another aspiring street sprayer. I love the way the community has a social structure of its own where artists respect and look after one another. Of course, like any society, it is not all easy; there are codes, ‘territories’, legality, status and hierarchy and so on to contend with every day.

Kid Crayon, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2017
Kid Crayon, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2017

This is a really nice simple piece by Kid Crayon, and something of a reversion to his wheatpastes that were so influential in getting me interested in all this stuff in the first place. Respect.

 

924. Dean Lane skate park (70)

Relative new boy, NEVERGIVEUP, is definitely making his presence felt on the streets of Bristol, and although his rabbit designs are becoming familiar, the way he is presenting them is rather dynamic.

NEVERGIVEUP, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017
NEVERGIVEUP, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017

This clever piece in Dean Lane skate park is designed to be viewed from the roof of an adjacent swimming pool building. The only problems with this are tricky access and trespass. Apart from that, it is a doddle. I caught up with NGU at Upfest and he said that even he had struggled to take a picture, and got shouted at by an official from the Swimming pool building. He is coming up with some interesting work, and challenging the status quo a little.

NEVERGIVEUP, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017
NEVERGIVEUP, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017

923. Upfest 2017 (4)

Cheo, who is one of the  most established Bristol street artists at the heart of the Bristol scene, is also very active in promoting and collaborating with Upfest. This year he brought the Aardman character ‘Morph’ to life as Graff Morph, and sprayed this loveable character in several locations around the Upfest area.

Cheo, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Cheo, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

Morph first appeared in the Television programme Take Hart, presented by Tony Hart. The programme itself was a spin-off from Vision On, which a few will recall as being the only art programme for children for many years. It is fitting that the character from an art programme is the subject of focus for Cheo at Upfest. There were seven Graff Morphs at Upfest. This was the first one I saw. All good fun, especially for the children at the event.

If you look carefully at the Featured Image, you will be able to spot one of Chinagirl Tile’s grenade bunnies from last year.

920. Upfest 2017 (2)

At the very farthest end of East Street above the Barclays Bank is the first piece of Upfest 2017 that will be seen by visitors approaching from that direction. It is a stunning portrait by two of Bristol’s best street artists 3Dom and Voyder.

3Dom and Voyder, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
3Dom and Voyder, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

They have collaborated before to spray a similar piece a few years back and this is easily its equal. It is a busy piece full of meanings – there is the contextualising of Bristol with the Clifton suspension bridge and hot air balloons – and the headdress is full of hidden and overt meaning, including a third eye.

3Dom and Voyder, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
3Dom and Voyder, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

The face, by Voyder is absolutely captivating. The whole bold piece is a fabulous taster for those arriving in Bedminster to discover some sensational street/graffiti art.

919. Upfest 2017 (1)

The spirit of Upfest is alive and well.

I took a quick walk to Bedminster the day before the festival began, and I came across these two artists in Dean Lane. They said that they hadn’t managed to get a space at this year’s festival, but were hoping to find a wall somewhere, and they had started with this one.

Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

They come from Thessaloniki in Greece, and their names are Apset and Ionas. They were so friendly and happy for me to chat with them for a while. I warned them that at last year’s festival this wall was sprayed several times over and that I hoped their piece would remain.

Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

Without question, the piece is very different from the things we usually see in Dean Lane. It has a real Mediterranean feel to it, which was most welcome, given the showery nature of the weather this year. I managed to find Apset’s Facebook page, but failed to find out much about Ionas.

Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

They did eventually find some boards to spray in the South Street park venue and I’ll cover these another time. Equally uplifting was that this piece remained in place and untagged for at least three days.

Two great artists, a great first piece at Upfest and a great place to start my posts for Upfest 2017.

918. The Bearpit (80)

Another Bearpit piece from the effervescent J. Dior. His child-like style is one of the most recognisable in Bristol, and his work usually seems to tell a story, although the story is often somewhat difficult to unravel.

J. Dior, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2017
J. Dior, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2017

I understand the J. Dior is an Italian artist, or so I am told, and that he is rather absorbed in his own space. I have not yet met him, but given the frequency that both of us are in The Bearpit, it is just a matter of time.

I think that J. Dior divides opinion. Some see him as a rather poor artist taking up decent wall space, others see his work as innovative and fresh. For me, the jury is out for a while, but I am drawn to his story telling.

917. Moon Street (33)

Still nothing from Upfest 2017 yet…be patient.

It is always great to see new work in Moon Street, it seems to have slowed a little in recent months. There seems to be a general tendency by some artists to move away from the Stokes Croft area because of the density (in all senses of the word) of bombers and taggers. A pity really.

This is a fine quick piece by Boogie, and the second of three street pieces that he left as gifts during his short visit to the city recently.

 

This really is one of my favourite walls in Bristol, and even though somebody tried to sabotage the artists by screwing two doors to the wall it hasn’t made the blindest bit of difference. Rather it has become part of the texture of the wall. Boogie has obvious talent and class, and I really like the way he makes a feature out of the two Os in his name. A fine piece.

916. Dean Lane skate park (68)

I was very excited when I saw this paste up by Lemak, and exceptionally talented Bristol stencil artist. Excited because I had seen a short video of him creating it on his Instagram feed only the day before. So this really was hot off the press.

Lemak, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017
Lemak, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017

I passed by the wall last Friday and it has been badly tagged, so it was fairly short lived, which is a pity. Whenever I see great pieces that are dogged or ruined I am reminded of the fantastic line in Bladerunner – ‘the light that burns twice as bright burns half as long‘ and so it often is with great street art.

Lemak, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017
Lemak, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017

I love the crisp collage effect with the graff all around – some similarities with the work of PichiAvo?

915. M32 Spot (8)

I am fully aware that today is the second day of Upfest, and that you might be expecting a post from the wonderful Bristol street art festival. I’m afraid It’s not going to happen for a while. I will have an enormous amount of work to do with photographs and getting to grips with artists  before I can start to publish. If you want instant gratification, then follow #upfest2017 in instagram, it’ll be smoking!

For now I will post this characterful piece on one of the pillars under the M32 by Deamze. The faces on this work are quite unusual, and not something that I would ordinarily associate with Deamze.

Deamze, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2017
Deamze, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2017

There is a figure on each of the four sides of the pillar, each striking a different pose. I have only posted three of them, because the fourth is impossible to photograph due to the light conditions.

Deamze, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2017
Deamze, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2017

If you want to see the fourth side, you’ll just have to get down to the M32 Spot and check it out. I rather like this piece, and love the jeans and pink shirt, and the burger looks almost good enough to eat.