Bristol Street Art

Twenty years after the street artist Banksy first started out there, Bristol has become a Mecca for a new style of urban art. From gallery shows to Europe's biggest open-air exhibition, it's a perfect excuse for a walking tour

Featured December 11 Words by Roly Henry/Photos: Tim White
Bristol Street Art

It's fair to say that, until recently, there was very little to recommend Nelson Street in Bristol. Concrete grey and lined either side by 1960s high-rise flats, it provided locals with a quick - if decidedly dreary - shortcut to the main shopping district.

Then, in August, something quite remarkable happened. Virtually overnight, the crumbling walls were transformed by the appearance of psychedelic swirls, detailed pastoral landscapes and vast, colourful murals. Those with a keen artistic eye might have recognised the work of New York-based TATS CRU or LA artist El Mac, among the kaleidoscopic array of distinctive styles on show.

It was all thanks to an ambitious art project called See No Evil. Over the course of six days in the summer, some of the world's best urban artists descended on Nelson Street to beautify the facades of 10 buildings. Working with local artists - there were 72 in total - on the project, the fruits of their labour were opened to the public on 20 August.

Not only is this Europe's biggest permanent street-art project, it's also a sure sign of how far the public perception of graffiti has changed since it first arrived in the UK from the USA in the early 1980s. While heavyweight art-venues, such as the Saatchi Gallery and the Tate Modern in London, fight for exhibitions, top auction houses regularly hold events where the most prominent pieces can sell for millions. What was once considered an act of vandalism is now actively endorsed by the authorities: See No Evil was backed by Bristol council which - with the help of local grafitti legend Inkie and gallery Weapon of Choice - actually organised the project.

"'The idea of closing a street and getting local and international artists on board was really exciting," says Mike Bennett, the place-making director at Bristol City Council. "We were totally blown away by the talent that wanted to come and be a part of it. If you look at what's unique in Bristol's DNA, it's art - particularly street art and that slightly unorthodox way of life - and that goes back a long way."

Indeed, the city was one of the first outside the USA to embrace this form of urban culture. One of the early pioneers was Robert Del Naja, now better know as 3D from the trip-hop band Massive Attack. He started experimenting with spray paint early in the 1980s, painting with The Wild Bunch, a Bristol-based group of hip-hop DJs and graffiti artists. In 1985, the city then hosted one of the first-ever graffiti exhibitions in the country, when TATS CRU arrived to put on a show at Bristol's Arnolfini Centre. Things snowballed from there and by the time the aforementioned Inkie started making a name for himself in the late 1980s - coming second in the World Street Art Championships - the city's reputation was made.

However, the person who has really put Bristol - and street art - on the map is undoubtedly Banksy. Said to have grown up in the nearby town of Yate, the anonymous artist started painting freehand in the 1980s and was part of the Bristol-based DryBreadZ Crew in the early 1990s.

He only turned to stencilling - the distinctive style he's now known for - after a near run-in with the police later in that decade. While hiding underneath a train, he spotted the bold typography of stencilled numbers on its undercarriage. He claims he was struck by the ease of using stencils and the opportunities they opened up in quick hit-and-run applications.

Graffiti spread from the USA to Europe in the 1980s, across major cities on the Continent, with thriving street-art scenes springing up in Spain, France, Germany and Italy. Then again, maybe it's coming home: the word graffiti is European, coming from the Italian graffiato, meaning scratched.

Developing his new-found niche, Banksy's satirical statements became his trademark. Elephants carrying heavy weaponry, rats wielding paintbrushes and leopards breaking free from their barcode cages were soon to be found all over. His early stencils can still be seen in parts of east Bristol: particularly old ones are on Stafford Road in the St Werburghs area and on Wellington Avenue in the Montpelier area. Take The Money And Run, a collaboration between Banksy, Inkie and another artist, Mode 2, can be found on the corner of Bath Buildings and St Andrew's Road.

In the 20 years since Banksy first began to make his mark on these streets, Bristol has come a very long way. The city is now one of the best places in Europe, if not the world, to sample street art. Just around the corner from Nelson Street, you'll find another work by TATS CRU on the side of Brooks Guesthouse (brooksguesthousebristol.com). And, on the east side of the city, St Paul's, Montpelier and Easton boast some wonderful examples. Contine to walk just 20 minutes north from the city centre, towards Stokes Croft, and you'll soon see bright splashes of paint adorning buildings with impressive regularity. Once notorious as an area of high crime and run-down buildings, this area is now home to work by Bristol's latest generation of artists. For the latest on what's hot and what's been removed, visit websites like bristol-street- art.co.uk, which has a street-art gallery and regularly updated maps.

The list goes on. In mid-October the Bearpit (or, for out-of-towners, the St James Barton Roundabout) at the bottom of Stokes Croft was transformed into an open-air gallery featuring work from Sepr, Katy Bauer, Dones, 3-Dom and Johnny 5, among others. On Jamaica Street, iridescent paintings from Epok and Sepr pop out from the walls. An historic Banksy mural, with the slogan The Mild, Mild West, sits next to The Canteen (thecanteenbristol.wordpress.com), a Stokes Croft hub for creative talent and musicians. Opposite, in a place that was littered with seedy massage parlours, there now sit terrific, colourful pieces from artists such as Cheo and What Crew.

Further up, on the same side, an historic TCF piece covers the front of an old record store. Keep going and you'll come to an old cinema that now houses an arty coffee shop, Caf� Kino (cafe-kino.com), decorated with beautiful paintings from PARIS, Mr Jago and Inkie. Other, smaller caf�s and galleries have sprung up around the action, lining the road towards Montpelier and St Andrew's.

This artistry isn't just on the streets. Galleries are also getting in on the act with regular exhibitions. Weapon Of Choice (weaponofchoicegallery.co.uk), for instance, is a dedicated street-art champion, with frequent new shows; while Upfest (upfest.co.uk) hosts an annual urban-paint festival and other events.

It's not all to be found in achingly trendy venues. The Edwardian baroque building housing Bristol's City Museum and Art Gallery (bristol.gov.uk) is as austere a spot as you can find in Bristol and has played host to exhibitions from Renoir and Pissarro. But it was here in 2009 that Banksy hosted his first exhibition in the city since 2000, taking over the entire space with more than 100 exhibits, including a burnt-out ice-cream van. It was a triumphant homecoming for the city's errant son, a sign of how far street art had come.

But for the best example of the city's cherished relationship with graffiti, head straight to M Shed (mshed.org). Opened earlier this year, Bristol's newest museum was created with the express intention of celebrating the city's colourful history. The �27m (�30m) project was envisioned as the antithesis of your usual fusty, dusty repositories of artefacts and it brims with life. At its centre, alongside original pieces from Banksy, you'll find a 10m-long mural by local artists that depicts the city as a fantasy landscape. It's proof, if any were needed, that urban art in Bristol has become an indelible part of the city - and not one that will be whitewashed over any time soon.

ART ATTACK

Three of the easyJet network's best street-art cities

BERLIN

The art that adorns its now defunct dividing wall made the city's grafitti scene famous. But now, cheap rent and the thriving artistic communities in the east of the city have given rise to a strong culture of urban artists. Hot spots include Mitte, Kreuzberg and Prenzlauer Berg.

PARIS

Some of the most stunning examples of European street art can be found in Paris's Belleville and M�nilmontant areas, where the run-down buildings provide an ideal canvas. One of the most interesting artists to watch out for is Invader, with his trademark tiled take on retro video games.

LISBON

Thanks to the Crono Project, which was finished earlier this year, you can now find vast murals painted on the sides of derelict buildings all across this city. Head to Bairro Alto, in particular, to enjoy some fine local cuisine and take in everything from tiny tags to the vast, sprawling Crono pieces that now adorn some of the structures.