Month: April 2023

5164. Elton Street (20)

Vozie, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023
Vozie, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023

Who knew? Vozie can do portrait pieces. I have not been following Vozie for all that long, maybe a year now, but this is the first piece that I have seen that isn’t her exquisite writing. Surprises like this are what makes photographing and documenting street art so pleasurable.

Vozie, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023
Vozie, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2023

The portrait, with psychedelic colours and designs, is beautifully structured and finished, with the hair and eyes being particular highlights. It is incredible how different artists bring different things to portraits, for example, this piece could be compared to Pekoe’s work, any yet their styles are so utterly different. Great to see something totally different from Vozie.

5163. Dean Lane skate park (589)

Smak, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023
Smak, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023

This container on the elevated skate park platform, adjacent to the basketball courts, gets quite a lot of graffiti action – more often than not it plays host to throw ups and tagging, but occasionally it is adorned with something a little more classy, and that is the case with this Smak piece.

Smak, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023
Smak, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023

Smak, like several other writers in Bristol, has been something of a landmark, a heartbeat, of the graffiti writing scene. Ever-present, albeit with some short breaks, and always turning out quality pieces.  This is a beautifully conceived and crafted piece. The colours work so well together, everything is on point, even the (deliberately) cloudy bits. Fine work, in a modest setting, from one of Bristol’s best.

5162. M32 roundabout J3 (467)

Kid Crayon and I Am Ian, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023
Kid Crayon and I Am Ian, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023

I was really fed up when I missed the last collaboration from these two in Dean Lane a short while ago. I was just too slow, and in this game if you snooze, you lose. So I didn’t hang around this time, making sure I got down to the roundabout as soon as I knew this had been painted. The collaboration is from Kid Crayon and I Am Ian, whose street work I have only ever seen alongside his friend.

Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023
Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023

Kid crayon has gone for some straightforward writing in pink shades, which is very much a favoured tone he uses. The letters are clean and tidy, with some fun fills adding interest to the two pinks he has used. The lines along the top offer a sense of movement. The words ‘sit up’ segue nicely across to the adjacent I Am Ian piece.

I Am Ian, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023
I Am Ian, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023

I have seen a lot of designs on I Am Ian’s Instagram account, and he manages to transition them really well to large walls, retaining his bold colours and exaggerated features. In this piece, we see a red-faced character doing sit-ups, building up a sweat and whose eyes are popping. Fun stuff from these two, who really ought to get out more and paint walls together this summer (easy for me to say).

5161. M32 roundabout J3 (466)

Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023
Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023

Always incredible, always on point, Hemper manages to turn out extraordinary pieces every time he paints, without fail. Hemper is one of the best graffiti writers in Bristol, and quite probably in the country right now, whose imaginative renditions of the letters HEMS are truly awesome.

Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023
Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023

This piece on the roundabout has an organic feel to it and Hemper has created an extraordinary sense of depth, with clever use of borders and 3D drop shadows as well as white highlights, circles and shading in the letters. He has used a fabulous pastel colour palette, that while eye-catching, isn’t brash. This piece from Hemper is about as good as it gets.

More from Hemper in this gallery.

Testing… testing

.

No need for alarm

3pm interruption

national alert

.

by Scooj

5160. Cumberland Basin

Pekoe, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2023
Pekoe, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2023

A weird thing I have noticed about my last three posts is that the three different featured artists’ names all end in ‘OE’. Logoe, Turoe, and in this post, Pekoe. What are the chances of that? We are used to seeing Pekoe’s stylised portraits, but her last couple of pieces have been graffiti writing instead. Perhaps she feels like a bit of a change.

Pekoe, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2023
Pekoe, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2023

I think the most noticeable thing about this piece is the colourful fills in the letters, which are painted in a fairly random and unruly fashion. Features that are common with her portraits are the tears and little diamonds, adding interest. Although I like the fact that Pekoe is doing something different, I do prefer her portraits, which bring out her strengths.

5159. M32 roundabout J3 (465)

Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023
Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023

We don’t see too many new pieces by Turoe these days, so to come across this one was a nice surprise. The writing spells 2REAL, which is a little different, and I wonder if it is a corruption of TUROE – probably not.

Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023
Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023

Of course, the whole piece is outstanding, as you would expect. The fabulous chrome letters are picked out with little white highlights. What works particularly well is the complementary nature of the chrome and blue colours. Yet another fine example of Turoe’s talent.

Reminiscence V

Sand Lizard, The Gower, Wales, July 2011
Sand Lizard, Gower Peninsula, Wales, July 2011

.

Our attention grabbed

a rare sand lizard scuttles

while we tend our rods

.

5158. M32 Cycle path (210)

Logoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2023
Logoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2023

The more you look, the more you find is a saying that can definitely be applied to Logoe, as I found another five recent pieces by him last weekend. There was a time when Logoe was an occasional visitor back to Bristol, and he would write half a dozen pieces each trip. Now it seems that he is maintaining the volume while increasing the frequency. It’s a lot to keep up with.

Logoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2023
Logoe, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2023

This piece is definitely something of an outlier compared to most of his script writing, but in the same breath completely recognisable too. Of course, the LOGOE letters give it away, but the other signature feature is the horizontal scattering of oval dots. Fat letters in complementary browns, nicely presented, what’s not to like?

5157. Dean Lane skate park (588)

Kool Hand, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023
Kool Hand, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023

Kool Hand’s work just gets better and better and in this piece he returns to his trusty baseball cap-wearing orangutan, but rather than being a flat face on piece, he has added a three-quarter profile and depth to his character.

Kool Hand, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023
Kool Hand, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023

There is loads of movement in the basketball, which you can imagine is spinning on the orangutan’s finger. The whole piece is beautifully finished and set on a grey urban skyscape with tall buildings on the horizon line. I rate this piece very highly because it marks a shift to a new level for the artist.