Ooh! I love this recent piece from Desi, whose work just gets better and better. This time she is writing VEIL, one of her two variants, but with joined up script writing, which is a new and exciting development that works rather well.
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2023
I have often been quite critical of artists who don’t buff walls before they paint, because the underlying graffiti can often be distracting, but Desi, whether by design or luck, has managed to pull it off with this piece. The background somehow complements her writing and helps it to stand out. Beautiful curvy letter shapes are accompanied by great blue and pink fills (that B/P combo again), perfectly blended. I think that this might just be my favourite piece from Desi yet.
I met Fink briefly at the Cheltenham Paint Festival recently, and he was good enough to stop for a quick chat. I mentioned to him that I had seen some of his work in Bristol from quite a while back and had been following his work on Instagram for a while. It turns out he lives now in Dubai and makes his living from his art commissions, which is pretty amazing. It seems that on his trip to the UK he dropped in to Bristol for a quick stop and painted this magnificent piece not far away from the back of Temple Meads station.
Fink, River Avon, Bristol, August 2023
Fink’s abstract portrait pieces are special, drawn with a continuous line, a bit like sketching a face on paper in one go without lifting the pen. The golden face is made up of smaller faces painted in the same way, that give the whole piece texture and interest. This is a very fine piece from a visiting artist, who has some history with Bristol.
I went on a bit of a wild goose chase last week looking for some boards in Bedminster, but was completely unable to find them. The walk, however, took me to East Street after working hours and all the shops were closed, and I was in shutter heaven.
Taboo, East Street, Bristol, August 2023
This shutter piece by Taboo, which I think is unlikely to be a commission, but you never know, spells out Boser, the significance of which passes me by. The anti-style letters are accompanied by an anti-style cartoon Tom cat from Tom and Jerry, with four ‘echo’ faces adjacent to the first. Typically anarchic and somehow charmingly comforting, this Taboo piece ticks all the right boxes. I am not too sure about the orange figure 8, which isn’t a motif I have seen in his work before, and I believe it to be a subsequent addition by a tagger, although the orange does match the letter ‘B’ in his signature. A mystery.
Peanutsdeli, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2023
I am a huge admirer of Peanutsdeli’s work, but unfortunately he does most of his painting in the Cheltenham/Gloucester/Stroud area and only occasionally comes to Bristol, which is a real pity. This is an absolute belter, painted for Werm’s recent birthday jam.
Peanutsdeli, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2023
The slim characters that Peanutsdeli creates, look like they are straight from a comic book and have something of a Manga style about them. In this piece, we have a vibrant heroine, complete with red hair and blue cape. The character is outlined with a thin black line, a trademark feature of Peanutdeli’s work. Loads of movement and beautiful detail in the piece, which obeys ‘house’ colours of blue and pink selected for the collaborative paint jam wall. I would love to see much more of Peanutdeli’s work in Bristol.
What fun it has been to follow Evey’s progress as a graffiti writer over the last few years. She has come a long way, and this recent RBF paint jam Barbie piece, I suspect, may have stretched her somewhat, and she has carried it off brilliantly.
Evey, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023
The font is Barbieish, without conceding too much to the Mattel brand, but also works very well as an Evey piece. Some nice clean lines and solid fills, although some colours are a little bit thin in places. I only recently discovered (a tip from I bee W) that spray cans often have a little graphic on the can describing how thick or thin the paint is – good to know and explains why sometimes you can use twice as much of one colour than another. This is a fine piece from Evey on what looked like it was a super-fun day.
This is the third piece I have posted from the 650 years of Bristol celebration pant jam, and it is by the magnificent artist Willl Cross. For most of the artists, there was a major challenge in switching their spray cans for brushes, not so for Willl Cross who uses brushes for all his street art pieces, and is more familiar with studio art work.
Willl Crosss, Queen’s Road, Bristol, August 2023
Willl Cross tends to use a crossover method which incorporates modern scenes painted in a romantic style, and often his subject is wearing traditional Bulgarian costume. This outstanding piece presents a stunning view which many Bristolians will be familiar with, showing the Avon Gorge and Clifton suspension bridge viewed from the Downs. The woman in the portrait, with her eyes closed, appears to be enjoying the moment and is gently holding a wildflower.
Willl Crosss, Queen’s Road, Bristol, August 2023
There is more mystery to the piece though, with some menacing winged beasts or demons floating around the woman’s head. I would like to believe that the demons are being expelled by the peace of the moment.
The patterns on the dress are wonderfully painted, and the dramatic skies overhead indicate turmoil. I would so much love to speak with Willl Cross to understand more about the painting.
We are privileged in Bristol to have free access to stunning artwork like this for citizens and visitors to enjoy. Next time you are passing, stop for a moment and drink in this awesome painting.
This is how young boys make friends, it was heart-warming to see. I wanted to stay and listen a little longer, but of course, that begins to look a little bit peculiar, so the dog and I went on our way.
What a treat! Two Fiva pieces in the space of three weeks, both in the tunnel, and both reminding us of what we have missed over the last couple of years. I am not too sure why he has been absent for so long, perhaps he moved away or there were other real life events that made painting difficult, but he is back and that is what matters. At the end of the last post I wrote “I hope this isn’t a flash in the pan”. The appearance of this piece puts that worry to bed.
Fiva, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2023
Fiva has used this overlay technique to great effect before, and it is such a clever way to tell two stories in one go. There are large block capital letters in Grey spelling out ‘FIVA’ and overlaid is a lower case, script written ‘fiver’ in pink and blue (that winning combo again). The clever part is how these interact, for example, the bevelled edge of the capital letters runs through the lower case letters, but in different shades. No self-respecting Fiva piece is fully complete without a cheeky cartoon character, and this grey chappie with a purple cap rounds off the piece magnificently. Looking forward to more from an artist who has been much missed.
Trafficity, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2023
Trafficity, one of several Polish artists working his magic on the streets of Bristol, paints only occasionally, but when he does you know you are in for a treat of consistency, style and great technique. His works are based around the same template of the word ZIOM, and the main differences between his pieces is the colour scheme.
Trafficity, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2023
The unique letter style is faithfully replicated from piece to piece, and therein lies a great skill, because it is a complex arrangement of letters. The colour palette of this one in Sparke Evans Park is particularly pleasing, with the three tones of green in the letters contrasting nicely with the red border and background. Great, consistent work from Trafficity.
Natural adventures 