July 2024 – Page 7 – Natural adventures

6187. Brunel Way (277)

This is not the first time that Haka has painted characters from the series of extraordinary children’s picture books by Richard Scarry, and I can’t express how happy I was to see this. Haka has faithfully reproduced this little pastiche featuring Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm.

Haka has captured Richard Scarry’s style really well and brightened up this dark corner of Brunel Way. These books have played an important part in my childhood, and one of the books which I owned made it onto a TV commercial I was in with my sister back in the 1970s… but that is another story.

Haka, The Paintworks, Bristol, March 2023

6186. Cumberland Basin

Noise and Sait Bare, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

I have to say that this was not a collaboration that I was expecting, but that is the joy of documenting street and graffiti art in this fine city. Noise has collaborated with several different artists in Bristol, so why not collaborate with Sait Bare? The two artists have gone for a colour coordinated theme that carries through both of their graffiti writing.

Noise has painted the left hand side with his chunky NOISE letters, and Sait Bare has written BARE in his slightly unruly style – together they compliment each other perfectly. I would guess that the character in the middle was probably a combined effort, but without asking them I can’t be certain. This is a very nicely produced collaboration and great surprise.

6185. M32 roundabout J3 (598)

Although she doesn’t hit the walls all that often, it is always a treat when Nips produces one of her pieces of writing. She tends to have a fairly consistent approach to her letter shapes, but like many other artists who demonstrate this consistency, it is the fills that are king.

Tucked away on the M32 roundabout the graffiti writing is filled with a wonderful selection of green tones that transition beautifully with a combination of shape changes and blending. Nips creates great depth to her letters by using white accents on the right hand edges them, and using this device the letters pop really well. This is a very nice, in not a little modest, piece by Nips.

Nature crisis

Unpollinated

where have all the insects gone

a summer without

by Scooj

6184. Brunel Way (276)

Grimes, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2024

This piece by Grimes once again confirms how he is establishing himself on the Bristol street/graffiti art scene and becoming part of the furniture round here. There is an incredible amount of energy that is emitted by his pieces, which is difficult to pin down, but the combination of colours and design really hit the mark.

I don’t know where Grimes came from before he became really active in the city, but his Instagram feed which goes back to 2019 suggests he has always been here, perhaps just waiting for the moment and confidence to hit our walls big time. He painted this as part of a four-way paint jam with Sage, Zaxer One and Alker. Bright, colourful, vibrant and very welcome, I am convinced you’ll be seeing plenty more from Grimes on Natural Adventures.

6183. Cumberland Basin

Jaksta, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

We don’t get to see nearly enough of Jaksta’s caricature pieces in Bristol, so this one from a week or two back came as a bit of a welcome surprise. Based in Swindon, Jaksta makes a living from his art commissions, so his street work will be somewhat dictated by how busy he is, and he lives far enough away for his Bristol trips to only be occasional.

This portrait piece is in keeping with a slight shift in his work from caricatures of famous people to interesting and dynamic portrait pieces like this one. The piece is cartoon in style, although I can see a transition, perhaps, away from the humorous to a more serious and photorealistic direction. There is a lot of detail in the piece, which leaps out from the wall as being something rather special. I hope we don’t have to wait too long to see more like this from Jaksta.

6182. M32 roundabout J3 (597)

For the last year or two, Hypo has been turning out terrific pieces of a consistent high quality and on a pretty regular basis. His letters HYPO lending themselves to a certain degree of symmetry, which often comes across, which is well demonstrated here and can be spotted if you focus on the positions of the five light blue arrows.

The colours are nicely presented and transition well in the fills. There is also a lot of depth to the letters created with mid-lines, shading and accents. Hypo is a specialist at creating this kind of energy and effervescence in his writing, perhaps learned from and shared with his friend Hemper, who is a master of this kind of wildstyle graffiti writing.

6181. Brunel Way (275)

Abbie Laura Smith, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2024

This is another wonderful paste-up from Abbie Laura Smith on one of the columns under Brunel Way. The portrait piece is an intricate ink-style piece in black and white, with words concealed in the girl’s hair and lips.

The piece has been pasted on a colourful column, creating great contrast and focus on the portrait. I have a feeling that this might be the last photograph I have from this recent batch of wheatpastes from Abbie Laura Smith, so I will be hoping that she has been prepping some more in the studio to release another batch soon.

6180. M32 roundabout J3 (596)

Zeks, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024

There is something really charming about Zeks’ work that makes it accessible and enjoyable. I don’t quite know how he achieves it, but perhaps it is the naive graffiti writing style that makes it so welcoming, and in this piece there is a kind of narrative around the letters.

The stylised letters spelling ZEKS form the core of the piece, and the story unfolds around that core. It almost feels like a travel diary, with houses, snow-capped mountains and octopus tentacles all featured. The design of the houses have a South American appearance – it would be great to know the backstory to this one. More from Zeks to come.

Paul Monsters

A gallery of outstanding geometric murals, collaborations and other pieces from Bristol’s brilliant Paul Monsters AKA Paul Roberts.

Instagram: @paulmonsters

Website: paulmonsters.com

all photographs by Scooj

	paulh121 on 7403. Dean Lane skate park…
	hitandrun1964 on 7402. Stapleton Road
	paulh121 on 7402. Stapleton Road
	Loveswing on Winter afternoon
	scooj on 7400. St Werburghs tunnel…

	paulh121 on 7403. Dean Lane skate park…
	hitandrun1964 on 7402. Stapleton Road
	paulh121 on 7402. Stapleton Road
	Loveswing on Winter afternoon
	scooj on 7400. St Werburghs tunnel…

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