July 2024 – Page 9 – Natural adventures

6172. M32 roundabout J3 (593)

Mind 49 and SPZero76, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

A couple of weeks back, there was a superb paint jam on the M32 roundabout. I am not sure if it was to celebrate something specific, or simply a whole bunch of artists enjoying a sunny day (what are those?), but whatever it was all about, it resulted in some cracking pieces, including this meeting of styles collaboration between Mind 49 and SPZero76.

Mind 49, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Mind 49 has been smashing it with each new piece he produces. His portrait work, often from unusual angles and with faces partially obscured is painted in a soft photorealistic style, if that makes sense. The character in this particular piece is looking away, but immediately catching the eye is the addition of a large swallow flying by, utterly unexpected, and quite brilliant. This is a wonderfully conceived piece which segues nicely to something completely different via a multicoloured strip.

SPZero76, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

The two pieces have nothing in common at all, and SPZero76’s animated comic style is not something I would expect to see adjacent to Mind 49 soft-portrait style. The multicoloured strip is the only thing that unites them. The piece entitled ‘after the robot apocalypse’ features a dog? character and a feline robot toting large weapons, in some dystopian future setting. A wonderful and lively animation piece from a truly gifted artist.

6171. River Avon (63)

My rather loose description of this spot, which I call River Avon, is actually a cycle/foot path that runs alongside the river from Sparke Evans Park to Temple Meads Station, where light industrial units back on to the pathway for most of its length. This piece by j9449j (or dr3amc0re94) is at the Eastern end of the pathway, and quite easily overlooked… I only spotted it on my return leg of my walk.

The joy of j9449j’s work is in its organic simplicity. I suppose you could class it as kind of anti-style graffiti writing, but it is perhaps a little bit more designed than that. As ever, I struggle to read the letters in this piece, so shall have to remain content with the fills and suggested vegetation. j9449j is an artist I am keen to meet – I have so many questions!

That’s my girl

In Cambodia

daughter spent a day fishing

feasting on her prize

by Scooj

6170. Dean Lane skate park (729)

I think that one of the under-rated walls and indeed partially unseen by many is the swimming pool wall at Dean Lane skate park, that lies behind a fence and a hedge for much of its length. If you can be bothered, and historically I am guilty of not bothering, you can access the space between the wall and the hedge/wrought iron railings and see quite a few pieces, and the turnover here is reasonably high. At the right-hand end of the wall, the hedge stops and there is a stretch which can be seen and photographed easily from the ‘wrong’ side of the fence. This piece by Zaneone is in that visible stretch.

Even without his customary book-end characters, Zaenone’s pieces have a certain symmetry to them. The letters spell ZAEN1, with a reversed E. He has chosen some nice red, orange and yellow colours, and there is depth provided by the 3D drop shadow, and the blue shading around the outside frames the graffiti writing nicely.

6169. M32 Cycle path (271)

Bogat, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2024

Although Bogat doesn’t paint as frequently as I might like, he does just enough to keep the interest out there, and I am sure that he probably intends to paint more than he does, but as it is for all of us, other stuff gets in the way. This one was painted last month on the wall behind the Black Swan.

Bogat has created a colourful cartoon character using the two-tone light and dark technique for his base colours. Many artists use this method and probably the best example of this is Bean, who uses it to great effect. I particularly like the eyes of this character, which look like they have flat reflections, almost as if they were glasses. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for more from Bogat.

6168. M32 roundabout J3 (592)

Pekoe and Bnie, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Of course, it is a terrible cliché, but when I see pieces like this that are both pretty and pink, I like to describe them as ‘pretty in pink’ stealing from the celebrated 1986 teen film, and then I get the earworm of the Psychedelic Furs and the song that the film was named after. This PIP collaboration is a peach from Pekoe and Bnie.

Pekoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Pekoe has been mixing up her portraits and her writing recently, but I have to express my slight preference for her portraits, because, well, I just love them. The figurative piece is nice and clean, with solid fills and strong black lines, and there is something a little more stylised about the face, especially around the eyes. A classy piece of work.

Bnie, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Bnie is so consistent in the quality of her work, and all the elements of these letters come together perfectly. The pink background provides a great canvass for the writing to stand out. The golden drop shadow adds depth to the beautifully designed and filled letters. A clever touch is the subtlest dark shading at the base of the letters, creating a bit of shadow and lifting the writing further. What a fine collaboration.

6167. Cumberland Basin

Alos, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2024

I don’t think I have posted anything from Alos for rather a long time, so it was nice to encounter this small piece at the end of the long wall at Cumberland Basin. His rather loose anti-style writing appears to have been superimposed on another piece, and it looks like the fills in his letters are from that previous piece.

One could view this technique as lazy, but I prefer to think of it as opportunistic and illustrative of the perennial layering on the walls we know and love. The skill has been in how to make his letters ALOS rise above from the surrounding chaos, and I think he has succeeded.

6166. St Werburghs tunnel (432)

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024

Mr Klue is having another of his purple patches – he is very much a peaks and troughs kind of artist, and this one in the tunnel is one of several new pieces in his favourite spot. Mr Klue is also posting a lot of old pieces on his Instagram account right now, which is almost like a retrospective exhibition – and most enjoyable.

This piece follows the familiar formula of wispy ephemeral writing that spells out KLUE, using the blue tones that he loves so much. I hope that this productive period continues, because Mr Klue is another of those artists whose work underpins the diverse scene we have in Bristol.

6165. M32 roundabout J3 (432)

Merny, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

I am getting rather excited about an exhibition of Merny’s work in Bristol running from 12-18 July 2024, in other words, starting on Friday this week, entitled ‘A Waste of Paint’. Time enough to enjoy this recent piece that was painted during a paint jam a couple of weeks ago. It is great to see that Merny is able to get out and paint from time to time as he has to juggle his painting free time with parental duties.

The piece tells its own story, that you don’t really need to hear from me, because you can work it out for yourself. The naively painted characters, which look like they have been painted with brush work are sharing a tender moment of illness and care, but in a humorous setting. The trademark bullet labels are there and accompanied by steps 1 and 2. A wonderful piece, and so different from much of what you tend to see in Bristol.

6164. Brunel Way (274)

After what feels like a long absence, I have noticed one or two new Mest pieces appearing about the place, which is good news, and this is a recent one from Brunel Way. His journey can be applied to so many other artists with peaks and troughs in activity, which can happen for all sorts of reasons.

I have always liked Mest’s graffiti writing. For me he falls into the school of artists who present their letters clearly, without too much disguise, and concentrate on fill patterns and other details. Other artists that I would liken his work to are Phour, Mr Draws, Raid, Nips, Oner and Mates, and I am sure there are a host of others too. Mest has crated some nice letters with fabulous fills, and appears to have hit the ground running on his return. Looking forward to seeing more from Mest.

	skat on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Dan Antion on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Laura Newhampshire on 7449. Greenbank (180)
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Sheree on 7449. Greenbank (180)

	skat on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Dan Antion on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Laura Newhampshire on 7449. Greenbank (180)
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Sheree on 7449. Greenbank (180)

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