There is no doubt about it, Foksymoron is expanding his portfolio, painting larger fox character pieces with more variety, adding something extra to his familiar mega-tag foxes dotted about the city. I, for one, am very much enjoying this pushing of boundaries, and am wondering how much more sophistication will be added to his work.
Foksymoron, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
The rather cool looking (if not a little overweight) fox in this piece is reclining, with his sunglasses dazzling. He is saying “put a donk on it” – I’m not entirely sure what this means, but donk is Australian slang for a penis, but I can’t see how that would apply here. Anyhow, the fox remains cool and joins his larger-scale counterparts in Foksymoron’s expanding portfolio.
After something of an absence, it is a real pleasure to see Ceus (Javiceus), back in Bristol with this piece and the one he painted for the World Wall Stylers ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ wall. One of the trademark elements of Ceus’ work is his command of colour – he seems to make good choices that will hit home.
Ceus, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
I don’t think that this one lasted very long, I only remember seeing it once. The turnover in Dean Lane is pretty fast these days. The letters spelling CEUS are really beautiful, with scenic fills that transition really well. The red 3D drop shadow, sets the whole piece off really well. The graffiti writing is painted on a cityscape backdrop, filling up the wall space really well. Hoping for more from Ceus this autumn.
Scrapyardspec, St Werburghs. Bristol, September 2024
I rather like it when visiting artists come to Bristol, drop a couple of pieces and then disappear. This is what Scrapyard spec seems to do on a reasonably regular basis – quarterly I’d say. Perhaps he has friends that he visits when in town, or maybe he simply likes going on tour around the country.
Scrapyardspec, St Werburghs. Bristol, September 2024
This piece has been elongated to fin the wall space at the entrance to the tunnel. I would liken Scrapyardspec’s work to FTG or Full Time Ghoul, in that his pieces are based on the same concept, but are designed to fit the space. The colours are bright and vibrant and the character fun – certainly a piece that will not go unnoticed. Looking forward to his next visit.
Zake, Noise and Drake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 29024
This is another section of the incredible World Wall Stylers ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’, paint jam from last month. I made a bit of a booboo with my photographs of this section, and have included the Jessica Rabbit character by Drake, on the right, and severed it from his piece of writing (to follow), But somehow I felt it worked better bookending the writing by Noise and Zake’s Baby Herman on the left. – this may have been a mistake.
Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 29024
Zake has been producing cartoon characters for as long as I have been posting his work, but this is the first time I have seen a character based on an existing artwork. Rather than being a faithful reproduction of Baby Herman, this is very much a Zake take on the little cigarette-smoking infant. Very nicely done.
Noise, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 29024
Noise, as I have said countless times this year, is absolutely smashing it with every piece he paints, and this characteristic writing has very much adhered to the colours of the brief.
Drake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 29024
Finally the character of Jessica Rabbit really ought to be attached to the writing of Drake to its right, but I goofed, so it is here with the Noise and Zake pieces creating a rather nice little Triptych. This particular paint jam proved to be a fabulous showcase of talent. Big ups to Participants and to World Wall Stylers.
Goldie, Fade, Acer One, Jody and Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
All year long, Dibz and Fade have been decorating this wall with alarming regularity, and they have been joined along the way in their endeavours by Andy Council, Jody and Acer One (amongst others) and this time are joined by Goldie, Acer One and Jody. A production tribute wall to honour the musician and DJ, Randall.
Goldie, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
The whole production is very nicely balanced which given the configuration, which starts with a Goldie piece that embroiders the words ‘The R’. This is a really nice dedication and beautifully painted. The colour selection is reflected in the rest of the collaboration. It is always great to see Goldie visiting Bristol for a bit of a paint.
Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
Fade is next up and he has compressed his piece to accommodate Goldie next to him and support the balance I was talking about earlier. With the orange and turquoise letters, Fade has written the letters ‘DJ’ which are as immaculate as you might expect. Both sets of writing are adorned with flames, which extend for the entire collaboration.
Acer One and Jody, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
The centrepiece is a shared space with Acer One lettering across the top of an outstanding Jody portrait of DJ Randall. Acer One has written ‘Too hot to handle’ which I am guessing is part of a slogan rhyming with DJ Randall. Not being a music specialist myself, I am unable to shed too much light on the artist or his work.
Jody, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
The Portrait is a faithful and beautifully painted, and certainly a fitting tribute.
Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
The production rounds-off on the right with a wide piece of wildstyle graffiti writing from Dibz. The Turquoise and orange letters spell Randall, so the whole production spells out:
“The R, Too hot to handle, DJ Randall”.
Wonderful stuff from this quintet of talented artists.
Doors 278 – Doors of Nottingham (Part III), UK, March 2024
Good morning. This is the final selection – the leftovers, if you like – of doors from a visit to Nottingham back in March this year. There is no theme, just doors which took my fancy. All of the doors photographed in this series were captured during a one hour stroll from my hotel to the office where we were holding a team meeting. One of the reasons that I don’t mind travelling around the country for meetings is that sometimes I get to stay over and get a chance to photograph doors and street art, making the best of things.
I’m off to London on Monday, but I’m not sure I will get time to take any pictures, I have quite a tight schedule. Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy this last selection from Nottingham. Next time another city, another set of doors.
Castle Rock offices blue door, Nottingham, March 2024
Castle Rock door within a gate, Nottingham, March 2024
Station gates, Nottingham, March 2024
Double door entrance, Nottingham, March 2024
County Hall, Ionic columns either side of an arched door, Nottingham, March 2024
Ghost door in a brick wall, Nottingham, March 2024
Green door and building in need of some TLC, Nottingham, March 2024
That’s all for another week. I wish you a happy weekend.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors, and you really ought to take a look at the No Facilities blog by Dan Anton who has taken over the hosting of Thursday Doors from Norm 2.0 blog. Links to more doorscursions can be found in the comments section of Dan Anton’s Thursday Doors post.
This is the last archive round up for the time being, and a few wonderful pieces of graffiti writing that missed the boat back in March 2020, just around the time of the first Covid lockdown in England – what strange times those were. First up is this fabulous STICK piece by Corupt, complete with ‘panels’ and ‘rivets’.
Corupt, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2020
Another piece by the same artist, this time using his KORUPT letters. In this chrome lettering, there is more than immediately meets the eye, with some patterning in the fills, with two very subtle colour variants. Nicely done.
Trafficity, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2020
It is always great to find Trafficity pieces, but to find an unpublished picture in my archive is extra rewarding. The letters ZIOM are filled with chrome, but unlike Corupt’s piece above, the patterning in this one is created by the piece beneath coming through (I think). Unusually, Trafficity has gone with a single tone, when I am more accustomed to seeing two or three horizontal colours through the piece.
Rusk, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2020
It is very unlike me not to post Rusk pieces as and when I find them, so this one from the archive is a rare gem. Great graded fill, nice orange border and green drop shadow… what’s not to like?
Phour, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2020
Rounding off this selection of ‘lost’ pieces from March 2020 is this bright and cheerful piece by Phour, whose writing is consistently neat and tidy. He has gone with some interesting colour choices in the fill, which work really well and feel quite joyful.
That’s it from the archive for a while. Back to normal with my next post.
In this last look back at 2019 (for the time being), I am posting five pieces from the wall on the M32 Cycle path, which never made it onto Natural Adventures at the time. There is some poignancy to this post and the feature piece by Mena (Menas), because I have recently heard that Mena is currently recovering from a bad accident she had while travelling in Thailand. She is back in the UK, but quite unwell. This is my small way of wishing her a full recovery, and I dedicate this retrospective post to her. I expect you’ll see a few pieces, from various artists, in the coming days and weeks that will be wishing her well.
This is a particularly fine example of her work, and although she doesn’t paint all that regularly, her pieces are always welcome. I am not certain that all of the following pieces were painted as part of a paint jam, but I suspect they were.
Ryder, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2019
Ryder is most definitely a graffiti writer’s writer, if you know what I mean, he is highly respected in the community and turns out some of the best graffiti writing in the city which he has done for quite some while. This piece is rather more subtle than most of his work, and perhaps doesn’t quite have the impact we would normally expect. I’m not sure these light shades quite work (for me).
T-Rex, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2019
Finding anything by T-Rex is always a treat, and this is a classy example of her great work. the writing/character combination always works a treat. The dinosaur always adds a touch of light-heartedness to the edgy nature of graffiti writing.
Hemper, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2019
Hemper has used a similar colour palette to Ryder, and for me it all just looks a little washed out. There is no doubting the superb skills of the artists, but on this day, I think they chose a weak colour palette, and perhaps that is why I never posted these pieces back in June 2019.
Soker, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2019
Finally, and very possibly not part of the paint jam, is this bright and colourful piece from Soker, displaying his graffiti writing credentials to the max. Superb letter shapes and fills mark this piece out, I only wish my photographic skills could do it justice.
During my ‘deep dive’ (corporate jargon alert) into the archives, I found a bunch of pieces from Panskaribas, all painted in June 2019, which never made it onto the pages of Natural Adventures, so I am setting things straight in this mini-gallery post.
Panskaribas, The Bear Pit, Bristol, June 2019
Panskaribas had a productive couple of years in Bristol, painting his cartoon doodles is all sorts of nooks and crannies in the popular and sometimes less popular spots. Seeing some of these makes me very nostalgic for The Bear Pit, which has been off limits for a few years now, rendering it a sterile dead-spot in the heart of town.
Panskaribas, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2019
Panskaribas, The Bear Pit, Bristol, June 2019
Panskaribas, The Bear Pit, Bristol, June 2019
While his style might not be everyone’s cup of tea, he certainly livened things up around the place and was a willing collaborator too. Sadly I never met the artist, who now goes by the moniker SEAU, (you might note RESEAU on some of his pieces) and his Instagram is @re.seau.