6923. St Werburghs tunnel (496)

Corupt, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2025
Corupt, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2025

This bold piece by Corupt is in the darkest part of the St Werburghs tunnel, and I had to do a little bit of brightness and colour manipulation to bring out the best in these photographs. The tunnel is a great street art/graffiti spot, especially in wet weather, but the light conditions can make photography very challenging at times.

Corupt, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2025
Corupt, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2025

This is a really beautifully presented Chrome piece, spelling out STICK, set on a pink background, with a fine red line outside the thicker black border, a design element that is a bit of a signature of the artist’s work. There is something rather unusual and appealing about his letter style. Great piece if you can actually see it in the gloom.

6922. Dean Lane skate park (831)

Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025

There are a couple of things that are slightly unusual about this piece by Fade. The first is that it is a solo piece and not a collaboration with Dibz and second, it has unfamiliar letters, as it is a tribute to ‘the Mrs’ to use Fade’s words, although I can’t remember her name, and I am struggling to decipher the letters.

Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025

The graffiti writing is flawless, as you would expect, and stands out on the large wall with a black background. There is a little too much brown for my own personal taste, but I have spoken enough about that in recent posts. Really stand out work from Fade

6921. M32 roundabout J3 (679)

Short, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025
Short, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025

This piece, by Short, is really easy to miss. It is in one of the tunnels under the M32 roundabout where the lighting is poor, and one’s mind is focussed on not being run down by a bicycle or e-scooter rather than stopping to look at the graffiti writing. If photographing such pieces is hazardous, I can’t imagine what it is like to try and paint in such a confined space.

Short, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025
Short, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025

The black, joined-up letters, spelling SHORT are somewhat augmented, deliberately or otherwise, by the background created by a previous artist’s large chrome letters, which creates the perfect backdrop. I am enjoying the way that Short is popping up in different places around the city, and offering us a type of graffiti writing that is a step up from throw ups, and developing all the time.

6920. Stokes Croft

Wilko, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2025
Wilko, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2025

It isn’t all that long ago that I wrote about how Bristol, although it has a super-vibrant street art scene, is less well represented on the wheatpaste side of things. Of course, when you say something like that, life has a way of proving you wrong, and I have since found a whole bunch of wheatpastes, many of them by Wilko in the Stokes Croft area.

Wilko, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2025
Wilko, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2025

I haven’t come across Wilko before, but I have a feeling he might be from Birmingham. He certainly made the most of his visit to Bristol, and I will try to post more of his wonderful illustrations in due course. This orange and black piece has a feel of African-influenced art and cubism (which of course are related) about it. Great to see.

6919. East Street

Mr Penfold and Mul, East Street, Bristol, April 2025
Mr Penfold and Mul, East Street, Bristol, April 2025

This is a recent picture of a piece that I think was painted during Upfest last year, when Mul was visiting and dropped a few pieces about town. Here he has teamed up with Mr Penfold to create a fun and colourful collaboration.

Mr Penfold and Mul, East Street, Bristol, April 2025
Mr Penfold and Mul, East Street, Bristol, April 2025

Mul is known for his heart characters with legs and an eye. I’m not sure where Mul calls home, but occasional visits to Bristol are always very welcome. Mr Penfold is perhaps more commonly associated with his abstract commissions on shopfronts, but he intermittently produces these wonderful cartoon characters, presumably for fun. A tidy collaboration.

6918. M32 Cycle path (289)

Werm, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2025
Werm, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2025

Now, regular readers will know that brown is my least favourite colour when it comes to graffiti writing, and it is a path I am unlikely to deviate from or be persuaded otherwise, so the selection of brown aside… this is a really nice tight piece by Werm.

Werm, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2025
Werm, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2025

I rather like this letter style, which while keeping up the symmetry theme that Werm enjoys so much, also has something of a feel of Marvel or DC Comics about it, as if it should say ‘blam’ or ‘whack’ or something like that. Definitely a fun piece, well presented. Pity about the colour.

Perfect day

.

It is the best day

when swifts announce their return

invisible cries

.

by Scooj

6917. Stokes Croft

Hemper, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2025
Hemper, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2025

There are some newish hoardings at the bottom end of Stokes Croft, as the gentrification of the area once more picks up momentum. Kid Krishna has, as you would expect, pounced on these blank canvasses, but he left this space for Hemper, and what a banging piece it is too.

Hemper, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2025
Hemper, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2025

Overall, the piece has a copper metallic feel to it, with the highly illustrated letters spelling out HEMS. The piece is obviously an homage to DJing and to sound systems, perhaps a reference to the Blue Mountain Club that was knocked down behind these hoardings. There is too much to describe in this sensational piece, so perhaps the best way to enjoy it is to spend a moment looking at each element of it.

Hemper, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2025
Hemper, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2025

Of course, you can take a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. These two are symptomatic of the world we live in, where shutting yourself off and hiding behind headphones is the norm – no effort required, no thought given to exploring the world right in front of your eyes. C’est la vie I suppose.

6916. Dean Lane skate park (830)

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025

Painted on one of Bristol’s most iconic walls, the curved wall in Dean Lane skate park, this is a birthday tribute piece to Soker by Dibz. Pieces like this have the capacity to confuse, because the letters do not spell the artist’s name, and I have in the past misidentified pieces because of it.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025

Dibz really is a master of graffiti writing and is at the top of his game, something he has maintained for such a long time now, without any dip in form. The letters are filled with a solid black fill, and finely written ’50s’ indicating it was Soker’s 50th birthday. Great to see one of Dibz’ small signature tags in red at the top right too. Excellent work, and a fine birthday tribute.

Hourglass

.

How much time is left

I ponder on it often

unhealthy pursuit

.

by Scooj

  • written at 5.40 this morning when I awoke and had trouble getting back to sleep.