I am Stephen. I live in Bristol, UK. I decided to shorten my profile...to this: Wildlife, haiku, travel, streetart, psychogeography and my family. Not necessarily in that order.
Raid has had a flurry of activity this winter, and I keep finding pieces new to me, wondering if they are recent or if I have simply missed them. I can be pretty sure this is a recent piece (it wishes us a Happy New Year) as turnover in the tunnel is much easier to monitor than in some of the other spots in Bristol.
Raid, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2024
One of the challenges Raid appears to have set himself, on occasion, is to create a piece that is rotationally symmetrical, and this piece I think falls into that category. The fills in this piece are beautifully done, and the green line with stars creates interest and continuity through the letters. It is interesting that he hasn’t painted a border between his fill and drop shadow, preferring to leave a clean line instead. Surely time for a gallery?
Any and every time I see a piece by Fiva, it makes my heart sing. The rarity value has something to do with it and this is one of only three pieces painted in Bristol in 2023, and before these we had to wait three years for his reappearance.
Fiva, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2023
This is an outstanding piece, adopting his customary formula of writing his name and accompanying it with a fun cartoon character. As in previous pieces, Fiva has superimposed a script ‘fiver’ over his block capitals ‘FIVER’ to create an amazing and very clever effect. He is a master of this technique and seems to make the complicated look simple.
Fiva, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2023
The wonderful character is saying ‘Diolch Bristol’ which is Welsh for ‘Thank you, Bristol’. I’m not too sure what that means, but it has an inference of finality about it. I do hope not, and will be keeping my fingers crossed for a return by the artist in 2024. Meanwhile, I will simply enjoy and admire this outstanding piece.
I’m not sure that I have seen any work by Acer One at the Purdown spot before, but with this piece I think he has earned the freedom of the City (metaphorically speaking at least). An utterly mesmerising piece with a pink triangle interlocking with a white cube with hexagonal holes – a masterpiece of geometric design.
Acer One, Purdown, Bristol, December 2023
The pink works so well against the black and white hexagons in this piece, and the whole thing is a beacon of classy artwork on the top of a bleak hill. This looks like a bit of a new direction for Acer One, and another new piece (to follow I hope) has some similar design ideas. 2024 could be an exciting year for the artist.
The Natural Adventures accolade for most improved and diligent artist in 2023 goes to Evey, whose work last year has been nothing short of inspirational. A regular member of RBF paint jams, Evey has gone from strength to strength and appears to be a much more confident artist than she was a couple of years ago. Practice really does make perfect.
Evey, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2023
This superb piece was painted during a paint jam celebrating Pekoe’s birthday back in December. She has painted some solid letters with wonderful fills in three shades of green, and a host of decorations and squiggles. The exclamation mark at the end makes reference to the people of Palestine and their struggles in the face of daily Israeli bombing raids. A great piece to round off her excellent 2023.
Ryder, Inkie and Mr Riks, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2023
When Inkie is in town, he will often get together with friends and paint a collaborative wall, and often it is this one in Dean Lane. On this occasion he got together with Ryder and Mr Riks, which is not a trio of artists that would ordinarily spring to mind, but the street art scene is always full of surprises.
Ryder, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2023
Ryder doesn’t paint at Dean Lane all that often, but he has smashed it with this rather condensed burner painted in orange and grey. The RYDER letters are nicely worked, with the orange bleeding out into the background at the top of some of them. The colour palette which includes a dark blue and black isn’t one that I would instinctively chose, but works incredibly well in this striking piece of graffiti writing.
Inkie, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2023
Most of the time, you pretty much know what you are going to get from Inkie, and this chrome piece delivers in bucket-loads. Great design and precision are trademarks from the gentle giant, who is probably one of Bristol’s most famous street artists after Banksy, alongside Nick Walker and Cheo. Inkie has such a distinctive style, that I reckon he could write any combination of letters and it would be easy to identify.
Mr Riks, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2023
To the right, another artist with a distinctive style, Mr Riks, has gone for this colourful piece, which is full of energy and joy. Although, not the focal point of the piece, the cartoon eyes are irresistible and draw attention. Great fills and a wonderful drop shadow, this is a fine piece of graffiti writing from Mr Riks.
This collaborative wall brings together three graffiti writers, each with very strong and distinctive styles, opting to paint in colours of their choice, making it a loose collaboration – more like three friends painting a wall together, without a theme or agenda. Great stuff.
All in all, 2023 was a very good year for Laic217, with 18 pieces featured in Natural Adventures, some of which I would rate as his best pieces to date. This piece features a skull character wearing a devil mask, I mean why not? I also got lucky that I photographed it on an overcast day, as this wall can be very tricky to capture when the sun is out.
Laic217, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2023
Everything you’d expect to find from a classy Laic217 piece is here… the skull, something of the grotesque and threatening, the devil mask which is suspended by a gold chain, a bucket hat and of course outstanding folds in the fabric of the characters’ clothes. You can see a large gallery of Laic217’s magnificent work here.
Sako, Face 1st and Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2023
This PWA collaboration as taken me an eternity to post, mainly because it was sited in the middle of the tunnel and the conditions for photography there are atrocious. These pictures were my third attempt to capture the wonderful work by Sako, Face 1st and Zake.
Sako, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2023
On the left is a wonderful piece by Sako, who is beginning to make a bit of a name for himself. This piece is telling a wonderful story which seems to represent a made-up mythology of higher beings and the communities around them. The central character (a God?) is collecting poppy heads, which appear to be represented in the landscape behind him. There is a lot to interpret here, thanks to the quality of artwork, and I hope one day to meet Sako to get some insight to what this all might mean.
Face 1st, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2023
In the middle, Face 1st has some interesting faces that are in different stages of decomposition, or so it would seem, with the two on the right dipping with brains and blood. I don’t know what this tells us about the inner workings of the artist’s mind, but it surely tells us something. There is a nice shout-out to Soap, Chill and Sikoh, PWA members unable to paint on the day.
Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2023
On the right is a striking portrait by Zake, which, although eye-catching, doesn’t quite work for me. I am not really understanding the shading around the eyes and into the hair. The character is obviously top-lit, highlighted by the orange shading on the ears, nose and eyebrows, but I can’t unsee a mask around the eyes. Nonetheless, as I said before, the piece is striking and interesting.
Natural adventures 