5. Street Art – Page 165 – Natural adventures

6023. Leonard Lane (45)

Alex Arnell, Leonard Lane, Bristol, May 2024

The work of Alex Arnell, in my mind, verges on the grotesque… not his artwork, I hasten to add, but his subject material. Although he operates out of Brick Lane in London, he appears to have visited Bristol on a couple of occasions, and has left behind a gallery of characters in Leonard Lane.

Alex Arnell’s style is utterly unique and could be interpreted as scribbles that ‘anyone could do’. That may or may not be true, but the point here is that he does it, and he does it really well. I like deliberately naive artwork because there is an authenticity about it, and although a cultivated look, it is also honest and unpretentious – although there might be those that consider it grossly pretentious. The skeleton is rather scary, not because it is a skeleton, but because there is threat and alarm in his expression. Crazy stuff, but most welcome.

6022. Cheltenham Road

The maxim ‘you can never have too much of a good thing’ is a variant of the phrase ‘you can have too much of a good thing’, and the two have very different meanings. In this instance I am adopting the former in relation to the number of recent pieces painted in Bristol by the London-based Roo.

It has been a very long time since this wall last had anything meaningful on it, and Roo has filled the space perfectly. Her precision and apparently simple design actually underplays her skill in creating such a tight piece. The character is bound to strike a chord with cat lovers, and the black ‘naturescape’ complements the piece nicely. Great work from Roo.

6221. Peterborough

My work trip to Peterborough in April had spin-off benefits, as do all my work trips when I am ‘on tour’, in the form of exploring a new city, finding interesting doors and sniffing out graffiti and street art. I cannot visit a new place without having my extended radar on full alert for opportunities to find things that interest me – some might call it marginally obsessive, and they might be right.

Nyces (Nathan Murdoch) is a bit of a celebrity in his home city, and this piece sparked a series of local newspaper and TV features about the artist, such as this one in the Peterborough Telegraph. The colourful piece is not only wonderfully painted in a patchwork of colour and geometric segments, it also has an uplifting message for the heavy traffic that passes by saying “Hello my beautiful people”. Nyces is a big graffiti fish in a small bowl.

6020. M32 roundabout J3 (575)

Kid Krishna, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024

There are one or two artists that are on fire at the moment, and I am really struggling to keep up with their work, which vexes me a little, because I want to share it all – I’ll need to find a way of sharing moor, possibly through mini galleries or something like that. Kid Krishna, has been going nuts lately, and I must have seven or eight recent pieces in my archive, all waiting to be posted.

This is a bright and colourful piece of graffiti writing spelling out CRIE, which you can see more clearly in this one than in some of Kid Krishna’s other pieces. There is so much intricate work, and a flow that runs through the letters both in design and colour. Kid Krishna’s work always comes across as quite organic, chaotic and unplanned. I don’t know if that is the case or not, but it is also consistently good.

6019. Greenbank (118)

It is always good to find DFC1848 pieces in Bristol, and he left behind two or three pieces on his last visit, of which this is one. This character is the one that DFC1848 first used to really establish himself as a street artist, and although he has improved immeasurably in both technique and creativity, it is nice to see this old friend again.

The letters DFC from his name can be found in this tag-character The ‘D’ is in the ear, the ‘F’ is on the character’s cheek and the ‘C’ I think is represented by the mouth or possibly the eye. I must try and seek out and photograph the other pieces he painted on this visit.

6018. M32 Cycle path (265)

Mind 49 and Wxttsart, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2024

Regular readers may be experiencing ‘déjà vu’ on seeing this fine collaboration from Wxttsart and Mind 49, as they have overwritten and incorporated elements of their last collaboration on this exact spot, and the unobservant might have missed the ‘update’ altogether.

The ‘old’ work is the purple and cream script by Wxttsart running through the middle of the piece which has a clever ‘ripped wallpaper’ look to it and has been augmented with fresh writing at the top and bottom of the piece that appears to spell out MYLK, (milk being Wxttsart’s moniker). The portrait, by Mind 49, is rather larger than its predecessor and beautifully executed. Mind 49 manages to paint informal portraits in a photorealistic style while retaining a softness about them, and this is a prime example. Both artists have combined (again) perfectly to create this striking collaboration piece.

Wxttsart and Mind 49, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, January 2024

6017. M32 Cycle path (264)

Minto, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2024

Minto keeps his work ticking over nicely with a fairly regular weekly/fortnightly contribution, and each and every piece is a cracker. Minto has a distinctive style and creative streak that makes for outstanding graffiti writing – character combinations and mash-ups.

This piece, on the Cycle path behind the Black Swan, looks like a bit of a quick one and features trainers, something of a theme for the artist at the moment… that and camper vans – perhaps we can read into that a profile of his lifestyle. The letters, which spell out Minto, are nicely rounded off with a yellow and orange border. So good to have him back in Bristol.

6016. M32 roundabout J3 (574)

Acesartworld, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024

It looks like Acesartworld has found some inspiration from somewhere and some time to start decorating Bristol walls with his Transformer robot-style portrait pieces, of which this is the second of three recent works that I currently know about.

Acesartworld has certainly gone for it with the buffing the wall bit, taking his red splash all the way to the top of the wall, perhaps following the example of Kosc, just to his right. A squarer buff would have sufficed for the piece in question. When Acesartworld creates these masks, he uses a long straight piece of wood, similar to pieces of passim by Acer One, to achieve the geometry he is looking for. This is an interesting development from the artist, and I fully expect to see more of these as the summer unfolds.

6015. Dean Lane skate park (715)

Werm is producing, in my view, some of his best writing work at the moment, having pulled back a little from his highly technical and complex pieces. There is something a little more accessible about his graffiti writing now, that hasn’t always been the case.

The colours in this piece spelling out WERM are certainly eye-catching and benefit from the buffed black wall, which enhances the impact of the writing. I suspect, consciously or otherwise, that the selection of purple and yellow for the letters might be related to the colour wheel, where they are complementary colours – they do work well together. I wonder if we’ll get to see Werm incorporating characters in his work, he would be more than capable of doing it and has done so once or twice in the past. I’ll ask him next time I see him.

6014. Greenbank (117)

‘Wanted – dead or alive – Leggy O’Lootin’ so says the ‘poster’ by Roo. This sepia tinted piece is a clever and really rather touching portrait of a giraffe that has obviously been up to no good. The way Roo has painted him makes me feel rather sorry and sympathetic for him.

Roo has been active in Bristol so far this year, and long may it last. Her strong cartoon pieces are pretty much always respected and can remain intact for a very long time, which is testimony to the respect other artists have for her work. This piece is so original as well as being great fun.

	equinoxio21 on 1752. Newfoundland Road
	equinoxio21 on 7613. David Street
	M. on 7612. M32 roundabout J2 (…
	Sheree on 7613. David Street
	paulh121 on 7611. St Werburghs tunnel…

	equinoxio21 on 1752. Newfoundland Road
	equinoxio21 on 7613. David Street
	M. on 7612. M32 roundabout J2 (…
	Sheree on 7613. David Street
	paulh121 on 7611. St Werburghs tunnel…

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