Lee Roy is a writer whose work I really rather enjoy. His writing is a little unconventional and always interesting to look at. This recent piece in the tunnel is an immediate attention-grabber on account of its use of orange on a turquoise background.
The letters are uniform in size, and the letter design is exceptional. The fills and fill patterns are quite subtle, but beautifully worked. This is one of the best Lee Roy pieces that I have seen – a true beauty.
A gallery of imaginative monsters and creatures by Bristol artist Mote
Instagram: @mote_zx
All photographs by Scooj
More writing on the roundabout, this time from Corupt. Over the last month or so, I have come across far more graffiti writing pieces than street art or character pieces, and that will necessarily be reflected in my posts. I usually try to get a fairly even balance of different artwork, but it can be a struggle sometimes.
Corupt, writing his STICK letters, has chosen a rather low-key colour palette for this piece, and it doesn’t quite hump off the wall as much as some of his other pieces, but the handiwork is just as expert. The letters pull out from the wall, thanks to the grey vertical 3D drop shadow. The letters themselves are notable for the colour transitions and decorations in which there is an organised pattern, but unless you look for it, the whole thing looks a bit random. Another fine piece from the Hungarian artist.
The first time I photographed this lovely Pooh Bear piece by Haka was a complete fail. There were shadows cast halfway across the piece, and half was overexposed and the other half underexposed. I returned on a duller day, and these pictures are altogether a bit on the dull side and don’t really do the piece justice.
Haka has been taking us on a nostalgic journey in recent months, to our own or our children’s favourite picture book characters, and Winnie the Pooh must surely be one of the most iconic. Haka has lovingly portrayed Pooh nestled inside the letters CK and NE, a tribute to CKone, or Dan Fenlon who died in a motorcycle accident in 2011. Amazingly, Haka remembers him in every piece he paints. A good friend indeed.
This is another outstanding piece of writing from Kosc in his current series of greyscale pieces. In this piece, we have a familiar element of styling in the shape of ‘rivets’ holding the ‘metal’ pieces of the letters in place. This is a technique that the artist has used quite a lot in the past.
These letters are strong, solid and uniform, and generally have a presence – some pieces just ooze style and confidence, and this is one of them. I have to say that I am very much enjoying this greyscale series… more to come I hope.
A small, quick one from Mote at the end of the long wall under Brunel Way from Mote. Mote is an artist who designs and creates a new monster character every time he paints, which could make identification of his work troublesome, but his style and colour selections are so unique that no signature is needed on his work.
This cheeky little piece is sweet and simple, and was probably an ‘end of day’ bonus piece. Since first hitting the walls of Bristol in early spring of 2022, Mote has been tireless, come rain or shine, in his monster mania. Long may it last.
Visiting artists are always, always welcome in Bristol (although the authorities might be a little luke warm) and it is a fine compliment to the city that street artists come from far and wide to paint on our streets and in our graffiti spots. A recent visit to the city by Gosia Wadada, resulted in at least two pieces of which this is the first.
I don’t know too much about Gosia Wadada, and her Instagram account doesn’t really let on very much, but I can confidently state that she is not from round these parts. She seems to specialise in these stylised mouths, and in that respect is in good company (Pura Decadencia, Soap and Muckrock for example). This piece is neat and tidy and certainly grabs the attention. Some nice design work in the fills too. Watch this space for more from Gosia Wadada.
Ta da! This post marks something of a landmark for me and Natural Adventures… it is the 5,000th street/graffiti art post. Natural Adventures has come a long way from its origination as a place to document a journal I kept of an adventure in the South Atlantic in 1987. Haiku and street art just crept up on me, and have now become a central pillar in my life.
I cannot think of a better way to celebrate this milestone than with an outstanding and passionate piece by Rozalita AKA Rohzi.
I was fortunate enough to have a long chat with Rohzi as she was buffing the wall for this piece, and once the conversation got going, she really opened up and I was thoroughly enjoying myself until the dog decided he’d had enough and started to bark, which means he wants to go. The conversation ended a little too abruptly for my liking, but it is an occupational hazard when walking the dog and photographing street art.
Rozalita mentioned that the portrait was of people from an Amazonian tribe, and she was going to leave a hashtag on the piece to find out more, but that didn’t seem to happen. The portrait itself is exceptional and demonstrates just how far she has come over the last year or two. I do hope it isn’t too long before I get a chance to continue our chat.
This wall is a little tiresome to photograph, especially as my camera doesn’t have a wide angle setting. The wall is in a narrow space opposite the wall of a ramp on the skate park, meaning that getting decent shots of anything painted here is a challenge. Biers, AKA WD40 has set me the challenge on this occasion.
With his WD40 letters, Biers has incorporated a cartoon character, and I have to say I have drawn a blank on this one, so if you have any idea who he is, please feel free to drop his name in the comments. This is a particularly tidy piece from Biers, who can sometimes be a little rough around the edges, but not here, this is clean and on-point. A really lovely piece by Biers.
Well lookee here, on one of my favourite walls we have a fabulous three-way collaboration from Dopes, Jaksta and Neddy Ned Ned. The whole thing is painted in Autumnal colours (although a winter collaboration), and provides more than a little contemporary commentary.
To the left is a fine piece of writing from Dopes, offering his beautifully proportioned letters in a metallic style with plenty of shading fades and highlights, neatly finished off with a tidy blue border and some arrows thrown in for good measure.
The most eye-catching element of the triptych is the portrait of Prince Harry, painted by Jaksta. This mischievous send-up of the Prince directly relates to the revelations in his autobiography ‘Spare’ and is a play on the word Charlie (cocaine) and Charles (his father the King). The portrait is nicely worked, but very different from the style I would normally associate with Jaksta.
I have never (knowingly) come across Neddy Ned Ned before, although his work does look slightly familiar. It is always great to have visitors to the city, especially when they are clearly as talented as Neddy Ned Ned is. There is a nice flow and confidence to the shapes of the letters, and there is a bit of a fill-fest going on too. Altogether, this is a banging collaboration.
Natural adventures 