This is just wonderful, a large organic piece from Petro and the second to appear on Natural Adventures. Petro is an artist that I have taken an instant liking to. His unusual, subdued colour selections and desire to fill as much space as possible with his writing really appeals to me.
Petro, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2021
In this piece, it is the 3D purple shading that catches the eye as it sucks everything from the right to the left. As well as spelling out PETRO, he also includes the letters TFWH, although I don’t know what these relate to – a crew possibly. Big, bold, psychedelic and modestly outrageous – I love it.
Judging by the number of photographs I have of these delightful small pieces by Maybe, I will be posting them pretty regularly over the coming weeks and months, which can only be a good thing. I expect it won’t be too long before I have enough to do a gallery. I love this kind of quirky and different street art, as it represents another element on the vast spectrum of styles and techniques used to brighten up our streets.
Maybe, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2021
Maybe tends to paint only under Brunel Way, and I haven’t seen any of his work anywhere else in Bristol. This is a calm and meditative piece that really demonstrates how far Maybe has come in such a short space of time. The signature profile face is in the form of a balloon, but in this piece the introduction of planets in a star-studded sky is a theme that the artist returns to in several more works. Lovely to see, and something a little different.
The extraordinary pieces on Cattle Market Road from last summer were beginning to get a bit tagged up and have recently been fair game for new work. This is one of the new collaborations to appear there, by Acer One and Conrico.
Acer One, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, May 2021
It seems to me that Acer One is pretty much up for collaborating with anyone in Bristol who can chuck paint at a wall. Here he gives us a ‘LAZY DAZE’ block of writing in his geometric font on a beachy backdrop painted by Conrico. Acer One’s letters always play tricks with my eyes, sometimes when I look at the lettering it is completely flat pattern and I can’t make out the shapes, other times, if I stand further back, the 3D effect kicks in. Very clever stuff.
Conrico and Acer One, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, May 2021
Conrico is a busy artist who paints loads of walls, but often in places unfamiliar to me, so he is somewhat underrepresented in Natural Adventures. In this collaboration Conrico has created an island paradise setting with some fun elements such as the exaggerated wave and little yacht, and the crab waving a placard which reads ‘Oli T, Conrico Steez, Acer One’. Which brings me to the point of the piece, which is a tribute to Oli T’s original Lazy Daze piece painted in Kingsdown in the early 1980s, one of the earliest spray can murals in the city (information taken from Acer One’s Instagram thread).
What a wonderful and fresh collaboration this is from Stivs and an artist new to me (at the time of taking this picture) Maesyhook. The wall is often difficult to photograph, but I am pleased with these pictures – not too much glare.
Maesyhook, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2021
On the left is a sugar-sweet cat/unicorn sitting on a cloud looking very cute, painted in the Japanese Kawaii style, something you don’t see too often in Bristol… until now. I am guessing that Maesyhook has only recently moved to Bristol, although she is originally from Granada, and is another addition to the growing community of Spanish street artists in Bristol. The writing at the bottom originally said Love Rave – Love 21 June 2021 – a reference to an all-day rave at the Lakota on Monday next week. Watch this space for more of her recent work.
Stivs, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2021
To the right is yet another outstanding piece of calligraphy graffiti (calligraffiti) writing from Stivs who is in a very rich vein of form at the moment. I think it spells FUTURE (correction… KARP), although I might be wrong, however, this is an outstanding piece of art. The blue letters are perfectly accompanied by the red, pink, yellow and purple edges, lifting them out from the wall and the whole thing is bordered with a very clean triple line. Remarkable. and then as if that were not enough, Stivs has worked in a ton of fabulous drips. One of the very best of its type. Bravo!
From a few weeks ago, this pair of characters by Eman occupy this strange little tunnel space alongside several other pieces by the artist… he has made himself quite at home here, and why not. I chatted with Eman about what these creatures were, and I have since forgotten, so I will have to ask him again.
Eman, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2021
The rather cute characters are reasonably straightforward in terms of design and fills etc. and form the perfect template for development and the addition of more intricate patterning and shading. These would make a perfect subject to fill the void left behind by #Followmyrabbits’ return to Poland. More of these to come.
Trying to keep up with the sheer amount of new pieces in Bristol is as challenging as it has ever been. As a direct result, there is more of a chance that pieces will be tagged, spoiled or even over-painted by the time I get to them. This for a street art hunter is not a great state of affairs, but one I think I am going to have to accept, because there is absolutely no let-up aim Bristol and no end of new entrants into the scene.
Merny (Morny), GreenBank, Bristol, May 2021
This fabulous witty piece from Merny (who I call Morny) is a little bit contrived but nonetheless great fun. An orange and lemon side by side are making corny word play jokes with each other, but it is the sophisticated and studied naive style that I particularly like. Pity about the corruption graffiti, but that is the world we inhabit.
I think that the paint was probably still drying when I saw this lovely collaboration from Ryder and T-Rex under Brunel Way. And what a fun piece it is, with a taste of the Wild West about it. Ryder posted a little cartoon of it on his Instagram feed, which is great.
T-Rex, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2021
To the right of the piece we have a Tyrannosaurus rex 🦖 pulling a cart, so full of movement, and mischief. I expect that T-Rex could paint these characters in her sleep. I love the western touch of a red neckerchief round the dinosaur’s neck.
Ryder, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2021
Being pulled by the T-Rex is a RAW ‘band wagon’ with a Ryder googly-eyed letter R playing an instrument. What madness is this? The whole thing is a bit of a riot and the collaboration a memorable one. Great to see that both of them are able to get out and paint together.
They say that necessity is the mother of invention, so when a large amount of scaffolding goes up against one of the most famous walls in Bristol what do you do?… well you simply work between the uprights like Zake has done with this small piece.
Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2021
Zake is another artist who has been reasonably quiet over the last year, but has been painting just enough to ensure we don’t forget about him. The piece painted here is necessarily tall and thin to fit into a space between the scaffolding uprights. A very nice piece full of character and a rather fetching Victorian stiff collar. Great to see Zake getting really busy again with this being one of several new pieces.
It is great to see these two painting together again, in particular Cort, who has rather gone to ground during the Covid-19 pandemic. Laic217, on the other hand, has been painting in fits and starts, but appears to have settled into a more regular rhythm recently.
Cort, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2021
Cort’s writing takes on his familiar form of irregular letters combining straight forms with curvy ones and spelling CORTOS. The letters are decorated with red blobs and Cort has used some thin yellow lines to add emphasis.
Laic217, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2021
Laic217 gives us a rather chilling scene of two characters looking like something from a dystopian future with a pile of small rocks in front of them. There is a story here, but I don’t quite know what it is. The characters are fabulously created from shades of purple and pink with lots of shadow in the creases of their clothes. Laic217 is raising his game week after week and it is so good to see.
When you get to see the work of particular artists again and again it becomes incredibly easy to be complacent or even blazé and you need to stop, think and take stock of what is in front of you. I am guilty of this day in day out because we are so spoilt with talent in Bristol. This lovely Elvs piece in St Werburghs tunnel is a case in point.
Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2021
Elvs is one of those artists whose work I like to post every time, and to date I don’t think I have failed to post any of his pieces that I have photographed. This is a lovely piece, beautifully painted with his customary unique style and a lovely blend of horizontal fills from blue to white. The cartoon character is a mystery to me, but probably featured on TV during the 1990s I would guess. Altogether another outstanding work from Elvs.
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