Category: 5. Street Art

3498. Dean Lane skate park (390)

Unheralded and therefore unexpected, was this sumptuous recent piece from Inkie in Dean Lane. On his own Instagram feed Inkie describes this piece as a ‘Wildstyle painting in Boogie Down Bristol for new @sam_krats & @mc_craig_g NYC track ‘Culture’ coming soon’. So that gives us a little clue to what the writing says – CULTURE.

Inkie, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021
Inkie, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021

Inkie paints quite a few of these music-linked pieces, and I am never quite sure if they are commissions or simply promoting music for his friends. In a way I don’t really care what his motivation is, more the high quality of his outstanding artwork – years of hard graft and huge talent make this stuff look quite easy, the sign of a master at work.

3497. Dean Lane skate park (389)

Being in the right place at the right time is a big part of photographing street/graffiti art. Mostly you get to see a finished piece as a fait accompli, admire/critique it, photograph it and then be on your merry way. Sometimes though you get lucky and catch the artist(s) at work and I did just that as Ryder and T-Rex were just finishing off this curved wall piece at Dean Lane.

Ryder, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021
Ryder, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021

Both were in great form and thrilled to be able to paint together while their little one was having a sleep. Opportunities to paint together have been few and far between in recent months, so this was a treat. Ryder has painted a wibbly green piece with reference to James Bond, with the words ‘007 shaken not stirred’.

T-Rex, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021
T-Rex, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021

I spent quite a while chatting (socially-distanced of course) with T-Rex, which was fun, as I have only spoken briefly with her before. Here she painted an outstanding example of her trademark dinosaur in pink – she must be able to do these in her sleep. She let me into a little secret, that she struggles to write the letter ‘J’ and that Ryder helped her with the ‘J’ in Jack – we had been talking about the J in Scooj, which prompted the confession. Best of all I got to see the little one when she woke up. A happy family outing.

3496. St Werburghs tunnel (224)

Elvs is another very consistent artist whose work continues to brighten up our Bristol walls. With this recent piece he includes a fabulous character which some might recognise from the TV cartoon series Top Cat, I think it is Brain or Fancy.

Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2021
Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2021

The writing is vertically striated with three colours, pink, purple and yellow and spells out ELVS as you’d expect. The whole piece is framed nicely on a blue patterned background bounded with a yellow border. A fine piece from Elvs.

3495. Dean Lane skate park (388)

I don’t know the significance of the Irish theme in this piece, other than that he dedicated it to ‘Marie’ who I presume has an Irish connection. As ever the work is meticulous, which is extra remarkable as he finished the piece in double-quick time to avoid the rain.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021

Spelling out MARIE, the writing is split into three horizontal colour chunks to represent the Irish tricolour. For good measure he has included a four leaf clover at the centre of the piece. Beautifully presented and only slightly water damages, great work from Dibz… again.

3494. Purdown HAA Battery (17)

This is the third piece by Big Hev that I have posted in recent weeks, which, I think, brings me up to date with her work in Bristol so far although I can’t be certain  about that. Once again this young artist wows us with a big, bold and colourful portrait filling up one of the concrete walls of the battery.

Big Hev, Purdown Battery, Bristol, February 2021
Big Hev, Purdown Battery, Bristol, February 2021

There is a lot to like about this piece, starting with the great colour selections. It is impossible to ignore this piece as you wander around the old WWII buildings. I am full of admiration for artists who get out there and just do their stuff and I wish I had the courage, conviction and talent to join them. Big Hev will improve her technique, but her style identity is already forming, and I am so excited to witness her progress.

3493. M32 Spot (106)

This excellent piece from Conrico is part of an unlikely three-way collaboration from Ryder, Soap and Conrico himself, tucked neatly under the M32 motorway. The piece is an incredible mash up of Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny, where the former seems to have been a little careless with his shotgun.

Conrico, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2021
Conrico, M32 Spot, Bristol, February 2021

This is a fine piece that showcases Conrico’s distinctive style so well. There is always a lot of movement in his pieces, illustrated with fluid lines, rather than the cleaner stiffer lines adopted by other character artists. It is especially nice to see this, because I have sometimes had some difficulty finding recent pieces by him.

3492. Dean Lane skate park (387)

Oooh, I haven’t seen anything from Hire for quite a long time, so to come across this in Dean Lane was a very pleasant surprise indeed. Of all the artists in Bristol that have changed their format or styles, I think Hire wins the prize for reinventing himself. There are traces of his older work, which the trained eye might see, but overall the new style, and different letters, seem like a new artist has hit the town.

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021

His letters spell out ODIAH, rather than HIRE, and I don’t know if it means ‘oh dear’ or spells something in his Polish language – a quick look at Google Translate tells me not.

The piece itself is out of this world. Crisp, clean letters in black on a dark blue background, with a cream border, and some supreme letter shapes. This is a welcome return from Hire.

3491. Brunel Way bridge (91)

This is the third component of an extraordinary collaboration by Smak, who painted this writing on a shared pink background along with Ments and Sled One. What made this super-extraordinary was that on the same day this was sprayed, the other side of the wall was being painted by 3Dom, Feek, Piro, Epok and Sepr. For followers of street/graffiti art, this was a truly momentous occasion.

Smak, Brunel Way, Bristol, February 2021
Smak, Brunel Way, Bristol, February 2021

As we are accustomed to seeing from Smak, this is a highly accomplished piece of work. The blend of angular letters combined with spheres and a fluid metallic look to some elements makes for a fascinating and creative piece. There is so much skill, experience and patience in this piece, a triumph.

Somewhere…

.

Ever elusive

that pot of gold escapes me

best to be at ease

.

by Scooj

3490. River Avon (13)

I love coming back to photographs that I have in my archive, just waiting there for an artist identification. It is so fulfilling and closes a circle – a great feeling, like a detective solving a case. I was struck by this piece along the River Avon back in November last year and a little bit peeved that I couldn’t place the artist at all. I discovered the artist’s identity recently after I found another piece at Purdown and started investigating Instagram accounts of other artists who had painted up there – eventually I tracked down Antikki. All I needed to do was look at the signature… d’oh!

Antikki, River Avon, Bristol, November 2020
Antikki, River Avon, Bristol, November 2020

This is a lovely wholesome design piece and has a feel good factor about it – dancing figures bouncing bums in beautiful colours, what’s not to like? Antikki’s style is one that works equally well on walls or in smaller studio designs. I love it when designers and artists hit the streets, it kind of lends legitimacy to street art in a curious way. More to come soon.