Abstract – Page 2 – Natural adventures

7188. Cumberland Basin

Ments, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2025

Aha! how absolutely blooming brilliant to come across this outstanding piece from Ments, an artist whose abstract work I have long admired, but who rarely seems to paint these days. This piece was painted alongside Sled One, both of whom were pioneers in ‘colonising’ this particular wall – now a firm favourite with local and visiting artists.

There is a fluidity to Ments’ work, which comes across in this piece. Everything is carefully thought out, the colours and shapes, and even the scatter of blue shards bursting from left to right. A very classy piece that highlights how much Ments’ absence is felt.

7092. Purdown (92)

It is a genuine joy to find Slakarts’ work, and this one up at Purdown is a real beauty. There was a time when Slakarts was painting very regularly, but I am guessing that the real world has caught up with him, and he tends to paint only a handful of times a year.

This is a wonderful hybrid piece, taking his stylised cartoon character and turning it into an abstract cornucopia of colour, shapes and fill designs. The piece perfectly fits the concrete slab and somehow captures the mood of an English summer’s day. More please.

7046. St Werburghs tunnel (515)

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2025

The emphasis of this post will walk through how augmentation works. In street art circles, augmentation (adding to an existing piece) is relatively rare and can be considered as a little insulting to the original artist, or lacking in creativity. On the other hand, it can be seen as flattering and complementary to the original work. Here is a wonderful example of a piece by Mr Klue that has been augmented by Posh.

This rather nice purple ‘KLUE’ abstract writing has been hanging around at the entrance to the tunnel for quite a while, which doesn’t really come as much of a surprise as he kind of ‘owns’ this spot, by occupation at least. The purple is beautifully picked out with white and yellow highlights that create wonderful depth to the piece. Now all is just fine and dandy, and then along comes Posh!

Mr Klue and Posh, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025

Quite a while after this piece was painted by Mr Klue, Posh came along and added into it three posh characters, in yellow, picking out some of the colour in the original piece. These ‘toffs’ have a strong political message, one that picked up a lot of coverage at the Glastonbury Festival, ‘Death 2 the IDF’. Once again, street art acts as a wonderful commentary on contemporary issues, and has an important role to play in free speech and expression. This is a great example of how augmentation can work really well, and Mr Klue thought it was rather funny.

7034. M32 Spot (204)

It has been enjoyable to watch as Astrea becomes more bold with her artwork and the spots she is choosing to post. She seems to be settling on a style that is all her own and quite Gothic in its appearance.

Using the colours red, black and white, which contrast superbly (a combination much used by Decay in his early days), she has created an attractive abstract design. Tucked away on the edge of a long hoarding, I would expect this piece to be around for a while. Great progression.

6958. Wharf Street, Leeds

Mr Penfold, Wharf Street, Leeds, May 2025

There is something very comforting about wandering around a place that I don’t know very well, and stumbling across the familiar artist, in this case, not just familiar, but Bristol’s fabulous Mr Penfold.

Mr Penfold has had a great deal of success with his commissions, and being invited to decorate this large building in the heart of Leeds must have been a real feather in his cap. It is interesting that alongside his colourful designs there is a lot of ‘white space’ which acts as a perfect counterbalance to his shapes and patterns. The building could risk looking too busy if all of it was ‘pimped’ a la Monsieur Penfold.

I felt very much at home in my ancestral city, in the company of artwork from a Bristol artist, and the sun was shining. What’s not to like about such an occasion?

6832. New Bird Street, Liverpool

Molly Mural, New Bird Street, Liverpool, March 2025

As you will know from yesterday’s post, I recently spent a weekend in Liverpool, and the old ‘graff radar’, which I thought I had turned off, swung into active duty. Not being familiar with the street/graffiti artists in Liverpool, it was comforting to come across this rather nice mural by Molly Mural, who has painted many times in Bristol, where she is based.

I’m not sure how long the mural has been there, but I guess a while, as some of the paint was chipping. The piece appears to be full of symbolism and stories and is centred around the numbers 1 and 3. The abstract piece is characteristically colourful, and after doing a little Interweb search, it turns out it was inspired by Taylor Swift’s ‘second era’ and her lucky number 13. You live and learn.

6824. St Werburghs tunnel (487)

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2025

I would say that Mr Klue is the (undisputed) king of St Werburghs tunnel, on a measure of number of pieces painted there. It seems to be the place he enjoys painting most, and it is rare to not be able to find something of his at any one time.

This is a colourful one, as ever spelling out KLUE, which is notable perhaps for the way the wispy tops of the letters bleed into a cloudy mass, which might have been there from a previous piece. The central colours are green and orange, which often work well together, but there are also injections of purple and white. The use of these colours combines to create depth to the piece which is on the cusp of being anamorphic. We can be certain that there will be more to come.

6798. St Werburghs tunnel (482)

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025

This trio of pieces in the tunnel, show how busy Mr Klue has been of late in his favourite spot. The one on the left was painted a day or two before the other two, which I think might have been created in a single session.

The left-hand piece, as with all of them, spells KLUE and has a green base palette. Ephemeral, smoky, abstract letters are part of the USP I would expect to see from Mr Klue and he rarely disappoints. There is little more to add from these three pieces, other than their colour differences.

Pinks and purples dominate in this middle piece, with some yellow highlights along some edges.

Finally, the trio is rounded off on the right with a piece that is predominantly white, again with some yellow highlights. All three together show how Mr Klue’s abstract writing is based around the same simple concept, but can look completely different depending on the design details and colour palette. A busy man.

Shab

A gallery of superb abstract figure pieces by Bristol artist Shab.

Instagram: @s.h.a.b

All photographs by Scooj

Shab, St Michael's Hill, Bristol, November 2017 — Shab, St Michael’s Hill, Bristol, November 2017

Shab, North Street, Bristol, September 2015

Shab, Magdalene Place, Bristol, June 2016

Shab, St Michael's Hill, Bristol, September 2016 — Shab, St Michael’s Hill, Bristol, September 2016

6755. Cumberland Basin

Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025

This post has been written in advance, because I will be making an early start today departing for our skiing holiday to the French Alps. I will try to post every day while I am on holiday, but it all rather depends on how things go. Meanwhile, I’d like you to enjoy this beauty from Hire.

Although Hire’s work has been difficult to decipher from to time, the letters are always there, however, I have noticed that there he is drifting into a kind of abstract presentation, and this piece isn’t unlike some of Ments’ pieces, which I used to describe as organic/abstract. I love the colour selections, the shapes of the letters and the neon glow of the border green in this writing. First class stuff from Hire.

	cjsmissionaryministe… on 7568. M32 roundabout J3 (…
	Cath Moore on Thursday Doors – 9 April…
	hitandrun1964 on Urbane fox
	cjsmissionaryministe… on Urbane fox
	skat on Urbane fox

	cjsmissionaryministe… on 7568. M32 roundabout J3 (…
	Cath Moore on Thursday Doors – 9 April…
	hitandrun1964 on Urbane fox
	cjsmissionaryministe… on Urbane fox
	skat on Urbane fox

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: