A beautiful and typically imaginative piece of writing from Sled One, painted alongside a Ments piece I posted last week. The colour palette is rather unusual set on a pale yellow background, certainly uplifting in this rather dark place.
Sled One, Brunel Way, Bristol, December 2020
The letters spell out MENTS, which is confusing, because I spent ages trying to find his usual SLED letters. I’m not sure what the symbolism of the brick walls and barbed wire is, but it might be a comment on the pandemic restrictions we have all had to suffer for so long. An interesting piece.
Last weekend, a chance meeting with Sam Spade (a street art hunter) in St Werburghs tunnel, led to one of those perfect moments for photographing street art and meeting artists. He told me that there was a lot of activity on the M32 cycle path, behind the Black Swan and that I ought to get myself over there. I was heading in that direction anyway, but the light was fading and I might just as easily have headed home. Luckily I went to take a look and there was a paint jam of about seven or eight artists just coming to an end, many of whom I hadn’t met before (more on that in posts to come).
Sled One, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020
This piece from Sled One had already been completed, and he was just hanging around watching the other artists as they completed their work. Sled One is one of the most gifted artists I know, and he seems to be able to create stunning work, graffiti writing or character pieces, with consummate ease. Here the letters spell out SLED (although it almost looks like he has slipped in an extra D) in a selection of letter shapes and colour shadings. The red and blue cloud clumps add an extra dimension to this fine piece of writing.
Within street art circles, the digital social media network is a fairly crowded place, and a fair proportion of the pieces I photograph I have already seen on Instagram and I make a deliberate decision to go and find them. A smaller proportion of pieces I ‘discover’ all on my own and in a strange way this gives me rather more personal satisfaction. I suppose one solution would be to stop using social media (would probably be a good thing in the long run), but somehow these platforms lend themselves so well to the ephemeral nature of the art I love. I found this one without knowing of its existence and what a lovely surprise it was.
Soker, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020
Soker has knocked it out of the park with this tight colourful and beautifully designed piece of graffiti writing in Dean Lane. The colours used with the letters complement each other so well whilst contrasting too – how does he achieve that? The whole thing simply oozes class, something I have said so many times when writing about Soker’s work. Classy work, classy artist.
It is time for another short series of posts on this year’s Cheltenham Paint Festival back in September, starting with this lovely collaboration from Bristol artists Inkie and Soker. This is one of those collaborations where the artists share a wall and colour scheme, but each piece is otherwise independent.
Inkie, Paint festival, Cheltenham, September 2020
On the left is a stunner from Inkie full of intricate detail. This is a piece which the artist obviously spent a lot of time on and that time has paid off because in my eyes this is a near-perfect piece of graffiti writing.
Soker, Paint festival, Cheltenham, September 2020
On the right of the wall Soker has similarly smashed it. To anyone seeing this and thinking this is just another piece of graffiti, think again… this is world-class writing from two of the very best, and how lucky are we that they both come from Bristol. The more I look at this piece, the more I enjoy it. Bravo!
Inkie and Soker, Paint festival, Cheltenham, September 2020
This wall is an epic wall. There had been an incredible 3Dom piece here for a long time which was replaced by an exceptional Sepr and 3Dom collaboration and now in its most recent makeover we are blessed with this outstanding Sepr and Inkie collaboration.
Sepr, Princes Place, Bristol, October 2020
On the left we have a classic masked thief in a stripy black and white top breaking a safe, stethoscope in hand. Everything about this cartoon character is brilliant – I just don’t know how Sepr can do this with spray paint, it is quite remarkable and I am awe.
Inkie, Princes Place, Bristol, October 2020
On the right is a stunning piece of writing from Inkie with the words ‘Take the money and run’ with the words ‘the’ and ‘and run’ highlighted in different fontd and colours from the main body of writing. The ‘the’ is just so Inkie!
Sepr and Inkie, Princes Place, Bristol, October 2020
While I am not too sure what the whole piece refers to, I don’t think matters too much because the class of the artistry simply screams out – one of the best collaborations I have seen for quite a while. What is it about this wall?
Sepr and 3Dom, Princes’ Place, Bristol, February 20183Dom, Princes Place, Bristol, February 2016
You know that the world has gone all topsy-turvy when Inkie hits so many walls in Bristol in such a short time. I am not complaining mind, and it is perhaps one of the few upsides of the coronavirus epidemic that Inkie seems to be spending more time in his native Bristol.
Inkie, St Werburghs, Bristol October 2020
This is a recent piece in the tunnel painted alongside Tizer who has made two visits to Bristol in as many months. This is a lovely four-colour filled piece blended horizontally in two contrasting hues. Slightly less elaborate than some of his Oieces, but beautifully decorated with hearts and stars. Always, always great to find an Inkie piece.
Painted alongside friends Inkie, Smak and Sled One, this is a first class piece of graffiti writing from Soker, who since lock down restrictions were eased has been very busy on the streets, which is a great thing for people like me.
Soker, M32 Spot, Bristol, September 2020
The writing is superbly clean with a black shadow and white boundary that gives the whole thing a sharp crispness. There is a lovely blend of greens and blues in the letter fills and the red bubbles complement the piece beautifully. The work of a graffiti master.
This is the first of ten very special pieces from John Street, tucked away in the old quarter of Bristol just behind Nelson Street. A developer is working on a building that has ten archways and they have run a competition for invited street artists to paint each of the archways with a small cash prize for the best one chosen by a panel of judges. That is the most that I know at the moment, gathered from a chance meeting with John Nation (the godfather of street art in Bristol). I will add more details once I have researched them properly.
Sled One, John Street, Bristol, September 2020
This is the first archway working from left to right and is by the amazing Sled One who is telling us another amazing story in the way he does so well. The main character is a rabbit chilling out at home (a sign of the times maybe) clutching a phone and a beer with a smoking cigarette in an ashtray. It looks like the rather forlorn rabbit is texting friends to keep in touch. He is weating a giant comedy shoe while a black cat watches on. So many details and so much to look at in this remarkable piece by Sled One and a great way to open up this series of posts from John Street. Hats off to the developers.
3Dom is probably best known for his character pieces and scenes, which are utterly outstanding, but he is also a very accomplished writer and every now and again we are treated to a little bit of his graffiti writing like this piece at the M32 Spot.
3Dom, M32 Spot, Bristol, September 2020
This is a splash of colour with what looks like translucent letters over the top spelling out 3DOM. It is full of joy and hope and the colours of summer, something we need to hold on to as we accelerate towards winter. Always classy.
Most of Sled One’s pieces tend to tell a story. Sometimes the stories are quite linear and easy to fathom out. Other times the stories are just too surreal and no amount of creative thinking will help with working it out. This is one such crazy surreal piece.
Sled One, M32 Spot, Bristol, September 2020
Painted alongside some of his ASK friends this intricate and detailed piece in great pinks and turquoises appears to show a sheep standing on the shoulders of a cow which is holding a pitchfork. The sheep is milking the poor unfortunate cow whose milk is spilling onton the Soker piece to its right.
Sled One, M32 Spot, Bristol, September 2020
Sled One is just getting better and better at these crazy cartoons, but it isn’t just the quality of his painting that amazes, but the creativity of his compositions that makes these pieces so good. Weird and wonderful.
Natural adventures 