5144. Dean Lane skate park (587)

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023

It is great to see that Hire is getting out a bit more these days. His stunning pieces have been a constant backdrop in Natural Adventures over the last few years, alongside other favourite artists. His work is always beautifully presented, and he appears to take pride in his work, albeit incredibly modestly.

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023

This piece spells out BF, which old ‘sieve brain’ here has forgotten despite being told what it stood for, only last week. The letters are crafted in his jagged writing style, tempered with a smoothness that has crept into his work more of late. The red centre and brown shading around the outside complement the work expertly. Imagine what this would look like without the accompaniments. Classy work, and a classy shadowed signature too.

5071. Dean Lane skate park (571)

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2023
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2023

Somehow, I always feel comfortable when I see pieces by Hire. Hire was one of the first artists I spoke to, and I have bumped into him several times over the years. He is a mild-mannered, quiet and modest man whose particular style of graffiti writing is always on-point.

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2023
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2023

In this small piece, beautifully presented on a dark green buffed wall, Hire has written the letters BF, which I think relate to a crew – possibly a Polish crew. The jagged letters are superbly picked out by the cream border, and the whole thing is given a lift with the black shading surrounding the writing. A class act.

4940. Dean Lane skate park (557)

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022

I rarely miss posting anything by Hire if I can help it, so I was surprised to find this outstanding piece from this gifted artist in my March archive. On the upside, I guess, I am sharing it with you now. Even though I am currently going through an unpublished back-catalogue of street art, there is at least 50% still unpublished, which gives me a minor panic attack.

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022

The striking colours used in this piece are divine and the writing itself, spelling HIRE, is outstandingly painted. The fine lines cutting through the middle of each letter is what elevates this writing from the good to the exceptional. This is an absolute belter of a piece from a lovely artist.

4835. Dean Lane skate park (541)

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022

I have long been an admirer of Hire’s (pronounced Heerae) work since I first came across his unique style of writing in a collaboration with Laic217 in 2017.Although his writing has morphed during that time, his style remains distinct and recognisable.

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022

I do like it when graffiti/street artists buff the wall first or frame their pieces in some way, as it allows the viewer to pick out the beauty of their work without distraction. This writing, spelling out HIRE is outstanding and in your face… there is no escaping it, it must be looked at, it is shouting out from the wall. His distinctive angular lines with points or thorns, and lines running down the middle of the letters providing depth, creates an overall impressive statement skilfully painted. A fine piece of work.

4251. Cumberland Basin

Like many artists, Hire seems to have woken up from a bit of a pandemic slumber. Artists seem to have split into two camps over the last two years; those that went to ground and are now slowly emerging, and those that took advantage of the disruption and Furlough to paint like never before. Hire certainly belonged to the former.

Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2022
Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2022

This is a nice double piece of ‘BFs’ from the Polish artist. I believe BF is a crew, but I don’t know what it stands for, anyway, Hire has gone for two different stylistic approaches to the letters and the end result is rather pleasing. His talent overfloweth.

4092. Dean Lane skate park (441)

I met Hire in Dean Lane the day before he painted this beauty, and he was basically sizing up the wall looking where would be best to paint his new work. I hadn’t seen him for quite some time, but he remembered me and even remembered my name, which felt good, and we chewed the fat for a little while, before I had to dash.

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2021
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2021

I like, and have always liked, Hire’s work. His graffiti writing has a distinctive jagged appearance of edges and shapes that remind me of medieval weapons and blades. The letters are sophisticated, spelling HIRE, and the colour transitions beautifully worked, with a bright band running horizontally through the piece. So good to see both the artist and his new piece.

3660. Dean Lane skate park (411)

Ticking over quite nicely and occasionally reminding us he is still out there is Hire with this rather rich BF piece. I believe BF is Hire’s crew name as his Instagram account is @hireonebf although I am not too sure what the letters stand for.

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2021
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2021

What appears to be rather different about this piece from his normal fare is the inclusion of a 3D shadow which really isn’t in his regular repertoire. It is a nice tidy piece, and I guess one directed as much at the crew as at the Dean Lane audience. A hardy perennial and one I wouldn’t be without.

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.

2983. M32 roundabout J3 (213)

This is the first in a series of Several posts from a big paint jam on 30 May 2020 which involved four Spanish artists and four Polish artists, all of which I think are resident in the Bristol area. I got very lucky indeed when walking the dog to see all the artists in action and stopped to chat with a few of them. I returned a few days later to photograph the completed pieces.

Hire, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2020
Hire, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2020

The first piece from this paint jam is by Hire, who has appeared on Natural Adventures countless times. I stopped with him for some time for a chat and asked him how he manages to get such fine detail on his work. He showed me the sketch he made for this piece and said that this style suits him and that if he were to try other styles or street art rather than writing that he would struggle.

Hire, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020
Hire, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020

I have been labelling his work as being Gothic in style, but he corrected me saying it wasn’t really gothic writing at all… oops. I guess it is perhaps reminiscent of medieval swords, spikes, halberds etc or at least it is to me. This is a lovely piece of graffiti writing, spelling HIRE, set on a cloudy purple background with some day glow green spots for decoration. A really nice piece from Hire.

Poland 1 Spain 0

Hire

A gallery of extraordinary writing and menacing rabbits from Bristol-based artist Hire.

All photographs taken by Scooj.

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2020
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2020
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2020
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2020
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2020
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2020
Hire, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2020
Hire, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2020
Hire, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020
Hire, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2019
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018
Hire, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2018
Hire, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2018
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2017
Soge and Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2017
Soge and Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2017
Hire, The Bearpit, Bristol, April 2016
Hire, The Bearpit, Bristol, April 2016
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017
Hire, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, June 2016
Hire, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, June 2016
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2017
Hire, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2017
Hire, The Bearpit, Bristol, March 2017
Laic217 and Hire, Armada Place, Bristol, April 2017
Laic217 and Hire, Armada Place, Bristol, April 2017