A gallery of fantastic graffiti writing and characters from Bristol’s Biers, AKA OYeah, WD40 and @Jimothy_slip from the No Frills crew.
Biers
Tag: Biers
3325. M32 roundabout J3 (264)
It says Biers and that makes me happy. Biers went through a phase over the last 18 months or so of writing OhYeah, but reverted to Biers at some point during lockdown. His Instagram handle is Jimothy_Cool_Aid, but Biers will do.
This is a nice little piece tucked around the corner on the M32 roundabout and includes a little ghost for good measure. The piece has the heading high spirits, which is a word play on the ghost smoking a spliff. The letter shapes are great and the fills ‘to die for’. A nice modest one from Biers.
3284. M32 Cycle path (84)
There is a thing at this time of year in the street/graffiti art world and that is to do a Halloween piece. I haven’t seen too many this year, although I have just been out to walk the dog and photographed a whole bunch more. This one is by Biers, who I am pleased to report is writing Biers again having spent the last year or two writing OhYeah.
This piece is a classic writing/character combination with a rather friendly looking grim reaper popping up to the right hand side of the writing. Biers has been reasonably dormant this year, so it is great to see him getting out and about.
3141. M32 Cycle path (74)
It feels like an eternity since I last saw a Biers piece that actually spelled out ‘BIERS’ rather than ‘OhYeah’, and I have to say it makes me very happy. I remember the first piece I ever posted by Biers – it had a piece of toast in it, and shortly after that I met him on several occasions while he was painting and we struck it off really well – it has been a while since I last saw him though.
This is a regulation piece of Biers writing and all the more splendid for it. His irregular sized letters are expertly filled with black and red patterning. This is a most satisfying piece.
2560. M32 roundabout J3 (176)
A Halloween double bill from the fabulous Biers from a week or two back. I got lucky enough to catch Biers while he was still painting the piece on the right featuring a cartoon Jason Voorhees from ‘Friday the 13th’.
Biers gave no indication that he was going to paint a second character piece (is it from the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’?) but paint one he did to create this double set. He seems to be enjoying the letters OYEAH at the moment although he didn’t rule out writing Biers again in the future.
Biers did explain to me the colour choices in his letters and that they were very deliberately chosen from the colours used in a game or something. If I am honest he lost me a bit on the story. I knew I should have written it down at the time. my memory is like a sieve at the moment.
Anyhow this is a pleasurable Halloween romp and a fine pair from Biers. Hats off!
2461. Dean Lane skate park (249)
I don’t think these two have stopped all summer, one collaboration after another keeping the walls at Dean Lane skate park lively. The No Frills duo are Slim Pickings on the left and Biers on the right.
Slim Pickings usually paints the letters TES in pretty much exactly the same format every time he hits a wall, but this one is ever so slightly on a slant, like a little touch of italics has been incorporated. Also, I don’t think that the line through the E and S is Slim Pickings’ work, it just feels a little incongruous. Tidy work as usual.
On the right, Biers, who I call Biers because he used to write Biers, has written OYeah, which is what he writes these days, so I suppose I should call him OYeah, but I’m not going to because I call him Biers. No character this time, but it matters not, his writing is so full of character and movement that it is like a character in itself. These two work so well together. I wonder if they share the cost of the paint…
2385. Dean Lane skate park (239)
The No Frills crew have been pretty busy this summer, and this is the latest of several recent collaborations in Dean Lane. The common contributor with all the collaborations appears to be Biers (AKA Jimothy Kool Aid), who writes ‘Oh Yeah’ and combines the letters with a characer.
The left hand side is by Biers and the character is a rather fun and young-looking Mick Jagger. The writing is tight and just what you’d expect from Biers, nicely thought out and the colours are great.
On the right there is a ‘TES’ from Slim Pickings with a magnificent fill that transitions between orange with red spots to red with orange spots, a technique I have seen him use before to great effect. Another nice collaboration from this pair.
2302. Dean Lane skate park (227)
Recently on the long wall at Dean Lane skate park was this No Frills extravaganza from Biers, Slim Pickings and Bags. It seems that these guys, and they are not alone, are well and truly out of hibernation and painting furiously at every opportunity.
On the left is a wonderful ‘creature from the wack (sic) lagoon’ by Biers set in his ‘O Yeah’ writing. I do like his character-writing work and the shapes of his letter style is pretty unique, and I know how hard he works on drafting these pieces because he shares his sketches regularly on Instagram. It is great to see them come to fruition.
In the middle of this collaboration is the distinctive ‘Tes’ of Slim Pickings forever reaching out for perfection in this form of writing. I don’t think I have ever knowingly seen anything by him that isn’t a version of this. A master of consistency and colour combinations.
Finally on the right is a piece by an artist I still know nothing about other than that he is in the No Frills crew/movement, Bags. His letters are large, clean and bold. You can see how he has used the brick-line to fade between the two shades of filling, a great technique for getting straight lines. Looking forward to seeing more from Bags and maybe if I get lucky coming across this lot when they are out painting.
2283.Dean Lane skate park (223)
It can be a little tiresome for people like me when artists change their ‘street’ names, because it mucks up how I catalogue them and how I write about them. A case in point is Biers (old name) who now goes by the moniker Kool Aid, and instead of writing Biers like he used to, writes Oh Yeah instead. I am a creature of habit so will continue to call him Biers, so there! In this piece he has teamed up with No Frills stablemate Bags about whom I know zilch, so some work for me to do there.
The standard approach from Biers is to accompany his uniquely stylish writing with a little character, usually associated with a TV cartoon character. I rather enjoy trying to find out who his little characters are, but in this piece my Google research has failed me. Nice tidy collaboration.
2189. Dean Lane skate park (209)
This is the second No Frills collaboration in Dean Lane in a month or so from Slim Pickings and Biers, which is nicely set on a black background with a Day-Glo green/yellow ‘cloud’.
On the left is the Biers piece that features a cartoon scientist, whose test tube is bubbling over with the luminous green/yellow stuff. After a little Googling I found out that the scientist is Professor Utonium from the Powerpuff Girls – a cartoon series that completely passed me by. I’m not sure what the writing in this one says, he seems to write something different each time now, which is great.
Slim Pickings on the other hand remains utterly consistent with his design and the letters TES. I guess that for him he seeks to perfect something he is familiar with, and although the design remains the same, the colour selections and one or two little inclusions vary it and continue to hold interest. Another great collabortaion from these two.
Natural adventures 