A gallery of wonderful street art and graffiti writing from Bristol artist Bloem (AKA Hiccup).
Instagram: @bloem_uk
Instagram Jewellery @hiccup.uk
All photographs by Scooj
Bloem
Tag: Bloem
6350. Muriel Alleyway (13)
A rising star in the Bristol street art scene, although she probably doesn’t realise it, is Bloem, who is gaining confidence in her work and growing from day to day and piece to piece. This one was painted during Bristol’s smallest street art festival organised by Rtiiika at the end of July this year, on a gorgeously warm and sunny day.
This shutter piece, painted in the colours of Spode Italian plate tableware, is a magnificent tribute to how far this artist has come in such a short space of time. (Note to self – Bloem to be my next gallery collection). Bloem had some fun painting this piece, and left the little white circle in the middle, which had a tag saying ‘TOY’ in it, as the last bit she painted.
There are all the elements that Bloem can be associated with incorporated within the piece; a hand with long fingernails clutching a spiky chain (a motif she uses a lot in her jewellery work) and a beautiful flower in full bloem (did you see what I did there?). Wonderful stuff.
6310. Cumberland Basin
Some viewers/visitors may wonder what the numbering convention at the top of each street/graffiti art post on this blog is all about, and might legitimately question whether it is helpful or not. In my mind, it is quite simple. The first number is the sequential listing of the blog post, so, this is the six thousand three hundred and tenth post I have written about street/graffiti art on Natural Adventures. The following name is the spot or road where the piece can be found, and the number in brackets (unconventionally there isn’t one for Cumberland Bain (a quirk)) at the end relates to the number of posts from that spot or location. It might have been simpler to instead have the name of the artist included as well, but when I started doing this back in 2015, I didn’t know who most of the artists were and so a place-based approach seemed more sensible.
This is an absolutely gorgeous and rather unexpected collaboration from Esme Lower and Bloem.
The collaboration appears to be entitled ‘Strength in numbers’ which might be a reference to the ‘counterprotest marches’ against the far-right riots that were happening around Britain at the time this piece was painted.
It is what I would call a ‘true’ collaboration where the piece is a mash-up by both artists, and although some parts are identifiable as being by one artist or the other, the whole thing is an integrated mixture. The hands and chain are definitely by Bloem and the eyes and teeth by Esme Lower, the rest could be by either one of them. It is great to see these two artists stretching themselves, and it would be wonderful to see more co-creations like this one in the future.
6299. St Werburghs tunnel (438)
Ah, what a joy it is to witness the genesis of a graffiti writer. I believe that this is only the second piece of graffiti writing that Bloem has painted, and her artistic skills are such that you simply wouldn’t know that was the case.
This piece of writing is clean and tight, with fabulous colours and a nicely buffed background to help the whole thing stand out, and stand out it does. Her letters are very nicely arranged, beautifully filled and finished off with a decent 3D drop shadow and tidy border. I like the shout-out to Sub, who painted the wall opposite. Bravo!
6210. M32 roundabout J3 (603)
It is a rare privilege to witness a character artist segue so seamlessly into graffiti writing, and Bloem, with this outstanding piece, proves what I already knew, that she is a natural. Not only has Bloem managed to give writing a go, but she has created a very neat and tidy piece, of a standard that many wannabe graffiti writers never reach.
Her colour selections are excellent and blended expertly as they transition through the letter fills. The letters are very nicely proportioned and regular enough, without being too regimented. All the borders and lines are clean and crisp, patterns simple and well executed, and the white highlights do enough to create a 3D look to the writing. It helps that the graffiti writing is presented on a white background with some black spots, creating contrast and framing everything very nicely. I very much look forward to more experimentation from Bloem.
6094. Frome Side (35)
Hurrah, for Bloem. Her drive and creativity are something to admire, and as she progresses her confidence seems to grow. I had been aware of this portrait piece under the M32 for a while and hoping that it would still be there by the time I got round to visiting the spot, which I can only do without the dog.
The stylised portrait piece sees Bloem significantly extending her boundaries, and while there are many things to improve on, this one reminds me of some of the early work of Hazard, Pekoe and Rhozi (Rozalita), which is encouraging to say the least. The portrait is unusual and rather compelling, and is bookended with a rather nice design on the left and her name on the right. As I have said many times before, I really like her work, and feel excited each time I come across a new one.
6056. M32 roundabout J3 (579)
I am always excited when I find street art by Bloem. She is, as far as I can see, a very friendly and talented artist who has a quirky and distinct style that draws you in. Her use of bright primary colours creates a striking contrast in her work that is rather compelling.
Bloem’s work is often peppered with recurring themes that drift in and out of her creative designs and in this piece we have the familiar hand with sharp, pointy nails and a pair of devil cherries, one of which is melting in the hand. These motifs almost fall into the category of a brand, but I suppose in street art terms we would call it a style. Anyhoo, her work is fantastic and always a pleasure when found.
5956. M32 roundabout J3 (565)
There is so much to like about Bloem’s work at the moment, and more than that, she is a really lovely person and talented artist and jewellery craftswomen. Her pieces are becoming more confident with each trip out, and she is spreading her wings, improving all the time.
This piece on the roundabout contains a few themes that she specialises in, for example the hand with sharp nails and the old-style brick mobile phone, with keypad. Springing from the phone display is a tangled growth of flowers, complete with personalities. The whole piece is set on a glorious red backdrop softened with a few patterns. This is truly stunning work from Bloem.
5917. M32 roundabout J3 (561)
It took me a little while to work out, but should have been obvious from the start that Sub and Bloem usually paint together, and this collaborative space on the roundabout was adjacent to another that they were painting as I photographed this one. It is great to see two young artists out there pushing boundaries and practicing their skills.
To the left, Sub has painted another of his distinctive pieces with very large letters, lifted with a thick drop shadow and accompanied by some wispy smoke, in the Mr Klue style. On the right, Bloem has painted a hand, as she likes to do, holding a pair of her trademark cherry devils (with smiley faces). Although the two pieces are discrete, they share a cloudy background, and there is a suggestion that the hand emanates from Sub’s ‘B’. Always good to find their work.
5843. Greenbank (106)
I mentioned in a previous post what a pleasure it had been to meet Sub and Bloem painting together under the M32 a few weeks back. The pleasure continued on finding this pair of pieces on the long hoarding at Greenbank. While the two artists collaborate, in so much as they paint together, their work is separate and distinct.
Sub writes his bold oversized letters, with deep drop-shadows, and I guess that a challenge for him is to fill a space with only three letters. There aren’t too many writers who only use three letters, I suppose that Slim Pickings, who writes TES would be one. The fill is augmented with his trademark wisp of smoke running over it, and he incorporates some interesting drip work along the top.
Alongside Sub is this quirky piece by Bloem. It would seem that she ha a bit of a thing for old ‘brick’ style mobile phones, and hands with pointy nails. What I like is that she varies these motifs from piece to piece, keeping both the theme running and keeping things interesting. Bloem is one of those artists whose work I always love finding, like Pekoe, Face 1st, Kid Crayon, Fiva, to name a few. This is a fine couple of pieces and I look forward to many more from the pair to come.
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