For the last year or two, Hypo has been turning out terrific pieces of a consistent high quality and on a pretty regular basis. His letters HYPO lending themselves to a certain degree of symmetry, which often comes across, which is well demonstrated here and can be spotted if you focus on the positions of the five light blue arrows.
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2024
The colours are nicely presented and transition well in the fills. There is also a lot of depth to the letters created with mid-lines, shading and accents. Hypo is a specialist at creating this kind of energy and effervescence in his writing, perhaps learned from and shared with his friend Hemper, who is a master of this kind of wildstyle graffiti writing.
This is another wonderful paste-up from Abbie Laura Smith on one of the columns under Brunel Way. The portrait piece is an intricate ink-style piece in black and white, with words concealed in the girl’s hair and lips.
Abbie Laura Smith, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2024
The piece has been pasted on a colourful column, creating great contrast and focus on the portrait. I have a feeling that this might be the last photograph I have from this recent batch of wheatpastes from Abbie Laura Smith, so I will be hoping that she has been prepping some more in the studio to release another batch soon.
There is something really charming about Zeks’ work that makes it accessible and enjoyable. I don’t quite know how he achieves it, but perhaps it is the naive graffiti writing style that makes it so welcoming, and in this piece there is a kind of narrative around the letters.
Zeks, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024
The stylised letters spelling ZEKS form the core of the piece, and the story unfolds around that core. It almost feels like a travel diary, with houses, snow-capped mountains and octopus tentacles all featured. The design of the houses have a South American appearance – it would be great to know the backstory to this one. More from Zeks to come.
Paul Monsters, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023Paul Monsters, Upfest 24, North Street, Bristol, May 2024Acer One, Andy Council and Paul Monsters, Greville Smyth Park, Bristol, May 2024Paul Monsters and Mister Samo, Old Park Road, Exeter, October 2023Paul Monsters and Mister Samo, Old Park Road, Exeter, October 2023Paul Monsters and Mister Samo, Old Park Road, Exeter, October 2023Paul Monsters and Mister Samo, Old Park Road, Exeter, October 2023Paul Monsters, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2022Paul Monsters and Tom Miller, Queen Street, Bristol, May 2022Andy Council and Paul Monsters, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2022Paul Monsters and Ments, Clift House Road, Bristol, January 2022Paul Monsters and Ments, Clift House Road, Bristol, January 2022Paul Monsters and Ments, Clift House Road, Bristol, January 2022Koeone and Paul Monsters, West Street, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 21Koeone and Paul Monsters, West Street, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 21The Hass and Paul Monsters, Ashton Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21The Hass and Paul Monsters, Ashton Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21The Hass and Paul Monsters, Ashton Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21Andy Council, Soker and Paul Monsters, Waterloo Place, Bristol, June 2021Andy Council, Soker and Paul Monsters, Waterloo Place, Bristol, June 2021Paul Monsters, Anchor Road, Bristol, May 2021Paul Monsters, Bedminster Parade, Bristol, April 2021Paul Monsters, Bedminster Parade, Bristol, April 2021Paul Monsters and Soker, M32 roundabout, Bristol September 2020Paul Monsters, Leonard Lane, Bristol, December 2019Paul Monsters, Leonard Lane, Bristol, December 2019Paul Monsters, Leonard Lane, Bristol, December 2019L7M and Paul Monsters, South Street, Bristol, July 2019Paul Monsters and Soker, Waterloo Place, Bristol, June 2019Paul Monsters and Soker, Waterloo Place, Bristol, June 2019Door, North Street, Bristol, Artist: Paul Monsters, February 2019Paul Monsters, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018Paul Monsters, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018Paul Monsters and Loch Ness, North Street Green, July 2015Paul Monsters, Millpond Street, Bristol, May 2018Paul Monsters and Loch Ness, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017Copyright and Paul Monsters, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, May 2017Copyright and Paul Monsters, North Street, Bristol, April 2017Copyright and Paul Monsters, North Street, Bristol, April 2017Copyright and Paul Monsters, North Street, Bristol, April 2017
Soap, Zake, Face 1st and Chill, Coach and Horses, Bristol, April 2024
This production collaboration from the PWA crew was photographed in April this year, and nearly got left behind, had I not carried out one of my occasional archive ‘sweep ups’. Soap, Zake, Face 1st and Chill have combined to create this zany and energetic piece.
Soap, Coach and Horses, Bristol, April 2024
Starting off with Soap, who has been a little quiet of late, and this writing/character combination. I have spent way too long trying to find out who the character and cat are and what cartoon series they belong to (possibly Adventure Time?). Some beautiful blue letters here spelling SOAP set on a green and pleasant background that Chill has enhanced with his silhouetted plants along the ground.
Zake, Coach and Horses, Bristol, April 2024
Next up is a very curious character piece by Zake, which unusually has the whole character and not just the head. The character’s body is brilliantly drafted, with some lovely detail around the knuckles, stitching on the trousers and shoes, but then you get to the head… What has happened here. Expressive it might be, but I find it slightly grotesque, but that is the joy of cartoon characters, you can make them do unreal things.
Face 1st, Coach and Horses, Bristol, April 2024
Face 1st gives us a classic laughing girl piece with the letters FACE staked up in her hair. The letters follow the recent interest that Face 1st has shown in creating 3D blocks, and works very well in this piece. It is so good to observe Face 1st pushing his boundaries and expanding his repertoire.
Chill, Coach and Horses, Bristol, April 2024
Chill, I feel, is an underrated and underrepresented artist on the Bristol scene. I rarely see his pieces shared on social media, and I feel he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. His characters are always on point, full of fine detail and comic expressions, and he combines his urban ‘geezers’ so well with his beautiful and fragile nature silhouettes that accompany this entire production and others. This is a fine collaboration from the PWA boys.
Another quick rifle through my archive turned up this beautiful chrome piece by Elvs in Dean Lane from March this year. There was a time not so long ago that Elvs was a regular visitor to Bristol from his native Wales, but his appearances have dwindled lately, and I guess he has other things on his plate that makes travel and painting more challenging.
Elvs, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
I like to think that this wonderfully elaborate graffiti writing is archetypal Elvs, a complex and beautifully picked out design simply delivered. Everything here is on point, a fine chrome fill, superb fine line detail, great black 3D drop shadow, tidy light blue border, white starbursts, a bubble background set on a blue buffed wall and a little yellow halo to finish with. Certainly worth waiting for.
There are many pieces I see every day, and I look at them and I am left wondering who painted them. These tend to remain in my archive folders and get left behind… until some time later, it may be months or sometimes years, after I have established the identity of the artist, I will take a quick scan of an old folder and drag out the piece for posting. This is one of those pieces by 3GV from March this year.
3GV, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2024
The combination piece features a flat combination piece of the letters 3GV bookended by a couple of street characters. 3GV has an unusual style, that suggests he is a self-taught artist, but I have no evidence for that, just my intuition. There is not a lot of depth to the piece, but it is nicely filled and bordered with a thin yellow line. I think I may have several more 3GV pieces lurking in my archive somewhere.
At the end of each month I tend to dig out a few pieces that have managed to get trapped in my vast archive, which is organised into monthly files, and this is a piece by Grimes that I photographed back in March, but never quite got round to posting.
Grimes, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024
I think it is fair to say that Grimes has now fully bedded down as a Bristol graffiti writer, and his lively style is appearing reasonably frequently in most of the main graffiti spots in town. This yellow piece is full of energy, which is created by the shapes of his letters, highlights, and in this instance a dynamic background of cartoon pink flames. Two or three starbursts also create a sense of movement and dazzle. It won’t be too long before I have enough Grimes pieces to create a gallery.
This year, we haven’t really had to wait too long before being treated to a Laic217 piece on a reasonably regular basis, and this is one of his most recent works on the M32 cycle path. What Laic217 has presented us with here is a rather trippy, and slightly menacing (those black fingernails like talons) piece that plays into his penchant for face distortion.
Laic217, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2024
Although the piece is nicely executed, I personally find it a little unsettling, which I am sure is the point. Laic217 will push the boundaries in a way that his art can. His solid, tight, block letters contrast really well with the unconventional character portrait. Not my favourite piece by Laic217, but a great example of the way he challenges us to see things.
Natural adventures 