Bean has more than made his mark in Bristol, and his characters have livened things up a great deal. He is on a roll and there doesn’t seem to be any stopping him. This colourful piece under Brunel Way, featuring two characters and some writing, shows how the young artist is quickly growing in confidence and improving his technical skills.
Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2023
The characters that Bean paints have a very distinct look in a cartoon style that relies on using two tones of each colour in each section of the piece, light and dark, to create some depth. There isn’t much blending of colour or use of highlights, that some artists use to create depth. Bean’s writing is free in form, and very nicely filled. This is an artist who seems to be in a hurry and is turning out imaginative pieces at an alarming rate.
I am in Cleethorpes. This is something I never imagined I would say. I am here for work, and of course using the opportunity to find some street art and photograph a door or two. Watch this space in a month or two. This wall that Mr Crawls has chosen was painted three times in the space of a week, having been unpainted for months before that.
Mr Crawls, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2023
I really like this one from Mr Crawls, a return to the gull character in parrot colours. It is really well finished with sharp lines. What is new is the signature, it is the first time I have seen one, and now he seems to be sticking with it. We have seen a gull, a goose and a parrot. Does Mr Crawls have some more birds in his closet?
I really enjoy the work of Solar, and his work feels all the more enigmatic because I have never met him and know practically nothing about him other than his artwork. His lettering verges on anti-style, without going the full hog, it touches on abstract, but not quite.
Solar, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2023
It is often the colour palette that first invites you to look closer at Solar’s pieces, and this scorching colour combination has an earthy, lava, fiery feel to it, tempered by the green fragments around the edges. The piece spells out Solar, and by chance the yellow patches reflect the sun splashed dapples of light to the bottom left of the wall. Great stuff from Solar.
I caught up with Dopes and Fade for a little while as Dopes was finishing off this piece on the long wall alongside the River Avon. We chatted for a while, which was enjoyable and informative. Just as Dopes was packed up and leaving, he glanced at the piece and commented that the ‘D’ was all wrong and looked a little distorted. I have to say that I hadn’t noticed, but there you have it, artists know what they want and are deeply critical of their own work, and they always notice the little defects.
Dopes, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023
Chrome pieces are prized in the graffiti community, but I have to say that they are not my favourite, and I think they are probably more of a graffiti culture thing as much as anything else. As I would expect from Dopes, this is neatly done with consistent patterning and styling throughout.
It feels like Pl8o has slowed down a little, especially compared to previous years, although that may be in part due to the fact that I haven’t seen much of his work, which doesn’t necessarily equate to a slowdown in activity by an artist. It was great therefore to find this piece on the long wall under Brunel Way.
Pl8o, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023
I think that Pl8o hit the jackpot when he selected his letter/number combination, as there is something aesthetically pleasing about the shapes of the letters that flow together brilliantly, especially the way he paints them. These letters are filled nicely and the ‘8’ is represented by an alien cartoon style character. A fun and welcome appearance from Pl8o.
Fade, Jody and Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023
We are blessed in Bristol to have so many outstanding graffiti artists, and I have to remind myself how privileged we are to be able to enjoy such awesome free art, that most towns and cities in the country simply don’t get to experience. Three of the best artists, Dibz, Jody and Fade combined to give us this amazing Ghostbusters triptych, alongside Ryder, whose piece I will post soon.
Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023
To the left in spooky blue and green colours is writing by Fade, but just to confuse things, he has written DIBZ in a sot of mutual respect thing going on between the artists. Underneath are the letters RDA and RFK, which, if I am honest, I don’t know what they stand for, but are presumably crew names. Great crisp clean letters with a glow of green ghostly ectoplasm.
Jody, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023
In the middle is a piece by Jody, which convinces me that he is one of the most talented and versatile character/portrait artists in Bristol, has painted Slimer, the iconic ghost from the film franchise. The fact that this year Jody has painted a range of pieces including a demon, a hooded woman, a renaissance portrait (using brushes) Barbie and now Slime, simply demonstrates that he can turn his hand to pretty much anything.
Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023
To the right, the letters from Dibz are as perfect as ever. Dibz has been smashing it all year long and shows no signs of slowing down. He is painting so fast that some of his pieces are getting left behind in my archive – an unthinkable state of affairs. Yet another epic wall in this year of epic walls.
Absolutely brilliant! It feels like a long time since Mr Underbite last hit the streets and here he is on a wall that he has occupied at least twice before now. Looking splendid on a lavender background, this black and white version of our hero looks very fine.
Mr Underbite, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023
There are a number of similarities between the look and feel of Mr Underbite, and Asre’s character portraits from a year or two back, but I think I have come to the conclusion that they are not the same artist. In this piece our hapless friend is wearing a flat beanie, the best kind, which we used to call a Bennie hat, after the character in Crossroads. Indeed, the rather unflattering name that the squaddies in the Falkland Islands bestowed upon the Falklanders was ‘Bennies’ a term that had become naturalised by the time I arrived there in 1987.
It was while he was finishing off this writing/character piece that I first met Bean, and what a decent bloke he is too. We chatted for a while, and I was impressed by his knowledge of other artists in the city, which believe me, isn’t always the case with graffiti writers or street artists, who can sometimes be locked into their own work or crew and immediate friends.
Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023
I don’t know where Bean refined his skills before coming to Bristol, but he has definitely hit the ground running with immaculately finished work. This piece combines his character skills with a lovely piece of writing in great colours. The whole thing might have benefited from buffing the wall, to help it stand out a little from the fairly busy wall beneath it. There is an awful lot to like about this piece, and indeed the others that are adjacent to it. For a short while, this stretch of wall was ‘owned’ by Bean. I am definitely enjoying what he has to offer, and look forward to more from him.
It was a great pleasure to meet Bean for the first time recently, and this was one of the three pieces he has painted side by side under Brunel Way on three separate occasions. It really is important to emphasise just how good an artist Bean is, and what a significant impact he is making on the Bristol scene in such a short time, having only arrived in the spring this year.
Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023
Bean is equally comfortable with characters or writing, and here he has combined both. His original characters are creative and imaginative and always on point. Solid fills, great shading and sharp lines contribute to well worked and finished pieces. This particular character appears to be popping out of a spray can, like a Jack-in-a-box, holding a spray can of the same colour. The letters are fabulous too, with great fills and some cool shading at the edges to give a 3D effect. Altogether this piece showcases the talents of this remarkable artist.
It turns out that Mr Crawls is much more than a one trick pony, as I suspected, and has been painting different variants of his bird portrait mega-tags. The first one to appear in Natural Adventures was a Gull called Gul, then a parrot. This fun bird is ‘The Goose’.
Mr Crawls, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023
The Goose can be identified by the shape of his beak, his rather droopy eyes, and a distinctive winter hat with ear flaps. The cartoon character has been painted beautifully with clean lines and strong solid fills. I have the set of three birds so far, and plenty of unpublished gulls… I wonder what other designs Mr Crawls might have up his sleeve.
Natural adventures 