I met Ayup about a year ago in St Werburghs tunnel when he was visiting Bristol, and I remember asking him if he visited often. I think he said only occasionally. I recall that he comes from Derbyshire, hence the name.
Ayup, L Dub, Bristol, July 2025
This superb character piece was painted during a paint jam, which I think was for somebody’s birthday, but I forget who. The large-headed character has had his roller out and been buffing walls, always a good theme for character pieces. Ayup has done a great job, creating a believable and rather grumpy looking character. All good.
In the furthest southern tip of the Brunel Way spot, is a DIY skate spot and this wonderful recent combination piece from Conrico brightened up this dark spot. It is usually pretty tatty around this wall, where materials for building ramps etc. for the skate park are scattered.
Conrico, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2024
The writing is nicely done, set on a swirly patterned background, but it is definitely the portrait accompanying the writing that catches the eye. I think that it is the woman’s hair which draws the eye – it is a really nice and happy portrait. Not long after Conrico painted the combination piece, the council came along and buffed the wall, although they decided to keep the portrait, which is curious really, because it is all illegal graffiti.
Conrico, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2024
I believe that the buffing is done by gangs of people doing community service for some misdemeanour or other. The problem, of course, is that this is a completely fruitless exercise, and waste of grey paint, because a buffed wall is a blank canvass.
Newly buffed wall, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2023
In the dying embers of the Bristol Mayor’s tenure, it would appear that Marvin Rees is finally waging war on graffiti in the city. He has always shown a desire to keep the streets of the city clean and tidy, and recognised that graffiti and tagging is a challenging problem. In recent weeks, it has become noticeable that some walls in popular street art/graffiti spots have been buffed in a rather drab ‘Bristol grey’.
Teao One, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2023
Now here’s the thing. I can understand clamping down on tagging, especially on private property or in certain locations, but buffing walls in places which have a long history of street/graffiti art (for example St Werburghs tunnel), is a mindless waste of time and money, it could also have the unintended consequence of artists moving on to new walls and locations. A newly buffed wall is an invitation, a blank canvass upon which to work.
I believe that it would be infinitely preferable to set up legal walls/spots where there is a legacy of graffiti, with an element of curation or self-determination. Then, working with the street/graffiti art community, create some graffiti-free areas of the city and concentrate on policing those. Of course, commissions and permitted walls would still be a thing, but throw ups, bombing and tagging (which are currently illegal anyway) could be where the Bristol City Council (BCC) concentrated its efforts. I realise that this is a tricky dilemma, and is about managing subversion, but I can’t help thinking that every time BCC tackle this, they go at it like a bull in a china shop, without any clear strategy, and end up with a lose-lose situation in an effort to appease ‘small c conservatives’ whose hatred of any form of street art is visceral.
Teao One, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2023
It didn’t take Teao One very long to paint on this newly buffed wall, which had gone over his ‘Bad meaning Good’ piece (see this morning’s post). The words say it all. The point is that the whole of St Werburghs tunnel has been a graffiti spot for years, but BCC chose to buff two small sections at the entrance (spending our taxes), for what purpose? What is their intention? What engagement has there been with the local community? It is nuts.
The saga continues – the last time I went to the tunnel, the two short sections of wall had been buffed again. This could get nasty.
Other cities in Europe, such as Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris, Brussels etc, etc, all have a culture and history of street/graffiti art, but it hasn’t stopped the visitors from flocking to these places, and in many cases (I specifically went to Barcelona to see its street art) the street art scene drives visitors and investment.
The only reason Bristol hosts Upfest, Europe’s biggest street art festival, is because the city has a long and rich street/graffiti art culture. The Festival is something to be proud of and drives inward investment. How do you reconcile that with attempting to drive the culture away?
Natural adventures 