I think that there is something about street art and rabbits, or at least I seem to come across a disproportionate amount of them in my travels. This fine example is by Nevla and resides in one of the tunnels up by the Ikea roundabout on the M32.
Nevla has only relatively recently crossed my radar, but I like his unique cartoon style that he brings to the table. I don’t yet think I have seen any of his work outside a tunnel…maybe it’s time to break cover.
I haven’t posted much from Hire for a while, and sadly I got to this one just a few moments too late it looks like. It is a real shame that some idiot has run a white line through this piece, and the beautiful Sikoh and Dibz piece next to it. Arturo has little to be proud of in my view.
The amazing thing about this piece is that it is not a collaboration, the whole thing is by Hire, the Gothic influenced writing on the left and the dayglo bunny on the right. I like the way he has put these pieces side by side with their contrasting backgrounds. The colours used for the writing would make Decay very happy (he uses exactly this palette form most of his work). And, just in case you weren’t sure, the bunny helps us out with the location of the piece. Fine work.
Many will instantly recognise this pair of rabbits as the work of NEVERGIVEUP. I’m not quite sure why I always put his name in full caps, I think it might be because he uses them on his Instagram account. He tends to sign his work NGU Familia or in this case #GGUFam. I tend to get locked into conventions, so it is difficult for me to change what I have been calling him from the start.
I recently found out a little bit more about the artist, and he told me he works as a restaurant manager in the Harbourside – the flexible hours probably suit his insatiable appetite for street art. He hopes to ‘go pro’ on the art side of things, and I think with his determination he’ll make it.
These crazy goofy rabbits are brilliant as always, and seem to be getting better and better.
I love, love, love this one from NEVERGIVEUP in Moon Street. Regulars will know that I am very fond of his bunnies, but it is as much to do with the location and environment as it is to do with the artwork that attracts me to this piece.
The door in the wall leads to a derelict old building and gets sprayed regularly, but there is something about this rabbit that just seems to be utterly representative of how a little bit of art can bring a ray of sunshine to a grotty area. It stands out even more because of the way it contrasts with the wall and graffiti either side of it. All good.
I like collaborations, I think they shed the street art community in a good and friendly light. This particular one is between Mr Draws, the writing, and NEVERGIVEUP whose bunny is unmistakable.
After his phase of spraying monsters everywhere it seems that NEVREGIVEUP has resumed with his rather friendly rabbits, there are a lot of them about, which is fitting I suppose.
The Mr Draws writing is playing with an idea he has used before, which is to spell out ‘draw’ in German (Zieht) and replacing the Z with a 3. I think however, that this word draw means to pull like drawing water from a well, but don’t quote me on it…I know no German at all. A fun collaboration.
I include this piece because it demonstrates that there is ‘graffiti creep’ happening in Bristol and where graffiti goes, so the art tends to follow. This wall is on a stairway up to Brandon Hill park and until relatively recently there was no graffiti here, but as the number of graffiti/street artists grow, and the number of walls/hoardings are lost, so the search for new walls begins. A natural succession, often brought about by gentrification.
The bunny is easily recognisable as the handy work of NEVERGIVEUP, who seems to be a bit of a pioneer when it comes to finding new spots to spray. He is unafraid and adventurous which is amazing as he has only been in Bristol a little over a year. The Rabbit is nicely executed, as you would expect, but it is the location that makes this piece stand out.
Sprayed either at the end of December or beginning of January this is another wonderful rabbit from Hire. This artist consistently churns out good work like this or his wildstyle writing throughout the year, and although I haven’t bumped into him for a while it is great to see his works making an appearance.
When I first became aware of Hire’s work, it was mostly in The Bearpit, however he seems to base himself almost entirely in Dean Lane these days. I am not sure what the writing says, but I would like to think it says something like happy new year. And would’nt you know it, I just typed ‘happy new year Polish’ into Google and it wasn’t this, so I changed Polish to Russian and guess what…I was right. Nice one Hire.
It is great to see the reappearance of these bunny rabbits in The Bearpit. Having spent a while populating Bristol with monsters, NEVERGIVEUP has returned to his rabbits, which were the first pieces of his that I became aware of last year.
These stylised rabbits are clean and characterful and always add a litlle bit of fun to The Bearpit.
It is becoming increasingly clear that The Bearpit is suffering once again from a drug and drink problem, with quite a sizeable community of homeless people gathering here with the cold weather. By no means are all homeless people drug addicts or alcoholics, but The Bearpit is a bit of a honeypot for both, which creates a slightly uneasy atmosphere at times. The long term solution has to be to do something about the housing crisis and providing these homeless people with a roof over their head and some dignity. From there they can try to stitch their lives back together. Sadly they will be persecuted as being the reason places like The Bearpit are ‘no-go’ areas rather than being a symptom of far greater problems created by extreme austerity.
The rabbits bring a little happiness.
A quick one from NEVERGIVEUP in The Bearpit from a little while back. This is one of his urban rabbits, before he moved on to monsters. Clean and simple and pleasing on the eye.
Although NEVERGIVEUP was incredibly busy on the streets during the year, he appears to have slowed down a little – maybe he has a new job or some other distraction, or maybe he has simply filled all those spaces that needed filling.
You will notice that this recent series of posts is a bit of a catch up from archives that I have held on to, but can hold on no longer…they all have to see the light of day at some point.
This is a wonderful jagged bunny by Hire from way back in January, before I knew who the artist was. This piece got left behind. I think I have several more old pieces from Hire and I fully intend to get round to posting them one day.
The green rabbit on the ping background works particularly well I think. You might notice he sprayed this over a Mr Draws piece, one I never saw! The bunny looks as cold as I felt when out walking to take this picture. I am not really looking forward to the inexorable march of Winter. You might notice he sprayed this over a Mr Draws piece, one I never saw!
Natural adventures 