Finding this piece in the tunnel was one of the happiest street art moments of my year so far. Fiva (Fiver) has been absent from the Bristol street art scene for a long time (last seen in 2020), and I feared that he might have moved away or given up on painting altogether, so seeing this filled me with pure joy, as I am particularly fond of his work.
Fiva, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2023
In classic Fiva style, he has painted a huge piece with large block letters that have plenty of depth and stand out from the brilliant pink buffed wall. As is customary, Fiva has painted a character looking on from the left in wonderful cartoon style. The whole thing is so refreshing after the long absence. Welcome back Fiva, I hope that this isn’t a flash in the pan.
Codo, Cheltenham Paint Festival 23, Cheltenham, July 2023
When I first started to write about graffiti and street art back in 2015, I had my own unconscious biases and preconceptions about the artists, and I must confess that I was a little afraid, believing that the edgy nature of the world I was entering was somehow representative of the people creating the art. How utterly wrong I was, and what a fool I was. I have met many, many artists and I can think of only one or two that were having a ‘bad hair day’, all the rest, without exception, have been wonderful people with interesting stories to tell, generous with their time and conversation.
Codo, Cheltenham Paint Festival 23, Cheltenham, July 2023
So, with this backdrop of incredible and talented people in mind, I met one of the very kindest and engaging people to date at the Cheltenham Paint Festival in one of the Honeybourne Line tunnels. I am talking about Codo (@codoartni). I caught up with Codo while he was finishing off his intricate/simple doodle piece, and he stopped, not only to chat with me, but went on to advise me on several aspects of can control, and gifted me some spray cans and a whole ton of banana caps. He made these gestures without any desire for gratitude, but filled with enthusiasm to help a wannabe artist. He made my day.
Codo, Cheltenham Paint Festival 23. Cheltenham, July 2023
I have not seen Codo’s work before, so it was great to see him at work on this piece. Originally he had sprayed a pink and blue background with doodles, but decided to overwrite it with black lined doodles and the resulting effect is rather good. In amongst the patterns and faces are shout-outs to other artists he was painting with and other cryptic messages. The central character, dominates the work and is a simple thick-lined version of the smaller doodles all around. This is Codo’s identity, his look and feel that underpins his work. Great stuff. I very much hope to meet him again, perhaps if he could get himself invited over to Upfest next year or something like that, that would be cool.
Tucked away, hidden by a bush on the M32 roundabout, is this fun little character piece by Bean. Although each of Beans pieces that I have seen so far are different characters, there is something about his style that it quite distinctive. It might be the colour palette that he uses, which often includes lots of bright yellow, orange and red.
Bean, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2023
This cartoon character, with a green moustache is sporting a fine headdress of flowers and toadstools. The piece it really neat and tidy, and beautifully drafted, with great use of light and shade to create depth in the facial features. I am very much enjoying Beans’s work, which seems to crop up at reasonably regular intervals.
I don’t quite understand why, but I have posted very few pieces by 3rdeye on this blog, perhaps because he only paints occasionally, but I’m sure I have more in my archives somewhere. 3rdeye pieces are a rare thing, especially outside of festivals, so it was a considerable surprise and delight when I stumbled across this piece a little while back.
3rdeye, M32 Spot, Bristol, May 2023
Painted on a utility box and wall at the top end of the M32 Spot, underneath the motorway, 3rdeye has split the piece into two parts. On the utility box is one of his imaginary characters, perched on top of an eye with a thought cloud saying “sexual chocolate”. I have no idea what this means and won’t be asking.
3rdeye, M32 Spot, Bristol, May 2023
On the adjacent wall, there are several cleverly concealed characters, painted in 3rdeye’s distinctive style, together with some letters, but I can’t quite make out what they are… it looks like E A E, but that doesn’t seem right. The piece is nicely signed at the top and demonstrates the strength in depth of talent in Bristol.
Well, well, well, how nice to see Cheo back again painting on the streets of Bristol. I wonder what has coaxed him out from what feels like a much too long absence, but whatever it is, it is great to see some fresh work from him. This is a superb, how could it be anything else?, collaboration from Dibz and Cheo.
Dibz and Cheo, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2023
To fit the collaboration on this wall, Dibz has contracted his style somewhat, and I am not certain his writing says DIBZ, but I can’t quite make out what it does say. Everything about the writing is close to perfect – this guy performs miracles with a spray can. Cheo has painted one of his characters, complete with baseball hat and ski goggles. The t-shirt says Neo Geo, which is lost on me, and of course we have his signature bee – it is great to see Cheo out and about, and I look forward to seeing more from him over the summer.
Sled One, Lighthouse Community Garden, London, April 2023
Probably the last thing I was expecting to see on my work trip to London a couple of weeks back was this remarkably busy piece by Bristol’s Sled One. Finding it gave me a feeling of warm familiarity and a sense of Bristol pride. Unfortunately, there was some construction work going on around this panel, so the photographs are not as good as I’d like.
Sled One, Lighthouse Community Garden, London, April 2023
The letters spell out SLED and there is a numeral ‘1’ at the end. The scene is a basketball game, although I am not quite sure what the significance of that might be. To the right is a curious skeletal character, and the whole thing is typically Sled Oney surreal. What a discovery. what a day!
There is always something rather nice when a new artist starts to land pieces about the place, it keeps things fresh, and adds to the incredible volume and diversity of street/graffiti art in Bristol. Bean has hit the ground running and stamped his brand in several popular spots, including on the M32 cycle path, where this is the second one that I have found here.
Bean, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023
Although I have seen a piece of writing from Bean, I think that the main focus is on character pieces, which are cartoon in style and usually pretty bright and bold. A common theme in street art is for the character to be holding a spray can, reflecting the work of the artist themselves. This blue-faced, red-haired character is holding a rather nice orange can. This piece is beautifully presented, with great shading and highlights. I am looking forward to a whole lot more from Bean this year.
This is a cheeky little piece by Enn Kay, on a small ramp at the southern end of the Daveside DIY skate park. Somehow Enn Kay manages to create a really soft finish to some of his pieces, and I don’t know how he does it. Maybe it is the pastel colours or his shading skills.
Enn Kay, Brunel Way, Bristol, April 2023
I have a feeling that the monster character was painted on a pre-existing abstract piece, although it is possible that Enn Kay painted the background as well, but it doesn’t really fit with his style. It is always good to see his monster pieces about the place. Barp!
It seems that we have another new artist on the block who is already making a name for themselves with some imaginative character pieces dotted around the place. The artist’s name is Bean, and what better way to introduce Bean than with this fabulous character piece in Dean Lane.
Bean, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
I have a feeling that the way Bean works is to draft up a digital sketch and reproduce it on a large scale with spray paints. The way the solid fills work would indicate that approach. Some nice touched here, the monocle and zip certainly add something. I have a feeling that we are going to see an awful lot of Bean this year, judging by the work rate over the last month or two.
Cort is a quiet artist who, it would seem, likes to keep himself to himself. I have met him on two or three occasions, but I think it would be fair to say we have probably exchanged about ten words between us. He had just finished painting this rather attractive piece alongside Hire, and was sitting on the grass chilling.
Cort, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023
I have long admired Corts work, which is different from most of the stuff you see in Bristol, but in recent years he has started to add characters to his writing and here he included a bear, who has a passing resemblance to Fozzy Bear. The letters spell Kortos, and are unruly in their shapes, but reasonably uniform in size. Cort’s signature fill incorporating circles or dots can be seen on the K R and S. This is a fun, vibrant piece from another of the Polish contingent of artists.
Natural adventures 