This wonderful character by Veeez, or VZA, is another one I have pulled out of my archive from earlier this year, because it is simply too good not to post. There was a time when VZA first hit the walls of Bristol that it was difficult to not stumble across one of his characters of toadstools, however, of late his pieces have become a bit of a rarity.
VZA, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2025
This is a wonderful, bold and bright alien bug painted with strong fills in two shades and an incredibly precise thin black outline. Obviously the work of a very skilled artist and a superbly creative subject too. It is a pity he doesn’t paint all that often, although it is always worth waiting for.
I simply cannot fathom why it has taken me so long to post this outstanding piece by Kid Krishna in Stokes Croft, painted alongside ESKA and Hemper. It has been around since April this year, and I photographed it shortly after it was painted. These pictures are more recent, and the piece is still in great condition, looking very fresh.
Kid Krishna, Stokes Croft, Bristol, October 2025
The combination piece combines his CRIE letters to the right with a group of surreal cartoon-style characters, showcasing Kid Krishna’s extraordinary talent. There is a lot of colour and movement in the piece, especially the three characters on the left who appear to be having an animated conversation.
Kid Krishna, Stokes Croft, Bristol, October 2025
Kid Krishna is something of an enigma. He is incredibly modest about his work, has unquestionable talent, paints high-end pieces and scruffy mega-tags. I think that the overriding sense I get from him and his work is the sheer love of art and creativity. Imagination and creativity are things he has in abundance, as you can see from this awesome piece.
Scrapyardspec, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025
In the main, Scrapyardspec tends to paint his work in ‘cheeky’ spots that others might avoid, or simply not consider worth painting. His adaptable character lends itself very well to filling spaces in landscape or portrait orientation, again something that graffiti writers for example often struggle with.
Scrapyardspec, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025
This piece is at the entrance of the tunnel and makes use of a textured wall that has plenty of plant growth spilling over it. Scrapyardspec’s goofy character, reverts to its more basic form – no limbs or hair here – and reminds us of his iconic and unique design. I have lots more pieces by the artist and might have to do mini gallery at some point just to catch up.
Sled One, Oust and Stivs Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025
I came across this outstanding collaboration, intending to photograph its predecessor by Dibz and Fade who I had watched painting their collaboration, but as I have said, you snooze, you lose in this game and when I returned it had been painted over by this masterpiece. I think that this is probably my favourite collaboration of the year so far, oozing with talent.
Sled One, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025
To the left, Sled One has painted one of his magnificent cartoon-style creations, heavily loaded with political commentary. The piece is reflecting the rather unsettling rise of the appropriation of the St George Cross to represent anti-immigration (and for some, racist) sentiments, purporting to be patriotism. This is another division stoked up by the right wing parties, Reform and the Conservatives, as a wedge issue from which they expect to benefit.
Anti-immigration and racist sentiments are not particularly well-supported in Bristol, and Sled One has illustrated a large shoe squashing a gammon (“gammon” is a derogatory slang term for middle-aged, often ruddy-faced, white men who are perceived as being nationalistic, anti-immigrant, and particularly supportive of Brexit) attempting to paint a St George cross on the sole of the shoe. He is being squished. If only it was that simple to moderate this rise in anti-foreigner narrative masquerading as patriotism.
Oust, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025
The middle section of this triptych is a superbly colourful piece of graffiti writing by Oust, spelling out OUSTER. Beautiful letters, beautiful fill colours, some nice flame bursts and bubbly background. A first-class piece of writing.
Stivs, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025
On the right is an outstanding cartoon portrait piece by Stivs, which I think is one of his best, and that is a high bar indeed. The stylised portrait draws on the Japanese anime genre and has so much movement and attitude about it. The piece is beautifully executed and looks like it could be a still from a film.
Stivs, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025
As I said before, an outstanding collaboration. Bravo! Sled One, Oust and Stivs.
On his visits to Bristol, Alex Arnell has definitely made Leonard Lane his home. All the nooks and crannies in this dark, narrow lane lend themselves perfectly to his nightmarish characters.
Alex Arnell, Leonard Lane, Bristol, October 2025
At first glance, this naive style of art might be considered by some to be the sort of thing that anyone could do. This viewpoint would be a mistake though, as Alex Arnell has developed a very distinct style that he replicates through his studio and street work, and as a classically trained artist this style is anything but child’s play. This particular piece, like so much of his work, combines humour with horror, colour with darkness. It is both challenging and arresting.
The following biography is an extract from his website:
As much as I don’t like talking about my art, I feel there maybe some confusion about the breadth and chaotic nature of my practice, so here I feel it necessary to attempt to explain.
Increasingly since moving to London in 2009, influenced by the abundance of street art all around me, I have found myself making art in outdoor spaces. Alongside this, I have also continued my studio practice – usually painting and often with galleries/ indoor spaces in mind-but the boundaries blur. Audience response is also crucial to my development. I want to make art that the public will engage with/find interesting. On the street/ in outside spaces, where there are people around, there might become a performance aspect to my art making, or it might become interactive.
For a few years now, I have worked part-time in a primary school making art with children, so this has had a huge influence on my work.
As for the diversity and varied choice of subjects/handling, I want to make art that is not contrived or elitist, so I try to trust and follow my instincts with regard to ideas/media choice. Once I am involved in making, the work usually becomes process lead and my mood at the time will dictate how the artwork is resolved.
My art is usually signed ‘Alex Arnell’ or tagged ‘Sell Out’. ‘Sell Out’ is simply a tag for my outdoor work, when sometimes I might give away work for free, blu tack it to a wall or make it in a medium that can rub off (like chalk). The words ‘Sell Out’ have become synonymous with the world of Graffiti/street art (an insult thrown at artists who have used the streets as a platform to make money from their art) seemed somehow humorously appropriate.
This is an absolute corker from Zake, placing one of his iconic characters into a space suit helmet, adding layers of interest and perspective to this piece on the long wall in Cumberland Basin.
Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2025
I think that the piece was painted for a celebratory paint jam, but I forget now which one it was, there have been so many in the latter part of this year. Great work from Zake, always adding new and interesting ideas to his base characters.
Is it really November already? It is all happening too fast for my liking. Over the years, this wall has been dominated by wonderful pieces by 3Dom, and this is another one in a top class series. It is a real ‘statement’ wall which is rarely tagged or spoilt in any way, and most pieces that appear here tend to remain for quite a while, although unusually 3Dom’s last piece here was very short-lived.
3Dom, Peel Street Green, Bristol, September 2025
In pretty much all of 3Dom’s work, there are two notable things going on, firstly, his outstanding surreal artwork and secondly a strong story or message underpinning the piece. The skull is decorated with so many interesting features and details, such as the change of colour within the pink circle, the independently patterned eyes, and the floating lower jawbone. The messages ‘unity is power’ and ‘resistance is fertile’ (an amusing corruption of the Borg’s resistance is futile from Star Trek) speak of activism and speaking truth to power. More strength to 3Dom. A fine piece of street art.
Every once in a while, Alex Arnell makes a visit to Bristol, and when he does, he seems to gravitate towards Leonard Lane, an ancient narrow lane that used to be the boundary of the old city wall. Over the years it has been a favourite ‘safe spot’ for graffiti and street artists, although recently many of the walls have been buffed, perhaps in an effort to tidy up the lane.
Alex Arnell, Leonard Lane, Bristol, October 2025
Alex Arnell, whose characters are grotesque and nightmarish, has cleverly painted eight panes of glass on this window, with one screaming skeletal character in each. This is outstanding placement and use of an existing feature, although the owners of the window might argue with that. Alex Arnell’s scribbled style is pretty unique and negates the need for a signature. On this trip he left a few pieces, so watch this space for more.
This little wall (the remains of a waterworks outbuilding) can be seen from the Brunel Way flyover, and so it is quite easy to spot when it has been repainted. I confess that when I first saw the piece from a distance, I thought it was by Mote, having many of the characteristics of his artwork. On closer inspection, though, I had doubts and considered it might be a Mote/Mr Crawls combo. It turns out that it is a Mr Crawls solo piece.
Mr Crawls, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025
The character is unlike anything I have seen from Mr Crawls before, and the hatching in the pupils of the eyes (a Mote thing) definitely caught me out. The ghostly character looks slightly downbeat, but has something about it that makes it quite compelling. It will be interesting to see if this is an idea that Mr Crawls will develop further.
Bags and Biers, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025
This is a great collaboration from time-honoured members of the No Frills crew, Bags and Biers (WD40). Bags has been out an about a fair bit this year, but Biers is rediscovering his mojo (I hope), having had a period of poor motivation with respect to painting walls.
Bags, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025
To the left, the familiar BAGS letters are filled in the two-colour way that he appears to like doing, and he includes some colour coordinated spots for decoration. The tear drops surrounding the piece add movement, looking like cartoon perspiration, if that makes any sense at all. The white highlights add just that little bit of depth to lift the letters.
Biers, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025
At last Biers has painted a combination piece, something that is a bit of a trademark of his, and he includes the iconic comic character Inspector Gadget, although in this piece he calls him ‘Inspect Her Gadgets’ whilst examining a sex toy. The letters spell out WD40 and are really nicely presented. If you are wondering why I call him Biers, it is because that is what he was writing when I first encountered him. Below is the first of his pieces I ever posted.
Natural adventures 