A gallery of graffiti writing and characters from the excellent Bristol writer Turoe.
All photographs by Scooj
Turoe
Tag: Character
3390. M32 Cycle path (97)
This is the first piece I have posted from an artist new to me who writes under the name EMAN. I note from his Instagram that he has been painting Bristol walls for a while, but I just don’t seem to have come across his work before. In the gloom of an evening a couple of weeks back I was lucky enough to meet him while painting this piece during an impromptu paint jam along the M32 cycle path.
Eman was rather pleased with his character in yellow, which he was developing and which I think might become a bit of a signature element to his work, a bit like Chuck is in Decay’s work. This piece spells out EMAN in a thin yellow strip with a shadow that gives the sense of a piece of ribbon, which is rather clever.
This is a nice piece and I already have a few more on file for posting sometime soon.
3367. Brigstocke Road
Finding one Sepr piece is always a treat but to find three is like Christmas coming early, and Christmas certainly came early for me a week or two back. I had taken the dog for a road walk – it is way to muddy in most of the parks at the moment and I was weaving around aimlessly in St Paul’s when I came across Dicky’s Barbershop and these three new pieces.
Each of the window shutters and the door shutter has a different prime colour piece on it. The door in the centre on a yellow background has a lady with an umbrella petting her dog who is upright on his hind legs.
On the left of the door is the blue panel in which a man is sitting and reading a book while a little bird is perching on the top of the book and pooping on the man’s toes.
The third panel, to the right of the door is set on a red background and hosts another man sitting cross-legged listening to music on his earphones while two birds flutter around him, looking like they are enjoying the music too.
Quite what any of this has to do with a barbershop I don’t know, but it brightens the place up no end.
3356. River Avon (11)
I haven’t posted a Rapt piece for quite a while, even though I have several in my archives – I’m not sure why, sometimes it just breaks down that way. This is quite an old piece by the artist, but one I only recently photographed while walking the dog alongside the River Avon.
Rapt is one of those artists who usually incorporates a little character alongside his writing and here it takes the form of a ghost wearing round sun specs. The writing is nicely done although the purple and green don’t work too well together in my eyes, especially with the red and black 3D shadow on the letters. The yin yang symbol works nicely though. Colour selections are a very personal thing, but to the viewer some combinations work much better than others. I need to dig more of his work out of my archive.
3332. Brunel Way bridge (75)
Virtually impossible to photograph properly, but wonderful to see is this Halloween Taboo piece. I seem to recall a little while ago saying that I hadn’t found many Halloween pieces this year – well, scratch that, I have found rather a lot, and on this wall there were six or seven alone.
It is tricky to see the full Taboo on this, but I think you get the idea, and the character ghost is absolutely brilliant. I think the contrast between Taboo’s letters and characters is what makes his work so interesting, almost as if they are by two different artists.
A very fine piece indeed.
3279. Cumberland Basin
Discovering new artists about the place is definitely part of the fun of seeking out street art, and meeting Mudra and subsequently finding several of his pieces in quick succession has been very rewarding. Although he has not been in Bristol long, he is certainly making his mark.
This piece is on the long Cumberland Basin wall and incorporates his soft pastel colours into the letters MUDRA. The writing is really clever with the letters being concealed through the piece – can you find them? In the centre is one of Mudra’s pink faced characters wearing a cap. This is a fine piece of work which stitches in all sorts of ideas and techniques. Lots more to come…
3272. Dean Lane skate park (360)
Around the time of lock down when the streets were rather empty, some artists took the opportunity to hit walls hard, some others disappeared almost entirely… Soge was most certainly in the former category. The he went a bit quiet, and this newish piece in Dean Lane is the first I have seen for a month or two.
One would normally associate Soge with his elaborate graffiti writing but he has been moving gently in the direction of character pieces (who can forget his lock down beavers?). This is an unusual and fun piece, clearly commenting on the coronavirus pandemic and our obsession with the news and ‘pandemic group behaviours’. The character looks like something out of Dungeons and Dragons and is really nicely painted and the green gives it a magical feel. A more than decent piece.
3248. M32 roundabout J3 (257)
Robin Hood, Robin Hood riding through the glen… Well there you have today’s ear worm, sorry. This is a rather nice little piece from Veks, that is modestly tucked away near a tree on the M32 roundabout wall.
It is quite an unusual piece With large chrome letters and bang in the middle an old school character looking very much like Robin Hood to me, but I am probably wide of the mark on that one. Still, as with all art, there is what the artist paints and there is what the viewer sees and these may not be the same thing at all. I rather like this understated offering.
3236. Jamaica Street (23)
Tucked away in a doorway on Jamaica Street is the third of three recent pieces in Bristol by London-based artist Nathan Bowen. All three have been roughly the same size and in portrait orientation, which is quite unusual for street art, most of which is in landscape.
The scribbled cartoon character is holding a sign with the words ‘I am a Man’ on it. I don’t know what this piece might refer to nor whether it has any political significance but I really like it. I am a fan of Nathan Bowen’s unique style and would surely love to see him hitting the walls of Bristol more often. Pitu about the rather useless ‘plus’ tag in blue, but it goes with the territory.
3199. M32 Cycle path (77)
There is no stopping Daz Cat these days and he seems to derive pleasure out of both quick throw up pieces and more considered cat characters. This one on the M32 Cycle path seems to be a bit of a blend of the two.
I expect this piece will make a further appearance with Thursday Doors sometime in the future so appologies in advance for the duplication. This alley cat looks quite at home in these surroundings, complete with its missing tooth and slightly unkempt appearance. Another one for the collection.
Natural adventures 