6493. Chatterton Square (10)

Sepr, Chatterton Square, Bristol, October 2024
Sepr, Chatterton Square, Bristol, October 2024

Opposite the entrance road into Temple Meads station there is a little road that leads to Chatterton Square, which isn’t really a square at all, but a road running behind the Holiday Inn Express. There are some walls and a long hoarding that surrounds a plot of land where a disused petrol station languishes, providing a central spot for street art and graffiti.

Sepr, Chatterton Square, Bristol, October 2024
Sepr, Chatterton Square, Bristol, October 2024

This section of hoarding is adjacent to one of the buildings of the petrol station and together with RichT, Sepr did a great job of decorating it. This piece is a series of little sketches and I think it might be a ‘sampler’ for his tattoo work, because each of these little designs would make a wonderful tattoo. I particularly like the penguin charming the snake and the clockwork mouse. This is an unusual and striking piece from Sepr.

6487. Chatterton Square (9)

RichT, Chatterton Square, Bristol, October 2024
RichT, Chatterton Square, Bristol, October 2024

A little while ago, when I was in the vicinity of Temple Meads station with a little time to kill, I picked up a few pieces, including this one from RichT. I have no real way of knowing how long it has been there, but it is dated 2024. A little bit of research indicates that it was painted in September alongside a Sepr piece (to come).

RichT, Chatterton Square, Bristol, October 2024
RichT, Chatterton Square, Bristol, October 2024

The striking two-tone sketch piece has the words ‘Never better’ with the letters encapsulated in little circles. Lots of flowers, a bird and some faces make up the rest of the piece. It almost feels like a study, without any central theme, which is fine and it is really nice and crisp. Doing two-tone pieces like this demonstrates great artistry, because there is nowhere to hide both in terms of design and execution. This is a nice piece from RichT.

5976. Chatterton Square (8)

Acer One, Chatterton Square, Bristol, January 2024
Acer One, Chatterton Square, Bristol, January 2024

I don’t get to visit this spot all that often, but in fairness neither do many artists, so what gets painted here tends to last a reasonably long time, and although I photographed this beauty by Acer One back in January this year, I think it had been painted some time before that.

Acer One, Chatterton Square, Bristol, January 2024
Acer One, Chatterton Square, Bristol, January 2024

The piece is obviously a protest statement about the war in Gaza and a powerful reminder of just how long innocent Palestinians have been suffering for since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023. When I think about what is happening over there, my head bursts, and like so many people I simply want the suffering to stop.

Acer One, Chatterton Square, Bristol, January 2024
Acer One, Chatterton Square, Bristol, January 2024

The letters spell out BRISTOL 4 PEACE, speaking loudly and clearly to the people of Bristol. The letters are beautifully designed and cleverly concealed, and the incorporation of the colours of the Palestinian flag speaks for itself, really. A fine piece of commentary art from Acer One.

5010. Chatterton Square (7)

Acer One and Andy Council, Chatterton Square, Bristol, December 2023
Acer One and Andy Council, Chatterton Square, Bristol, December 2023

Although I photographed this piece reasonably recently (back in December), it actually dates from October 2022. It is yet another fine combination from painting pals Acer One and Andy Council, and what a productive year they both had in 2022.

Acer One and Andy Council, Chatterton Square, Bristol, December 2023
Acer One and Andy Council, Chatterton Square, Bristol, December 2023

To the left is a rather nice birthday shout out by Acer to fellow graffiti writer Ziml, painted in the stylised font that is by now so familiar on the streets of Bristol. To the right is a Cheech Wizard, by Andy Council, constructed out of buildings and other component parts. It has just occurred to me while writing this column that the way Andy Council composes his work resembles the work of the incredible 16th Century Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who painted portraits composed of fruit and vegetables. I never thought I’d be writing that in Natural Adventures, but there you go.

4732. Chatterton Square (6)

Werm and 3F Fino, Chatterton Square, Bristol
Werm and 3F Fino, Chatterton Square, Bristol

Chatterton Square is a stone’s throw away from Bristol Temple Meads station and boasts two stretches of wall that tend to be relatively untouched by tagging, and it is a great place for artists to go to town with ‘special’ pieces. This is a rather nice collaboration between two LRS artists, Werm and 3F Fino.

Werm and 3F Fino, Chatterton Square, Bristol
Werm and 3F Fino, Chatterton Square, Bristol

The writing is by Werm and spells WE-RM. It is technically very well done, with a great colour transition in the fills and a deep drop-shadow that has a central vanishing point. The rather intimidating character, perhaps loosely based on the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, is by 3F Fino. Although the proportions of the character are a little inconsistent, it is well painted and certainly conveys an element of fear.

4714. Chatterton Square (5)

Acer One and Andy Council, Chatterton Square, Bristol, September 2022
Acer One and Andy Council, Chatterton Square, Bristol, September 2022

One of the great joys of the long hot summer has been the frequency of pieces and collaborations from Acer One and Andy Council, two of Bristol’s best established and well know artists. Their sharply contrasting styles seem to work so well together, and this piece is one of the best examples of a truly collaborative effort.

Acer One and Andy Council, Chatterton Square, Bristol, September 2022
Acer One and Andy Council, Chatterton Square, Bristol, September 2022

Acer One is responsible for the incredible geometric background and the rainbow curve (with all the right colours in the right order), creating a perfect backdrop for Andy Council’s prehistoric creatures. Andy Council has been painting these ammonites an awful lot recently, but these ones are absolute beauties. I love the way the tentacles of the ammonites interact with Acer’s rainbow line. A very classy piece indeed.

4626. Chatterton Square (4)

RichT, Chatterton Square, Bristol, July 2022
RichT, Chatterton Square, Bristol, July 2022

This is a spot I don’t visit too often, which is a mistake as there is usually some pretty good stuff to look at here. This is a lovely piece of writing, in soft colours, by RichT (I think) which looks like it spells out LOUIS or LOUISE or LOUISA.

RichT, Chatterton Square, Bristol, July 2022
RichT, Chatterton Square, Bristol, July 2022

Each letter plays its individual part in this creation, which is as much about the flower and face as it is about the writing. There is something quite cartoony about it, that makes it all rather endearing. A fine piece tucked away opposite Temple Meads station.

3657. Chatterton Square (2)

This wall presented a dilemma for me. It is one contiguous collaboration piece and I could have presented it as that, however my photographs were compromised by extraordinarily bright sunlight and I could only get decent shots of sections of the piece rather than the whole, and so I have split it into separate posts of which this is the second.

Acer One and Andy Council, Chatterton Square, Bristol, April 2021
Acer One and Andy Council, Chatterton Square, Bristol, April 2021

This panel in by Andy Council and Acer One who collaborated several times very successfully over quite a short period this spring. The two rats are by Andy Council and show his composite approach to creating creatures, where the whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts. The geometric writing from Acer One has completely stumped me, and every time I try to decipher it my eye goes funny and the pattern goes flat – it looks like it might say A2. I am fully expecting chapter and verse from Paul H on this one (no pressure Paul).

The final effect is a stunning one and there is still more to come from this wall just across the road from Temple Meads Station.

3644. Chatterton Square (1)

You don’t often see new Rowdy pieces these days, so when you do it is usually something of a treasure, and this fabulous piece, part of a collaborative wall with Acer One and Andy Council, is up there with the best of them.

Rowdy, Chatterton Square, Bristol, April 2021
Rowdy, Chatterton Square, Bristol, April 2021

Rowdy’s fairly agricultural style of art is so incredibly distinctive and deeply embedded into the DNA of the Bristol street art scene. He is perhaps best known for his crocodiles, but he has produced many characters over the years and this one is a corker. There is something very laid back about his style, unfussy and modest, that makes is interesting and rather loveable. So good to find this wonderful work.