Cumberland Basin – Page 12 – Natural adventures

6427. Cumberland Basin

Sait Bare and Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

I think that Zake is not only incredibly prolific, but is also one of those artists who is happy to collaborate with anyone. Some artists are quite particular about who they collaborate with, but Zake, it would seem, just loves to paint with other artists. In this piece he has teamed up, to great effect, with Sait Bare.

The writing, spelling SA(I)T, is by Sait Bare and is typical of his non-conformist letter shapes and cloudy fills, a style that takes a little getting used to, but which is really growing on me. The ‘i’ is supplied by painted by zake in the form of one of his distinctive cartoon portraits, whose body makes up the stem of the ‘i’ and whose head is the dot on top. This is an unexpected and rather successful collaboration, and I suspect not the last from this pair.

6424. Cumberland Basin

Bbygwya (Flux), Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2024

There have been many ‘get well’ tribute pieces about the place for Mena, who suffered a motorcycle accident (I think) while travelling in Thailand a while back, and this one in Cumberland Basin by Bbygwya, or Flux as she is more commonly known is an absolute beauty.

Bbygwya is something of an enigma who can produce some really high quality pieces in varying styles, but is also rather fond of quick and dirty throw-ups. I particularly like the horizontal fills in this piece and how they give the whole thing the appearance of shiny metal, by design or accidentally. A nice shout out of ‘We love you’ rounds the whole thing off nicely.

6416. Cumberland Basin

Soker and Sled One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2024

When the best get together, small miracles happen. And when I look at a collaboration between Soker and Sled One, I find myself asking (again) how do they do this? Of course, I know how they do it, but technically and creatively it becomes unfathomable.

Soker, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2024

The writing to the left is by Soker, and I would like to add that it is wonderful to see him out painting a little more often these days after a prolonged quiet period. The beautifully crafted letters are filled with a stunning combination of colours that work perfectly together. This is wildstyle graffiti writing at its best.

Sled One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2024

The character piece is by Sled One and features a young man (self-portrait?) gazing into a lava lamp filled with trippy smiley faces that bleed into the rest of the collaboration. Sled One not only creates these marvellous characters and scenes, but tells a whole story, which the viewer is challenged to piece together. This is a very special collaboration.

6394. Cumberland Basin

Sait Bare, Cumberland Bain, Bristol, August 2024

Painted as part of the World Wall Stylers ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ paint jam, this is an absolute beauty by Sait Bare, and possibly the best piece I have seen from the artist yet. Although there is no character, Sait Bare has adhered to the colour scheme, and thrown himself into the collaborative effort.

The colours are expertly blended with beguiling patterning running through the letters which spell out SAIT. There is a smoky, ephemeral feel to the whole piece, all very atmospheric. There is a bit of a juxtaposition between the wispy fills and the solid 3D drop shadow, but I think it comes together nicely.

6388. Cumberland Basin

Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2024

It is quite unusual to find a Hire piece outside the Dean Lane skate park area, but here he is joining in the fun with the World Wall Stylers ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ paint jam, and although his piece isn’t as overtly on-topic as most of the pieces, it is nonetheless a part of the whole wall.

The wonderfully crafted letters spell out HIRE, but I was sorely tempted to fib and say they spelled RABBIT. A feature I haven’t noticed about his work before is the long shadows that have been cast from the tips of his letters, which seem to lift the piece a little. This is a nice reversion to his more spiky style that sets him apart from other writers.

6380. Cumberland Basin

Zake, Noise and Drake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 29024

This is another section of the incredible World Wall Stylers ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’, paint jam from last month. I made a bit of a booboo with my photographs of this section, and have included the Jessica Rabbit character by Drake, on the right, and severed it from his piece of writing (to follow), But somehow I felt it worked better bookending the writing by Noise and Zake’s Baby Herman on the left. – this may have been a mistake.

Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 29024

Zake has been producing cartoon characters for as long as I have been posting his work, but this is the first time I have seen a character based on an existing artwork. Rather than being a faithful reproduction of Baby Herman, this is very much a Zake take on the little cigarette-smoking infant. Very nicely done.

Noise, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 29024

Noise, as I have said countless times this year, is absolutely smashing it with every piece he paints, and this characteristic writing has very much adhered to the colours of the brief.

Drake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 29024

Finally the character of Jessica Rabbit really ought to be attached to the writing of Drake to its right, but I goofed, so it is here with the Noise and Zake pieces creating a rather nice little Triptych. This particular paint jam proved to be a fabulous showcase of talent. Big ups to Participants and to World Wall Stylers.

6366. Cumberland Basin

Peanutsdeli, Cumberland Bassin, Bristol, August 2024

Who Framed Roger Rabbit was the theme for Chapter 16 of World Wall Stylers, and the Bristol graffiti writing and street art community went to town (toon town). This is a remarkable piece by Peanutsdeli, who doesn’t live in Bristol, but visits often enough to be part of the gang.

Peanutsdeli’s work adopts the manga cartoon style, and here he fuses that with characters from Roger Rabbit, with the chief protagonist himself and a manga Baby Herman. Peanutsdeli sticks to the brief really well in terms of content and colour, contributing fabulously to this wall.

6360. Cumberland Basin

Abbie Laura Smith, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2024

I am getting close to the end of the latest batch of wonderful paste-ups by Abbie Laura Smith, and genuinely can’t wait for her next release, which might not be for a while as I imagine it probably takes quite a lot of time to draft and assemble her wheatpaste pieces, and to find suitable locations for them too.

This is another amazing portrait piece in black and white, where large parts of the face and hair are taken up with words, which might be lyrics to a song, but I haven’t yet deciphered them. I can read some of the phrases, but when I Google them I don’t get anything that makes sense. I will keep trying. This is the skill of ALS’ pieces, they ask questions and create curiosity. Clever and beautiful stuff.

6356. Cumberland Basin

Lokey (Lokea) and Ember, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2024

It is so good to see Lokey painting a little more often these days, and I wonder if the frequency of his painting is related in any way to his daughter joining him and ‘collaborating’ with him – pester power can be a very compelling force. This is one of several recent collaborations that Lokey has painted alongside Ember.

Lokey has taken to writing LOKEA, which I suppose is simply switching things up a little, which writers like to do from time to time. His distinctive anamorphic writing style lifts wonderfully well from the wall. His daughter, Ember, has painted a cat, her character of choice, and I have to say it is rather good. I don’t know how old she is, but I can see that there is great potential. It looks like naïve, childish art because that is exactly what it is. Fantastic!

6346. Cumberland Basin

In my view, wheatpasting is a much underrated branch of street art, perhaps because the artwork itself is usually created in a studio and the street art bit comes into the placement of the piece. I, however, embrace the art form because it is often quite meaningful or challenging, and the skill of placement is as significant as the art itself.

Abbie Laura Smith is Bristol’s only active wheatpaster at present, so when she releases a batch of her work, it is always an exciting time trying to track them down. This is classic Abbie Laura Smith… a black and white portrait of a woman (slightly moody) with long, flowing hair. The piece almost looks like a woodcut, although I think it is an ink drawing. I’ll need to find out more about her technique. I can comment on the composition, though, which I think is wonderful. More from this batch to come.

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	scooj on Telling a tale
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	paulh121 on 7566. L Dub (84)
	paulh121 on 7564. L Dub (83)
	scooj on Telling a tale
	M. on 7565. St Mark’s Avenue (1…
	M. on 7564. L Dub (83)

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