It is always great to see the familiar chunky letters painted by Noise. I wonder whether Noise might be a bit of a ‘fair-weather’ artist, as he hasn’t been out painting much over the winter period, or maybe he has had other commitments that have kept him busy elsewhere.
Noise, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Noise has compressed the letters a little to fit into the space, which makes them look even more chunky than usual. The rather dour colour and disposition of the letters is uplifted by the rather crude pink crosses, without which I think the graffiti writing could be a bit lost. A nice end result.
This post has been written in advance, because I will be making an early start today departing for our skiing holiday to the French Alps. I will try to post every day while I am on holiday, but it all rather depends on how things go. Meanwhile, I’d like you to enjoy this beauty from Hire.
Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
Although Hire’s work has been difficult to decipher from to time, the letters are always there, however, I have noticed that there he is drifting into a kind of abstract presentation, and this piece isn’t unlike some of Ments’ pieces, which I used to describe as organic/abstract. I love the colour selections, the shapes of the letters and the neon glow of the border green in this writing. First class stuff from Hire.
Every now and again, Donz ventures beyond his L Dub ‘manor’ and visits the centre of Bristol, and this little wall is one he has painted before. With views of the Clifton Suspension Bridge, and some cover from the rain and (in summer) the sun, this is a tidy little spot, adjacent to the long wall in Cumberland Basin.
Donz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
This graffiti writing is typically colourful, and set on a plain, neutral background, that helps to give focus on the letters. The seemingly random colour patches are semi-blended, as if they were thrown at a canvass. The piece is finished with a bunch of little circle decorations. Interesting to note, that even without a drop shadow, the writing manages to offer some depth.
Sait Bare, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
Sait Bare is a wonderful graffiti writer who paints just often enough to get himself notices, and has a style of writing all of his own. He tends to present irregular letters that have an organic feel about them, as there were a live being in there somewhere.
Sait Bare, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
This writing, which was painted alongside some Hire piece, has a wonderful deep, rich colour palette. The letters, spelling SAIT, merge with one another and it is the fills that drift through the piece that pick out the individual letters, but in an ephemeral way. Sait Bare’s work is really unusual and quite unlike anything else we see in Bristol.
Cartoonneros, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
Argentinian artist Cartoonneros has made a few appearances on these pages over the years, and it is always fun to find his diminutive stencil pieces. I think that I might have a bunch of unpublished pictures of his work from trips to London a few years ago too, which I ought to dig out of my archive.
Cartoonneros, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
This piece features a black stencil portrait of Lionel Messi (I think), augmented with an underlayer of rainbow colours. This is decent, simple and impactful work that instantly catches the eye. It is the only recent piece I have found by the artist, but I will be keeping my eyes open, because I find it hard to believe that he would visit Bristol and only drop one piece during his visit. I don’t quite yet have enough pieces to make a gallery, but when I do…
With some artists, there is a simple honesty, integrity and a resultant authenticity that makes their work so attractive. There is nothing pretentious about Lupa’s work, and this great big chunky presentation of the letters LUPA ‘does what it says on the tin’.
Lupa, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
The big yellow letters stand out on the deep red background. The fills have an electric plasma shock running through them, and I love the black swirl on the ‘P’ and the sad/angry face on the ‘A’. With this piece there is nothing but the letters and the joy. Nice shout-outs to Klofe, Lee Roy and RBF.
January is usually quite a quiet month for street/graffiti art, with activity building into the spring and summer months. However, this year it was an incredibly busy month, and I still haven’t posted more than half of the pictures I took – unfortunately they will likely not see the light of day, unless get more capacity to post in years to come (a retirement project?).
Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2024
This rich piece of writing is by Hire, one of my favourite graffiti writers in Bristol, and spells out BF, although I am not entirely what it stands for. Set on a dark background, the letters are painted in black (blue-black?), with fine midlines in red. The sumptuous red border and drop shadow (in a slightly different tone of red) round off this very attractive work.
Andy Council and Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
There is never a time when it isn’t a genuine pleasure to come across an Acer One/Andy Council collaboration. These two have been painting together for a long time, and although their styles couldn’t be more different, there is a harmony in their work that is probably supported by their familiarity with one another.
Andy Council, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
This wonderful composite creature piece by Andy Council is stitched together in his unique style. Andy has said that he is aiming to paint one dinosaur piece each month to celebrate 20 years since he painted his first. If this feathered velociraptor is anything to go by, we are in for a treat in 2025. I like the way that the cloudy puffs span across to Acer One’s piece.
Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
Acer One is constantly inventing ways to dazzle us with his graphic lettering and design. Always executed to perfection, his pieces are quite different to anything else we see in Bristol. In this piece he has combined peace and heart symbols to come up with a single entity. It is beautiful and meaningful, and I expect we’ll see more of this icon from Acer One. A fine collaboration.
Dirtygypo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
It almost felt as though Dirtygypo had been forgotten. His pieces just weren’t appearing from last autumn onwards, and I was wondering whether he might have left town. It was great, therefore, to come across this recent piece in Cumberland Basin, and all is well.
Dirtygypo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
It doesn’t matter how hard I try, I simply can’t make out Dirtygypo’s letters – I am beginning to think that the word ends with GG, but even then I am uncertain. There is plenty of movement in his letters and I like the incorporation of the character on the left-hand side. I’m sure that his work will all make a great deal more sense once I can decipher the writing.
I met Grimes for the first time while he was laying down the foundations for this exceptional chrome piece. I have to say it is so much better than I was expecting it to turn out, which is saying something, because when it comes to Grimes’ work, the bar is already set pretty high. The artist is a lovely man, and we chatted for quite a while. One of the things I found out is that he has been living in Bristol for seven years, so I think I am going to have to revisit my archives to see if I can find any of his older work.
Grimes, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2025
This piece simply oozes class, and energy. Sometimes Chrome pieces, although impressive, and ‘a thing’ they are prone to being a little on the dull side. Not so with this explosive piece by Grimes. The chrome letters, spelling Grime, are filled with some nicely worked traditional patterning, but it is the sparks and plasma threads running through the piece that take it to the next level. Excellent work from the graffiti writer of the moment (‘says who?’ says me!).
Natural adventures 