6039. Cumberland Basin

j9449j, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024
j9449j, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024

The Bristol street art and graffiti scene is so broad that it welcomes all styles and all levels of talent. We get to see it all here. Some towns and cities in the UK embrace street art through holding festivals, but have no underlying culture 365 days of the year. While there is nothing wrong with that at all, what remains is a sanitised selection of high-end art, keeping the place pretty. Upfest provides us with a microclimate of high-end art in the Bedminster area, but the rest of the city is up for grabs, and I like it that way.

j9449j, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024
j9449j, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024

A great example of Bristol’s artistic diversity comes in the form of artists like j9449j, whose abstract fills are really quite unique. There is a wonderful organic feel to his work, with plant-like forms cropping up through the lettering. j9449j’s work feels quite ‘designed’, if you know what I mean, and although some of the borders could be a little cleaner, there is an element of anti-style that works well. This is a bright and colourful calming piece.

6037. Cumberland Basin

Daz Cat, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024
Daz Cat, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024

From what I can gather, Daz Cat has been away for a little while travelling in Southeast Asia, and has recently returned to Bristol not only with some vigour but also with a newfound inspiration that is coming across very clearly in his new pieces, like this one in Cumberland Basin.

Daz Cat, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024
Daz Cat, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024

I can’t say I have really seen anything like this from Daz Cat before, it is like his work has taken a significant step change. There is more sophistication and depth to his character portrait, who appears to be a hybrid between a human and a cat. There are some great colours used in this piece, and the hair is just something else. Daz Cat has come a long way, and his journey is getting really interesting.

6000. Cumberland Basin

Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024
Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

It feels quite satisfying to reach another landmark on Natural Adventures. This is the 6,000th post featuring graffiti/street art, and that is a lot of art and a lot of words too. The first piece I wrote about was on 16 July 2015 on Park Street by an unknown artist, and was a temporary installation rather than a painted wall, little did I know then that I would still be posting street art nine years later. Today’s landmark piece comes courtesy of Zake.

Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024
Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

The face piece is unmistakably by Zake, and although I don’t think it is one of his best pieces in terms of artwork, it is nonetheless striking and demands more than a cursory glance. A face appears to be emerging from a mask which is split down the middle, but the proportions of the mask don’t quite work for me. As ever, the skill with using light and shadow to create depth and texture is Zake’s forte, and the central brown face in particular is wonderfully crafted. Onward to the next 6,000!

5996. Cumberland Basin

Fishlock, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024
Fishlock, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

This is a bright and fun piece from Katie Fishlock was painted at the Bristol Mural Collective paint jam back in April. I have featured her work a few times in Natural Adventures, and have several more of her pieces in my archives, but perhaps don’t ‘big her up’ as much as she deserves.

Fishlock, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024
Fishlock, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

Her art studio creative designs translate very well onto walls, which provide a great showcase for her design work. If you’d like to know more about Katie Fishlock, her biography on her website is well worth a read. The portrait piece here plays on the confusion of double sets of eyes, which the brain quickly dismisses and accepts as a normal face, a device used a lot in street art. I rather like the bold statement and way it is presented. Note to self – dig out more of her work from the archive.

5991. Cumberland Basin

Ejits, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024
Ejits, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

The tragedy of Bristol Mural Collective paint jams is that all too often the pieces go unsigned and so many of them fail to make it into the pages of Natural Adventures. Fortunately, this piece by Ejits was signed, but she is also an established street artist, and I recognised her work in any case.

Ejits, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024
Ejits, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

This cheeky little character piece is cleanly painted onto a graffiti wall, with part of a Klashwhensober piece behind it. Technically, it might have been polite to paint out Klashwhensober’s piece rather than leave half of it, but I don’t think he is the kind of writer who minds all that much. The adorable character has, it would seem, dropped a fart of toxic gas as described by the skull and crossbones in the ‘speech’ bubble.

5989. Cumberland Basin

Minto, Cumberlan Basin, Bristol, April 2024
Minto, Cumberlan Basin, Bristol, April 2024

The return of Minto to Bristol has, without doubt, been a highlight of the last six months as his unique graffiti writing style has significantly impacted on the already wide spectrum of styles on offer. Although Minto doesn’t follow a fixed formula, there is a lot that is distinctive about his work, in particular, it is often vertically quite compressed.

Minto, Cumberlan Basin, Bristol, April 2024
Minto, Cumberlan Basin, Bristol, April 2024

This dazzlingly colourful piece seems to have a trainer theme going on, with at least three trainers depicted in the MINTO lettering. There are also a couple of characters peering over the top of the letters, something that Minto builds into much of his work. This is a fine example of his work and an outstanding piece.

5977. Cumberland Basin

j9449j, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2024
j9449j, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2024

The artist formerly known as j9449j is obviously a person who enjoys anonymity, and has been incredibly hard to track down. I still know nothing about the artist, and just to add to the confusion, j9449j has changed their Instagram handle to @dr3amcore, this leaves me with the dilemma I have faced before which is do I stick with the first name I was familiar with or change to the new name. The convention on Natural Adventures is to stick with the first name unless the artist requests otherwise, so that is what I will do.

j9449j, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2024
j9449j, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2024

This piece was photographed back in January (I was doing a bit of archive-hopping), and features writing that I have struggled to read, but to me, it looks like “L I ? A T E R”, but I can’t make sense of that, so I must be wrong. Whatever the letters, the fill patterns are full of the wonderful plant shapes that typify work by j9449j. The colour palette is not my favourite, but in my view saved by the vibrant green/yellow flashes through the piece. I have many other pieces by the artist and hope to unearth them as the months and years go by.

5973. Cumberland Basin

Nips, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024
Nips, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

Although she has only relatively recently come under my radar, Nips is a definite favourite whose work I always feel pleased to see. I often wonder whether I would be able to identify writers’ work if they didn’t use their customary letters, and the truth is I don’t know, some have a style that is easier to recognise than others. I would like to think that I would always recognise a Nips piece even if other letters were used.

Nips, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024
Nips, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

Nips’ graffiti writing here has used a wonderful palette of colours that work incredibly well together and, as ever, her fill patterns and ideas are superb. The character ‘dot’ on top of her ‘i’ is one of the identifying features of her work. This is a great piece that stands out well from the noise of the messy background wall.

5965. Cumberland Basin

Stivs, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024
Stivs, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

I don’t know who or what CLANCY is, but it makes for some fabulous calligraffiti by Stivs, who has been having something of a purple patch this spring. The colours that Stivs has chosen for this piece are rather regal and opulent, but also a little garish in a fairground kind of way, if that makes sense.

Stivs, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024
Stivs, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

As ever his letters are  beautifully crafted and have that regularity and discipline required for calligraffiti. There are three tones of purple used in the letters, each in the same orientation to create depth and a 3D effect, and this is offset by the yellow tones, looking like gold, for the drop shadow. This is a highly accomplished piece of writing from a master of the craft.

5959. Cumberland Basin

Nina Raines, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024
Nina Raines, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

A piece by Nina Raines can only mean one thing, and that is a Bristol Mural Collective paint jam. There were several excellent pieces painted by artists of Bristol, unfortunately most unsigned, during the paint jam, and this one stood out. Nina Raines paints scenery for productions as a profession, and her skills have certainly come to the fore in this small piece.

Nina Raines, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024
Nina Raines, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

One of the things I like about artists swapping a day in the studio for painting public walls is that they have a very different take from regular street/graffiti artists, not having any rules or conventions to follow, and often their work is incredibly creative. This piece is simple… a pair of arches, one with a cloudy scene and the other with something a little bit more cosmic, a nighttime sky, perhaps. I will try to post some other pieces from the paint jam, because the work of the Bristol Mural Collective definitely has loads of appeal.