At the south entrance to St Werburghs tunnel is this wonderful piece from Decay that just kind of appeared under the radar in a modest and quiet way. I love it when that happens, no fanfare, just an appearance… as if by magic.
Decay, St Werburghs, Bristtol, June 2020
Decay has managed to introduce a gentle and light summery feel to this piece, and a really clever touch is the light grey shadings at the lower half of the letters that give the piece body and lift it out from the wall a little. The more observant of you might notice that this is a BLM piece and the ‘Chuck’ character makes a second appearance on the left hand side wall with BLM speech bubble.
This piece from Decay was painted around the time of the introduction of lock down and was a great message for people to take the lock down restrictions seriously. Street artists have definitely played their party in broadcasting good messages during this pandemic. More recently some works are a little more critical of the government’s handling of the situation, but no surprises there.
Decay, Stokes Croft, Bristol, May 2020
Decay is such a consistent artist always putting out clean and tidy writing beautifully executed. There is one thing that perplexes me about this piece, and it is the eyes with wings bookending the writing. Are these the work of Decay or another artist? I think it is Decay, but it isn’t quite in his style. Answers on a postcard…
This piece from Decay in May 2017 was encouraging people to use their vote in the June General Election of that year. An election that resulted in a hung parliament in which the Conservatives ‘bought’ the seats of the DUP to gain the slimmest of majorities, to continue the miserable administration we have become used to for more than a decade. I can’t wait to be shot of them if I am honest. The current Cabinet are an absolutely incompetent shower and the coronavirus outbreak has evidenced their poor decision making, not just during the crisis, but in running down our essential public services for more than a decade. I’ll stop there.
Decay, The Bearpit, Bristol, May 2017
The artwork from Decay is really nice and it is great to have a piece from the artist that is a bit different from his customary writing or concentric pattern work. The three ovals on the left of the Y are a similar feature used by Slim Pickings on his Ts and Ss. A nice political piece.
Decay rarely disappoints, and this rather modest chrome piece at the M32 roundabout is a very nicely worked DECAY without too much fuss and frills. Sometimes it is really good to see a ‘basic model’ that reminds us of how good some to the technical decoration adopted actually is.
Decay, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2019
Of course, the piece has superb 3D shading, beautiful white highlights around the curves and some nice drips too. Chuck , the E character, looks a little bit grumpy to me in this piece, and I have seen him happier. A nice sold piece from Decay.
A whole block of buildings bar one house on Upper York Street has been demolished and the site is being developed. While this meant that some great graff walls disappeared, they have been temporarily replaced with hoardings. A week or two back some Bristol artists hit the hoardings and this piece from Decay was painted then.
Decay, Upper York Street, Bristol, April 2020
This is a really nice piece from Decay in which he has adopted a slightly different typeface design from the one we are used to seeing. The red line outline provides a nice 3D effect and the painted drips (as opposed to drippy drips) are a nice touch.
This wall is not easy to photograph due to the big sky above it, and afternoons are very tricky indeed – I have been foolish enough to walk down there on three sunny afternoons! This might explain the slightly washed-out look in these pictures.
They just keep coming, don’t they? In this nice piece of graffiti writing from Decay, we see him return to some of his original colouring – famed for his black, white, grey and red colour palette – in this instance replacing white with chrome. It is amazing to see how his work has developed over the last couple of years, and a quick glance at this gallery I put together will give you a feel for that.
Decay, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2020
I have always had a soft spot for Decay. Apart from being the first street artist I had the courage to talk to while he was painting down in the Bearpit, he is genuinely a really decent bloke who always greets me with a smile whenever I see him. He has become part of the furniture of Natural Adventures, and that is a good thing.
This piece by Decay on the M32 roundabout is from a short while ago, but my first atempt at photographing it was foiled by the sun casting the shadow of a tree across the whole wall and utterly confusing my camera. I had to wait for a dull day!
Decay, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2020
In keeping with Decay’s ‘new look’ for 2020 he has painted his customary moniker over another word in a full caps, the other word in this instance being DECAY, so we have here a double Decay. I am liking this new concept a lot and am looking forward to where it takes us for the rest of the year.
Forgive the rain spot on the feature image, it was a very wet day when I took these pictures, and no matter how hard I tried to protect the lens from the rain, I just didn’t meet with much success. Sometimes though you simply have to venture out in all kinds of weather to capture incredible pieces like this one by Decay for fear that they could be tagged or painted over at any time, especially in Dean Lane.
Decay, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020
I am loving the new direction that Decay is taking with his writing this year, with the inclusion of an additional set of letters behind his familiar ‘DECAY’. In this piece on the famous curved wall, he has written the letters HTM, which I believe is a crew name, possibly his partnership with Rezwonk, which stands for Hold the Mustard (thank you Paul). I look forward to January when it comes to Decay, because he seems to reinvent himself, not too much, and then kicks off for the rest of the year with the new idea. This particular idea has a lot of mileage in it and I can’t wait to see more.
Another rather lovely piece from Decay. It is funny how you can look at things and yet not see them. It wasn’t until I was preparing this post that I noticed the big DECAY in black on red in the background of this piece. I saw what I wanted to see, but not what was actually in front of me.
Decay, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2020
I do like the ephemeral nature of this piece of writing, almost as though it is made out of a mist or fog, with a very bright yellow ‘Chuck’ character the ‘e’ of Decay. Another nice one chalked up for 2020.
Another New Year collaboration, they are coming thick and fast, this time from Decay and Lens. Decay is of course well known to me and to readers of Natural Adventures, but this is a debut piece for Lens, which is perhaps not at all surprising given that he comes from Melbourne, Australia and is just visiting.
Decay, M32 cycle path, Bristol, January 2020
I do like it when artists from different places hook up and paint together, it makes for a terrific sense of community. This Decay half of this combo is everything we would come to expect from the artist and ticks so many boxes… the shapes of the letters, the extravagant fills and the little ‘motion’ highlights in black on the outside of the lettering to give a sense of movement and energy to the whole piece. Perfect.
Lens, M32 cycle path, Bristol, January 2020
Using a similar colour palette to Decay’s, Lens has an altogether different letter shape, much more angular with sharp edges and corners. Lens’ fills and decorations are absolutely magnificent, and this is an accomplished piece of graffiti writing. It is so good to see some work from an Australian artist, and it is great to see that Lens has included a little shout out to Rezwonk, who often teams up with Decay, a nice touch.
