Tag: Depth

7280. St Werburghs tunnel (537)

Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025
Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025

This puffy-faced character piece is by Zake, painted in celebration of Kool Hand’s birthday, although officially his birthday was a month earlier. It seems almost impossible to exaggerate the features in a Zake piece, but he has managed to do it here, with the result that it is all a little but disturbing, the cheeks in particular.

Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025
Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025

As I have explained many times when writing about Zake’s work, he creates so much depth in his work by playing very skilfully with light and shade, using up lighting and down lighting to cast shadows and to emphasise features. Clever work from a quiet and unassuming artist.

6264. M32 roundabout J3 (613)

Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024

Well this is a bit weird, even by Zake standards, and I am not entirely sure what to make of it. To me the piece looks a bit like a cross between an aristocrat and a spaniel, and once seen, I can’t unsee it. There is something about that pointy nose that I find quite unsettling.

Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024

Zake has been on fire for a very long time and continues to push boundaries, but also reverts from time to time to his basic round face characters. His USP is working with light and shade to create depth and texture, great example of which can be seen in the eyes and cheeks of this character. Both bizarre and wonderful work from Zake.

5070. M32 roundabout J3 (456)

Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023
Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023

Given that Zake is knocking out his stylised face pieces at an alarming rate at the moment, there is a strong likelihood that you’ll be seeing lots of his work on Natural Adventures. For example, this is the third piece I have featured here since the start of the month.

Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023
Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023

This glorious face, especially impactful due to the black background, was painted over one of his previous pieces, and this is a spot particularly favoured by PWA artists. Zake is using his specialist skills, when it comes to light and shadow, to create great depth and exaggerated features in this smiling character’s face. Beautifully done and definitely memorable.

4066. Brunel Way (133)

Zake is fast becoming one of the most prolific artists in Bristol. His wonderful stylised faces are appearing all over the place with regularity, and of course improving all the time. This lovely recent piece is at the curved end of the concrete support wall under Brunel Way.

Zake, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2021
Zake, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2021

Zake’s work is typified by his extraordinary understanding of light and shadow, and the features on his faces are accentuated by the shading, gaining real depth. Often, his work will be under-lit or side-lit, but this one has a fairly uniform front-lit aspect. This piece is beautifully presented too.