Tag: Desi

5694. Cumberland Basin

Desi, Lupa, Pekoe and Evey, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023
Desi, Lupa, Pekoe and Evey, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023

The Resting Bitch Face (RBF) crew have been seriously busy this year, and giving PWA a good run for their money. In this recent paint jam, the ladies have shown their support for the people of Palestine, by incorporating the colours of the Palestinian flag into the piece. There have been so many protest pieces about the war in Palestine, and as I have mentioned many times before, street art captures the mood of the moment and provides a running social commentary, which I have the privilege of photographing and recording before it disappears under ever-increasing layers of paint. This grouping of four of the artists, Desi, Lupa, Pekoe and Evey was in addition to others from RBF (posts to follow).

Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023

On the left, Desi ha painted another of her VEIL pieces, and it now feels like an eternity since she last painted DESI – she appears to have well and truly moved on. Her colours are those that are adopted across the whole collaboration, namely chrome and gold, a very striking combination. This is a nice tidy piece from Desi, enhanced with some pink and purple spots and circles around the writing.

Lupa, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023
Lupa, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023

Lupa, I guess like all the RBF artists, is painting more often, and I am enjoying seeing more of her work about the place. This is a nice tidy piece incorporating her trademark ‘U’ character – her work certainly lends itself to the saying ‘less is more’, where her big fat letters with simple designs, hit home. A little bit more practice with her white boundary lines would lift the whole thing to another level.

Pekoe, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023
Pekoe, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023

Pekoe has been turning out some exceptional work this autumn/winter, and this portrait is right out of the top drawer. There are minimal decorations on the face, which is a simple solid gold face with features picked out in black. The lips are painted with the Palestinian flag, and the colours are repeated as peace symbols around the portrait. The highlight of the piece for me is the bunches, studded with gold balls – it just looks brilliant and is a really memorable image.

Evey, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023
Evey, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2023

Finally, Evey, whose work has stepped up a level this year, has painted a clean and crisp piece with some fabulous features. Evey has chosen to write all her letters in chrome and to accompany them with some golden touches to bring them to life, including a crown and an exclamation mark, the dot of which has the colours of Palestine. A nice red, white and green RBF rounds off the right-hand end of this impressive wall. Bravo RBF!

5616. Sparke Evans Park (84)

Desi, Peggy and Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Desi, Peggy and Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023

I don’t know how old this lovely triptych by RBF bedfellows Desi, Peggy and Evey is, but I think it slightly predates the much larger RBF Halloween collaboration just to the left. A rather pleasant appetiser to its immediate neighbour. Desi has adopted her joined up writing for this piece which is neatly and tidily presented.

Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023

Desi leads off on the left with another Veil piece using the light blue and yellow colour palette adopted for the collaboration. I have to say that I don’t think the colour combination is an especially good one, looking a little anaemic against the autumn leaf litter in front of it. Desi has some nice horizontal fills and subtle dot details and the 3D drop shadow helps it to pop out from the wall.

Peggy, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Peggy, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023

Peggy has made an oblique reference to the colour scheme with the incorporation of a yellow colour in some of her details. The floral display, complete with an eye at the centre of the flower is exactly what you’d expect from Peggy, containing some nice detail in the levels and petals. I don’t know what the letters AIZH stand for, but you can make them out at the base of the piece. Peggy’s work lends itself very well to being the decorative filling between two pieces of graffiti writing.

Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023

To the right, the effervescent Evey has knocked it out of the park once again. Her letters are nicely thought out and she has reflected the horizontal fill regime in Desi’s work on the other side, and has come up with some decorations in the letters that make them feel substantial without being too busy. More great work from these three who appear to enjoy painting together.

5610. Sparke Evans Park (83)

Lupa and Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Lupa and Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023

It is not so long since Halloween, and this year I seem to have quite a lot of festive pieces to share, and not at the end of November or December. The reason for these more timely posts is that the artists were out a little earlier this year with many painting their Halloween pieces in mid-October. This pair of pieces by Lupa and Desi were painted as part of a large gathering of the RBF crew who were joined on the day by a Birmingham all-female crew called FKB (Full Kulla Burners).

Lupa, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Lupa, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023

On the left of this pair is a great piece from Lupa, whose carefree approach makes for easy viewing. With her work, I always get the feeling that she is relaxed, and painting within her limits for the sheer joy of it, and I really like that about her work. As usual, Lupa has had a bit of fun with the ‘U’ in her name and has presented her letters in her customary style while adopting the paint jam colours of the day.

Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, October 2023

To the right, Desi has painted a lovely VEIL piece which seems to be her preference these days – I haven’t seen a DESI for a while. I particularly like the screaming ghost face in the second heart. Great letters and some interesting fills. It is weird that the gold colour has picked out the markings on the wall, almost looking like Desi has painted the markings deliberately, a mechanism that many artists use to give the impression they are painting on a wall instead of on a flat surface. Great work from these two.

5458. M32 Cycle path (225)

Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2023

Ooh! I love this recent piece from Desi, whose work just gets better and better. This time she is writing VEIL, one of her two variants, but with joined up script writing, which is a new and exciting development that works rather well.

Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2023

I have often been quite critical of artists who don’t buff walls before they paint, because the underlying graffiti can often be distracting, but Desi, whether by design or luck, has managed to pull it off with this piece. The background somehow complements her writing and helps it to stand out. Beautiful curvy letter shapes are accompanied by great blue and pink fills (that B/P combo again), perfectly blended. I think that this might just be my favourite piece from Desi yet.

5293. Louisa Street (2)

Veil, Louisa Street, Bristol, May 2023
Veil, Louisa Street, Bristol, May 2023

When I accidentally discovered the hoardings around Louisa Street recently, it was a great surprise, and I guess I was a little annoyed that I hadn’t found it sooner. I don’t think that the hoardings can have been there for too long, or at least if they have, they have only recently been painted. I say this because as far as I can see there hasn’t been too much overpainting, and there is a lot of the blue board still visible.

Veil, Louisa Street, Bristol, May 2023
Veil, Louisa Street, Bristol, May 2023

Desi has produced this wonderful VEIL piece in pinks and blues and is showing great progress particularly in the complexity and design of her fills. The 3D drop shadow and border are nice and tight, and overall this piece demonstrates the strides she is making. I am looking forward to a summer of Veils and Desis.

Desi

A gallery of fabulous DESI and VEIL writing from Bristol artist Desi

Instagram: @cherrybombb20

all photographs by Scooj

Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2023
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2023
Desi, Greenbank, Bristol, November 2022
Desi, Greenbank, Bristol, November 2022
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, November 2022
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, November 2022
Desi, Peel Street Green, Bristol, October 2022
Desi, Peel Street Green, Bristol, October 2022
Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2022
Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2022
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2022
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2022
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2022
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, August 2022
Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2022
Desi, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2022
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2022
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2022
Desi, New Stadium Road, Bristol, March 2022
Desi, New Stadium Road, Bristol, March 2022
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2022
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2022
Desi, River Avon, Bristol, November 2021
Desi, River Avon, Bristol, November 2021
Desi, River Avon, Bristol, September 2021
Desi, River Avon, Bristol, September 2021

5116. Sparke Evans Park (66)

Evey, Peggy and Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023
Evey, Peggy and Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023

The turnover at Sparke Evans Park is very slow these days, and the chance of meeting artists actively painting there is minimal, however that is exactly what happened when Evey, Peggy and Desi were painting this wall a short while ago. Of course, I had to go back again to get clean pictures of the completed wall, and what a wall it is.

Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023
Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023

To the left of the three is a gorgeous EVEN from Evey, painted in the pink and blue colours replicated through the collaborative effort. There are some nice letter shapes and a band of horizontal fades running through the letters, which are given a little bit of extra interest with squiggles, hearts and a peace sign.

Peggy, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023
Peggy, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023

In the middle is a wonderful floral design from Peggy, picking up hints of the pink and blue theme, and adding in some yellow touches to lift the design further. Each of the flower heads contains a signature eye peering out. The style of strong black lines and colourful fills betrays her tattoo art background.

Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023
Desi, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023

To the right, Desi picks up the bold lettering and colours and in part reflects Evey’s work, although there is a subtle difference in the patterning, with both colours appearing in each of Desi’s letters and alternating top and bottom halves from one letter to the next. The whole wall by these three ladies recognised International Women’s Day, and what a fine way to celebrate it.

5061. M32 Cycle path (200)

Evey and Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Evey and Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

Desi and Evey are painting buddies and frequently meet up to paint together. In fact, I met them yesterday painting together with Peggy in Sparke Evans Park, a spot I have to return to, because they hadn’t completed their work while I was there.

Evey, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Evey, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

As I have said on numerous occasions about both Evey and Desi, is that they are improving all the time. Evey has painted this rather nice bubble writing EVEN, but the most striking thing about it is that it is a tribute piece to her (I assume) grandpa, and the letters are sad ones and the ‘V’ is a broken heart.

Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

Desi has gone with her Veil variant in this piece and offers up thee hearts – how lucky we are. The letters are nicely filledand the white spots add a bit of depth. I would like to see Desi start working on some more complex fill patterns, which I think she is ready for. (What am I? Some kind of school master? Cringe).

5039. M32 Cycle path (198)

Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

This VEIL piece brings a splash of colour to the overhang under the M32 on the cycle path. Desi seems to prefer writing VEIL these days, and I have no complaints about that at all, the letters work well and allow her to express herself the way she likes to.

Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Desi, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

The word that springs to mind every time I see this is ‘colourful’ and when the photograph was sitting as a thumbnail in my ‘February folder’ it stood out from the crowd. Definitely an attention grabber. Nice letters, nicely presented, and another piece in Desi’s growing portfolio.

5007. Cumberland Basin

Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2023
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2023

I met Desi earlier this week when she was painting a new piece in Dean Lane with her friend Lupa. I took the opportunity to ask Desi why she had started painting the letters VEIL, and her answer was swift and honest – “no reason, I just wanted to play with some letters”. So there you have it, sometimes there simply isn’t a backstory or meaning.

Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2023
Desi, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2023

This is a very nice piece, simple in structure and well executed. Desi continues to improve, with strong fills and sharper lines, getting better with each new piece. It is interesting that most times (but not always, as I have learned to my deep embarrassment)  you can spot the gender of the artist. For example, it would be a rare thing for a male artist to put a heart instead of a dot on top of the “i” as Desi has done here. It is almost as if handwriting is transposed onto the wall in some way.