This is an absolutely beautiful and charming piece from Desi, demonstrating what a great graffiti writer she has become. The combination piece has her VEIL letters accompanied by a small Mini Mouse character.
Desi has grown both in confidence and stature over the years. The fill in this piece is particularly attractive, incorporating some subtle white spots on grey and fetching zebra stripes, which always go down well. A nicely conceived and executed piece.
There are several names that this artist goes under; Jest Soubriquet, Jest Likes and Likes Wan Tu. I tend to stick with the first one because it is the first name I used in this blog, and if nothing else, I do like a bit of consistency. This is a wonderful wildlife piece, painted during a paint jam alongside the River Avon.
The characters look familiar, probably based on Disney’s Lion King characters. The colourful one on the left (Mufasa?) is definitely a better rendition than the one on the right, where the nose doesn’t seem quite right. Excellent stuff from this regular visitor. Note to self – time for a gallery?
Here we have another classic combination collaboration from Dibz and Fade. Both artists will have been involved in the whole piece, but Dibz leading on the writing and Fade on the alligator characters.
The alligators are called Brutus and Nero and are taken from the Disney cartoon film, The Rescuers. This piece reflects the technical skill of the two artists in every aspect of its presentation, and it all feels so easy when these two get together, but it takes years of practice and abundant raw talent to be this good.
Continuing with my end-of-year trawl through my archive, I found this piece by Dibz from June. I can’t for the life of me think how I missed posting this one, other than at that time Dibz nd Fade were churning out so many superb pieces, it was difficult to keep up.
The combination piece features the cartoon character Captain Crocodile from Disney’s Robin Hood, a film I don’t think I have ever seen. The letters spelling DIBZ are somewhat eclipsed by the character holding a cushion upon which sits a spray can. A great fun piece in the Deaner.
Only a few days ago I posted a piece by Mr Penfold, a collaboration with Mul that was at least a year old, and now I present a contemporary piece by the artist containing the same endearing character, that has a passing resemblance to Disney’s Pluto.
I love it when artists who make a living from their commissions and studio designs and illustrations, take a little bit of time out and decorate our streets. It feels like they are doing it for love and joy rather than for money, and there is something about that that is a refreshing break from the avaricious world that we live in. Thank you Mr Penfold for brightening up my day.
I’m glad I took this photograph when I did, back in April 2022, because much of this magnificent piece by Gage Graphics is now obscured with bins and advertising hoardings. The commission for Stokes Croft Takeaway is an outstanding scene featuring Disney’s Goofy character.
Goofy is faithfully recreated in this piece, but it isn’t just the character or the writing that makes this piece a great one, but also the magnificent tree rising high into a sunset sky. I also love the detail of the little bird sitting on the roof. Gage Graphics is one of the most versatile artists in Bristol, and one who receives some significant commissions about the place.
This is the second large piece from DJ Perks at LDub, painted on the pumping station, featuring some sensational writing alongside a cartoon character, in this case A rather worse-for-wear Donald Duck.
As mentioned in a recent post, DJ Perks is just growing from strength to strength, stretching himself. Of all the artists in Bristol, he ranks very highly in constantly pushing the boundaries of his work, strengthening his technique and skills, and not falling into the trap of repetition. It is so good to see, and what’s more he is turning out some extraordinarily strong pieces.
The writing is expertly done with the straight line transitions running vertically through the lettering finished to perfection. The character too is so well executed, and it is great to see that we see Donald Duck in a rather unfamiliar pose, after all it would have been very easy to present a stock image of Donald, but DJ Perks has chosen to go about it a different way. This is another outstanding example of DJ Perks’ great work.
I am coming to the conclusion that I have already said as much as I can about the work of brilliant graffiti writer Dibz. I have run out of superlatives, something that actually happened years ago. Dibz is an artist that I like to try and post every time that I photograph his work, because it demonstrates the high end of graffiti writing in the city, but this frequency makes it difficult to write anything interesting or original.
This is one of the best walls in the whole of Bristol and one which Dibz favours. His wall preparation has paid off, with the grey-blue backwash providing a perfect neutral setting for the antics of Disney’s Merlin and his owl from the cartoon film The Sword in the Stone – a film I have never seen.
The writing is outstanding, the colour transitions perfect, the spray cans inspired and the characters crisp, sharp and engaging. This is a masterclass from one of Bristol’s very best.
This is the last archive piece for a while and is from the much underrepresented artist on Natural Adventures, Lewse. I think I have rather a lot of her pieces lurking in my archives, and I hope to liberate them all in the fullness of time.
This one from the Deaner dates back to November 2017 and is full of colour and movement. Of course, no Lewse piece is complete without a cartoon character, and here she has incorporated Disney’s Goofy for good measure. A lovely piece from several years ago.
John D’oh’s busy summer just keeps on delivering time and time again, and the theme of his work continues to be dominated by coronavirus. This piece is a warning to those who might appear hypocritical having clapped for the NHS and then failing to be careful as restrictions ease.
The warning has already proven to be a sensible one as we are seeing localised increases in infection rates across the UK and beyond. The simple single layer stencil shows Walt Disney’s Dopey enjoying a pint of beer. I am guessing that the Aberdeen football club players are wishing they had heeded such a warning.
Natural adventures 