It is quite unusual to find a Hire piece outside the Dean Lane skate park area, but here he is joining in the fun with the World Wall Stylers ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ paint jam, and although his piece isn’t as overtly on-topic as most of the pieces, it is nonetheless a part of the whole wall.
Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2024
The wonderfully crafted letters spell out HIRE, but I was sorely tempted to fib and say they spelled RABBIT. A feature I haven’t noticed about his work before is the long shadows that have been cast from the tips of his letters, which seem to lift the piece a little. This is a nice reversion to his more spiky style that sets him apart from other writers.
The mini street art festival in Muriel Alleyway at the end of July brought together artists from the Bristol Mural Collective and one or two others to decorate this back lane and its walls, garage doors and shutters. Bethcub (Beth Kirby) is a Bristol-based artist who discusses issues of the female body and the female experience through drawing, painting, murals and 3D mediums.
Bethcub, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, July 2024
I have featured her work at least once before on Natural Adventures, but it is pretty safe to say that she doesn’t paint street pieces all that often. You can see from the picture above that Bethcub has used a sketch of her piece and upscaled it hugely.
Bethcub, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, August 2024
This is a really interesting piece, because there is a lot of ‘white space’ which is so unusual to see in street murals, where often every square inch of wall is decorated. What this does is focus the attention on the subject of the piece. The observant among you might notice that she has painted over a piece originally by Rtiiika. Lovely to see work from different artists coming out to play.
After his slightly controversial topless piece, entitled Norks, a few weeks back, Stivs has followed it up with this fantasy piece, only this time the character has a hint of clothing in an effort to avoid the piece being scribbled over.
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2024
Whilst this piece won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, it clearly demonstrates Stivs’ talent as a cartoon character artist as well as the best Calligraffiti artist in Bristol. I was lucky enough to catch up with him, and Corupt, as he was finishing off the piece, adding touches to the writing with such ease and complete competence. Another great piece by Stivs.
Wow, wow, wow! This is something rather different and special from Silent Hobo. Not only has he changed his style, but these pieces come as a set of three on three sequential columns under the M32 at the M32 Spot.
Silent Hobo, M32 Spot, Bristol, September 2024
The three pieces appear to be snippets from a conversation, and I rather hope for Silent Hobo’s sake that they are not autobiographical. The first column has a portrait of a man declaring “Baby I’m doing my best”.
Silent Hobo, M32 Spot, Bristol, September 2024
The second column is a reply from a woman saying those words that nobody wants to hear “Yes but…” Sounds like he might be in trouble. The portrait is remarkable, and really so different from the rest of his work. It is less cartoony and more realistic and has the appearance of oil on canvass.
Silent Hobo, M32 Spot, Bristol, September 2024
The third column is the killer blow… “You told me you were good”. Whatever the context of the conversation, I hope all works out well,. I am full of admiration at how skilful Silent Hobo has been to get viewers to invest so much in the characters in such a limited space. I suppose we can all construct our own stories about the three columns, but the artwork, which is remarkable, speaks for itself.
Le Imposter Design, Montpelier Park, Bristol, September 2024
As somebody who spends quite a lot of my spare time hunting down street/graffiti art, I find I get a great amount of pleasure when I find things that are slightly out of the ordinary, and this piece, the second I have posted by Le Imposter Design, is definitely out of the ordinary.
Le Imposter Design, Montpelier Park, Bristol, September 2024
Her small designs tend to be quite low down – I wonder if she sits while she is painting, because otherwise this would be back-breaking work. Here we have a little window into a world of toadstools painted with brushes and plenty of fine detail. I suspect I might have another of her fungus pieces in my archive, but it is un-signed. I really hope that Le Imposter Design continues with these little gems, because they offer something quite unique on the Bristol scene.
There is no doubt about it, Foksymoron is expanding his portfolio, painting larger fox character pieces with more variety, adding something extra to his familiar mega-tag foxes dotted about the city. I, for one, am very much enjoying this pushing of boundaries, and am wondering how much more sophistication will be added to his work.
Foksymoron, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
The rather cool looking (if not a little overweight) fox in this piece is reclining, with his sunglasses dazzling. He is saying “put a donk on it” – I’m not entirely sure what this means, but donk is Australian slang for a penis, but I can’t see how that would apply here. Anyhow, the fox remains cool and joins his larger-scale counterparts in Foksymoron’s expanding portfolio.
After something of an absence, it is a real pleasure to see Ceus (Javiceus), back in Bristol with this piece and the one he painted for the World Wall Stylers ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ wall. One of the trademark elements of Ceus’ work is his command of colour – he seems to make good choices that will hit home.
Ceus, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
I don’t think that this one lasted very long, I only remember seeing it once. The turnover in Dean Lane is pretty fast these days. The letters spelling CEUS are really beautiful, with scenic fills that transition really well. The red 3D drop shadow, sets the whole piece off really well. The graffiti writing is painted on a cityscape backdrop, filling up the wall space really well. Hoping for more from Ceus this autumn.
Scrapyardspec, St Werburghs. Bristol, September 2024
I rather like it when visiting artists come to Bristol, drop a couple of pieces and then disappear. This is what Scrapyard spec seems to do on a reasonably regular basis – quarterly I’d say. Perhaps he has friends that he visits when in town, or maybe he simply likes going on tour around the country.
Scrapyardspec, St Werburghs. Bristol, September 2024
This piece has been elongated to fin the wall space at the entrance to the tunnel. I would liken Scrapyardspec’s work to FTG or Full Time Ghoul, in that his pieces are based on the same concept, but are designed to fit the space. The colours are bright and vibrant and the character fun – certainly a piece that will not go unnoticed. Looking forward to his next visit.
Zake, Noise and Drake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 29024
This is another section of the incredible World Wall Stylers ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’, paint jam from last month. I made a bit of a booboo with my photographs of this section, and have included the Jessica Rabbit character by Drake, on the right, and severed it from his piece of writing (to follow), But somehow I felt it worked better bookending the writing by Noise and Zake’s Baby Herman on the left. – this may have been a mistake.
Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 29024
Zake has been producing cartoon characters for as long as I have been posting his work, but this is the first time I have seen a character based on an existing artwork. Rather than being a faithful reproduction of Baby Herman, this is very much a Zake take on the little cigarette-smoking infant. Very nicely done.
Noise, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 29024
Noise, as I have said countless times this year, is absolutely smashing it with every piece he paints, and this characteristic writing has very much adhered to the colours of the brief.
Drake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 29024
Finally the character of Jessica Rabbit really ought to be attached to the writing of Drake to its right, but I goofed, so it is here with the Noise and Zake pieces creating a rather nice little Triptych. This particular paint jam proved to be a fabulous showcase of talent. Big ups to Participants and to World Wall Stylers.
Goldie, Fade, Acer One, Jody and Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
All year long, Dibz and Fade have been decorating this wall with alarming regularity, and they have been joined along the way in their endeavours by Andy Council, Jody and Acer One (amongst others) and this time are joined by Goldie, Acer One and Jody. A production tribute wall to honour the musician and DJ, Randall.
Goldie, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
The whole production is very nicely balanced which given the configuration, which starts with a Goldie piece that embroiders the words ‘The R’. This is a really nice dedication and beautifully painted. The colour selection is reflected in the rest of the collaboration. It is always great to see Goldie visiting Bristol for a bit of a paint.
Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
Fade is next up and he has compressed his piece to accommodate Goldie next to him and support the balance I was talking about earlier. With the orange and turquoise letters, Fade has written the letters ‘DJ’ which are as immaculate as you might expect. Both sets of writing are adorned with flames, which extend for the entire collaboration.
Acer One and Jody, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
The centrepiece is a shared space with Acer One lettering across the top of an outstanding Jody portrait of DJ Randall. Acer One has written ‘Too hot to handle’ which I am guessing is part of a slogan rhyming with DJ Randall. Not being a music specialist myself, I am unable to shed too much light on the artist or his work.
Jody, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
The Portrait is a faithful and beautifully painted, and certainly a fitting tribute.
Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
The production rounds-off on the right with a wide piece of wildstyle graffiti writing from Dibz. The Turquoise and orange letters spell Randall, so the whole production spells out:
“The R, Too hot to handle, DJ Randall”.
Wonderful stuff from this quintet of talented artists.
Natural adventures 