Graffiti – Page 178 – Natural adventures

5886. Coach and Horses

Merny, Coach and Horses, Bristol, March 2024

Another artist and another protest piece about the war in Gaza. This time, some direct talking from the wonderful Merny. A warplane, fully marked up with his trademark letter/number pointers, is accompanied with the words “Stop killing people you tucking fwats”. Hear hear!

Merny’s work is deceptive in so much as it looks naive in style, but there is a deep sophistication that underpins his artwork, which always tells a story, often with a light dusting of humour. The piece is attention-grabbing, and along with all the other anti-war work in the city is representative of a groundswell of opinion that wants piece in Gaza specifically, and in the Middle East more generally.

It looks like Merny took the opportunity, while he was in the area, to paste a couple of posters on a nearby wall, which again have a simple sophistication about them and a wordplay caption “Problems? Just smooth things over”. The picture is of a mechanical sander – a great bit of bonus material from Merny.

5885. Dean Lane skate park (696)

SPZero76, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024

It has been a while since I saw an EAT Crew collaborative wall, the crew being Kid Crayon and SPZero76, so what an absolute pleasure it was to come across this piece (one half of the collaboration) a couple of weeks back. SPZero76 used to paint a lot more in Bristol than he does these days, but his energy and style have not diminished in any way at all.

In this animated piece, an alien tentacled monster is grabbing hold of a couple of raccoons that have clearly been decorating walls with their spray cans. It looks to me like the alien represents authority in some form or other and is pretty angry, which contrasts delightfully with the carefree expressions on the raccoons’ faces. There is so much detail to enjoy in this magnificent piece from SPZero76.

5884. Brunel Way (261)

SkyHigh, Brunel Way, Bristol, March 2024

How great it is that ShyHigh and Roo have friends/family in Bristol, because it means that if we get lucky, they swing by to visit and while here, decorate a few walls for us. Their latest visit yielded this exceptional piece from SkyHigh on the fat pillar wall underneath Brunel Way. Roo also painted a few nearby spots (to follow).

As I would expect, the large piece from SkyHigh is a wonderful mash up of letter styles to create the whole words SKY HIGH. Each letter is perfectly presented, and although discrete, somehow works with the letters adjacent. I love the ‘paper-based’ letters, ‘S’ written on note paper and the ‘i’ written on a ‘Hello my name is’ sticker. Brilliant work from a brilliant and creative writer. Come back soon.

5883. Greenbank (110)

Mind 49, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024

Mind 49 is establishing himself as something of a new force in Bristol street art and graffiti writing, expanding his range and pushing boundaries with every new piece he creates. He is perhaps better known for his portrait pieces, that seem to capture the subject in an unconventional pose, but he has been working on his writing too recently.

This recent piece, on the ever-diminishing hoarding which borders the Chocolate Factory development, demonstrates perfectly Mind 49’s writing style. Spelling out MInD, the letters are beautifully filled with a beautifully selected set of soft colours, which abut with one another with lines, stars and circles. Great drop-shadows, borders and decorations finish the job off nicely. We are lucky to have Mind 49 hitting a bit of a purple patch… long may it last.

5882. St Werburghs tunnel (411)

Haka, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2024

I was fortunate yesterday in being in the right place at the right time and bumped into Inkie, Sepr and Haka who were painting a wall alongside the M32, I think with some links to St Patrick’s Day, or at least that is what Inkie implied. I managed to have a quick chat with Haka who continues to smash it with his writing/character combination pieces, heavily influenced by the picture books in his household.

This wonderful piece, painted as part of Ryder’s RAW paint jam, features The Very Busy Spider, created by Eric Carle (author and illustrator of The Hungry Caterpillar).Bookended by the letters HA-KA, the spider is waiting patiently in its web, faithful to the style of the illustrator. A fun piece that sadly didn’t last very long.

5881. Picton Lane (18)

Amy Magee, Picton Lane, Bristol, February 2024

One of the most fulfilling things about wandering around the known street art spots in Bristol is finding pieces that are beyond my expectations. I mean that I can go to spots and either be searching for something specific that I have seen on social media or be pretty sure what kind of artwork I am likely to find and by whom. So when an outlier like this one by Amy Magee comes along, I get extra excited.

Although Amy Magee comes from Bristol, I am not familiar with her work and I don’t recall seeing anything by her before, and I suspect that she doesn’t often paint walls. This beautiful portrait piece was painted alongside a piece by Kosc, and I am guessing they were painted at the same time, with Kosc sharing one of his favourite spots with Amy Magee.

The portrait is stunning and is greatly enhanced by the colourful surrounding wisps of cloud and the atmosphere generated. The beautifully proportioned subject has a wistful expression, and incredible eye makeup. It would appear that colour is very important in Amy Magee’s work, which comes across in this piece. I hope that this adventure into painting a mural on the streets isn’t a one-off, and would encourage her to do it again – perhaps at this year’s Upfest.

5880. Greenbank (109)

Slakarts, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024

I am very pleased to see that Slakarts appears to have a little bit of time on his hands and has been painting a few pieces recently. For fans of his work, this is of course great news, although it might indicate a slackening off of his work, which might not be so good. I would like to think it represents a good work/life balance.

This piece is a little more considered than some of his archetypal ‘mega-tag faces’, and carries a pretty strong message in today’s context. The character appears to be reading ‘War and Peace’, although he is in fact reading two different books, ‘War’, and ‘Peace’. It is encouraging to see that the larger volume is on Peace, but distressing to see the character reading War. The line-drawing style of the piece is brilliantly executed, being tight and tidy. Watch out for more from Slakarts coming soon.

5879. M32 Cycle path (255)

Todoaciem, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

There is something visually poetic about great calligraffiti, and whilst not always the easiest on the eye, it somehow feels like it is at the ‘high-brow’ end of graffiti writing. Whatever one’s opinion on the final product, there is a lot of control, discipline and skill required to create a stand-out piece of calligraffiti.

Todoaciem is one of two top-class calligraffiti artists in Bristol, and this piece on the M32 Cycle path amply demonstrates his quality. Painting in blue and yellow, a combination he has used to good effect before, Todoaciem has letters that stand out, because of their contrast, the yellow providing a drop shadow for the blue letters. A tidy piece from a skilled writer.

5878. Dean Lane skate park (695)

When I think about Hire’s art, I pretty much always visualise it in Dean Lane, and although he has painted other spots in Bristol, it is his favoured spot. This long piece of graffiti writing spells out ODIAH. I am not sure why Hire sometimes writes the word, and I have checked in Google translate that it isn’t a Polish word – something to ask him next time I see him.

Hire has prepped the wall nicely in this writing/character combination piece, creating something that is neat, clean and tidy. I suspect that writing on brick walls is a little easier as the uniformity of the letters can be measured on the brick courses, making things easy on the eye. I have no idea what the panda is all about, but it looks a little menacing, with its eye patch (clever) and broken bottle. It is always good to find Hire’s work, always.

5877. St Werburghs tunnel (410)

Lokey, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2024

A couple of weeks ago, Ryder organised a massive Read and Weep (RAW) paint jam in St Werburghs tunnel, drawing artists from Bristol and beyond, to congregate in the darkness and damp and produce some amazing art in a party atmosphere. One of the artists, who doesn’t paint nearly often enough, was Lokey.

Lokey has a special place in Bristol graffiti writing, because, other than Zase perhaps, he is the only artist who paints his letters in an anamorphic style. Anamorphic in this sense means that the letters appear to stand out from the wall, almost as if you are looking through 3D glasses. It is on the same spectrum of art as trompe l’oeil, designed to deceive and confuse the eye. Clever stuff, and always very welcome.

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