There was a time last year when Maybe was painting roughly once a week, but he has definitely slowed down of late… perhaps it is the cold weather. This is a rather nice large piece in the skate park which is quite tricky to photograph because of the angle of the slope and the size of the piece.
Maybe, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
Featuring his interlocking faces in a variety of contrasting colours, this triangular piece demonstrates how far Maybe has come in developing his early concepts from a couple of years ago. Some great use of blended fills and dark shading show a significant improvement in sophistication of his contemporary work.
SPZero76 and Kid Crayon, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023
Sometimes I am so far behind the curve I actually surprise myself. I think I was aware of this wonderful winter wonderland piece by SPZero76 and Kid Crayon, otherwise known as the EAT crew, from last Christmas, but I simply haven’t visited the hoarding in such a long time.
SPZero76, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023
The whole piece is a continuous story and a great collaboration, with the left-hand side painted by SPZero76 and the right-hand side by Kid Crayon. Inevitably, SPZero76 has included a robot snowball-launcher alongside a woman throwing a snowman’s head.
Kid Crayon, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023
Kid Crayon has painted a couple of young lads throwing and launching their own snowballs back. Beautifully sprayed by both artists, this is a fun, cartoon-style piece that really captures the spirit of winter, and snow that most Bristolians can only dream of (even though we had a little bit of the white stuff this year). We just don’t get to see enough by the EAT crew these days. Perhaps they will get busy on the streets this year.
A gallery of bold and beautiful writing from Bristol’s Evey
Instagram: @evenrbf
RBF Crew
All photographs by Scooj
Evey, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023Evey and Jody, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2023Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2023Evey, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023Evey, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2023Evey, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2022Evey, and Bnie?, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022Bnie, Vozie, Pekoe and Evey, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022Evey, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2022Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, August 2022Evey, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2022Evey, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2022Evey, Greenbank, Bristol, April 2022Evey, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, January 2022Evey and Eman, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2021Evey, M32 roudabout, Bristol, March 2021Evey, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, July 2020Evey, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2020
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
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
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
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.
This was an unexpected and most welcome surprise, discovered while walking to Vauxhall tube station after attending a large team meeting at the Oval in London recently. Because of who I am, I always have an eye out for anything even slightly resembling graffiti or street art wherever I go. It must be most annoying for the people I am with, that I might appear to be distracted or uninterested. The truth is that I am always looking, searching for the ‘out of the ordinary’ whether that be street art or architecture and the like.
Stewy, The Cricketers, London, March 2023
The extra surprise was that this stencil piece of Ian Dury is by Bristol’s Stewy, and I felt rather at home finding it. My colleagues weren’t particularly interested, which was regrettable, in fact I think they found my desire to investigate and photograph the piece a little weird.
Although I was never much of a fan of Ian Dury, his impact on the music scene was undeniable and his subversive glance at society certainly chimes for me. The significance of the location of this stencil is that The Cricketers pub was a venue at which Ian Dury and the Blockheads played some of their early gigs. The venue is now a shuttered and disused building, but one with a great history. Thank you Stewy for making my day in London.
I recently took a Japanese friend of mine for a second guided tour of some of Bristol’s spots, and we brought the dog with us this time. The tour started at Sparke Evans Park, then along the river to Temple Meads Station before returning on the south side of the river via the Paintworks. A decent walk, taking in some great street and graffiti art.
Haka, River Avon, Bristol, March 2023
Although I have known about this Haka piece for a while, I simply haven’t walked past it since it was painted, probably because it is just a little bit far for my normal lunchtime rambles. It is a stunning Gruffalo piece, continuing his theme of children’s picture book characters, in particular those authored by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. This one is a real beauty. Haka really is on the crest of an inspiration wave at the moment, and long may it last.
This is another piece from the Bristol Mural Collective paint jam on 8 March to celebrate International Women’s Day – and what better way to celebrate than to paint a few walls.
Amy Lee Jones, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
This piece, on the right, is by Amy Lee Jones, an artist whose website states that she is from Leiden in the Netherlands, although I am guessing she is living or staying in Bristol at the moment. Primarily a studio artist who is focussing on abstract realism portraits, this piece is inspired by @reedamberx, and is quite different to her studio work.
To the left is a very powerful portrait piece, which I think is also by Amy Lee Jones, but can’t be completely certain. The style looks the same. These paint jams are always a great opportunity to be introduced to a whole raft of Bristol artists that might otherwise be overlooked.
In Bristol, we have several what I would call ‘occasional’ artists, who are accomplished in their own right, but simply don’t paint walls all that often and Serm would fall into that category. For example, I have only spotted five of his pieces since February 2021, and although he may have painted more than that, his pieces are few and far between.
Serm, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2023
The great thing about these occasional writers is that it is always extra special when you do come across a piece. Serm tends to paint large block letters, which he has done on this occasion with a yellow background and shades of purple and lilac in his letter fills. There is a strong sense of industry and solidity in the piece looking like it would weigh a lot if you could pick it up. A few more years, and I might have enough Serm pieces to cobble a gallery together.
Benjimagnetic and Hemper, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2023
Now this is a proper mash-up collaboration, a conflation of two distinct styles from two outstanding artists, Benjimagnetic and Hemper. It is rare to find something of this nature where the artists fully collaborate so that the whole piece is one, and not two.
Benjimagnetic and Hemper, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2023
Although it is one combined piece, it is possible to disentangle which artist painted which bits. Broadly speaking the letters with straight bits and geometric elements are by Benjimagnetic, and the more curvy elements are likely to be by Hemper. It doesn’t really matter who painted what, because the end result is a wonderfully complex piece of writing that is jam-packed with great artistry.
This is a rather classy piece of writing from Wxttsart which was painted alongside a stunning portrait by Rozalita, and both of them stand out, with red being the dominant background colour used.
Wxttsart, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2023
As always, Wxttsart’s work spells out MILK, although up until recently I have had difficulty in describing the letter style. I think I have almost cracked it though. The uniformity of the letters and stylised script font suggests that the work could be described as calligraffiti, but it also has a slightly abstract feel to it too, so I like to call Wxttsart’s artwork ‘abstract calligraffiti’, which works for me. Whatever you want to call it, it has an impact. Almost time for a gallery of his work – watch this space.
Natural adventures 