Tag: Graffiti

3310. M32 Cycle path (87)

About a week ago I posted a piece by Mena for the first time on Natural Adventures and it was well overdue. Over the coming weeks and months I intend to free several more Mena pieces from my archives, starting with this one painted in May this year on the M32 cycle path, a favourite haunt of hers.

Mena, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2020
Mena, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2020

Mena tends to stick to a regular letter structure, with a central kink and a leaning to the right. The rest is all about the fills, shadows and decorations. It is always great to buff a wall first, it prevents any distractions getting in the way of the piece itself, and in this case sets a neutral background for the dark colours and neon green line running through the piece. Nice tidy work.

3309. St John’s Steep (1)

There is no real surprise in finding a piece by Dott Rotten in this part of town as he happens to work not a stone’s throw away from this hoarding. I don’t see too many pieces from Dott Rotten, so it is always a pleasant surprise to find one of his SPOILT writings on my walks.

Dott Rotten, St John's Steep, Bristol, September 2020
Dott Rotten, St John’s Steep, Bristol, September 2020

This particular piece of graffiti writing is fresh on a new hoarding which is great, because hoardings like this in a central city location can become very untidy very quickly. Set on an orange wash, the letters SPOILT are nicely picked out and filled with a light blue colour and decorated with grey, blue and red spots. This is a classy piece of writing which I suspect was painted fairy swiftly (the fills are not quite as solid as they might be).

3308. M32 roundabout J3 (262)

Another one from a little earlier this year, and what a beauty it is from Hemper. This is a fantastically intricate piece of wildstyle writing from the artist in which each letter of the word HEMPERS (I think) is written with a completely independent style and colour regime and each is wonderfully elaborate.

Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2020
Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2020

I had a conversation with Hemper earlier in the year when he was painting this same wall, and he told me that he usually freestyles his pieces with a mental picture of roughly how he wants it to turn out. Well if this was what was in his head he has turned out a real gem. Exceptional work from an exceptional graffiti writer.

3307. Dean Lane skate park (365)

In have recently taken a couple of excursions into my archive (I have so much unposted material from earlier this year it is insane) and on one such search I found this lovely piece by Stivs at Dean Lane skatepark on the swimming pool wall.

Stivs, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 22020
Stivs, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 22020

At this particular spot, the high railings make taking front-on photographs rather tricky, but it is possible to get pictures from the side. This lovely piece from Stivs adopts his calligraphy style but in this case with fatter letters that have been filled with horizontal colour stripes and a silhouetted landscape/cityscape running through the middle. A very nice piece.

3305. St Werburghs tunnel (204)

When I think about it, Daz Cat has been one of the most prolific artists in Bristol this year. Mostly in the North Bristol area he seems to be churning out cats at about the rate of one a fortnight or less. This is one of his recent ones in St Werburghs tunnel.

Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2020
Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2020

The tunnel is a frustrating place for photography, but a great place for wet-weather spray-painting. This particular cat is quite large, even though it doesn’t look like it, and stands out from what is mostly graffiti writing in the tunnel. The thing about Daz Cat is that his cats are getting technically better and better with more detail creeping in to each new piece. Much more to come.

3304. Dean Lane skate park (364)

Always tight, always pretty near perfect. I can’t think of a Dibz piece that hasn’t been meticulous in both design and execution, and if there are any I’ve yet to see them. This is yet another superb piece from Dibz in Dean Lane (his favourite spot) from a week or two back.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020

In most cases, Dibz buffs the wall first to ensure there is a focus on his wildstyle writing. The day glow green and pink colours stand out on the blue wall, and the design is simply outstanding. Dibz is an artist with a plan and he paints his plan and he does it well. A fine work.

3303. M32 Cycle path (86)

I have a lot of photographs of graffiti writing by Mest, but have only posted a couple so far. He is an artist who sticks to a fairly strict formula in that his letter shapes are usually pretty similar, but it is his fills and colours that change from piece to piece.

Mest, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020
Mest, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020

In this one he treats us with a chrome, grey and green colour palette that works really well, and for good measure he has painted a few bubbles too. There is a lot more to come from Mest, so watch this space.

3302. Brunel Way bridge (70)

Following hot on the heels of the brand new artist gallery featuring Zake that I published yesterday is this Halloween piece that he painted during Face 1st’s birthday paint jam recently.

Zake, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2020
Zake, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2020

This might be the largest piece by Zake that I have seen and it is an absolute belter. The complementary colours and shadows in purple create a fantastic atmosphere with amazing expressions on each of the faces. I love his round faces with arms hanging off them, something of a speciality from Zake.

3301. M32 Roundabout J(3) (261)

The biggest news of the last two weeks has been the US election and a deep sigh of relief around the world as the Trump experiment seems to have run out of steam. It is incalculable how much damage that man has done to his own country let alone the rest of the world, all in the name of capitalism, selfishness, power, greed, hate, mistrust, vanity. The biggest things missing from his persona are any sense of dignity, empathy or compassion. How did his rise to become POTUS ever happen? What has happened to our world?

Sled One, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2020
Sled One, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2020

Trump has been a rich source of inspiration and material for street artists over the last four years, and this glorious piece from Sled One may be one of the last Trump pieces we get to see. Entitled ‘Dump Trump’ it shows the President in a less than flattering light with a poo coiled on his head.

Sled One, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2020
Sled One, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2020

3300. M32 Cycle path (55)

On one of my favourite and rather tatty doors alongside the M32 is this newish piece from Slakarts in his newly perfected style of a three-quarter portrait in cartoon style. This particular version has a kind of melting head effect to the right-hand side.

Slakarts, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, October 2020
Slakarts, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, October 2020

I think that Slakarts had a long weekend with a little bit of time on his hands and a new concept he wanted to try out, because four or five of these characters appeared around Bristol at about the same time. It is a pity that some idiot got to the piece before I did and inserted a K on each eye, but in this game, you snooze, you lose.