A gallery of awesome wildstyle graffiti writing from Bristol artist Grimes.
Instagram: @_grimesnotdead
All photographs by Scooj
Grimes
Tag: Grimes
6826. Sparke Evans Park (127)
Grimes has pretty much made it to the top of my list of Bristol graffiti writers at the moment, taking into account the frequency of his pieces and the outstanding quality of them. Unlike some graffiti writers, his style remains broadly the same, but he manages to squeeze out every square inch of space on the walls he paints and create the most amazing burst of energy and movement.
Colour and quality are two words I would use to open my description of this piece. Every element is in its place and finished perfectly. I particularly like the plasma ribbon running through the whole thing. This piece continues Grimes’ run of good form, which shown no signs of letting up.
6776. River Avon (79)
Grimes is my graffiti writer of the moment. He is turning out some quite miraculous pieces that are bursting with energy and colour. As if to prove that he is far from a ‘one-trick pony’, he has produced this rather more sober piece, squeezed into a tight space alongside the River Avon.
The beautifully designed letters spell out GRIME, and have taken on some earthy colours; greens, browns and greys. Grimes has included some cool fills on some of the letters, but generally the decoration is toned-down. There are no highlights, and so the letters remain flat on the wall and there is little 3D effect achieved. This is a well executed piece, which may well have been a ‘quick one’ by the artist, but is beautifully finished nonetheless.
6745. Dean Lane skate park (809)
Another H-bomb of colour and energy from Grimes, this time in Dean Lane. He really is quite incredible, the way that he generates so much movement through his pieces, which dazzle and amaze.
The colours in this piece are warm and fiery, with so many elements, each beautifully interlocking with its neighbours. If I were to liken this work to any other artist it would be Deamz, who left Bristol some years ago now, but who also created complex graffiti writing pieces. This is praise indeed for Grimes’ work. The finishing touch of a blue plasma border is nothing short of brilliant, offsetting the warm colours with a chilly edge.
6726. M32 Cycle path (283)
In my view, Grimes has been one of the real joys of the Bristol street/graffiti art over the last year, and he is already smashing it in 2025. This is a wonderful piece on the Cycle path behind the Black Swan, and is really a beauty.
When Grimes sets about his work, it feels like he has thought very carefully about how it is going to look. The colour selection is near perfect, and the letters, spelling GRIMES have been stretched a little to fit the proportions of the wall. There is so much energy in the piece, and tons of beautiful detail throughout. Another fine piece from the artist.
6676. Cumberland Basin
I met Grimes for the first time while he was laying down the foundations for this exceptional chrome piece. I have to say it is so much better than I was expecting it to turn out, which is saying something, because when it comes to Grimes’ work, the bar is already set pretty high. The artist is a lovely man, and we chatted for quite a while. One of the things I found out is that he has been living in Bristol for seven years, so I think I am going to have to revisit my archives to see if I can find any of his older work.
This piece simply oozes class, and energy. Sometimes Chrome pieces, although impressive, and ‘a thing’ they are prone to being a little on the dull side. Not so with this explosive piece by Grimes. The chrome letters, spelling Grime, are filled with some nicely worked traditional patterning, but it is the sparks and plasma threads running through the piece that take it to the next level. Excellent work from the graffiti writer of the moment (‘says who?’ says me!).
6668. River Avon (75)
Another piece from the archives, and it is one from Grimes that I must have photographed before I knew who the artist was, and held back as I rarely post unattributed work. This one was taken back in January last year, and may have been the first time I became aware of his outstanding graffiti writing work.
The fruity colours are ones that he really seems to enjoy using, and I have to say that it is the colour palette decisions that he makes that have drawn me into his work, that and the energy that emanates from his pieces. There is a busyness about this piece with the colours and all of the fill patterns, but somehow he gets away with it and it doesn’t feel like hard work viewing it, which can happen sometimes with busy pieces. Nice work from Grimes, who incidentally is a really lovely bloke.
6573. St Werburghs tunnel (461)
I have tried to make a habit of posting all the Grimes pieces that I photograph, but on a recent trawl through my archives, I found this one from June this year. Remember June? It seems so very long ago. The central characteristic of all of Grimes’ work is the extraordinary sense of energy and movement he seems to inject into his graffiti writing.
This piece, although painted in darkish colours and affected by low light levels in the tunnel, manages to burst out from the wall, demanding attention. As ever, the piece is immaculately finished with strong, sharp borders, tidy fills and a superb orange drop shadow. 2024 has been the year of Grimes, and it has been a pleasure finding and posting his work.
6531. Sparke Evans Park (103)
This is yet another colourful outburst of joy and movement from Grimes, and a piece to enjoy and savour. Grimes has been smashing it with every piece he paints, and Bristol spots are without a doubt more colourful places when one of his pieces is present.
The three dimensional effect that Grimes creates in his work is outstanding, and this whole thing has the appearance of bursting out from the wall towards the viewer. Such is the energy in the piece it almost feels like an animation. The ‘fruit salad’ colours are beautifully distributed throughout the writing (Spelling GRIMES), and are set on a watery blue background, which is also full of swirling movement. In my eyes, this is a masterpiece of wildstyle writing.
6521. River Avon (67)
One of the highlights of 2024 has been the appearance and constant presence of the brilliant wildstyle graffiti writer Grimes. I am fascinated and excited by his writing that contains so much energy that it looks likely to burst in an explosion of coloured paint at any moment.. he has a very special talent.
This stunner spells GRIMES, which if you look hard is actually quite easy to see, once you have your eye in. The colour selection is, as ever, spot on, but the magic is in the way that all the components come together to create a coherent whole. This is outstanding writing at its best.
Natural adventures 