This curious portrait piece from Zake is part of a PWA collaboration, but because of parked cars in Hepburn Road (formerly known as crack alley), I was unable to capture the whole collaboration. That kind of thing happens sometimes.
Zake, Hepburn Road, Bristol, May 2024
As I have said in previous posts, Zake seems to be pushing his boundaries all the time with his portraits, and although they all retain his clever use of light and shade to create depth, the characters and their expressions are constantly evolving. This rather dapper and shady fellow looks perfect for this dark narrow alleyway.
Klashwhensober, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023
When you see the word ‘various’ for the location in the title of this blog post, you can be pretty certain that it will be a post of Klashwhensober’s work. I feel that the only way I can do him justice is to do a round up of his left-overs each month, such is his high productivity rate. Here are some pieces from November.
Klashwhensober, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023
All the pieces spell out SOBER, but you can see simply from first inspection that some are more thought out than others and that the execution can be a little variable, probably reflecting Klashwhensober’s attitude and approach with each piece. Klashwhensober’s general development is steady, but it is not linear… meandering improvement might be a better description.
Klashwhensober, Hepburn Road, Bristol, November 2023
This blue piece is nice enough to look at, and it is clear that it was painted quickly. The paint is thinly spread, which might indicate that it is a bit of a ‘dregs’ piece.
Klashwhensober, Leonard Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Rounding off the quartet of pieces from November is this chrome piece, which is arguably the best of the bunch, painted down in Leonard Lane. There is more of a sharp feel to this one, with some nice little details and ‘dents’ in the lettering. Have no fear, there is still plenty more to come from Klashwhensober.
About a week ago I posted a piece by Biers which was not too dissimilar to this one. Similar colours and of course overall design of WD40, and incorporating a to cartoon character with ginger hair and glasses. The character from last week’s post was Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory, but I am stumped by this character.
Biers, Hepburn Lane, Bristol, November 2023
I was lucky enough to bump into Biers while he was painting this alongside Bags, but he hadn’t started the character, so I couldn’t ask him directly who it was. It is good to see that Biers is out and about again with his very ‘Bristol’ style of graffiti writing. I have mentioned this before, and I don’t know if this is a perception or a real thing, but I think that different cities and districts have ‘house’ styles, and Biers typifies the Bristol ‘house’ style.
Face 1st and Soap, Hepburn Road, Bristol, November 2023
A week or so ago I was drawn into Hepburn Road, because I could see two graffiti artists at work at the far end of the lane. It turns out that it was Biers and Bags painting together, which was a welcome surprise because, although I have met Biers many times, I have never yet met Bags, an artist horribly underrepresented in Natural Adventures. As I walked back up the street, I spotted this rather nice throwback piece by Face 1st and Soap.
Face 1st and Soap, Hepburn Road, Bristol, November 2023
I call this a throwback piece because it looks like the sort of collaboration that these two used to churn out regularly a few years back. Face 1st’s faces are simple, although decorated with a few splatters of green goo and Soap has reverted to his recognisable mega-tag of two mouths, that also have the overall appearance of a skull. Some lovely retro stuff in this somewhat overlooked spot.
The colourful nature of the Stokes Croft area is perhaps best represented by this little alleyway, known locally as ‘Crack Alley’. Although the drug dealing that used to be the USP of this corner of Bristol has moved on, the graffitied walls continue to be a feature, and every now and again an absolute beauty appears. This collaboration from PWA artists Face 1st and Zake is just such a beauty.
Face 1st, Hepburn Road, Bristol, April 2023
The PWA writing is by Face 1st, and is quite a rarity, as he usually writes FACE. The orange is really striking in this dark alley, and the depth to the letters really helps them to pop out from the wall. There are some nice shout-outs to Nightwayss, Soap and Chill too.
Zake, Hepburn Road, Bristol, April 2023
The character piece from Zake is brilliant and seems to portray a young tagger looking rather upset – maybe he got caught spraying walls. The shorts and t-shirt are a stroke of genius, and the body position suggests a lot of forward movement from the character. I absolutely love this, it makes me laugh, a lot. Altogether a superb collaboration from this pair.
I rarely venture down ‘crack alley’ these days, as I don’t walk into the office often, since lockdown, meaning that there are some spots that I have neglected. This nice one from Kid Krishna is at the top end of the alley where it opens out into Stokes Croft.
Kid Krishna, Hepburn Road, Bristol, October 2022
Kid Krishna’s style is fairly unique, and it is not difficult to identify his work. His letters are slim and closely packed, and I am still getting my ‘eye in’ with regard to what his writing says. He has worked a nice transition from orange to light blue, two colours that aren’t natural bedfellows, but it seems to work here. I have many more pieces from Kid Krishna to share… watch this space.
I am really enjoying acquainting myself with the work of Phour (whose Instagram account is @bumwin if you are interested). His letters lend themselves to a rather pleasing form, which is not the case with all writers, with the P and H being particularly nice.
Phour, Hepburn Road, Bristol, September 2020
This piece combines the contrasting pink and turquoises with real panache and if there is one thing that is consistent about Phour’s work it is his use of bright and vibrant colours. This one is tucked away in Hepburn Road, which is always worth an occasional visit where gems can be found from time to time.
Welcome to the second piece by Nathan Bowen from a recent trip to Bristol tucked away in Hepburn Road, locally known as ‘crack alley’ although it seems to have become slightly less intimidating than it used to be.
Nathan Bowen, Hepburn Road, Bristol, September 2020
This piece continues the theme of construction workers in yellow hats in line with the piece I posted a few days back. I am guessing that in choosing this theme Nathan Bowen is commentating on the rise and rise of gentrification in the area, something he will be all too familiar with in the street art areas of London. I am a big fan of his scribble cartoon style, which must be really difficult to do with spray paint. He must be using some super-skinny caps. One more to come from this talented artist.
No retrospective romp through the archives would be complete without a piece from Face 1st, and this one in Hepburn Road from July 2018 is a real beauty. This piece is one of his more ‘traditional’ single face pieces with a hairdo that cryptically spells out FACE.
Face 1st, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2018
I had mistakenly thought that this was from The Bearpit, because there is not much to go on, but I am pretty sure it is actually from Hepburn Road. One of the dangers of not posting immediately. Great colours, great shapes, great smile, great work.
Tucked away in a lane not usually associated with Kid Crayon was this rather unusual two-tone piece from July 2017. One of the things that I would often associate with Kid Crayon is his abundant use of colour, so this was something of a change.
Kid Crayon, Hepburn Road, Bristol, July 2017
My guess is that this was a quick one that was more for his own amusement than for public display. I love finding works like this, because they show another side of an artist and the range and diversity of their work. Without the signature, this would be quite difficult to identify as a KC piece. I’m not sure what the speech bubble says, but it looks like ‘wired’ to me. Does it refer to KC himself or to the character of the piece?
Natural adventures 