Hire – Natural adventures

7717. Dean Lane skate park (926)

Hire has been pushing all sorts of boundaries lately and varying his work considerably, including a character piece from a week or two back. In this superb piece of graffiti writing he spells out ODIAH, one of two words he tends to write.

What is really special about this piece is that it has a metallic appearance that is complete deception. The combination of blues and greys leaves the brain figuring out whether to look at those colours individually or to see what looks like a solid piece of reflecting metal. This is a technique used by many artists, perhaps the best being Fanakapan – see below to understand what I mean.

Fanakapan, Hawley Mews, Camden, September 2016

7707. Cumberland Basin

Zake and Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2026

I would describe this collaboration by Zake and Hire as unusual, for two key reasons. Zake has painted a character, rather than one of his face caricatures, and Hire, who tends to be a graffiti writer, with the occasional rabbit thrown in, has painted a character, which, without the signature and a conversation with Zake as he was tidying up, I would never have guessed was painted by him.

Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2026

These two seem to have paired up quite a lot of late, especially since the PWA crew has become a little diluted, with both Face 1st and Chill leaving town. Zake has painted a humanoid robot, looking a little sinister, set on an urban landscape. Is this a dystopian future piece?

Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2026

Hire, meanwhile, has painted a comic-book style villain (or that is how I see it). The thick-set character with large, brilliantly crafted hands, is holding an old CRT television. Given that I don’t see many characters by Hire, I think this is superb, and hope to see more such pieces in the future. A fine and surprising collaboration.

7647. Dean Lane skate park (922)

Hire and Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2026

This is a rather fun collaboration between Hire and Zake in Dean Lane. I can’t remember if these two have collaborated before, they probably have, but this is still a bit of a treat from the writer and the character artist.

On the left, Hire has written his letters in a rather compact block, which is quite unusual, as he typically spreads his letters out a fair bit. The fills of orange and light blue have been nicely done and work surprisingly well together. A deep drop shadow is bordered with a drippy pink line with light highlights woven in.

I’m not too sure what to say about Zake’s character piece, as it is all a little bit strange. A bald man with a huge mouth and multiple teeth has a little finger puppet attached to the end of his long tongue. The puppet character, which looks like some kind of lizard monster is spraying pink ‘vomit’ over Hire’s piece, thus creating his drippy pink outline. A great read-across between the two pieces in this collaboration.

7579. L Dub (86)

It would appear that Hire prefers writing the letters ODIAH to HIRE these days and he has also changed his Instagram handle, perhaps reflecting a transition of his persona. This is a beauty painted at L Dub, in the open section of the long tunnel

The letters are very nicely constructed and filled with minimal green and black colours that contrast with the lower drop shadow. The curiosity of this piece, quite literally, is the addition of dozens of question marks scattered around the black background. It is always a pleasure finding Hire’s work.

7564. L Dub (83)

Acer One, Andy Council, Paul Monsters, Hire, L Dub, Bristol, March 2026

There are two main painting areas at L Dub; the old water pumping station and the long tunnel under the motorways. This fabulous collaboration is on the former. The main collaboration sits underneath an older piece by Hire, spelling Odiah.

Andy Council, Acer One and Paul Monsters have combined to produce this incredible fusion of geometric design and freestyle objects. The colourful background pattern is by Paul Monsters, the central peace and heart symbols by Acer One and the component objects by Andy Council. This is a masterful collaboration from three of the very best.

7491. St Werburghs tunnel (573)

Hire, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2026

It has been a very lean start to the year in terms of new street art pieces, which I attribute to the appalling weather that we have had so far this year. It isn’t only difficult to spray paint in the rain, it is also rather unpleasant. The tunnel has provided some refuge from the weather, and this is a nice recent piece by Hire which was painted alongside Sait Bare.

These days, it is more common to see the letters ODIAH than it is to see HIRE from the artist – perhaps it offers him more scope to play with form and colour. In years gone by, Hire used to create much more jagged and spiky pieces, and this feels like a softened version, showing his transition over time. I love the colours and love his work.

7368. Dean Lane skate park (890)

Hire and Ceus, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2025

I’m off to a football match this morning and will shortly be catching a train to London, so today’s posts are likely to be fairly swift. The next few posts are ones from earlier this year that somehow got left behind in my archives. This was a nice collaboration from Hire and Ceus back in February.

Some unusual writing, spelling out Odiah, one of the words Hire likes to use, and his trademark rabbit. All looking rather smooth in the winter sunshine.

Ceus appears to have left these shores now, and I think that this might have been amongst the last ones he painted in Bristol. A fine collaboration.

7345. St Werburghs tunnel (553)

Hire, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025

There is still plenty more to share with you from Minto’s birthday paint jam in the tunnel, which was so incredibly well attended. This is a fine contribution from Hire, which was near the entrance to the tunnel.

Hire has written MINTO, which, although difficult to see, becomes more obvious each time you look at it. His distinctive spiky letters appear to emanate from a bright light, like a golden sun, with a central vanishing point above the piece. The piece is nicely finished with a some softer curls of green decoration. A great piece from Hire.

7181. Greenbank (172)

Hire and Sait Bare, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2025

I mentioned a couple of days back that Hire and Sait Bare have formed a collaborative partnership this summer which seems to be proving rather fruitful. This is a lovely colour-themed collaboration from the pair on the long hoarding on the Bristol to Bath cycle path.

Hire has written the most common of his letter forms HIRE, with some nice script letters in yellow that are far removed from his early pieces that were much more jagged and harsh. He has gone for an interesting interstitial fill within the boundary of the letters, which creates an interesting effect. The writing is painted on a background with a rather subtle pink cloud set on a grey buff.

Sait Bare, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2025

Sait Bare has written BARE using the same yellow colour and background, which brings some synergy to the collaboration, but his letter style is quite different. There is a nice transition from solid green and bubbles through to solid yellow and some subtle green patterning. As a pair, these two are working well together and I look forward to more collaborations.

7176. M32 roundabout J3 (713)

Hire, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025

This is a wonderful piece of graffiti writing from Hire, that was painted alongside Sait Bare. Together they seem to have struck up a painting partnership and have collaborated a few times recently – I posted Sait Bare’s piece adjacent to this one a little while ago.

Hire has painted his ODIAH letters, which he does from time to time, and they look absolutely splendid. This is a tight piece of writing with some great fills including mid-line which offers depth to the letters as do the 3D drop shadows. The whole thing is painted on an interesting background of roughly rollered green on black – an interesting effect.

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