Hire – Natural adventures

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.

7045. Dean Lane skate park (849)

Hire and Sait Bare, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2025 — Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2025

This piece from Hire had me raising my eyebrows, in a good way, because it is quite unlike anything I have seen from him before. I would normally associate his work with quite intricate, spiky, angular letters, but here he has gone for something altogether softer and more fluid – to be honest I hind it a little disorientating. (Update – I am being particularly dense, the writing is, of course, by Sait Bare, which is why it is so different in style. I couldn’t see the wood for the trees.

The combination of letters and two characters works well, with a face on the left and one of his trademark rabbits (see, it is spiky) to the right. The letters have a traditional 3D drop shadow with black and red stripes. This whole thing looks like Hire is experimenting a bit, departing from his customary style, and that has to be applauded.

7004. Sparke Evans Park (131)

Hire, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2025

2025 has been a dry year so far, and we have had an unusually sunny time of it, and although this is in part driven by a changing climate, it still feels good after the rather wet years we have had in the last decade or so. I mention this, because in these sunny conditions, photographing certain walls in Bristol has been a bit of a nightmare and this one was particularly challenging.

Despite the difficulties (you can just make out my arm in the top left trying to block out the glare), It was well worth the effort to capture this beauty from Hire. This piece is like some of his earlier spiky pieces, but with slightly softer edges. Some great autumnal colours and fabulous highlights surrounding the HIRE letters instead of a drop shadow give this piece a distinctive look that is a hallmark of the artist. A very nice piece of graffiti writing.

6925. Dean Lane skate park (832)

It is a little disappointing that I have missed a couple of pieces by Hire this year, which is a real pity. You have to be quick off the mark in this game, and if you snooze, you lose. However, it does feel like Hire’s pieces, a bit like Kid Crayon’s pieces, tend to get painted over rather quickly. I am not sure if this is deliberate targeting or simply bad luck, I would like to think it is the latter, but whatever the reason, it makes their work feel even more precious.

This is a slightly strange piece by Hire, which I think is meant to represent a pile of poo, with some excited insects making the most of it. Certainly it is an unusual composition in brown (why is everyone painting with brown this spring?), spelling out ODIAH, letters which Hire likes to use from time to time. How much better the piece looks with the subtle green glow on the edge of the letters, without which it would all look a little flat. Unusual and interesting work from Hire.

	Oddment on Thursday Doors – 16 Apri…
	skat on Icarus
	skat on Icarus
	scooj on Icarus
	scooj on Shock

	Oddment on Thursday Doors – 16 Apri…
	skat on Icarus
	skat on Icarus
	scooj on Icarus
	scooj on Shock

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