7225. Brunel Way (338)

Dirtygypo, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025
Dirtygypo, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025

This tidy little piece of graffiti writing is Dirtygypo’s contribution to a tribute wall painted in honour of Dorns recently. I betray my lack of knowledge at times like this when I say that I am not entirely sure that I ever met Dorns nor featured any of their work in Natural Adventures. What is clear from this wall is that Dorns was well-loved and respected by many in the graffiti community in Bristol.

Dirtygypo, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025
Dirtygypo, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2025

What is deeply frustrating from my perspective is that I find it quite easy to read the letters DORNS in this piece, but I can’t decipher the letters used in Dirtygypo’s normal writing. There are some great colours in this piece, and a rather special 3D drop shadow in purple with pink dots. A thin white highlight enhances the feeling of depth. RIP Dorns.

6685. Brunel Way (310)

Squire, Brunel Way, Bristol, January 2025
Squire, Brunel Way, Bristol, January 2025

Living in Bristol is, for so many reasons, a privilege and a joy, especially if you like a dusting of cosmopolitan urban heritage and culture. There are many things to be proud of and other things, such as the trade in slaves, tobacco and alcohol, that need to be understood and processed. It is a city that has a sense of excitement and a buzz about it, and I am sure that the street/graffiti art culture adds to that sensation.

Squire, Brunel Way, Bristol, January 2025
Squire, Brunel Way, Bristol, January 2025

We have a lot of visiting graffiti writers and artists that come to paint here, and every time I go out taking photographs, I find work by artists I have never encountered or noticed before. This writing by Squire, isn’t a style I recognise, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are a visitor, just that I haven’t seen their stuff before. I like the letter shapes and the simple but effective black fill and purple pattern, set on a chrome background. A nice piece of writing.

4165. M32 Cycle path (154)

Each time I see a piece from Pl8o, they just seem to get better and better. Apart from the odd throw up, there is a more considered and designed approach to his work, and this piece, I think really demonstrates the progress made. I recently published a gallery of Pl8o’s work, and you can see the improvements over time, although frankly, his work has always been pretty good.

Pl8o, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, December 2021
Pl8o, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, December 2021

I have said before that his letters are very kind on the eye, and he has certainly made the most of them. The numeral 8 in particular is great to have in graffiti writing, it is a bit like OO which also works… Look out for those SCOOJ toy letters next summer (maybe). I am still loving Pl8o’s work

3729. M32 Cycle path (130)

Like so many graffiti writers in Bristol I just don’t seem to post nearly as much from Alos as I could or should. I have a lot of pieces in the archive, and perhaps I’ll have to dig them out sometime. Thanks to Paul H, I know that the pronunciation of Alos name is like aloes, as in hellos, which is all rather nice.

Alos, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2021
Alos, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, June 2021

Alos is another artist whose letters are irregular and unconventional and more often than not written in monochrome, with some nice little details running through the letters. The style is similar to Whos and their work can often be found side by side.

3634. Cumberland Basin

It would appear that this wall, after a considerable period of neglect is becoming a little popular. A week or two back there was a nice new collaboration from Mudra and Nugmoose. This has now been replaced with this more than half-decent piece from Pl8o.

Pl8o, Cumberland Bain, Bristol, April 2021
Pl8o, Cumberland Bain, Bristol, April 2021

I am very pleased to see that Pl8o seems to be active again after quite a long absence – he is another artist who has gone to ground for much of the lock down period. This is a delightful deep-shadowed piece of graffiti writing spelling out the artist’s moniker yellow to orange to black fades. His letters lend themselves very nicely to writing and there is something very easy on the eye about them. Great to see Pl8o back hitting walls again.

3154. St Werburghs tunnel (183)

Ooh, I am really enjoying the work of Pl8o at the moment. The letters he uses lend themselves very well to graffiti writing and provide a lot of scope to do great things, like Boogie for example. There are some letters And numbers that just seem to work well together.

Pl8o, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2020
Pl8o, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2020

This one was at the farm end of the tunnel and in daylight that makes it so much easier to photograph. All the elements of this piece come together. The gold letters and grey shadow, the stars and spots and white letter stars. This piece is so very easy on the eye.