6623. St Werburghs tunnel (468)

Xavier Ren and Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2024
Xavier Ren and Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2024

A little while before Christmas, this excellent collaboration appeared in the tunnel. In fact these pieces, by Xavier Ren and Hypo were two-thirds of the collaboration which included some graffiti writing by Minto, to the left, which I have already posted.

Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2024
Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2024

Hypo has had an extraordinary year, and indeed has been one of Bristol’s most prolific and consistent artists since Covid. This piece underlines his fantastic eye for colourful combinations that create some stunningly vibrant work. The bright letters spell out HYPO, and he has used a clever device to ‘stitch’ the letters together. Really nice graffiti writing.

Xavier Ren, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2024
Xavier Ren, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2024

I know little or nothing about Xavier Ren and so assume he must be a visitor to Bristol, but I really like this character piece. The blue head-and-shoulders portrait piece is full of attitude and moodiness, and presented nicely. It is always great to see something a little different in the city that visitors bring with them.

6606. St Werburghs tunnel (467)

Hypo and ZBomb, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2024
Hypo and ZBomb, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2024

Hypo has been quite busy in St Werburghs tunnel of late and here he has teamed up with ZBomb, to create this rather nice collaborative wall. The only common factor between the two pieces is the blue background, but it qualifies as a collaboration because of that and the fact that they painted together.

Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2024
Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2024

The Hypo letters are less elaborate than some of his recent pieces and the horizontal fills – I can see at least six colours – create a nice traditional feel to the piece. The whole thing sits nicely on the background, and is beautifully bordered with a yellow line and a few icicle drips.

ZBomb, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2024
ZBomb, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2024

I don’t know much at all about ZBomb, but I am sure I have seen other work by the artist about the place. This is a real case of say what you see… the letter Z painted over an archetypal cartoon bomb. The piece is eye catching and instantly fun, sometimes the simplest of ideas can be the most enjoyable. A nice collaboration.

6497. St Werburghs tunnel (455)

Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2024
Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2024

My mood is low today with the news that it is looking likely Donald Trump has won the election in America. One wonders just how this can happen. From this side of the pond, it does not reflect well on the slim majority of Americans who favour a narcissistic bigot and his right wing policies (actually does he have any, or simply make it up as he goes along?). Having said that, we have made the same mistakes in the UK over the last 14 years, and by God are we paying for it now. I am reminded of this rather unpleasant piece of street art from several years ago in which a pair of narcissists kiss – little did we know (although we suspected it) how destructive this pair of liars would be.

Felix Braun, Donald and Boris, Stokes Croft, Bristol, 23 May 2016
Felix Braun, Donald and Boris, Stokes Croft, Bristol, 23 May 2016

I think that it is fair to say that Hypo appears to be smashing it every week at the moment, and I have to say I am enjoying the ride. All the time he is developing his style and adding new ideas, pushing the envelope constantly.

Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2024
Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2024

This is a clean piece, not as energetic as some of Hypo’s recent works, but it is nicely designed with simple colours and a solid fill. The deep 3D drop shadow drifts into a central vanishing point which works well. Hypo seems to be enjoying his ‘icicles’ at the moment, which adds a little extra interest to his border. Nice work.

6490. M32 roundabout (633)

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, October 2024
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, October 2024

I rarely post unfinished pieces, but this one from Hypo was as good as finished and only needed a few little details added, so he said when I was chatting to him about it. I asked if he would mind me photographing it in its unfinished state, and he said not at all, which was fortunate, because I don’t think it lasted much more than a day and was gone the next time I visited.

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, October 2024
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, October 2024

The dark grey letters have a deep metallic sheen, looking a little like brushed steel or something like that. The letter colours work really well with the lilac background and are picked out beautifully with the vibrant lime green border and ‘icicles’. Some small spheres or dots finish the whole thing off nicely. More great work from the hyper-busy Hypo.

6480. L Dub (58)

Dun Sum and Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, October, 2024
Dun Sum and Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, October, 2024

Because I don’t go to L Dub (Lawrence Weston) all that often, there is always something new to look at when I do make it. I had been tipped-off to get myself over to L Dub by DJ Perks, before the heavy rains that were forecast flooded the tunnel, which was just the nudge I needed to go take a look. This fine collaboration from Dun Sum and Hypo on the Water Company building.

Dun Sum, L Dub, Bristol, October, 2024
Dun Sum, L Dub, Bristol, October, 2024

Dun Sum is unlike any other artist in the Bristol area. His work pretty much always depicts imaginary creatures, which draw on the anatomy of real creatures, giving them credibility over the  fantastical. This bug-like character, sitting on a toadstool, is looking rather glum with its large eyes and downturned mouth. The piece is beautifully painted with affection for the character that comes across in the artwork.

Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, October, 2024
Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, October, 2024

Hypo, who has been on fire lately, has come up with this chrome and white piece of graffiti writing that works brilliantly with the contrasting pink background. There is a degree of bilateral symmetry about the piece, especially at the two ends, the ‘H’ and the ‘O’.  Hypo has once again smashed it with this piece.

6437. St Werburghs tunnel (449)

Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2024
Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2024

Hypo has been on fire for a couple of years now, re-emerging during Covid, and keeping up a regular rhythm of fine graffiti writing that just seems to be getting better and better. His letters lend themselves to bilateral symmetry like those of Werm, but there the similarity of graffiti writing between the two artists ends.

Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2024
Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2024

The colours in this piece are its crowning glory. Set on a neutral cream background, the wildstyle letters ‘HYPO’ are festooned with a beautifully blended selection of rainbow colours that manage to remain reasonably subtle, and whilst a colourful piece it avoids being gaudy. Very fine work from a lovely graffiti writer.

6415. Dean Lane skate park (762)

Hypo, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Hypo, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

I am really flagging. This is a beauty from Hypo, who I met at the M32 roundabout a couple of days ago. He continues to turn out quality pieces with great regularity, and this one is so full of energy and effervescence.

Hypo, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Hypo, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

We talked a little of his penchant for symmetry, and chatted about Werm who is going through a phase of writing his letters with a bilateral symmetry. In symmetry lies perfection… That’s yer lot, back to bed for me.

6313. L Dub (56)

Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, August 2024
Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, August 2024

I enjoy getting to where people paint, and by that I mean, in this example, that although Hypo paints a lot in central Bristol, this is his local spot and somewhere that I expect he feels very much at home painting. I visited this spot on a warm, sunny day, which was as much a nature ramble as a graffiti hunt.

Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, August 2024
Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, August 2024

I am never quite sure about the colours blue and yellow together, which is curious, because they are the traditional colours of my beloved Arsenal’s away kit, but of course, I forgive my football team anything and everything. The HYPO letters are nice and regular, painted in two tones of blue and decorated nicely with spots and stars. A thin 3D Drop shadow and two border lines round the piece off nicely. Hypo in his natural habitat.

6236. M32 roundabout J3 (605)

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024

More colourful fireworks from Hypo. This piece reverts to his symmetrical style of lettering, where the ‘H’ and ‘O’ are broadly similar in shape and the ‘Y’ and ‘P’ generally reflect one another. This is a design that Hypo has played with for years and tends to work really well.

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024

It is the fills though that grab the attention in this piece, with several horizontal layers of colour, I can count at least four, each of which is decorated with well-placed spots. There is a lot of energy piece, which is provided by the depth created and the sparkles at strategic points on the letters. Another great piece of graffiti writing for the collection.

6201. M32 roundabout J3 (600)

Hypo and Ulow, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024
Hypo and Ulow, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

What a wonderful surprise it was to come across this outstanding collaboration from Hypo and Ulow. Regular readers will be familiar with Hypo, especially as he has been so productive over the last year or so, but Ulow’s appearances are rare these days, so this was a real treat.

Hypo and Ulow, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024
Hypo and Ulow, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

This collaboration is out of the top drawer. Hypo’s super-colourful writing is as good as I have seen from him and has a touch of Hemper in its presentation and depth… praise indeed. Ulow has an incredible talent for painting the perfect graffiti characters, and his dancer on the right hand side of the collaboration matches the energy of Hypo’s writing. This is a supremely good piece, and one of my favourite collaborations so far this year. Bravo!