Only a few days ago I was talking about the frequency of epic paint jam walls, and this is another example from a Bristol group of artists, including the ever improving Kool Hand. The artist returns to one of his favoured animal characters, a crocodile, for this fun animated piece, which perhaps takes a little inspiration from the Terminator movies.
Kool Hand, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2023
The crocodile, with a peeled back face, revealing a robotic skeleton, is holding a ‘boogie box’ or ghetto blaster on his left shoulder and clutching a spray can in his right hand. The piece is nicely finished, and is a bit of a ‘stretch’ piece for Kool Hand whose work is becoming more diverse and creating narratives. The full collaborative wall is below:
Kool Hand, Conrico, Werm, Korbe and Daz Cat, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2023
Daz Cat, Werm and Kool Hand, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2023
I am very pressed for time this morning, so this is a bit of a quick one. There were actually four pieces in this collaborative wall, but these three were more familiar to me and formed part of a set, with the fourth having a slightly different feel to it. The three artists, well known to regular readers are Daz Cat, Werm and Kool Hand.
Daz Cat, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2023
To the left of the three is a rather cool rabbit character, or long-eared cat, sitting cross-legged and striking something approaching a yoga pose. What you don’t get from this picture is the scale of the piece which is probably 9ft tall, I know this because I painted something immediately to the left, which was dwarfed by it.
Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2023
In the middle is another stunner from Werm, who is getting his style sorted with his small letters and expanding decorative extensions. He has consistently been one of the most productive artists on the streets for quite some time , and rarely disappoints.
Kool Hand, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2023
On the right, Kool Hand has painted one of his customary character/writing combinations in his soft curvy style. The toothy dog is leaning on the letters, and both elements are nicely highlighted with white dots which offer depth to the piece. Altogether a nicely colour coordinated triptych from the trio.
Kool Hand and Daz Cat, Greenbank, Bristol, May 2023
I can’t believe we’re almost at the end of May, but it is true and with each day that passes more and more pieces of graffiti writing, and street art adorn our city walls. It can be a struggle at times to keep up, but a pleasurable struggle, if there is such a thing.
The light wasn’t particularly helpful on the day that I photographed this collaboration between Kool Hand and Daz Cat, but I might have just got away with it.
Kool Hand and Daz Cat, Greenbank, Bristol, May 2023
To the left, a Kool crocodile chills up against a colourful palm tree, looking almost like a piece of quilt work (watch out Louis Masai!). On the right is a Daz Cat cat floating and mixing music. What is interesting about the collaboration is that Kool Hand’s work is quite flat, and Daz Cat’s has depth and perspective, bringing different aspects and styles to the piece. It is always good to see these two painting together.
Kool Hand, Conrico and Daz Cat M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2023
I’m not sure that I will ever work out this wall properly. Sometimes pieces will stay on it for months and turnover will be practically zero, other times it can change twice within a week, and I believe that this recent charming triptych by Kool Hand, Conrico and Daz Cat has already been painted over.
Kool Hand, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2023
The left-hand panel is a wonderful leopard character from Kool Hand, wearing a floppy bucket hat. The fingers appear to be magically zapping the letters KH, and the blue/purple feline is set on a fantasy woodland backdrop, painted by Conrico I would guess.
Conrico, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2023
In the middle is a rather shady looking character shrouded in a cloak and holding a spray can, probably preparing to do a spot of illegal spraying by the look of it. This is a really nicely worked piece by Cobnrico, with some great attention to detail in the creases and folds in the cloak and hat. A classy character.
Daz Cat, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2023
On the right-hand panel, Daz Cat has departed from his customary cat characters to give us this woodland sprite holding a couple of frogs, one of which is holding a toadstool. I’m not too sure what the smoking head is all about, but this section, in fact the whole thing, definitely has a bit of a dreamy fantasy feel about it. An unusual and entertaining collaboration from three fine graffiti artists.
Kool Hand is another artist who has been keeping things ticking over nicely pretty much for the last year. His characters have been diversifying a little over that time and new favourites have emerges, like the dog in this piece. There was a time when his work was almost entirely confined to orangutans and crocodiles.
Kool Hand, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2023
The letters KH are book-ended with two characters, his trusty orangutan wearing a cap on the left and a toothy dog on the right. Both characters have wings, although I am not sure of the significance of this addition. The colour scheme has focussed on blues, and works really rather nicely. The piece was painted as part of a larger paint jam a few weeks back.
My last visit to Purdown ended up being rather fruitful, which isn’t always the case. I have been up there to walk the dog of late and there has been absolutely nothing worth photographing, that is until now.
Kool Hand, Purdown, Bristol, January 2023
This is a rather nice crocodile piece by Kool Hand that has a little bit of a story going on. It looks like our croc friend is little hungry, tempted by a swimmer’s feet overhead. A but of fun on a small piece of wartime concrete from Kool Hand.
Face 1st, Kool Hand and Soap, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2022
I think that 2022 was the most prolific year for Bristol street/graffiti art ever. More artists joined the already large cohort, and it would seem that many of them painted more often than before. Of course, this is counterbalanced a little by the departure of some artists, and others going to ground for sustained periods. Overall, though, it was a bumper year. What this means is that there are way too many great pieces that were left ‘on the cutting room floor’, so the next few posts will be an attempt to dig out some of the pieces I simply didn’t have time to post during the year. Starting in January 2022 with this splendid collaboration between Face 1st, Kool Hand and Soap.
Face 1st, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2022
I have a feeling that the reason I didn’t post this at the time is that my first round of photographs were sun/shade impacted – this is a spot to be photographed on dull days. To the left is a typically happy piece from Face 1st, that really set the tone for the joy he spread for the rest of the year.
Kool Hand, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2022
The middle section was painted by Kool Hand, with this really on-point crocodile holding a marker pen. I was chatting with Face 1st earlier this week, and he said that he felt that this piece really demonstrated how Kool Hand had moved up a level, and I would definitely agree.
Soap, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2022
Finally, (and it is always finally, because Soap always paints on the right-hand side of a collaboration) we have a superbly expressive piece of writing from Soap, one of his very best, in my opinion, with stacks of movement and interest. Even if you can’t quite read his letters, he has signed the piece with his tag three times for good measure. I am so sorry you have had to wait a whole year for this one.
Kool Hand has been a steady presence on the streets of Bristol in recent months, and each time his work is improving and diversifying. This dog character was recently painted in the St Agnes tunnel of the M32 roundabout alongside Daz Cat and Zake.
Kool Hand, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2022
Although relatively simple in design, this character has been perfectly finished. The fills are solid, the feature lines add interest and depth and the border is very clean. Set on an interesting orange buffed background, the piece stands out clearly. There are a few nice bubbles too, filling the blank space.
Kool Hand and Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2022
I really enjoy these occasional collaborations from Daz Cat and Kool Hand, who have been teaming up for several years now. Their creations are steadily becoming more sophisticated and intricate as each of the artists improves and develops.
Kool Hand and Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2022
Both artists have created characters on hoverboards, cruising through a deep red, starlit sky. Kool Hand has a crocodile on a ‘Silver Surfer’ kind of board and Daz Cat has painted an elaborate Ms cat with loads of detail in the face and clothing. The whole thing is an effective and atmospheric work, creating an exciting and dynamic scene.
Ryder, T-Rex, Conrico and Kool hand, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2022
This is another offering from the Dean Lane Hardcore (DLH) event a couple of weeks ago, and is an unusual collaboration between T-Rex, Ryder, Conrico and Kool Hand, which makes the whole thing rather special. Entitled ‘All skaters are b*stards’, the collaboration is clearly poking a bit of fun at skaters, at what is at its heart a skating event.
Ryder, T-Rex, Conrico and Kool hand, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2022
T-Rex that’s us to one of her classic dinosaurs, with a flying pig in a frying pan overhead by Ryder. Conrico has reproduced one of his classic Bugs Bunny pieces with the inclusion of a skate board (see below), and the collaboration is hounded off with a Kool Hand Orangutan. The whole piece is a bit of an eclectic gathering, but utterly appropriate for the event. Great to see.
Natural adventures 