The quickest of quick ones this morning. It is my wife’s sixtieth birthday today, and there is much celebrations to do, and guests to prepare for.
Sunny days and a dazzlingly bright piece from Lee Roy, who has been painting a lot lately. He has jazzes this piece up a little with the inclusion of a rather scary cat. Great work, marred only by the sight of a shadow-selfie… it happens sometimes.
A gallery of fabulous graffiti writing from Bristol’s Lee Roy
Instagram: @leroyale191
All photographs by Scooj
This is another piece in a series in which we see Lee Roy spell out his name with his unconventional font that teeters on anti-style graffiti. There is a lovely symmetry about this piece, and something about the style, colours and composition that has hints of the Indian subcontinent (although I don’t think that is necessarily the intent).
There are many similarities with a recent piece he painted in Cumberland Basin recently, and it would seem that he is playing with themes and ideas. It is great to see this pulse of activity from Lee Roy, and I look forward to finding more as the weather improves and artists get busy (as if I don’t have enough to keep up with as it is).
I am definitely coming to the conclusion that it is time for a Lee Roy gallery. He appears to have had a little bit more free time to paint recently, and there are pieces appearing in all parts of Bristol. I often wonder what it is that creates these moments for artists, is it family circumstances, is it a job situation, mental health, affordability or inspiration that dictates the peaks and troughs in activity.
This piece in my beloved Moon Street is painted in his anti-style unruly lettering, spelling out LROY on this occasion. The dark colours give it a fairly austere appearance, and there are one or two little narratives going on – a burning candle, a stairway, the sun and stars and a face with four eyes, all stories to be told. Gallery to come soon I hope.
It feels like Lee Roy is a man in a hurry. I haven’t seen much from him over the last couple of years and now all of a sudden his work is appearing all over the city and it is difficult to keep up. This is a recent one on the long wall at Cumberland Basin.
Lee Roy likes to paint his letters in a rather unconventional style, verging on anti-style. The letters are beautifully designed, but unruly and unfettered. There is scope for the artist to do whatever he likes, and he does. Weirdly, some kind of order is restored with the inclusion of a strand of barbed wire running through the piece. This is a really imaginative, creative and curious piece from Lee Roy. Watch this space for a whole bunch more from him.
Lee Roy is a writer whose work I really rather enjoy. His writing is a little unconventional and always interesting to look at. This recent piece in the tunnel is an immediate attention-grabber on account of its use of orange on a turquoise background.
The letters are uniform in size, and the letter design is exceptional. The fills and fill patterns are quite subtle, but beautifully worked. This is one of the best Lee Roy pieces that I have seen – a true beauty.
About eighteen months ago there was absolutely no stopping Lee Roy, and it was easy to find new pieces by him on a regular basis, then out of the blue nothing for quite a long while. Lee Roy,I am pleased to report, has resumed his prolific form in recent weeks and this is one of several new pieces by the artist.
His familiar letters are given some extra special treatment in this piece, with a rather snazzy background of pink and purple bricks on a blue background. The letters too have some reference to brickwork as well as some other fine drippy and dotty fills. This is a lovely piece from Lee Roy, and I will try to dig out some more recent ones from the artist.
As mentioned previously, Lee Roy has had an exceptionally busy spring, and although he has been painting for a while he only appeared on my radar in February this year, and for every piece posted, there is at least another one in the archive.
What I like about Lee Roy is that he is constantly rethinking his work and his most recent ‘reimagining’, to use a contemporary word, has been to drape his pieces onto the ground and cascading down steps as in this example from the M32 cycle path. A great idea very nicely executed. Inevitably, there is more to come from the artist.
There is currently no stopping Lee Roy who appears to be extending himself with a series of pieces that are painted close to the ground and spilling out on to it or cascading down steps.
It took me two attempts to photograph this rather dainty piece, because the first time I failed to frame it properly. It is so annoying when that happens. Written in big bold letters, this piece contains a variety of very interesting and original fills and lots of blue water drops. Lee Roy is definitely tapping into his creativity these days.
I seem to remember from my school days that Lee Roy (Leroy) was a corruption of Le Roi, or The King in French. I did a little fact check on Wikipedia and I was kind of right, although the name is Norman in origin. The Normans brought the surname to England, which in medieval times was used as a nickname for a person that behaved in a regal fashion or who had earned the title in a contest of skill. So there you have it. Lee Roy is the king.
Our Lee Roy has been very busy of late and is hitting walls across Bristol irrespective of the north/south of the river thing. This black and white piece at the entrance to St Werburghs tunnel is a cheerful affair with his trademark circles in the fill and a rather nice cheeky character in the ‘O’. More to come soon from The King.
Natural adventures 