Sled One, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, October 2024
This piece of graffiti writing by Sled One greets visitors and passengers travelling through Bristol Temple Meads station. I am not too sure how long the piece has been there, but I imagine for quite a while as turnover in this spot is pretty slow.
Sled One, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, October 2024
Such is the talent of Sled One, that I imagine he ran this one off with ease straight off the top of his head, which is generally how he rolls. He has painted some nice SLED1 letters with a fill theme bleeding across all the letters and then added a deep 3D drop shadow (which itself has a further shadow) in contrasting red orange and yellow vertical stripes. A fine piece from a brilliant writer.
This wonderful piece by Merny has been outside Bristol Temple Meads station for ages, but I only recently managed to photograph it. The problem with the station area is that I tend to save the pieces there for when I am going to be travelling by rail, but of course I never leave enough time to photograph them.
Merny, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, October 2024
Painted in 2022, the tender piece depicts a man leaning over another who is in a sleeping bag, saying the words “I’ll wake you up when it is over John”. I am not sure what the piece is about but I amguessung that it is a commentary on the state of rough sleeping in our country. The naive style that Merny uses some makes the message even more poignant. A thought-provoking piece.
Molly Mural, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, October 2024
Street art is often overlooked, especially if it is functional in nature and woven into our ordinary lives. This unusual piece from Molly Mural is just outside Temple Meads station, and looks like it is a commission from TCN, whoever they are. Perhaps the notable thing about the location is that it is virtually outside the best bakery in Bristol – Hart’s Bakery.
Molly Mural, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, October 2024
The colourful strip looks like a guiding path from a building to the bottom of the steps up to the station. There is plenty of colour and a tight design in this piece, but the overall effect is to brighten up the otherwise unexceptional tarmac. A wonderful piece from Molly Mural.
This hoarding is so difficult to photograph. it is a long landscape format with tons of light above and below, which interferes with the brightness of the artwork. it doesn’t seem to matter what time of day I take pictures here, I am never really satisfied. I think I might just have got away with it with this stunning sunflower piece by Farrah.
Farrah, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, May 2022
What an amazing welcome for people arriving in Bristol Temple Meads station, as they exit from the front of the building and walk or drive out to join the main road. Farrah’s paint brush style lends itself very favourably to the textures and forms of Van Gogh, and this is a perfect example.
Farrah, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, May 2022
Farrah is the darling of commissions in Bristol at the moment and deservedly so too I might add. This is an absolute corker and another fine example of her unique work.
This piece from Rtiiika has been around for a while now, but I have only just managed to get round to posting it. I very much like Rtiiika’s work and am setting off this morning to find another recent one in Brislington.
Rtiiika, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, April 2021
Rtiiika’s highly designed style is very distinctive and features line drawn characters that are fairly abstract in form. These characters are over a checkered wall in various contrasting colours. The inner squares carry the word ‘TOoOT!’ Which is probably a reference to the tooting of trains from Temple Meads station. Something a little different for us to enjoy.
I always enjoy finding John D’oh pieces, and that pleasure is always heightened when it is a piece that you just didn’t know was there, which to be fair is most of the time with John D’oh. I found this one while I was looking for an Andy Council/Acer One collaboration near Temple Meads Station.
John D’oh, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, February 2021
This is another political piece from this stencil master and is a commentary on the appalling costs of rail travel in this country alongside the dreadful service provided. I’m not too sure how long it will last here, given its location, but good on John D’oh for keeping this in the spotlight. This country is a mess.
This is the second of two #onyourside pieces down at TempleMeads station in Bristol and is by the brilliant Jody. The campaign is called ‘Goals worth talking about’ and this mural features Bristol City’s David Noble who scored a memorable goal at Selhurst Park.
Jody, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, October 2019
It is great to have two such outstanding murals painted by two of Bristol’s best artists representing the two footballing halves of the city side by side. There is great rivalry between the two teams, but sometimes there are more important things to consider. This piece is not typically identifiable as a piece by Jody, as we are more used to seeing portraits of beautiful women. This is a concession perhaps to the beautiful game. Worth getting down to the station to see these two murals.
This is one of two new murals near the entrance of Temple Meads station that were commissioned to mark World Mental Health Day and the associated football campaign #onyourside. Beautifully painted by Kin Dose (Nick Harvey) this piece depicts a Bristol Rovers player (one of two football league teams in Bristol) and is a rather unusual commission which Kin Dose has executed brilliantly.
Kin Dose, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, October 2019
Obviously there was some working together with (spoiler alert) Jody, who painted the other mural, because they both have a similar look and feel about them. What this demonstrates is the artist’s extraordinary talent for working to a brief and turning out something exceptional. We are lucky to have Kin Dose decorating our streets which he has done with such vigour over the past year or two.
Kin Dose, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, October 2019
This is a part of a slightly curious collaboration mural down behind Temple Meads station, accessed via Lower Approach Road. On the day that I went to photograph the mural, I couldn’t actually get to all of it because there was some construction work barricading off the left hand side. This was a bit annoying and rather took the edge off the whole experience.
Silent Hobo, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, November 2017
This section is by Silent Hobo whose contemporary figures I never tire of. There is a whole big story going on here – a dystopian future scene? The girl is not only plugged in to her headset, but also into the ground. She is lying on top of an urban sprawl while a couple of falorn skeleton/robots can be seen in the distance. Then there are the goldfish…
Silent Hobo, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, November 2017
The other character seems to be having some kind of meltdown. His skin is starting to resemble a circuit board, and he is being swallowed up by his urban environment. Perhaps he is transitioning into a soulless robot. Maybe I should ask the artist what this is all about the next time I see him.
Well this really is a magnificent and busy piece by SPZero76. The piece incorporates a train and track, which is entirely fitting to the I. K. Brunel inspired Temple Meads station, adjacent to this hoarding.
SPZero76, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, June 2017
Somehow, by using limited colours on a black background, SPZero76 has created the effect of an etching, or at least that is how it looks to me. He uses the blue and purple combination a lot in his work – maybe he got a job lot of these colours.
SPZero76, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, June 2017
So what else have we got going on? He has a dog puking up, I’m not certain why, and just to emphasise the point he writes ‘PUKE’ so that we are sure. There is a biker and the word ‘zoom’. Also SPZero has managed to incorporate the crew Lost Souls on neon lights on the buildings.
SPZero76, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, June 2017
On the right hand end of the piece there is a lady taking a bath in the last carriage of the train which she appears to be sharing with an octopus and rubber duck. I really have no idea what is going on, but it is a great tribute to the crazy workings of SPZero76’s mind.
SPZero76, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, June 2017
If you are at Temple Meads station and have a few moments to kill, it is well worth dropping down to the hoardings just to the left of the car park (as you leave the station). There are six wonderful pieces from six of Bristol’s great artists.
Natural adventures 