6210. M32 roundabout J3 (603)

Bloem, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Bloem, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024

It is a rare privilege to witness a character artist segue so seamlessly into graffiti writing, and Bloem, with this outstanding piece, proves what I already knew, that she is a natural. Not only has Bloem managed to give writing a go, but she has created a very neat and tidy piece, of a standard that many wannabe graffiti writers never reach.

Bloem, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Bloem, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024

Her colour selections are excellent and blended expertly as they transition through the letter fills. The letters are very nicely proportioned and regular enough, without being too regimented. All the borders and lines are clean and crisp, patterns simple and well executed, and the white highlights do enough to create a 3D look to the writing. It helps that the graffiti writing is presented on a white background with some black spots, creating contrast and framing everything very nicely. I very much look forward to more experimentation from Bloem.

6207. M32 roundabout J3 (602)

Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Just as I was beginning to think that Minto was going on a bit of a ‘slow-down’ he comes up trumps with several new pieces in a relatively short period of time. This is an interesting piece that was created during a paint jam at the roundabout. I have noticed that Minto has changed his style a little recently and appears to be undergoing a ‘period’ of deconstruction, where the elements of his work appear to be a little fragmented, as if several thoughts are going on all at once.

Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Concealed within the piece are the letters MINTO, with the ‘INT’ being reasonably clear, but the ‘M’ and ‘O’ are more tricky to see. For clarity, he has signed it in yellow bubble writing on the left. The colourful piece is full of eclectic decorations and a couple of characters, but for me lacks a little cohesion. The blue and grey background I would guess has some kind of meaning, but it is a little lost on me. Lot more to come from Minto soon.

6202. M32 roundabout J3 (601)

Conrico, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024
Conrico, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

I love Conrico’s work. He has the most incredible capacity for telling stories through his art. Rarely is there a static portrait or lettering that does nothing more than look good. The other thing that I admire in his work is his spray style that looks more like brush strokes than spray – clever stuff indeed.

Conrico, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024
Conrico, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

This piece was painted during the paint jam to celebrate Wispa’s birthday (in absentia). I am guessing, but can’t be sure, that Conrico has painted a portrait of Wispa in honour of her birthday, which would make sense. He has included some writing, which I think might be Japanese, which I cannot read. A nice piece that is so typical of his unique style.

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!

6188. M32 roundabout J3 (599)

Face 1st and Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Face 1st and Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024

It looks like Face 1st and Zake have an insatiable appetite for painting at the moment, and they are teaming up, with or without the rest of PWA friends to get out there and decorate our walls. This time the pair have chosen the M32 roundabout to express themselves.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024

Face 1st continues to work on his 3D blocky letters, which in fairness he has been tinkering with for a few years, but seems to be really concentrating on them at the moment. This is a familiar format, where he spells out FACE with the letter ‘A’ being replaced with a laughing girl.

Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024

Zake has been creating some rather zany and at times mildly disturbing cartoon portrait pieces lately, and this one fits that description quite neatly. Whenever I see a heart in street art, I read it as meaning one of two things – love, or heart break. It is possible in this instance that it is neither and might be illustrating the tussle between heart and mind. The character has been cleaved in two, which makes for not the most attractive sight. All in all a nice collaboration from the busy pair.

6185. M32 roundabout J3 (598)

Nips, M32 roudabout, Bristol, July 2024
Nips, M32 roudabout, Bristol, July 2024

Although she doesn’t hit the walls all that often, it is always a treat when Nips produces one of her pieces of writing. She tends to have a fairly consistent approach to her letter shapes, but like many other artists who demonstrate this consistency, it is the fills that are king.

Nips, M32 roudabout, Bristol, July 2024
Nips, M32 roudabout, Bristol, July 2024

Tucked away on the M32 roundabout the graffiti writing is filled with a wonderful selection of green tones that transition beautifully with a combination of shape changes and blending. Nips creates great depth to her letters by using white accents on the right hand edges them, and using this device the letters pop really well. This is a very nice, in not a little modest, piece by Nips.

6182. M32 roundabout J3 (597)

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2024
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2024

For the last year or two, Hypo has been turning out terrific pieces of a consistent high quality and on a pretty regular basis. His letters HYPO lending themselves to a certain degree of symmetry, which often comes across, which is well demonstrated here and can be spotted if you focus on the positions of the five light blue arrows.

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2024
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2024

The colours are nicely presented and transition well in the fills. There is also a lot of depth to the letters created with mid-lines, shading and accents. Hypo is a specialist at creating this kind of energy and effervescence in his writing, perhaps learned from and shared with his friend Hemper, who is a master of this kind of wildstyle graffiti writing.

6180. M32 roundabout J3 (596)

Zeks, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024
Zeks, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024

There is something really charming about Zeks’ work that makes it accessible and enjoyable. I don’t quite know how he achieves it, but perhaps it is the naive graffiti writing style that makes it so welcoming, and in this piece there is a kind of narrative around the letters.

Zeks, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024
Zeks, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024

The stylised letters spelling ZEKS form the core of the piece, and the story unfolds around that core. It almost feels like a travel diary, with houses, snow-capped mountains and octopus tentacles all featured. The design of the houses have a South American appearance – it would be great to know the backstory to this one. More from Zeks to come.

6176. M32 roundabout J3 (595)

Grimes, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024
Grimes, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024

At the end of each month I tend to dig out a few pieces that have managed to get trapped in my vast archive, which is organised into monthly files, and this is a piece by Grimes that I photographed back in March, but never quite got round to posting.

Grimes, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024
Grimes, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024

I think it is fair to say that Grimes has now fully bedded down as a Bristol graffiti writer, and his lively style is appearing reasonably frequently in most of the main graffiti spots in town. This yellow piece is full of energy, which is created by the shapes of his letters, highlights, and in this instance a dynamic background of cartoon pink flames. Two or three starbursts also create a sense of movement and dazzle. It won’t be too long before I have enough Grimes pieces to create a gallery.

6174. M32 roundabout J3 (594)

Face 1st and Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024
Face 1st and Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Although it didn’t last a very long time, this is a nice collaboration from PWA’s Face 1st and Zake. I think that I would be the first to say that it is an unusual collaboration, but in the same breath a really interesting one too.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Face 1st has been experimenting a lot lately, especially with his 3D block writing, and this piece demonstrated perfectly the kind of writing he is producing at the moment. The writing appears to be cut in to a long block of machinery or a device, indicated by the numerous red filament bulbs along the length. The letters spell out FACE, of course, and although a little rough at the edges, the concept is a great one. I love the light bulbs.

Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024
Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

Zake has painted one of his cartoon character faces, full of depth and relief. I don’t feel that the two pieces work terribly well together, but they don’t need to, because each stands alone perfectly well. I do enjoy the constant creativity and unrelenting effort from the PWA crew – and ever-present heart-beat of the Bristol scene.