Rusk, Ulow and Corupt, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
At first glance, this piece might look like a collaboration between Rusk and Ulow, but regular readers will have seen the figure (by Ulow) on the right before in a collaboration with Hypo a short while ago. What has happened here is Rusk has gone over Hypo’s piece, but worked carefully to retain the Ulow character. It is rather nice to see Corupt getting in on the act too, with a nicely delineated piece sitting atop the others.
Rusk, Ulow and Corupt, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Rusk, who has written RUSKY, has produced a banging piece of graffiti writing. It looks like there are five horizontal colour transitions in the letter fills, with some tidy lines in white and brown breaking things up a little. A tried and tested 3D drop shadow with ‘glowing’ yellow spheres dotted around the place lift the letters nicely. This is a nice and tidy piece from Rusk.
Although Cort tends to have a presence in Bristol most of the time, I don’t find myself posting his work all that often. He is an artist who definitely likes to do things his own way and although he can come across as a little unfriendly, I suspect that he is probably quite introverted and likes to keep himself to himself.
Cort, M32 roundabout, Bristol June 2024
It is very difficult to describe Cort’s style, but am going to have a go anyway. His letters are often quite unruly and veer towards anti-style, except that there is an irregular regularity about them. I always rather like his fills, which feel quite artistic to me, and I can see links to the art of Miro (is that just me?). Cort has included a little line drawing cartoon character, which adds a little bit of fun to the overall work. This is a nice piece from Cort.
Raid has slowed down a little, only a little mind, but his presence is felt whenever he paints one of his RAID writings. This one has to be marked out as being slightly different from his usual work on account of the inclusion of a character – a welcome addition.
Raid, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024
The glaringly obvious feature of this piece is the camouflage fill, which is something I have seen quite a lot of, I would guess that it is probably easier to do than some fills, because the shapes and colour patchwork are quite random, and forgiving of little mistakes. The character is a bit of fun, but has very different characteristics to the confidence demonstrated in the writing. It will be interesting to see if Raid continues with the inclusion of characters. I noticed that his Instagram account appears to have disappeared, which is a pity.
Trafficity is an artist who paints just often enough to keep him in mind. His winning formula of letters with variations in horizontal colour bands is consistent and unwavering. I wonder if he could produce a chrome version of his writing, and if so, would it work?
Trafficity, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
The colours selected for this one on the roundabout, are broadly speaking his favoured colours, he likes greens purples and light blues, only occasionally turning to the ‘warmer’ colours of the spectrum. The letters spell ZIOM, and I can still see the word MUMM in the top lime green section. Tick tock.
Minto has been painting a string of fabulous pieces recently, most of which are following this style of what I would describe as deconstruction. The architecture of the piece is there, with the scaffolding still left up (metaphorically speaking) and lots of parts are exposed. We are more used to seeing conventional graffiti writing with solid fills and continuity – Minto has blown this convention apart with his fragmentation approach. The overall effect is not unlike Benjimagnetic’s work.
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2023
The letters MINTO can be reasonably clearly seen, with some hint at symmetry (with the exception of the ‘T’ which breaks things up in space and colour). A couple of faces make an appearance, and there is a rather nice little shout out to Soker there too. Really great and different stuff from Minto.
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
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.
This amazing combination piece by Stivs is something of a rarity in Bristol, and indeed in many towns and cities in the UK. I have mentioned it before that nudity, realistic or cartoon, tends to be avoided by most artists, which I find a bit strange, because the ‘edge’ that is associated with graffiti culture appears to be ‘missing in action’ in this respect. I think that there are probably two main reasons that we don’t see nude art on our streets; the first is that most street artists probably find it slightly embarrassing territory, the British reserve coming into play. Contrast that however with any art gallery where nudes are mainstream.
The second, and rather more practical reason is that nudes are almost instantly dogged by the ‘sensibility police’, who perceive that they are doing the wider public a service – personally I find that utterly bonkers, but it always happens, and nude pieces don’t last long in their original form. It took only a couple of days before this piece was daubed with black paint over the breasts. A more creative and skilled ‘protestor’ might have painted a bra or top, adding to the humour of the situation, but no… just cross it out with rage and anger.
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
‘Norks’ is slang for breasts and in this cartoon character, Stivs has opted for cheeky exaggeration. The character reminds me very much of those ‘saucy’ holiday postcards that filled the racks in trinket shops in seaside resorts up and down the country during the 1960s and 70s. These days, such things are no longer the norm, and definitely speak of a bygone era.
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
While some may find this combination piece by Stivs offensive, I do not. I like it and celebrate the boldness, taking us to a place that is both uneasy and challenging. Stivs’ artwork is outstanding, and this piece will be remembered for its difference from the mainstream – all part of the very rich diversity of the Bristol street art scene. If nothing else, the piece raised a few eyebrows.
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
Natural adventures 