Two things I really enjoy about Mr Crawls’ work are his desire to grow and develop his ideas, while underpinning them with his magic style and the frequency with which he paints, constantly keeping the interest going in locations all over the city.
Mr Crawls, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024
I haven’t seen anything quite like this from Mr Crawls before, although the head, hat and chrome background are reasonably familiar themes. It is the bottom half of thee piece that introduces a whole new aspect that is different and one which it will be interesting to see if he replicates or uses again. Definitely an eye-catching design in a great spot.
Stivs is something of an enigma, you never really know quite what you are going to see from him next. He is both an accomplished portrait and scene artist, as well as an exceptional calligraffiti writer. In this piece, he has created a wonderful cartoon book style portrait.
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024
I took this photograph on my second trip to the wall, because the sun wasn’t quite right on my first visit. Unfortunately, by the time I returned, YSAE and Solar (one of them) had tagged it. At least they were respectful enough not to go over the portrait itself. The piece is called (I presume) ‘moody boys start wars’.
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024
The artwork itself is exceptional, and it is one of the best renditions of comic-book style artistry I have seen, and at scale too. I have included a photograph I took on my first visit, which has no tags, but bright vertical strips of light where the sun has caught the wall and corresponding shadows. Phenomenal stuff from Stivs.
It is nice to be able to single out a piece by Chill, without having to share the post with other PWA crew artists, which is usually the case. It feels like a while ago when I first came across Chill’s cartoon character work, in St Werburghs tunnel, if I recall correctly. Back then, he tended to work in black and white with a red background. Over the months and years he has massively developed his characters, his colours his detailed background accessories, and continues to grow with each new piece, which cannot be said for all artists, for sure.
Chill, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
I wouldn’t say that this was my favourite piece that Chill has painted, but it carries all the hallmarks of the tattoo artist. The black lines (ink lines) create plenty of detail around the ear and eyes. The eyes themselves are interestingly presented where the pupils have a wedge cut out of them and there are larger white circles above them, which in this piece I don’t think work all that well. There is plenty of colour dividing up the different elements of the face, which really is a huge contrast from his early pieces. Nice and slightly weird work painted alongside Zake’s equally weird piece posted a few days ago.
Well this is a bit weird, even by Zake standards, and I am not entirely sure what to make of it. To me the piece looks a bit like a cross between an aristocrat and a spaniel, and once seen, I can’t unsee it. There is something about that pointy nose that I find quite unsettling.
Zake, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Zake has been on fire for a very long time and continues to push boundaries, but also reverts from time to time to his basic round face characters. His USP is working with light and shade to create depth and texture, great example of which can be seen in the eyes and cheeks of this character. Both bizarre and wonderful work from Zake.
Dime, Jody and Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
What a wonderful triptych piece on the roundabout which is what I would describe as a unique collaboration between Dime, Jody and Turoe. I am not familiar with Dime and am guessing that he was visiting Bristol and made contact with artists in the city to see who’d like to have a paint. That is how I imagine these kind of things happen.
Dime, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
The collaboration starts with a stunning piece of graffiti writing from Dime, with nicely defined letters, beautiful fill colours and a deep 3D drop shadow. The borders are nice and thin and flawless, and the letters are lifted with contrasting orange and red blobby decorations around the outside. The way I think about decorations in a piece is to try and imagine what it would look like without them – often they enrich what might have been something a little ordinary. Decorations are part of the composition, not just an afterthought.
Jody, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Jody has been smashing it all over the place for a sustained period, and I understand from talking to Fade, is really enjoying himself. In this piece he provides the filling in a graffiti writing sandwich and features a cartoon style cool character striking a pose with a cloudy background. I love the sparkle on the sunglasses, a brilliant touch.
Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Rounding off the collaboration is a piece of writing from a Bristol legend, Turoe, although I originally thought it was by Soker it is actually a tribute collaboration to Soker who had a cycling accident recently (Thanks to Jay for the background information). If ever you want to know what outstanding graffiti writing looks like, then look no further than Turoe, and this piece demonstrates why. Perfect colour selection, superb interlocking letters without being over-engineered, a deep and contrasting 3D drop shadow and tight border. All the elements are there and they are brought together by a master of his craft. All in all, this is a fabulous and quite unexpected collaboration. We are blessed, and a fabulous tribute.
I have been suffering from Elvs withdrawal symptoms… it seems such an age since he regularly visited the city, although this is his second piece painted in July, so there is some hope, I guess. This piece feels like classic Elvs, and I think I know what I mean when I say this, because his writing remains similar from piece to pieces, but there is something here that reminds me of some of his older work.
Elvs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
The colour selection, including the background colours, just seem to work so well together, with the break in red tones disrupted through the central section. The writing spells ELVS and the letters are created with the thin highlight lines, so typical of Elvs’ work. There is a lovely grey drop shadow with a central vanishing point which rounds the piece off nicely and without which it would all look pretty odd. Excellent stuff from Elvs.
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.
Natural adventures 