M32 roundabout – Page 20 – Natural adventures

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Raid, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024

It has been a genuine pleasure discovering a wide variety of Raid pieces over the last couple of years, and what I have noticed that as well as experimenting with his letter shapes, he has also been improving his fills immeasurably.

It would appear that Raid painted this one in the rain, and wasn’t overjoyed about it. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear to have affected the piece in the slightest. The fill is exquisite and imaginative, and it would appear that Raid has hit upon a winning formula. Everything about this piece is good, and the finishing is perfect, right down to the fine orange border. Bravo Raid!

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Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024

Profanity alert! It is a long held tradition for graffiti writing to be edgy, either in location, style or content, and sometimes writing profanities disguised or otherwise is part of that attitude, without which street and graffiti art would be nothing. Some of the earliest graffiti from Roman times was essentially cock and balls doodles in public spaces.

Stivs presents us with the word ‘FUCK’ styled with his exquisite calligraffiti writing that brings a bitter-sweet challenge. Great colours that smack you in the face and beautifully finished, this is graffiti art at its subversive best.

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Bloem, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024

There is so much to like about Bloem’s work at the moment, and more than that, she is a really lovely person and talented artist and jewellery craftswomen. Her pieces are becoming more confident with each trip out, and she is spreading her wings, improving all the time.

This piece on the roundabout contains a few themes that she specialises in, for example the hand with sharp nails and the old-style brick mobile phone, with keypad. Springing from the phone display is a tangled growth of flowers, complete with personalities. The whole piece is set on a glorious red backdrop softened with a few patterns. This is truly stunning work from Bloem.

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Klashwhensober, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024

There is a lot of truth and honesty about Klashwhensober’s work. Sometimes his work can be a little scruffy and rushed, and sometimes it can be glorious, clean tidy and creative. This piece falls into the latter category, and s a general observation, his trajectory is upward and he is producing quite a lot of classy pieces at the moment.

The black letters on a blue background, spelling SOBER, are nicely done and complemented with a fine blue drop-shadow and tidy accents and starbursts. The inclusion of a character in the middle of the piece definitely improves the overall look and balances out the piece well. Great work from a still-productive Klashwhensober.

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Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024

I think that Hypo and his friends are particularly partial to this spot on the M32 roundabout, and I say that because many of his pieces have been painted here. This one was painted alongside Hemper and Turoe, two legends of the Bristol graffiti writing scene.

Hypo hasn’t gone for the symmetry that we often see with his letters, or at least, not as obviously. There are some great colours in the vibrant piece, and some classic drips and spots by way of decoration. I am not fully convinced by the 3D drop shadow, which looks a little conflicted in one or two places. Overall though this is yet another cracker from Hypo.

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Elvs and Rusk, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024

This is a wonderful collaboration from two brilliant artists, Elvs and Rusk. I’m not sure I have seen these two painting together since Upfest 22, so this came as a very nice surprise indeed. Elvs has had quite a quiet year painting in Bristol and I would like to think (hope) that this piece signals a few more visits for 2024. Elvs’ writing is so incredibly unique and recognisable – I don’t think that I know of anyone that writes large block letters etched out with thin black lines in this way. Fine writing.

I would say that Rusk is better known for his writing or writing/character combination pieces, so this ghetto blaster hip-hop character is something of a rarity. The old-school style character has all the hallmarks of street art/hip hop culture and Rusk carries it off brilliantly. A rather nice silhouette of an urban skyline polished the collaboration off nicely. Great collaboration.

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Sub and Bloem, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024

It took me a little while to work out, but should have been obvious from the start that Sub and Bloem usually paint together, and this collaborative space on the roundabout was adjacent to another that they were painting as I photographed this one. It is great to see two young artists out there pushing boundaries and practicing their skills.

To the left, Sub has painted another of his distinctive pieces with very large letters, lifted with a thick drop shadow and accompanied by some wispy smoke, in the Mr Klue style. On the right, Bloem has painted a hand, as she likes to do, holding a pair of her trademark cherry devils (with smiley faces). Although the two pieces are discrete, they share a cloudy background, and there is a suggestion that the hand emanates from Sub’s ‘B’. Always good to find their work.

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Turoe, M32 roundasbout, Bristol, March 2024

We don’t get to see Turoe’s work all that often these days, so when a new piece does appear it is always worth celebrating. This beauty was painted with his friends Hemper and Hypo on the M32 roundabout at the beginning of the month.

Turoe has painted his letters in old school style, filled with subtle colours and patches, but it is the drop shadow that makes the piece. The very deep shadow extends to the floor in a soft pink with black borders, and is very nicely executed. Shadows like this are quite unusual, but very effective, and I am a little surprised we don’t see it more often. A nice reminder of the exceptional talent of Truro.

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Slakarts, M32 roundabout, Bristol February 2024

I think it’s safe to say he’s back. Slakarts has been knocking out a few pieces lately, perhaps making up for lost time over the last couple of years, during which he has been reasonably quiet. With this quick one, he is maintaining his ‘mega-tag’ presence, reminding us that he is out and about.

Slakarts hasn’t buffed the wall for this piece, and ordinarily that might lead to it being a little bit lost, but his colour selection and precise spray can work are strong enough to help it stand out over the mess. More to come from the resurgent Slakarts soon.

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Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024

It was great to catch up with Stivs while he was painting this piece, and it gave me the opportunity to tell him how much I admired his incredible technical skills with creating these amazing calligraffiti letters. Stivs has made a deliberate choice to move back to writing words he used to write before writing Stivs, namely the word KRAP and variants of it. In this case he has written KRAPSTER.

The letters are not only beautifully crafted and proportioned, but they also incorporate four shades of yellow, one for each elevation, which together create the appearance of gold letters and a three-dimensional effect. The letters are set on a contrasting matrix of pink lines and squiggles, which rounds off the whole production nicely. Great piece by Stivs.

	Sheree on Thursday Doors – 16 Apri…
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday Doors – 16 Apri…
	Dan Antion on Thursday Doors – 16 Apri…
	wrookieschu on Thursday Doors – 16 Apri…
	hitandrun1964 on Urbane fox

	Sheree on Thursday Doors – 16 Apri…
	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday Doors – 16 Apri…
	Dan Antion on Thursday Doors – 16 Apri…
	wrookieschu on Thursday Doors – 16 Apri…
	hitandrun1964 on Urbane fox

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