Tag: M32 roundabout

4370. M32 roundabout J3 (404)

Slakarts isn’t painting quite as much as I would like to see, but in this piece on the roundabout he has turned out an absolute beauty. It is almost like he has applied the Picasso cubist treatment on his stylised face, and the result is something rather special.

Slakarts, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2022
Slakarts, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2022

I am not the biggest fan of chrome, as I think it tends to dominate a piece – great for throw ups and bubble writing, but difficult to pull off with tidier pieces. Slakarts has more than pulled this off, he has smashed it with the interactions between chrome blues and white and the overall effect is stunning. Beautifully conceived and executed, this is a magnificent specimen from Slakarts.

4368. M32 roundabout J2 (1)

You know when an artist is in high-productivity mode, when the frequency of meetings is high. In the past week or so, I have met Klashwhensober twice, and both times stopped for a nice chat. I had shared links to posts on Natural Adventures, and bless him, he had read them, which was most kind, so we chatted a little about that. This piece is one of several that I photographed a couple of weeks back, investigating all the tunnels under the M32 roundabout, junction 2.

Klashwhensober, M32 roundabout (J2), Bristol, March 2022
Klashwhensober, M32 roundabout (J2), Bristol, March 2022

I am not a big fan of tunnel pieces, because the lighting is always very tricky, and it is difficult to capture a whole piece in the frame due to the narrowness of the tunnel. The colours used in this ‘FLASH’ piece are most striking, and there is a creative and interesting cow-spot pattern fill. I mentioned to Klashwhensober that I might have to start posting several pieces of his at a time, because there are just too many to do single posts each time – there would be precious little else on the blog.

4355. M32 roundabout J3 (403)

I was fortunate enough to meet Corupt, just as he was finishing off this wonderful Stick piece. What I didn’t know until I returned a day or two later was that he still had quite a lot more work to do on it, and you can see what he added if you compare the two pictures below.

Corupt, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022
Corupt, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022

One thing I have noticed from watching Corupt while at work a couple of times now is that he is very diligent and careful, taking plenty of time to get things just right. In this piece he has absolutely nailed it, with a perfect background, outstanding letter shapes (so Corupt), fabulous 3D shading in black and grey stripes, sensational fills and a wonderful white highlight to help the letters pop.

Corupt, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022
Corupt, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022

The final touches included a yellow border and some shout-outs. The piece was a birthday tribute to his friend Rapa.

4354. M32 roundabout J3 (402)

Over the last month or so, Laic217 has produced four wonderful pieces, three of them linked to support for Ukraine and this one, reverting slightly back to the territory we are used to seeing from the artist.

Laic217, M32 roundabout, Brisol, March 2022
Laic217, M32 roundabout, Brisol, March 2022

The backdrop of multiple colours layered horizontally, almost looks like paint brush work, and is quite crude. There is nothing crude about his greyscale skeleton character, however, picked out with a fine white border. There is threat and misery in this piece, all part of Laic217’s narrative and fascination with decay and distortion.

4351. M32 roundabout J3 (401)

There was a period last year when we were spoilt with an avalanche of Hemper pieces, of course, keeping that level of productivity going was always going to be difficult, and the artist has now settled into a more occasional routine.

Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022
Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022

This is a lovely piece, painted alongside Andy Council, from a couple of weeks back. This is wildstyle writing at its cryptic best. Letters made up of three dimensional slabs, which I must confess that I have difficulty reading. Hemper usually writes HEMS, but I can’t make it out here. This is a beautifully executed, highly complex piece that demonstrates just what an accomplished writer Hemper is.

4333. M32 roundabout J3 (400)

It is fitting that the 400th piece I have posted from the M32 roundabout should be by one of Bristol’s most established and respected artists, Andy Council. This is a superb piece that was part of a collaborative effort alongside Hemper.

Andy Council, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022
Andy Council, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022

Andy Council’s work is easily identifiable by its composition. His creations usually feature an animal that is made up of component parts; he used to paint small buildings and architecture, but these days he uses ‘blocks’ threaded together, almost like a child’s toy. He manages to turn a 3D concept into a completely credible piece of wall art – amazing really. This beast looks a little bit like something from a horror film. Always good to see Andy Council’s imaginative work.

4328. M32 roundabout J3 (399)

I can’t quite work something out. I have only been aware of Klashwhensober for a couple of months, and although I have seen some of his ‘Sober’, ‘Soba’, ‘Klash’ and ‘Flash’ pieces for a little while longer, he seems to be everywhere I look at the moment. Did I miss something before, or has he gone completely nuts. I think I have photographed at least ten of his pieces in my last three or four trips out.

Klashwhensober, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022
Klashwhensober, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022

This Sober piece is a bit of a beauty on the M32 roundabout. The letters are unmistakably Klashwhensober’s, but it is the fills that are superb, with the red and blue ‘sprinkles’ transitioning along the horizontal divide of colour. The white highlights help the piece to ‘pop’ out giving it the 3D effect. And the whole thing is beautifully finished. There is a lot to like about this piece of writing.

4325. M32 roundabout J3 (398)

I don’t see pieces from Serm all that often, so it was a pleasant surprise to come across this one a couple of weeks ago on the roundabout. The colours, I am guessing, represent the colours of Ukraine, and I imagine that this is another piece in support of the Ukrainian people suffering at the hands of the Russian dictator Putin.

Serm, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022
Serm, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022

It is interesting that we have two artists with very similar names, Serm and Werm, and both like to write using these large block capitals, most likely a coincidence, but maybe there is something about the letters that lend themselves to this style. Very nice writing indeed from Serm.

4324. M32 roudabout J3 (397)

Like so many of the artists in Bristol, Varo seems to go through very busy periods and then goes quiet for a while, before returning with a burst of activity. I managed to catch up with Varo briefly just as he was finishing off this extraordinary piece. The conversation was a little fragmented, because Varo’s English is a little bit basic, and my Spanish non-existent. We discussed the surreal and crazy nature of the piece.

Varo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022
Varo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022

Normally Varo’s work is quite easy to identify, but this piece is completely off the wall and had I not been there, I’m not sure that I would have been able to identify the artist. It feels like a comic-book Picasso, if you get my meaning, but to try and work out what the story is might just do my head in, so I am not going to attempt to interpret it. I prefer to stick with the ‘crazy’ descriptor. It is great to see something so utterly different and challenging.

4320. M32 roundabout J3 (396)

You can wait for ages, and then two pieces from Subtle come along in quick succession. This is the first of two recent, and really rather decent, works from Subtle. This one is on the M32 roundabout, and the other one, which I will write about in due course, is at Greenbank. Both feature Jerry from the carton series Tom and Jerry.

Subtle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022
Subtle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022

It rather looks like this piece is a ‘love letter’ in graffiti form (Jerry definitely looks bashfully in love), but it is always so difficult to read between the lines on such things. Subtle terms this a ‘quick one’ on his Instagram account, but that is just ridiculous, how can anything so beautifully proportioned and clean and crisp be a ‘quick one’ I ask you? Great to see new work from this great graffiti writer.