3581. M32 roundabout J3 (298)

UPDATE

Thank you, Paul H for correcting my assumption that this piece was by Sled One. It is in fact by 3Dom, and was painted to celebrate Sled One’s birthday paint jam. In terms of the rest of the post, everything I wrote about Sled One is applicable to 3Dom. I will leave the post as originally written, because it is important to recognise how difficult it can be sometimes to get things wrong…

This wonderful piece of writing from Sled One is actually one half of a collaboration with himself, which in retrospect I ought to have posted as one, but without thinking I have split into two. Both elements of his work were part of an ASK painting session a couple of weeks back.

3Dom, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
3Dom, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021

Given that Sled One usually freestyles his work, which means he doesn’t paint from a design on a piece of paper in front of him, but with the freedom of his own mind, there is an extraordinary ease, confidence and flow that demonstrates his gift. Sled One is a truly gifted artist whose distinctive surreal creativity puts him in the highest echelons of character artists in Bristol (and beyond), and he is a great writer too. This is a fairly straightforward piece of writing, but often his writing is enhanced with character-like elements. Turning the inanimate into the animate is a speciality.

3579. M32 roundabout J3 (297)

Relatively speaking, Rezwonk has had a quiet twelve months. Prior to the first lockdown a year ago, there was no stopping him and his collaborations with Decay and Nightwayss were a regular occurrence… it felt like barely a week would pass without at least one new ‘REZER’ gracing a Bristol wall somewhere. He has been missed, so seeing that he appears to be ramping things up again is pleasure to my eyes.

Rezwonk, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
Rezwonk, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021

This recent piece was part of a collaborative wall that was long overdue on this particular site which hadn’t changed for an eternity. This is a beautiful and technically accomplished piece in which he revisits his theme if incorporating rivets in to his letters, as if this were some large metalwork sculpture. The colours work nicely and there is a special something that makes it rather compelling. Great work, keep it up.

3578. M32 roundabout J3 (296)

Aah, such deep joy. This is my favourite collaboration of the year so far. For me it simply speaks of spring, of life, of happiness. The colours are strong and vibrant and the execution of the two elements of the collaboration by Billy and Sepr is so natural and so very easy on the eye.

Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021

On the right of the piece is a classic Sepr character holding an old wired telephone handset stating that ‘it’s for you’ and expecting at any moment to hand the phone over. The colours are magical and the green shadow is outrageously bold but somehow works brilliantly.

Billy, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
Billy, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021

To the left is a visual interpretation of what is being heard in the earpiece of the telephone handset. ‘Hello, this is spring, can I help you’ says Billy’s half of the mural both in words and visually. A rural landscape with a lamb and daffodils and a spring rainbow are contained in a speech bubble. This is magnificent and I would challenge even the coldest hearted critic of street art not to find some happiness in this piece.

Billy and Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
Billy and Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021

I’ve not seen these two collaborate before, but if this is anything to go by I sincerely hope it is not the last time.

3574. M32 roundabout J3 (295)

One of the incredible things about the Bristol street art scene is that it big and growing. The recruitment into the current cohort seems to be much more rapid than the attrition and loss. Some of the artists who started out in the 80s are still painting now, and Teao One is one of them, although I must confess that this is the first time I have posted anything by him, and as is always the way, since I met him just before he painted this, I have met him again and seen more of his work. Perhaps he has come out of dormancy.

Teao One, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
Teao One, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021

Teao One asked my advice about where he could paint this, because he didn’t want to paint over anything new, which I thought was pretty decent. Unfortunately his piece wasn’t shown similar respect and didn’t last long at all, which is a pity because it is a fine piece of writing with some great colours, shading and outlines. Look out for more from this veteran.

3573. M32 roundabout J3 (294)

I think that Sepr is probably my favourite character artist in Bristol, and let me tell you that the bar is very high, so this is praise indeed. The last few weeks have had me purring because he has been very productive indeed. I guess that he is making the most of lockdown and I suspect that his frequency of street work will drop once things move to a new normal.

Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
Sepr, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021

This piece was painted as part of an ASK collaborative wall, but sadly has already been over-painted. The subject of the piece is a paintbrush combing his pink hair and looking rather cool, in spite of his half moon spectacles. Sepr has a very special talent for making the inanimate animate and his style has an interesting retrospective feel about it. You can see how his tattoo design style maps across onto walls to create these interesting pieces. I love this.

2568. M32 roundabout J3 (292)

This is another very short-lived piece on the M32 roundabout from Serm, who runs a commercial street art outfit under a different name. He has only recently started writing the letters SERM and this is only the second piece I have found.

Serm, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2020
Serm, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2020

Clearly an experienced and accomplished writer, Serm has finished this piece beautifully. The colours work really well on the off-white backwash and the shadows lift the piece really well away from the wall. I look forward to seeing a whole load more from Serm.

3565. M32 roundabout J3 (291)

Inkie and his ASK compatriots have been smashing it in recent weeks, and it is a very good thing to see. I can’t remember a time when so many classy pieces have been painted in such a short space of time. 2021 is shaping up to be one hell of a year for street/graffiti art in Bristol.

Inkie, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
Inkie, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021

This lovely piece is in colours favoured by Inkie and seen many times on Natural Adventures before. It is the intricacy of the piece that I find rather special about this one. There is so much interlocking and cross-over of the letters, it becomes impossible to work it all out in your head… goodness only knows how Inkie manages to do it. Yet another very nice piece from that man Inkie.

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M32 roundabout J3 (290)

Yesterday I posted a gallery of Hemper’s work, and if you’ve not stumbled across it, you can find it here. This is yet another beauty in a disaggregated style, a little bit like Benjimagnetic perhaps, up at the M32 roundabout. I would like to say it is his most recent piece, but I know of at least two more since this one was painted.

Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021

At first glance, and to the untrained eye, this might look like a bit of a chaotic mess. It is however a beautifully crafted HEMS in several colours, without a solid fill, but instead a hint at fills and outlines. I think that this is the kind of piece that a novice simply couldn’t create. Appearances can be deceptive.


3555. M32 roundabout J3 (289)

A weekend or two back Pekoe had a pulse of painting activity that would make your eyes water. It seemed that she has left one of her beautiful portraits at every spot in town. This one, alongside some graffiti writing from Mena was at the M32 roundabout.

Pekoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
Pekoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021

I love the way that Pekoe has used the space to turn her usual portrait orientation into a landscape one by trailing the woman’s hair off to the right. I also love the colour selections, which although not my favourite colours seem to work so incredibly well in this instance. The spot on the eyes and lips lift these features and the shading around the face add real depth to the piece. I absolutely love this one. Bravo!

3553. M32 roundabout J3 (288)

I love finding pieces by DFC1848 because they give me hope for my own artistic aspirations and his improvement over the last twelve months particularly has been exponential. DFC1848 has taken his character to new heights and developed so many ideas and incorporated new techniques.

DFC 1848, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021
DFC 1848, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021

What is obvious is that the more you practice at this game, the better you get. In this character piece, DFC1848 has switched things up a bit. Not only is the character a different animal, but it is upside down. The letters DFC are concealed within the character’s face, which is something he usually incorporates. Unfortunately, this piece only lasted a day or two, so I was rather lucky to find it.