This is a cheeky little number from Bnie on the M32 roundabout. Such is the distinctiveness of her style that she doesn’t have to write Bnie for us to know that it is hers. Brat will do.
I don’t recall properly meeting Bnie, although I think I might have watched her paint once before. Her colours are often beautifully matched and her 3D shadows filled with patterns and designs. That gallery is getting ever closer.
Now who was it that said a leopard can’t change its spots? Because they were wrong. This particular leopard is Elvs and this piece is quite unlike the intricate and flamboyant pieces we are used to seeing from him.
This was painted a couple of weeks back and certainly came as a bit of a surprise. The bubble writing spelling ELVIS is topped with a satanic cartoon character amidst some fiery flames, so utterly not the customary fare from Elvs. Something more typical is in the photograph below. Great to see a bit of versatility from this superb graffiti writer.
I was lucky enough to run into Hemper as he was painting this humorous piece on the M32 roundabout. It was a rather overcast day and I had the dog with me for company. Hemper stopped for a chat, and I learned a little bit more about him and his work. He is a real gentleman and was more than happy to make time.
The piece itself is a bit of a departure for this prolific street artist because of the inclusion of two characters. What was interesting was that Hemper, well known for freestyling his work was using pictures on his phone to get the characters right. Some may have spotted that they are Mark Zuckerberg on the left and Jeff Bezos on the right – great to see caricatures of two of the wealthiest people on the planet dissing each other’s businesses.
In between the two characters Hemper has written SERFS, no need for any picture prompts here and the whole thing is painted in front of a backdrop of gold coins, lovely gold coins. Yet another Hemper stunner.
One of the things that I really like about Sled One’s work is that everything seems so effortless, and as a result, his pieces are immersive and compelling in a way that other pieces might be static and boring. As usual, even his writing seems to have a story to tell.
This ASK – After Skool Klub – piece is rather cute and engaging. The letters reveal an eye, a mouth, a daisy-chain garland and a hand with a peace gesture and the whole thing is a little bit ‘peace and love, man’ but so incredibly easy on the eye. This artist is the best at turning the inanimate into imaginable living things. Gotta love this one.
Claro_que_sssnoh (grief… his name is difficult to type) and his Spanish fellows have been busy of late, actually it seems that most artists have, and my archive for March and April are swelling with unpublished pieces that will probably keep me busy well into retirement.
This is a lovely colourful HONS by this busy member of the HMR crew. His pieces are usually quite busy, with a lot going on in the letter and colour transitions, and his style is fairly distinctive, combining lots of curves with angular and regular straight lines. Always fun to see.
A classic piece of Face 1stery going on here on the M32 roundabout. In times of turbulence and disruption there are rocks, sturdy landmarks, that remind us that actually everything is ok. Face 1st is one of those rocks. His pieces are painted regularly and when I see them I feel comforted and grounded.
This is a lovely example of his work with the customarily cheerful girl whose hair is composed of the letters FACE. This time there is a pink goo highlighting the letters, looking a little bit like bubblegum, which in my experience is best kept well away from hair.
I remember once back in the 1970s I was in a smoke-filled cinema in Muswell Hill (incredible to think that smoking at the cinema was the norm). Half way through the film a discarded piece of bubblegum that had been lobbed from the circle seats landed and lodged in my 1970s hair. Disgusting. My mum had to cut it out with scissors when I got home. I felt violated and humiliated. If I ever catch the perpetrator I’ll…
Phour is one of those artists who regularly burns his letters onto any surfaces that he fancies. Some of his pieces are quick and dirty throw-ups and some, like this one, are more polished and accomplished.
Spray painting over existing graffiti without buffing the wall first means that your piece needs something special to stand out from the crowd. Phour has achieved this with flying colours (literally) in this absolute belter.
One of the things I am looking forward to when we return to a new normal is that some of the artists who have had a quiet lockdown may return to the streets more frequently, in particular artists like Laic217 who has been, relatively speaking, on a bit of a go-slow.
This is a nice little skull piece, picking up on some themes used by Laic217 in the past, most notably the brickwork structure of the skull. The folds and textures of the clothing is once again masterfully handled. Always so good to see.
Bnie has been painting quite a lot with her RBF crew recently and it is always great to see her nicely balanced letters and fills, and beautifully decorated 3D shadows that are a trademark feature of her work.
I don’t know if this wall was painted for a special occasion or whether it was part of a general paint jam, but there was a great turnout of artists and some fine work laid down. For me, this one from Bnie might just have been the pick of the bunch, it feels like her work is improving each time I see something new from her. The time for a gallery must be fast-approaching. I am really enjoying the incorporation of a mouth in the ‘B’.
The incredibly busy and talented Pekoe painted this piece a short while ago along with several of her RBF friends on a section of wall that was long overdue for a refresh. The wall at this particular point is in a narrow stretch of cycle path and very difficult to photograph without being totally over-faced by it.
Pekoe has been producing so many top drawer pieces of late and this is another one to add to her catalogue, although there is something about it that I am a little uncomfortable with, I’m not sure what, but I think it could be the mouth. The feature image gives you an insight into the length of this wall, and the size of the collaborative paint session (all the yellow-background pieces). Still more to come from Pekoe’s purple patch.
Natural adventures 