Mage – Natural adventures

7860. M32 roundabout J3 (788)

Mage, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2026

If I posted all the Mage pieces I find, thern I woulkd struggle to make space for much else. I accept that this is a bit of an exaggeration, but I do have a lot of his pieces that haven’t made it out of the archives…yet. I think that I would categorise Mage as a bit of a classy bomber. He likes to just show up and over-paint existing work, and rarely, if ever, buffs the wall first, leaving behind the remnants of the piece before it, which in this instance was by Bloem.

I really like this piece, which is nicely thought out and crisply painted. The deep red letter fill is broken up with brighter red plasma lines and decorated with some characterful yellow circles. The contrasting turquoise drop shadow has some nice block decorations. The only thing I am a little unsure about is the black decorations around the perimeter which I think add nothing to the piece. More to come, always.

7557. Greenbank (185)

Mage has been busy painting on the streets for a while now, and previously under a different name. He likes to throw up his letters pretty much everywhere, but his pieces are far from ‘throw ups’. Not one for backgrounds or buffing walls, it is important that his fills work hard to make his work distinctive and stand out from messy walls.

In this piece Mage’s fill is exquisite. It almost looks like his letters and gorgeous drop shadow have been painted over an existing grey piece of artwork. Clever stuff. In this instance Mage has added some black border decorations and some orange partial background. A very nice piece of graffiti writing.

7448. M32 Cycle path (306)

Mage, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, January 2026

I am really pleased to see this piece from Mage, because it is almost as if he has read some of my posts where I have repeatedly said that his letter choice lends itself to sharp-edged and quite clunky writing. Here he proves me wrong with the same letters written in a softer, almost bubble-like font.

All the components are there, good letter design, a thought out fill pattern, great red drop shadow, and a little bit of decoration to distinguish the piece from the underlying graffiti. All in all a very nice piece of graffiti writing from Mage, who has surpassed the challenge of his letter choice.

7399. M32 roundabout J3 (735)

Mage, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2025

Mage has, as I said a few days ago, been incredibly productive this year, turning out quick and dirty pieces as well as some rather classy pieces along the way, of which this is one.

I still think that the letters MAGE are quite clunky, but he manages to turn out some great pieces with these tricky letters. The greyscale pixelated pattern works brilliantly inside the pink drop shadow, an amazing colour combination. The lines are crisp and tight, suggesting some care and time were spent on this piece. I have noticed that Mage likes to set his pieces on a kind of diamond-shaped background, and have to remember to include it in the frame for the photographs I take of his work. Greta stuff from Mage.

7384. M32 roundabout J3 (734)

Really quick ones today. I am unexpectedly dropping my son and a friend off at Heathrow this morning after a last minute change of plans, so am very short of time to write posts. This is a rather nice one from Mage on the roundabout.

Mage has had an incredible 2025, and his work can be seen absolutely everywhere in Bristol. It seems as if he is on a mission. The quality of his work is variable, but his energy and enthusiasm unmatched. This is a bit of a beauty, with his angular letter shapes, but those fills are to die for. Excellent stuff.

7355. Cumberland Basin

Mage, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2025

More from Mage, this time his writing has a slightly softer feel to it. I have said before that the letters MAGE, in my view are a little unforgiving, although lots of straight lines and sharp edges. By incorporating a lower case ‘a’ and ‘e’ Mage has managed to smooth out some of the lines.

The two tone pink letters are bordered with a brown drop shadow, and you will know my feelings about brown by now, so possibly another colour would have been my preference. Mage has been a busy boy this autumn.

7348. M32 cycle path (299)

Mage, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, December 2025

Mage has had a rather prolific year, more so than you might think from his occasional appearances on Natural Adventures. I will try to catch up on a few of his pieces, but might need to resort to a king of mini-gallery to catch up.

This piece, behind the Black Swan, is a nicely considered piece and Mage has spent some time, it would seem, in finishing it nicely, where sometimes his works appear to be a little rushed. Mage has chosen some great colours, I love the contrasting greens. The letter fill has a smart ‘barcode’ appearance, but for me what makes the piece is the red dots and stars that set everything off perfectly. A banging piece.

7326. M32 roundabout (729)

Mage, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2025

Mage used to write under a different name, and then went for something completely different. I’m not sure that he could have picked four more difficult letters to write, especially in their capitalised format… lots of lines, angles and complication. Maybe that was the challenge.

This is a well presented chrome piece with a nice deep blue drop shadow, set on a green splash. All neat and tidy, but what lifts this piece to a different level is the wonderful string of spots in yellow and purple, running through each of the letters, without which the piece would probably feel quite basic. A lovely idea well executed.

7049. Stapleton Road

Mage and Piewaste, Stapleton Road, Bristol, June 2025

This is one of those stacked collaborations that have to be taken as a pair, because separating them might look a little bit awkward. I am not 100% sure that it was painted as a collaboration or whether both artists painted their pieces separately, but you can see that Piewaste’s piece overlaps Mage’s piece above it, and was therefore completed second.

Mage has presented a regular set of letters, but with a creative fill that includes a dashed line pattern reversed out. It is great to see an artist reinventing himself in the way he has with a completely new set of letters, although I have to say I preferred his old letters.

Piewaste, who has written WASTE in letters that are close to anamorphic, creating a strong sense of depth and three dimensions, also includes his trademark eyes looking out from the writing like a cartoon forest at night (kind of thing). Nice to see these two pieces together like this.

6980. Dean Lane skate park (841)

I recently found out, from Paul H (thank you), that Mage, who has recently emerged on the Bristol scene, is none other than Raid, who has appeared on the pages of Natural Adventures many times, including a gallery of his work. Commensurate with his name change, I will now refer to him as Mage from this point forward.

This is a nice piece of writing on an iconic wall that has hosted hundreds of pieces and layers of paint which chip off from time to time, as you can see from the base of the wall. The letters are nicely arranged with a fill that reads across the whole piece, with yellow spirals spanning the letters. A nice piece and a puzzle solved.

	Nguyễn Thị Phương Tr… on 7858. Quakers Art Lane
	paulh121 on 7855. St Mark’s Avenue…
	paulh121 on Thursday Doors – 20 Augu…
	M. on 7854. M32 Spot (222)
	hitandrun1964 on 7850. Stillhouse Lane –…

	Nguyễn Thị Phương Tr… on 7858. Quakers Art Lane
	paulh121 on 7855. St Mark’s Avenue…
	paulh121 on Thursday Doors – 20 Augu…
	M. on 7854. M32 Spot (222)
	hitandrun1964 on 7850. Stillhouse Lane –…

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: