Merny

4704. St Werburghs tunnel (308)

Merny, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2022

It is always, always a pleasure to find Merny pieces… he is one of my favourite artists in Bristol, always coming up with pieces that have a story to tell, and this one at the entrance of the tunnel is no exception.

Unlike many other Merny pieces, this one has remained untagged and intact for a week or two now, which is great news for those that don’t get an opportunity to see his creations. The message here is ‘don’t throw the baby out with the bath water’, but what it refers to I am not quite sure. The naive illustration is full of colour and movement and leaves little to the imagination.

The right-hand side of the piece is a little bit of extra abstract work, and I am not entirely sure what it is about. There is a nice colour transition, and the shapes are quite pleasing. I wondered if it was finished, or whether Merny was simply using up some paint and having a bit of fun. As a whole, I like this wall, but of course I would, because I am a bit of a fan.

4674. M32 roundabout J3 (427)

Merny, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2022

There are few things more tempting for graffiti and street artists than a newly buffed wall, and this one from a week or two back was an open invitation. The tragedy is that the walls are buffed by people as part of a community service order, as punishment for crimes not serious enough to warrant custody. Their work is pointless, and frankly a waste of paint, but nice prep for artists.

Quick to take advantage of the backdrop was Merny with this portrait piece including his trademark dot labels. The colours are rather striking and as such the piece grabs your attention. I rather like it, but from conversations with Merny, it would seem he isn’t that impressed with it. In case you missed it, I published a gallery of Merny’s work yesterday, and you can see it here.

A gallery of brilliant work from Bristol street artist and illustrator Merny (Morny)

Instagram: @mernywernz

all photographs by Scooj

Merny, M32 roudabout, Bristol, August 2022 — Merny, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2022

Merny, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2022

Merny, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2022

Mr Penfold and Merny (Morny), M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2019

Morny (Merny), M32 roundabout, Bristol, October 2021

Merny (Morny), GreenBank, Bristol, May 2021

Morny, Muriel Alleyway, Bristol, May 2021

Morny, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2021

Morny, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2021

Morny, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2020

Morny, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2020

Morny, M32 roundabout, Bristol, October 2019

Morny and Billy, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020

Morny, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020

Morny, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2019

Morny, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2019

4430. Greenbank (35)

Pretty much my favourite collaborations are those between Billy and Merny, their naive styles complement each other so well and they both tell fabulous stories with their paintings. This collaborative wall was painted a couple of weeks ago.

To the left, as is usually the case with their collaborations, is Billy’s piece, that claims ‘it used to be different here’. It would appear that the piece is a commentary on the huge development that is going on on the other side of the hoardings. The woman in a strawberry dress, overlooking a new housing development, has the look of a Dick Bruna character, the artist who created Miffy the rabbit. Everything about this piece is perfect… the story, the artwork and the location.

To the right of Billy’s piece is a rather bleak message from Merny in which a man, perhaps a teacher, is pointing at words on a board that read ‘no one cares’. I would suggest that maybe this is a reflection of the troubled times we live in where we have an inept and out of touch government that is looking after the interests of the wealthy. The signature numbered labels create interest and humour to the piece.

Billy and Merny, Greenbank, Bristol, April 2022

What a fabulous collaboration from these two. I was pleased to get photographs as often their pieces don’t last long, which is both irritation and disrespectful.

4361. Greenbank (36)

This wonderful piece from Merny made me laugh a lot and offered another insight into the artist’s observational skills and ability to recreate otherwise ordinary conversations or objects and turn them into something visually special. I always enjoy his work, and the naive style lends itself to remarkable storytelling.

The heroine of the piece declares ‘I utterly can’t help it if I’m beautiful hun!’ And tells us so much about this rather vain and laughable, but somehow endearing character. What I like about the piece is that we all probably know somebody like this, and it is this resonance that works so well, like a good situational comedian. The woman is talking to herself in a mirror, which makes the piece even more hilarious. Great work from Merny.

4319. The Paintworks (2)

Merny is an artist who portrays moments of everyday life in a way that turns the mundane and ordinary into the extraordinary. It reminds me of the Aardman electricity adverts, called Creature Comforts, from a few years ago, where sound recordings of rather boring conversations were brought to life by illustrating them with animals using stop-frame model animation (from the Wallace and Gromit team). Merny’s work is the static version of this creative approach.

This piece was created earlier this year, but having only recently found this spot, it is all new to me. ‘Relax Tony, I am elite reiki healer pls’ – this is so funny, and perfectly accompanied by two characters acting out the scene, incorporating the bullet labels that we see on Merny’s work. Another fabulous story piece in Merny’s inimitable style.

4296. M32 roundabout J3 (389)

At the second attempt, I managed to get a couple of shots of this wonderful piece from Merny. My first effort was scuppered by shadows cast on the piece from the bushes. The first rule of street art photography is to try to pick an overcast day, unless the walls you are photographing are not compromised by shadows or in shadow.

Merny is continuing his themed work featuring a person in an everyday situation with a caption and some point labels with numbers or letters in them. In this piece a lady with an iPad is looking at her screen and saying ‘oh dear’. Her utterance could be in response to any number of things, and the clever thing about this piece is that it requires the viewer to fill I the gaps and write their own story. The story for me is the Ukraine war. That could be me hovering over my iPad searching out the latest news. Another excellent piece from Merny.

4288. St Werburghs tunnel (283)

The artist Merny has an extraordinary ability to convey very strong messages and emotions in the simplest of ways through his naive style that somehow seems to get straight to the point. Usually his pieces are quite witty or comical, but this one is tinged with sadness and desperation.

The character is bent over double with his head in his hands and alongside him is the caption ‘I’ve got no money’. Unfortunately, with a cost of living crisis heading our way and the impacts of the war in Ukraine, for which Russia (Putin and his cronies) are wholly responsible, this is a desperate image we can expect to see more of this year. Real people in severe difficulties. Well done Merny for tackling such difficult subjects with his art.

4220. M32 roundabout J3 (382)

The rewards for digging through archives are fruitful and nourishing, and this wonderful little collaboration from Mr Penfold and Merny (Morny) has managed to remain hidden for way too long. I am so happy to be sharing it with you now.

These two have collaborated on more than one occasion, often in the company of Billy, but this is just the two of them. The abstract shapes on the left are from Mr Penfold and the lorry from Merny. The whole transport phase of work from Merny was quite one of the most unique themes in the Bristol street art world, and I have to say that I really miss it, which is why finding this in my archive is such a pleasure.

4034. M32 roundabout J3 (357)

What you see is what you get from Merny (Morny). This is a fun piece painted in his illustrative style that contains little lines and points as if it were a set of instructions for an Airfix model or a diagram in a Haynes Manual.

In this piece it would appear that a story is unfolding of a nuclear family having a day out. ‘Dad’ is chilling and drinking a beer. ‘The kids’ are calling out “wait for me Linda!” And Linda (or mum) or dad are going on about parallel parking. I suspect that Merny based the concept on a real life event, but I have no evidence for that. All good fun though and wonderfully animated and vibrant.

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