I am still a little under the weather with Covid this morning, so only short posts today. This is a wonderful piece of chrome graffiti writing from Kosc in a spot that he has painted before, but I don’t usually associate with him.
The letters are made up in the style of riveted sheets of metal, a device used by many writers and one that is very effective. Kosc has perfected this style.
Oof! what a belter of a collaboration. Sometimes fortune smiles upon you, and on the day I found this outstanding piece, the artists, Saor and Kosc had literally just finished and were packing up their stuff and saying their goodbyes. Just looking at this collaboration, you can see that it oozes class.
Saor, to my mind, is the perfect antidote to losing Epok, an artist who no longer paints in Bristol (alas), because his style is similar, crafting pieces of such precision and disguising his letters, SAOR, perfectly. The colour palette is beautifully thought out and parts of this piece remind me of the work of the great Miro conflated with the Cubist movement. Wonderful stuff.
Kosc opted for a skull on this occasion, and told me that he finds it easier to paint skulls than fully-fleshed portraits, because the viewer is less familiar with the anatomy of a skull than of a face, which allows for more wiggle room regarding accuracy. Funnily I found that slightly counterintuitive, but maybe that is my naturalist background. Anyhow it is a great piece and such a contrast with Saor’s piece. Chalk and cheese.
It is too easy to be seduced into expecting outstanding work from Kosc, and what I mean by that is that it isn’t easy to turn out unbelievably great from work every painting session, and it shouldn’t be taken for granted. Kosc works really hard, continuously improves and seems to be reaching another level these days.
This piece was painted alongside Stivs (to follow) in a collaboration that shares a colour scheme and combination theme. It would seem that the creative ideas were liberally shared, with Kosc creating some calligraffiti letters in a kind of Gothic font which have turned out really well. The eye though is drawn to the extraordinary portrait replacing the ‘O’ of Kosc. The fine detail and sheer beauty of the portrait is unbelievable, and that it is painted in two shades simply adds to the wonder of the piece. Kosc’s portrait work is magnificent, and this piece showcases it perfectly. We are blessed in Bristol.
Bursting onto the walls in Dean Lane was this stunning and vibrant piece of writing from Kosc. Kosc is an artist who appears to be equally at home with writing or character/scenic pieces, and only a few posts ago I shared an amazing Samurai mask that he painted as part of an NTS Crew collaboration. He is a master of his styles and designs.
This piece cries out to be seen, with its bright colours and busy letters spelling KOSC. As I look at it now, I wonder to myself whether he ran out of the orange colour for the ‘O’, or whether the letter is deliberately more yellow to create a focal point to look at. I guess I will only find out by asking him in due course. A great find, that didn’t last too long, if my memory serves me right.
Although this outstanding collaboration from Saor, Kosc and Mudra was painted a few weeks ago, it has taken me quite a long while to get round to posting it, which is largely down to the sheer volume of new art appearing on the walls of Bristol at the moment. I would say that this winter, in spite of the appalling weather, has been one of the busiest I have know for street/graffiti art and my archives are bulging.
Saor has made a few visits to Bristol lately, and has smashed each piece out of the park, and this is another in a succession of unbelievable artworks. In line with the overall collaboration colours, Saor has disguised his SAOR letters in an outstanding geometric design. What I love about Saor’s work is the blended of borders, which means that all of his lines have to be ultra crisp and sharp, which, of course, he excels at.
In the middle of the triptych is a brilliant samurai portrait piece from Kosc, unfortunately a little obscured by the street sign. There is a lot of precision in the detail of the mask and Kosc has achieved incredible depth and texture in the piece. Kosc is an artist who appears to be at the top of his game these days and is producing some outstanding work.
Rounding off the collaboration is this unusual piece of pixelated writing from Mudra, which seems to be playing with the letters ‘.CON’ (dot con). The skull in the middle of the letters, is a little strange, in fact I find the whole piece odd, and a bit out of kilter with the rest of the collaboration. There might be a story about the piece that I don’t know about which might explain it. Altogether though this is yet another amazing collaboration from the NTS crew.
Saor has been dropping some utterly outstanding pieces for such a long while now, that it is far too easy to take them for granted, and this beauty in Dean Lane is another one to come off the production line. Unfortunately, this piece, and others that were painted during the same session, was a little rain-affected, and there are a few unintentional dips knocking around.
The cartoon character, Astro Boy, is one that I can identify because I used to watch it repeatedly with my children when they were younger. The design of the letters SAOR is beyond brilliant, and as ever executed with extraordinary precision. It is interesting to contrast the familiar character with the high design of the letters, confusing the visual narrative a little. Just another wonderful piece from Saor.
Saor, formerly known as Flava136, is an artist at the top of his game and one who paints in a similar style to Epok. He consistently pushes the boundaries of design, precision and interesting content. Saor often paints with his NTS crew mates, Mudra and Kosc, and this piece was part of a recent collaboration on the north wall of the M32 roundabout.
There is a lot to like about this outstanding piece of writing. The letters spell out Saor in Black Grey and white, with some subtle but impactful tints of green. There is a sense of geometry creating a framework from which some more organic shapes and forms are trying to emerge. Perhaps a tension between precision and softness that grabs the attention. The can control that Saor has is second to none and this is a magnificent piece of graffiti writing. We are blessed.
Some of the most gratifying pieces are the ones that you stumble upon, without knowing about them and which are total stunners, like this outstanding collaboration from Saor, Kosc and Mudra on the roundabout.
To the left of the triptych is an extraordinary piece by Saor, which is characteristically sharp and clean. What I particularly like about his work is that he doesn’t use borders to tidy up his work, everything is achieved through extraordinary can control and cutting back. Incredible really.
Kosc’s portraits just get better and better, and he has painted something super-special in the centre of the three pieces. I rather like it that he hasn’t moved into the realms of photorealism, but has an amazing sense of touch, tone and depth. The orange hair is pretty eye-catching, too.
To the right, Mudra has painted another cracker, spelling MUDRA with letters in a uniform ‘font’, which is different to his last few pieces, where each letter has had a different design. A flower and a CCTV camera are thrown in for good measure. The whole thing benefits from having a buffed wall painted in a complementary colour that works well with the colour selection of the collaboration. This is another outstanding collaboration from the NTS crew.
Kosc is surely one of Bristol’s most talented and versatile artists painting at the moment. Whether he is painting portrait pieces of graffiti writing in a collaboration or alone, his work is always immaculate and extraordinarily creative.
This piece on the M32 roundabout is in his metallic/greyscale style and presents the letters KOSC with a little bit of disintegration between the S and K. Some trademark rivets in the letters add to the metallic look of the letter panels. A nicely thought out and executed piece from Kosc.
We see a lot of collaborations in Bristol, but most tend to be collaborative walls in which some elements of colour or design are shared by the artists. Occasionally, artists paint a piece that is what I would call a true collaboration, where the single piece is a fusion of their work. This piece by Mudra and Saor, or is it Saor and Mudra, is a perfect example of a fusion collaboration.
The overall writing spells out SAOR, and at first glance I thought it was a Saor piece, but look a little closer, and you see the Mudra elements emerge, for example the @ symbol, the pixelated arrow and mask. The whole piece is sh sharp and tidy, and Saor has incorporated some fascinating textures, like the granite effect and night sky with a full moon. A superb piece of work from the NTS friends.
Natural adventures 