Paul Monsters

7242. Greville Smyth Park (5)

Paul Monsters, Greville Smyth Park, Bristol, October 2025

I have just swigged down half a cup of cold coffee, a regrettable decision, but one that has brought about a bit of focus for the day. Lots of things I have to do before settling down to the Arsenal v Crystal Palace match this afternoon. Weekends are short, too short, there is never enough time to do the things I must do and the things I want to do.

This is an absolute belter from Paul Monsters painted on the small building up at the bowling green in Greville Smyth Park, a spot often reserved for Upfest pieces, but with a small turnover between festivals.

Paul Monsters is known for for his outstanding geometrical designs and use of complementary colours to create light and shade which adds depth to his work. In this piece he has combined geometric crosses with concentric circles from the centre, an incredibly technical piece of artwork. Brilliant stuff, although I’m not too sure the dog was overly captivated.

6204. Cheltenham 2023 (16)

Everything is catching up with me. The Cheltenham Paint Festival begins next weekend, although I believe some pieces are already well underway. The problem for me is that I still have loads of pieces from last year’s festival that I haven’t posted, so here are a few pieces that I’d like to share by way of a warm-up act for next week. I will do this as a mini gallery, because I don’t have time to write up each individual piece.

Paul Monsters, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

Bristol artist Paul Monsters doing what he does best.

Heat One and Shade One, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

Shade One, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

superb collaboration from Shade One and Heat One.

Joe Greenaway, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

An interesting piece from Joe Greenway

Philth, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

Finally an outstanding floral piece from Philth, which was tricky to photograph because of the car parked directly in front of it.

More from the Cheltenham Paint Festival 2023 in tomorrow’s post.

A gallery of outstanding geometric murals, collaborations and other pieces from Bristol’s brilliant Paul Monsters AKA Paul Roberts.

Instagram: @paulmonsters

Website: paulmonsters.com

all photographs by Scooj

Paul Monsters, Upfest 24, North Street, Bristol, May 2024

Acer One, Andy Council and Paul Monsters, Greville Smyth Park, Bristol, May 2024

Paul Monsters and Mister Samo, Old Park Road, Exeter, October 2023

Paul Monsters, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2022

Paul Monsters and Tom Miller, Queen Street, Bristol, May 2022

Andy Council and Paul Monsters, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2022

Paul Monsters and Ments, Clift House Road, Bristol, January 2022

Koeone and Paul Monsters, West Street, Bristol, June 2021, Upfest 21

The Hass and Paul Monsters, Ashton Road, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21

Andy Council, Soker and Paul Monsters, Waterloo Place, Bristol, June 2021

Paul Monsters, Anchor Road, Bristol, May 2021

Paul Monsters, Bedminster Parade, Bristol, April 2021

Paul Monsters and Soker, M32 roundabout, Bristol September 2020

Paul Monsters, Leonard Lane, Bristol, December 2019

L7M and Paul Monsters, South Street, Bristol, July 2019

Paul Monsters and Soker, Waterloo Place, Bristol, June 2019

Door, North Street, Bristol, Artist: Paul Monsters, February 2019

Paul Monsters, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Paul Monsters and Loch Ness, North Street Green, July 2015

Paul Monsters, Millpond Street, Bristol, May 2018

Paul Monsters and Loch Ness, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

Copyright and Paul Monsters, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, May 2017

Copyright and Paul Monsters, North Street, Bristol, April 2017

6129. Upfest 2024 (26)

I have a feeling that this was one of the first walls to be completed for this year’s Upfest, and there is likely a very good reason for this. Paul Monsters, whose colourful geometric murals are well known in Bristol, also works with Upfest, so I imagine he needed to complete his piece early so that he could help with his festival responsibilities.

The wonderful mural is painted on the side of the Bristol Beer Factory, and Paul Monsters has carefully incorporated the pint glass logo into his design. The use of various tones of colours to create depth in these geometric pieces is a trademark of Paul Monsters’ work and although at first glance his work might look simple and straightforward, it is in fact complex and sophisticated. This post reminds me that it is high time I produced a gallery of his outstanding work.

6103. Greville Smyth Park (2)

Although this outstanding collaboration piece from Andy Council, Acer One and Paul Monsters was painted a little while ago, I only got to photograph it during Upfest 2024, however it is not an Upfest piece (although many visitors won’t know that). This is what I call a true collaboration, where the distinct styles of the three artists are combined into one story, and they have achieved this fusion expertly.

The three components are a wonderful geometric background design from Paul Monsters, which creates a colourful backdrop and tone, while also providing some depth with light and shadow tricks. The writing ‘New Story’ and circle are beautifully created by Acer One, whose precision and accuracy are unsurpassed. Note the subtle shadow to the lower and left sides of the letters, lifting them ever so gently from the wall. Finally, the greyscale monster in thee middle is painted by Andy Council and stands out against the colour of the background and is framed by the circle. Brilliant composition from the three of them. The piece was painted on the Spring Equinox on 24 March 2024 and a film and full explanation of the collaboration is given on Andy Council’s Instagram feed.

5708. Old Park Road, Exeter

One of the last things I would have expected to see in my two-hour wander around Exeter back in October was a collaboration between Mister Samo and Paul Monsters, and yet here it was… a glorious piece of colour, design and creativity.

I have a feeling that the piece might be called ‘you are loved’, and there is a great deal of warmth and positivity about the piece, and the styles of the two artists although quite different complement each other perfectly.

I suspect that the two artists know each other through the Upfest festival in Bristol, at which both have painted in previous years, and Paul Monsters works in the Upfest shop and is heavily involved in the logistics of the paint festival. As ever, Paul Monsters’ geometric designs create depth and hard edges, against which the character forms by Mister Samo stand out.

I love Mister Samo’s work, which is highly designed but at the same time simple and clean. The characters in Mister Samo’s work look like sophisticated doodles, and even though simple, convey a lot of emotion and charm. A real treat and fabulous collaboration from these two excellent artists.

4685. Cheltenham 2022 (8)

The thing about Paul Monsters’ work is that it is consistently outstanding. His geometric designs and colour schemes couldn’t possibly be by anyone else, and this one for the Cheltenham Paint Festival is a real beauty.

One of the really noticeable things about Upfest and the Cheltenham Paint Festival is that a large proportion of the artists are from Bristol and it makes me realise just how blessed we are, and how much a part of the culture street/graffiti art is. Paul Monsters is at the heart of that culture and his work emblematic of it.

4468. Queen Street (1)

This magnificent collaboration between Paul Monsters and Tom Miller was painted a little while back, but I couldn’t work out where it was. I found it by accident when returning from a trip to Greenbank. Although it is a large piece, it is easy to miss if you are not looking out, and is pretty much invisible if driving in the opposite direction.

I’m glad that I did find it though, because it is a truly spectacular collaboration from a pair of artists who are unafraid of using a ton of colour in their work. The two styles, one geometric and the other surreal, are a perfect match because of the blending of colour palette. The elaborate geometric pattern is by Paul Monsters and is as complex as I have seen from him. The frenetic explosion of objects spilling out of a portrait is by Tom Miller, whose work I have been following closely and admiring for several years.

A closer look at Tom Miller’s piece gives us a small window into the busy mind of the artist, with at least three portraits, a car, a rubber duck and some crystals. Heaven only knows what it all means, but it matters not, it is the work of an enormously talented artist. This is as fine a collaboration as I have seen this year.

4350. Cumberland Basin

You can be pretty certain that when Paul Monsters and Andy Council team up, you are going to get something rather special, and this collaboration in Cumberland Basin is definitely special. The two have combined their unique styles into a bit of a mash up piece, rather than painting side by side in what I would call a true collaboration.

The colourful geometric shapes are by Paul Monsters and set the framework for a stunning Andy Council nautilus or ammonite, a large version of the icon he uses for his signature. Set on a black buffed wall the collaboration is truly outstanding, and all for free! So good to see these two collaborating, and I hope they plan to work together again some time.

4226. Clift House Road (5)

There is a little bit of magic in this remarkable collaboration between Paul Monsters and Ments. The more obvious style is that of Paul Monsters with his colourful geometric patterns, but look a little closer and you can see some distortions in the patterns which are the work of Ments.

I’m not sure if I can remember these two collaborating before, but it seems to be a match made in heaven. This is what I would call a true collaboration, where the whole piece is seamless and complete and there is total fusion between the artists.

The effect of the regular patterns melting away in the middle works so well and plays to Ments’ strengths of creating fluid patterns that look at times like molten metal. I could look at this piece for hours, such it it’s mesmerising effect.

Paul Monsters building a reputation as something of a collaboration king, and I am aware of a new collaboration with Tom Miller that I will be hunting down over the next few days. An awesome piece.

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