Ok. I am now on my annual fishing trip in Cornwall, so this post, written last night will be short. Stivs is on fire. Everywhere I look I find his pieces, whether portraits, calligraffiti or combinations of the two.
This is a gorgeous piece of writing occupying a full section of wall at the Green. The elaborate letters spelling STIVS are stunning, and the colours look like precious gems set on a black background with hearts aplenty. Beautiful.
The day this was painted, I was lucky enough to meet the artist, and we stopped for a long conversation. Although he writes MICHAL here, he is also known as Miso, and I have referred to him as such in collaborations he has made with Zase and Real143. What they have in common is their Slovakian nationality, which I asked him about. He told me that Decor, who used to collaborate with Zase before returning to his homeland, is considered to be a bit of a street art god back home.
I was first attracted to this piece by the way Michal had picked out the brickwork with different colours, giving the background a pixelated appearance. The beautifully written letters have a lovely proportion about them and a gentle orange colour transition, well blended, horizontally from light to dark. A black drop shadow lifts the piece from the wall in this fine piece from a lovely gentleman.
Here is Butch again, this time turning up in Peel Street Green and treating us to one of his combination pieces. The letters are accompanied by a green character with big facial features.
His trademark overlapping letters in brown and black are beautifully finished with a blue drop shadow, a colour combination I personally wouldn’t have chosen, but actually works really well. Butch just gets better and better.
Mesk is in a great rhythm, producing at least one or two pieces a month, either alone or collaborating with others. His distinctive large letters, spelling MESK, need no signature, as his style is quite distinctive.
The yellow appearance of the letters in this piece is a clever bit of work, because it is only the top layer of the letters that is actually yellow, the next two layers being green and olive, but which look like shaded yellow. The whole thing is set on two backgrounds… a black buffed wall and a blue frame, both of which contribute to helping the letters stand out. Some nice drips, highlight starbursts and tidy drop shadow round off the piece very neatly indeed.
A year or two back Hemper was smashing out pieces on a ridiculously regular rhythm, but since then has been a little quieter, although I have noticed a slight increase in his activity over the last couple of months. His work is always of such quality and class that it is always a pleasure to his pieces.
This one in Peel Street Green, picks up on a theme he has used before, of a chequered background, looking almost like a tablecloth, over which is painted a rather crude, but beautifully worked piece of bubble writing spelling HEMS. The yellow letters , drips and all contrast brilliantly with the backdrop. The message “Instagram makes you moody” possibly speaks to all of us. A very nice piece.
This is a rather nicely presented piece from ARSA that perfectly fits the wall and the surroundings. One of the things that strikes me is the fact that the grass is still green in this picture, but blistering heat and dry weather for much of June and the whole of July have rendered this green a brown now.
The calculated symmetry of this piece, with a couple of deviations, is admirable. The fill colours have been thoughtfully applied in horizontal layers, but with hard edges between each colour. ARSA’s work tends to be quite angular and sharp, and I can’t recall seeing a soft, rounded piece with blended fills by him – now that would be a challenge…
I am so pleased to be able to post this piece by 210. Pleased because I have many of his pieces in my archive, but until recently didn’t know his name. Now I have to go back and dig some of his other works out, because to my eye this is fantastic. The artist can often be found painting alongside, ARSA, RBN One and Mesk. I don’t know much more about him yet, but will try to find out.
The bilaterally symmetrical piece is so easy on the eye. Although the pattern is quite complex, there is a softness and clarity to it that steers clear of being ‘too clever for its own good’ which some technical pieces can be at risk of falling into. The colour selection works exceptionally well, even if they aren’t my favourites. A really classy piece by 210. Watch this space as I attempt to unlock some more from my archives.
Sub is one of the more prolific writers in Bristol, and hardly a day goes by when I don’t see one of his pieces somewhere around the city. This is a reasonably recent one from the long wall at Peel Street Green.
There is a rather nice steely quality to the fill in these SUB letters and the letter surface has a bit of an iridescent sheen, reminiscent of a Pigeon’s breast feathers. Sub has played a little with the letter designs which are veering a little towards a calligraphy script. Nice piece from a hard worker.
I believe Vermo to be one of the most unusual graffiti writers I have come across. His letters are separated by space and appear as hovering ‘bubbles’ which are connected only by the void between them.
This technique lends itself very well to being slapped onto any wall, regardless of what already exists there, without the need to prep the wall or buff it. In this combination piece, the letters are accompanied by a little character pointing, in the bottom left-hand corner. There is white plasma bolt running across the piece, which at first glance might look a bit like the piece has been dogged, but it is definitely part of the composition. Something different from Vermo.
In socialising his new moniker, Biers appears to have found a new energy for his graffiti writing, which is great as I know he was struggling a little to find his mojo a little while back. The RABIES letters seem to work nicely and have gone down well.
This is a really classy chrome burner that is nicely proportioned to fit the wall section. The monotony of the chrome is offset by the orange border and red bubble surround, which add a fiery appearance to the piece. I am very much enjoying these letters and Biers’ resurgence.
