Pelmo

7187. Lucky Lane (5)

Pelmo, Lucky Lane, Bristol, September 2025

While I was away on holiday, the Bristol Mural Collective held a paint jam in Lucky Lane. I had been told by Nina Raines, the organiser, that it was happening, and was really sorry to miss it. Because I wasn’t there, I don’t know whether this wonderful piece by Pelmo was already there or was painted on the day.

Pelmo has painted in Lucky Lane a couple of times before, so I am guessing he lives nearby. This is a fabulous composition of a man, with a paunch, sitting on a bench in a rather surreal landscape, including a couple of sunflowers in pots with music 🎵 tumbling from them. A bright, witty and rather peaceful mural by Pelmo.

A gallery of outstanding oversized character pieces by Bristol artist Pelmo.

Instagram: @pelmos_world

All photographs by Scooj

Pelmo, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2022

Pelmo, New Stadium Road, Bristol, June 2022

Pelmo, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, June 2019

Pelmo, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, May 2019

Pelmo, Upfest shop yard, Bristol, July 2018

4729. Cheltenham 2022 (14)

One of my favourite Bristol artists is Pelmo. His work is usually well thought out and is about so much more than the artwork, often there are messages of love, affection and care with the relationships between characters. In this unusual piece, there are no characters, but a very strong climate message.

Having worked in environmental communications for twenty years, some of it on climate change, I have seen many images like this one, and they are not uncommon. What is different here is that it is not a corporate ‘explainer’ but a heartfelt warning. Pelmo has captured the jeopardy of failing to act in a gentle, but effective way. I could look at this piece for a long time, it chimes for me and has a serene quality to it. Great work from Pelmo.

4664. Dean Lane

Pelmo has been experimenting for a little while with some fascinating studies of characters in orange and red doing unusual things. This fine piece, perfectly located in Dean Lane, is another climbing piece, this time with both climbers more obviously positioned and related to one another than the one in New Stadium Road.

This charming work shows two characters, one belaying the other as he carefully climbs a ‘chimney’ between a wall and telegraph pole. There is a lot of thought and love shown by Pelmo in his pieces, and I always feel that he has a strong relationship and affection for his characters. This is a brilliant small piece that brings a smile to my face each time I see it.

4515. New Stadium Road (40)

This is brilliant from Pelmo. A compound piece telling a wonderful story, but you have to keep your eyes open. I, and many others, missed the point of this piece, simply by breaking the first rule of looking at street art… Always, always look up! I thought the character in the feature image was the whole piece, a climber at the bottom of a rope – it was new, it was different, and it was by Pelmo, which was more than enough for me. However, I hadn’t looked up.

The whole piece has another climber at the top of the rope, hanging down from the top of the tunnel entrance. How on earth did I miss this? I only found out when Pelmo responded to a post on Instagram from another photographer who had also missed the top climber. D’oh!

When I spoke to Pelmo at Upfest he suggested that he might be trying a few more of these ‘compound’ pieces in the future, which would be wonderful if happens. Expect to see some more orange and red pieces coming from Pelmo, as he seems to be favouring these colours at the moment.

4396. Lucky Lane (4)

In a quiet backwater in Bedminster not far from Dean Lane, is this wonderful new piece from Pelmo, an artist better known for his studies of outsized people doing everyday things like riding bicycles. This pencil piece comes as something of a surprise, but clearly shows what a great artist Pelmo is.

I love artists who turn the ordinary into the extraordinary with their work, and this outstanding study of an eraser on the end of a pencil is so full of interest and movement. Pelmo has captured a moment in time that is so familiar to all of us, and yet something we probably never give a second thought to. Superbly sprayed, this beauty is a highlight of the year so far.

4381. Dean Lane skate park (481)

Truly, good things come to those who wait, and what a long wait it has been to see a public piece by Pelmo, but this is one of three very recent pieces that I know about and it is great to see he is out and about painting again.

This small piece in Dean Lane skate park features one of his oversized characters flipping a little skateboard. What a joy to find this. I have long been a fan of Pelmo’s unusual work, that tells stories about people of extraordinary proportions doing ordinary things. There is something most endearing and compassionate in the way Pelmo portrays his characters with love and affection. Watch this space for more.

2425. Lucky Lane

It is impossible for me not to be utterly enchanted by Pelmo’s work. These unusual cartoon scenes have a touching element to them and the stories that unfold are witty and caring. In this piece a cyclist (with enormous thighs) in a pedalo swan is towing an unfeasibly large waterskier whose lifejacket is clinging on for dear life.

The piece is in a little back lane in Bedminster that I never even knew existed and suits this wall perfectly. I am guessing that Pelmo must use brushes as well as spray paint, because the fine detail of the piece would simply not be possible using cans alone. An absolute winner.

2257. Raleigh Road, Tobacco Factory (15)

It was a real pleasure to find myself in the company of so many great Bristol artists at the 25 year anniversary celebrations at the Tobacco Factory, and none more so than Pelmo, whose work I have admired for some time. It was nice to meet him for the first time and to find out a little bit about how he likes to work.

In creating this piece, featuring one of his outsized characters, he had decided to abandon his spray cans on environmental grounds and use paint and brushes, which was a first for him on a wall. Set in a skyscraper landscape, the large gentleman is posing with a ballet dancer, and there is an interesting and rather sad synergy between the two of them. I like the piece very much, but I wonder if the large amount of white space works on this scale.

Brilliant to meet Pelmo at last.

1976. Upfest shop yard

I guess this piece by Pelmo is something of an exclusive, as it was painted on the practice wall at the back of the Upfest shop, and is therefore not on public display.

I took the picture a week or two after I had sprayed my own very first effort on this exact wall, and went back to the shop to see if it was still there. Sadly (but not unsurprisingly) my amateurish effort had been buffed over, but I was honoured that it should have been replaced by such a fine artist as Pelmo.

I don’t really know what the protocols are around publishing pictures from this wall, but on this occasion I think I’ll take the risk, mainly because I am a big fan of this artist’s work. His work often contains these, oversize and overweight people with a love and sensitivity that can be difficult to gauge without offending. Pelmo does this brilliantly. A wonderful forgotten piece.

	paulh121 on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	Sheree on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	paulh121 on 7350. Hillgrove Street (9…
	Bill Bisgood on Thursday doors – 11 Dece…
	scooj on Thursday doors – 11 Dece…

	paulh121 on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	Sheree on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	paulh121 on 7350. Hillgrove Street (9…
	Bill Bisgood on Thursday doors – 11 Dece…
	scooj on Thursday doors – 11 Dece…

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: