A quick couple of posts today. I am recovering from shingles – a very nasty affair – and return to work this morning with a rather large backlog of emails and messages to action. This mortal coil!
I have always had a big soft spot for Butch’s work, and this combination piece on the roundabout is a real beauty. His overlapping full cap letters are somewhat eclipsed by a dog/rabbit(?) riding a bicycle at haste. It is a wonderful piece of cartoon illustration full of energy and humour. Love it.
Since first creeping onto my radar, Solar has gone from strength to strength, and is now turning out some high quality pieces that are most attractive to the eye. In this instance I will forgive the overwhelming amount of brown and concentrate on the style of the piece.
The letters are isolated from oner another thanks to a yellow drop shadow, and their shapes are rather unruly, although adhering to his overall style. Each letter has the appearance of a boulder with cracks running through, a fairly common device used in graffiti writing. The whole piece is finished off with some contrasting starbursts and a not to PLB (Placebo) and tribute shout-out to Paroe.
My last trip under the M32 alongside the canalised River Frome was a rather fruitful one, and this piece from Solar was one of the rewards for the marginally treacherous scramble down. Solar is an artist whose work has shown steady progression over the years, and he is turning out some superb writing that touches on anti-style.
Although it is difficult to provide a scale to this piece, I can tell you that it is very large. The height of it is about 7-8ft, so if you imagine the artist spraying the top at full stretch, you can get a sense of it. The irregular letters spell SOLAR and are painted on a grey background, which mimics the natural colour of the concrete. There is a fabulous two-tone orange fill, with the lighter colour running through the middle of the letters creating some depth. The piece is rounded off with a clean white border and some light blue spots for decoration. A classy piece from Solar.
I have included this piece, not because it is amazing, but because it is by PL8o whose work I like and because it is representative of a great many tribute pieces in Bristol to Dorns who recently passed away.
There is something easy and accessible about PL8o’s letter style, and the colours in this piece certainly stand out. It is a nice tribute. Interestingly, this piece was over-painted by an artist who is not local and who probably didn’t know about Dorns or the tributes to him. That piece has since been tagged with ‘Dorns’ written all over it, and a comment which reads ‘You had the whole wall…’ basically telling the artist off for painting over a tribute piece – an example of the politics and rules (there are no rules) of street/graffiti art.
Thinking back, it is quite unusual to see any work from the PLB (Placebo) crew in St Werburghs tunnel, but here, breaking the trend, is a two-piece collaboration from Butch and Solar. I suspect that there is a third artist involved in this piece in the form of the cat character in the middle, but it is unsigned, so I can’t be sure.
To the left is a really lovely piece of writing by Butch. I love his choice of letters, they really work for me, and the way he lays them out in a higgledy-piggledy fashion appeals. The letter fills in red are good and bounded by a strong orange line, all neatly placed on a white cloud background.
To the right, Solar has painted his customary slightly wibbly letters in striking red, with black decorations and an uplifting yellow drop shadow. The whole thing is vibrant and eye-catching and, from my perspective, shows great development and improvement/confidence from both artists. Who did paint the cat?
I love the fact that this long hoarding in Green Bush Lane is becoming a ‘spot’ having been colonised initially by Mote and Mr Crawls – great work from these pioneers. This represents the ever-changing mosaic of graffiti spots around the city, as areas become gentrified and old spots disappear, new opportunities appear.
This is a sensational piece from Solar, and an instant winner with me. With this piece alone, the PLB artist has raised his game to the next level. He has cleverly used the ‘clean’ hoarding as his background colour and painted his piece directly on to it. No need for any buffing. His irregular letters spelling SOLAR have an organic feel to them and are beautifully outlines with a pink border. Some fabulous decorative work, including bubbled inside and outside the piece contribute to its magnificence. A piece out of the top drawer from Solar.
This is the third piece by Butch that I have posted, and although I can’t put my finger on exactly why, I really like what I see. There is a consistency to the letters from piece to piece, which means that the main focus is always likely to be on the fills and background.
This work by Butch, is on the cusp between casual throw up and a polished tight piece, which is an interesting space to inhabit, and I see that there is potential to create some high class finishing, but perhaps not the desire to go full-on high-end. The letters are composed of solid ‘plates’ of light blue and dusky yellow, riveted together, a device used by some artists, and a very effective one too. This is great work from the PLB graffiti writer.
This is the second piece by Butch that I have found and posted and I am very much hoping to find and share a whole bunch more. I like this kind of writing a lot, I am not sure why. The letters cascade down from left to right, increasing in size as you traverse along. The fills are interesting and unconventionally but effectively applied.
PLB (Placebo) are an interesting crew of artists, managing to keep below the radar, enjoying their anonymous status, unlike many other artists and crews in Bristol. Butch has used the ‘rivet’ look which makes the letters look like metal plates bolted together. The whole thing would look better with a bit of background or a buffed wall, but I have a feeling that is not Butch’s style.
Here we have yet another artist making a debut on Natural Adventures, in a year notable for the number of artists coming onto my radar for the first time. There is something very appealing about the simplicity and modesty of this piece, which reminds me a lot of Biers’ work, when I first came across him almost a decade ago.
Butch is a member of the PLB stable, and although I have probably seen his work before, this piece has elevated him in my consciousness. I like the letter shapes and the way that they are stacked over one another, casting shadows. The colour works well on quite a messy background, and the whole thing, although a ‘quick one’, made me smile. Look out for more from Butch.
I have a feeling that the very first Solar piece I became aware of was in this spot a few years ago, and this recent piece shows how the artist has improved enormously in a really rather short space of time. This one was painted alongside PLB stablemate Whysayit.
something went a little wrong with my processing of the photographs, but the first one is a much truer representation of the colours of the piece in the underpass. The letters spell out SUNSHINE in gorgeous shades of orange, and has a very deep 3D drop shadow, characteristic of Solar’s work. This is a bold and cheerful piece, perfect for the summer vibes.
Natural adventures 