A quick one from NEVERGIVEUP in The Bearpit from a little while back. This is one of his urban rabbits, before he moved on to monsters. Clean and simple and pleasing on the eye.
Although NEVERGIVEUP was incredibly busy on the streets during the year, he appears to have slowed down a little – maybe he has a new job or some other distraction, or maybe he has simply filled all those spaces that needed filling.
There are some unusual colour selections in this nice collaborative pairing of Soge and Hire down at Deaners.The deep blue and maroon backdrop certainly lift the wildstyle writing of Soge, but Hire’s rabbit on the right is a little disguised.
I have said it before on this blog that Soge has an incredibly elaborate Gothic style of wildstyle writing which is quite unusual. I have absolutely no idea what the writing says in this piece, it might be ‘SOGEJEDEN’ which is his Instagram tag. I don’t know.
Always I have to like Hire’s rabbits wherever they appear – which is usually Dean Lane these days. Cheeky and mischievous.
Long, long before I knew who sprayed this rabbit, I knew that I liked it and hoped to meet the artist some day. Well I still like the rabbit and all the other ones I have found since, and the artist is of course Hire, who I have encountered several times now, mostly at Dean Lane skate park.
This is a particularly nice rendition of his favourite theme, which includes some decorative wildstyle writing. I can make out an ‘H’, but am not sure what the other letter(s) is…maybe an I. Anyhow, this is a lovely piece from eighteen months ago.
You will notice that this recent series of posts is a bit of a catch up from archives that I have held on to, but can hold on no longer…they all have to see the light of day at some point.
This is a wonderful jagged bunny by Hire from way back in January, before I knew who the artist was. This piece got left behind. I think I have several more old pieces from Hire and I fully intend to get round to posting them one day.
The green rabbit on the ping background works particularly well I think. You might notice he sprayed this over a Mr Draws piece, one I never saw! The bunny looks as cold as I felt when out walking to take this picture. I am not really looking forward to the inexorable march of Winter. You might notice he sprayed this over a Mr Draws piece, one I never saw!
This is the first time I have seen a rabbit and writing from Hire sprayed together at the same time. I think Hire likes to hang out at Dean Lane, as most of his recent pieces have been there. At first I wasn’t too sure that the writing was by Hire, because he usually spells out his name, but the style is his.
At first I wasn’t at all sure what the writing said, but there is a small clue at the bottom of the piece where it says ‘Anna’. Looking back up at the writing, it then becomes obvious. Is this an expression of admiration I wonder?
The rabbit is fantastic as I would expect, I do like his rabbits and am building up quite a collection of them. As a whole, the wall comes across as two discreet pieces, which is often how collaborations work, where two artists will spray together using the same paints, but there is no read-across from one to the other. I like this collaboration with himself.
Relative new boy, NEVERGIVEUP, is definitely making his presence felt on the streets of Bristol, and although his rabbit designs are becoming familiar, the way he is presenting them is rather dynamic.
This clever piece in Dean Lane skate park is designed to be viewed from the roof of an adjacent swimming pool building. The only problems with this are tricky access and trespass. Apart from that, it is a doddle. I caught up with NGU at Upfest and he said that even he had struggled to take a picture, and got shouted at by an official from the Swimming pool building. He is coming up with some interesting work, and challenging the status quo a little.
I met Hire the day he was just finishing off this piece. I told him how much I liked his rabbits as well as his writing, and he told me the back story to this particular piece. So, here’s a thing, even when a bit of graffiti or street art appears to look like nothing out of the ordinary, there are nearly always stories sitting behind them. Sometimes these stories are overt, other times covert.
Interestingly, another polish street artist, NEVERGIVEUP, was just around the corner sizing up some tarmac on the skate park for a piece he was going to work on that afternoon. Neither seemed to know each other, but both are polish and spray rabbits. Very different styles, but some commonality. Both really nice people too.
So, I introduced you to NEVERGIVEUP a few days ago, and here is another of his ‘goofy bunny’ pieces adorning the walls in one of the Bearpit tunnels. I rather like these and, having seen several different colour variants am looking forward to seeing what else he might do.
NGU appears to have a method for constructing these dangerous/cute creatures, with strong clear lines and filling work. So far I have only seen his pieces in The Bearpit. As he gets to know Bristol it will be interesting to see where his work might pop up next.
It is always rather gratifying when a new artist appears on the scene; there is something new to write about and to look out for. NEVERGIVEUP is new to Bristol, and another member of the Polish contingent, so I am led to believe, which includes Hire and Laic217.
NEVERGIVEUP seems to specialise in these highly stylised and designed goofy rabbits. The more observant of you might wonder what it is about graffiti artists drawing goofy bunnies (Hire also sprays them) – maybe it is a Bugs Bunny thing. Who knows?
This is one of several bunnies that has appeared in The Bearpit over the last few weeks, and although he hasn’t been here long, NEVERGIVEUP is making an impression already.
Well this was a red letter day, oh yes. The day street art arrived in Redland (although we must not forget Cheo’s mural at Redland Station). Big bold and screaming out REDLAND for all to see.
This is a magnificent collaboration between 2Keen, Ryder and Aspire, and during its creation I have had the fortune to stop and talk to 2Keen on a couple of occasions, seeing as it is not at all far away from where I live.
What I did not know is that 2Keen is one of the original Bristol graffiti artists and is held in very high esteem indeed by his peers. This is the first piece of his that I have been aware of, although I might have seen others without realising who they were by.
For those of you not familiar with the geography of Bristol, Redland is a very middle class, aspirational and residential part of the city, and although there is probably widespread appreciation of Bristol’s street art within the local community, it isn’t the sort of thing one expects to see at its heart. I so dearly love it.
2Keen told me that he had mixed reviews while he was working on it. Some people tried to move him on, some stopped to chat, the police took a look and admired the work, but to the shame of Redland some people spat at him. Well heeled…my arse!
I believe the writing is by Ryder, the dodo on the right by the magnificent Aspire, fresh from his Stokes Croft pigeon, and the rest of the fabulous Alice in Wonderland work is by 2Keen.
I’m not sure if it will ever happen, but 2Keen said he’d take me out to spray a wall somewhere and teach me how it all works. I just need to find him again and take him up on the offer. Happy days.
Natural adventures 