There is no getting away from the fact that Smak is a brilliant graffiti artist and character street artist. He is also going through what I would call a productive and creative phase. This lovely piece of graff writing is on one of the walls at the M32 roundabout which seems to have quite a high turnover at the moment.
Smak, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2019
The colour selection set on a black background is superb, and the little yellow flashes make the piece stand out just that little bit more. It’s amazing what these guys can do with a spray can.
My oh my! A couple of weeks ago this utterly remarkable collaboration by Smak and Sled One appeared on the hoardings in Nelson Street which have in recent times been a bit of an ASK playground. It is quite one of the best collaborations I have seen for a long while, and I don’t think that Bristolians, in the main, realise just how privileged we are to have art this good decorating our streets.
Smak, Nelson Street, Bristol, March 2019
On the left of the wall is a magnifcent oriental style leopard in rampant attitude rather menacingly advancing towards a poor unsuspecting child.
Smak, Nelson Street, Bristol, March 2019
This is one of the finest character pieces I have seen by Smak, and it seems that he is planing on doing more, which is great news.
Smak and Sled One, Nelson Street, Bristol, March 2019
The whole collaboration is set on a grey background and shares a general colour palette of greys, reds and yellows.
Sled One, Nelson Street, Bristol, March 2019
To the right of the wall we are spoiled by a magnificent story from Sled One, where a crane is delivering a little baby suspended in a cloth from its beak. It looks like the baby is prepared to take on the leopard as it is armed with a samurai sword and is wearing a mask. Even the red decorations on the grey patches of the piece ooze class.
Sled One, Nelson Street, Bristol, March 2019
This is not the first time that Sled One has incorporated a samurai into his work and is would appear to be a theme he enjoys. This is a world-class collaboration that we in Bristol are lucky to have and I thoroughly recommend that anyone living in Bristol makes a detour to Nelson Street to see it if planning a shopping trip to the centre.
I’m not sure that I’ve posted anything from Ryder for a little while, but that ends here with this recent piece on the M32 roundabout which appears to have been sprayed during something of a paint jam at the end of February.
Ryder, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2019
High quality letters as always which I’ll have to leave you to feast your eyes on because I have to get togged up for skiing… sorry about that.
When these two get together, it is always a recipe for something interesting, rarely missing the mark. Sled One and Smak have collaborated on this wall before at least once and possibly many times, but this is an absolute peach.
Sled One, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2019
The two have used a McDonald’s theme for this collaboration, using the corporate colours of the food giant. I confess that I find it a slightly curious brand to celebrate, but that is my snobby bias coming into play, which I am not particularly proud of. Sled One has incorporated some fries and bubbling cheese into his writing which is utterly sharp and brilliant.
Smak, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2019
Smak takes the fun a little further with a little slogan ‘the big Smak and cheese’… very droll. Again, this is a supreme piece of writing, so sharp and clean. A great coming together of ASK and RAW. I rather like the bicycle, which I had to keep moving out of the way, but it kind of goes well with the yellow of the piece. So good.
Now here is something of a rarity, a piece of street art by Smak, rather than the graffiti writing we normally associate him with. Smak is an accomplished artist as well as writer as this piece from Upfest 2016 amply demonstrates.
Smak, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
I think this piece is depicting the Gorgon Medusa with her snake locks and stare that turns all who gaze upon her to stone. I think that if the piece had not been signed I would have really struggled to recognise it as a Smak piece. Really great to see something different from this Bristol-based artist.
When I saw this back in 2016 I was still at the early stages of learning about the street art scene in Bristol (in fact I am still learning every day) and I knew little about the RAW crew and the artists constituting it. While it is obvious that the character on the right is by Jaksta (the medallion gives this away) the writing is less obvious.
Jaksta and Ware?, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
It looks like the letters say WARE to me, but here I am showing my ignorance because I don’t know the artist at all. The writing is beautifully executed and I love the musical notes sitting on the midway line on the blue letters. A really nice piece of street art for the festival.
Right then, here we have yet another artist that I have not featured before, although I have known of his existence. This fine piece is by Mr Riks of the RAW crew. When I first saw it I could tell it was of the highest calibre and my first instinct was that it was by Deamze, because this is one of the spots he has used before. Three things were confusing me, it didn’t quite look like Deamze, it had a RAW tag and in any case he is in Hobart at the moment.
Mr Riks, Moon Street, Bristol, January 2019
It wasn’t until I saw the piece on Instagram that I found out that it was by Mr Riks, and of course, as soon as you know it becomes obvious. There is something very assured about this piece of writing, and all the elements come together well. The simple white accents give it a 3D feel. All good.
