Tag: Sled One

3062. Armada Place (20)

Armada Place is one of my favourite spots, but over recent years it has become rather quieter than it used to be and the quality of most of the graffiti there seems to have dropped a little. How wonderful it was then to stumble across this lovely piece from Sled One last week.

Sled One, Armada Place, Bristol, July 2020
Sled One, Armada Place, Bristol, July 2020

The piece is yet another surreal and strange piece depicting a figure hoiking out his skull from his face… I know how he feels! While looking at the scene unfold, it would be easy to miss that this is actually a blend of graffiti writing and a character scene… verify clever work. The writing says SLED.

Sled One, Armada Place, Bristol, July 2020
Sled One, Armada Place, Bristol, July 2020

As always with Sled One’s work, the piece is fantastically finished and so easy on the eye. His style of painting and the immense skill and experience he has makes it all look so easy and effortless. Go find it!

3034. Cattle Market Road (1)

This is one of five new pieces on Cattle Market Road on the previously blank hoardings that are on the southern perimeter of the development site behind Templemeads Station that should have been Bristol’s new concert venue. The session from a week ago was co-ordinated by The Hass and the opportunity arose through Out of Hand.

Sled One, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, June 2020
Sled One, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, June 2020

This extraordinary piece is by Sled One and is a welcome return by the artist – I believe this to be his first piece in the city since lock down measures were eased. The outstanding piece tells the story of the site, from a cattle market to the chaotic development site it has become, illustrated by a wrecking ball crashing across the piece on a gold chain. The cow, or more accurately bull, is looking a little crazy and is part of the narrative that recalls that when the place was a cattle holding space a bull escaped and terrorised the locals. As you would expect from the artist, this is an imaginative piece full of movement and wonder. First class (a little reference to the Royal Mail/Parcelforce buildings that were derelict/knocked down to create this development opportunity).

2899. M32 cycle path (57)

Aah, it is so easy to forget how bright and shiny (or shite and briney as an old colleague of mine used to say) this collaboration was when it was painted. Its quality has stood the test of time and it remained untouched for a very long spell – I think it has finally been painted over.

Dot Rotten, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2018
Dot Rotten, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2018

The collaboration on the M32 cycle path from 2018 was painted by Dot Rotten (SPOILT), Sled One and Smak. Dot Rotten is an artist Idon’t think I have posted before, but while I have been going through my archive recently I have spotted quite a few of his pieces, so expect more in the coming days/weeks.

Sled One, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2018
Sled One, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2018

Sled One has done here what Sled One does everywhere and that is turned out a high-quality character piece with great panache and style. The skull s beautifully drafted and has an animated humour about it. A nice touch to have an ASK speech bubble coming out of the cigarette.

Smak, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2018
Smak, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2018

On the right hand side of the collaboration is a clean, crisp and straight forward Smak piece which stands out from the wall thanks to the yellow outline and bright highlight spots. The whole collaboration has been painted on a shared background and colour selections and was a welcoming sight on this stretch of cycle path.

2851. Star and Garter (4)

Strictly speaking, this is not the Star and Garter but the building opposite it, but it is in the general area. This wonderful collaboration was completed shortly before the lock down and is between painting partners Sled One and Ments.

Sled One, Star and Garter, Bristol, March 2020
Sled One, Star and Garter, Bristol, March 2020

On the left is a beautifully sprayed pigeon in a style that you would instantly associate with Sled One. The bread thing going on? I’m not sure but it could be a pun on pigeon toast instead of pigeon post, but it might be something else altogether.

Sled One, Star and Garter, Bristol, March 2020
Sled One, Star and Garter, Bristol, March 2020

Sled One pieces are often quite mysterious and although there is pretty much always a story going on, understanding it can be tricky. The fabulous colours used and his technique of clever shading to create a 3D effect are of the highest quality in this piece.

Ments, Star and Garter, Bristol, March 2020
Ments, Star and Garter, Bristol, March 2020

Ments, whose work has always had an organic flavour to it, has been experimenting of late with a range of forms and textures, including spheres and metallic objects. This is a really unusual abstract piecem that looks slightly unfinished in the top left hand corner. I will be interested to watch where this new directtion for Ments will take us.

2742. Turbo Island

Oh my goodness, Sled One is literally (almost, figuratively too sort of) on fire at the moment, or at least painting fire, with this bright character toasting a cartoon marshmallow over a hot flame.

Sled One, Turbo Island, Bristol, February 2020
Sled One, Turbo Island, Bristol, February 2020

This piece is more contrived than might at first be apparent. The subject is a direct nod to the bonfires that are regularly started on the little ‘green’ on Turbo Island usually by revellers, homeless people or addicts of one sort or another. I think that this is a remarkable piece by Sled One in so many ways. Technically it is brilliant, but equally brilliant is the little story that is unfolding in front of us.

Sled One, Turbo Island, Bristol, February 2020
Sled One, Turbo Island, Bristol, February 2020

I don’t really know how it is even possible, but I think this young artist is just getting better and better and I’m not sure he is even close to peaking yet. I hope this purple patch we are seeing from Sled One continues well into the year.

2732. Armada Place (17)

There seems to be no stopping Sled One at the moment, he is knocking out some outstanding pieces on such a regular basis in Bristol and beyond. This ‘booze hound’ is a beautifully surreal little character, being a fusion of dog parts and a bottle that looks like a poison vessel.

Sled One, Armada Place, Bristol, January 2020
Sled One, Armada Place, Bristol, January 2020

I don’t know how he does it, especially using spray cans, but his pieces include so much detail and seem to tell such remarkable stories. This little fella could easily be a character illustration from a children’s book. Everything about the piece oozes class and a self-confidence. Mind-boggling really. More recent pieces in the can being lined up for future posts. The coolest.

Sled One, Armada Place, Bristol, January 2020
Sled One, Armada Place, Bristol, January 2020

2692. St Werburghs tunnel (130)

Wow, I love it when Sled One just pitches up unannounced and then modestly produces his magic like he did in this most recent example in St Werburghs tunnel. The piece features an octopus (what is it about street art and octopi?) sporting a bucket hat and fondly embracing an umbrella, possibly a little too fondly.

Sled One, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020
Sled One, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020

There is a lot of perspective and movement in the piece, something that Sled One does so well, and he is a master at creating textures and depth with the use of shading. This is yet another crazy (in a good way) piece from the artist, and made all the more remarkable by the fact that he had a fractured wrist and ankle at the time of painting this, a week or so ago. Just brilliant.

2559. Upper York Street (17)

Sled One is hitting a bit of a purple patch just at the moment, and his Instagram feed is overflowing with recent pieces from all over the country. This is a reasonably recent collaboration with Ments and is located on a wall that both artists are familiar with.

Sled One, Upper York Street, Bristol, October 2019
Sled One, Upper York Street, Bristol, October 2019

Whether it is graffiti writing or character pieces, Sled One simply knocks it out of the park every time, and his writing in particular seems to embrace so many different styles and techniques. Although you can pretty much always identify the work as his, he has a very broad range of letter shapes and styles and no two pieces are remotely the same, unlike some artists who use the same essential building blocks for every piece. A master at the top of his game.

2557. Wilder Street (37)

I can’t think of a time when Sled One hasn’t been on fire. His work is always of such an exceptionally high standard and not only is it technically brilliant, but he combines that excellence with a fertile imagination and interesting concepts.

Sled One, Wilder Street, Bristol, October 2019
Sled One, Wilder Street, Bristol, October 2019

This piece on the ‘Where the Wall’ curated area is a beautiful (belated) birthday work for his frequent painting buddy Smak. It gives me a warm feeling to know that these guys pay tribute to each other in this kind of way and reassures me that the street art community is built on friendship and decency. The piece itself is a creative spelling of SMAK and is painted with a fabulous colour palette underpinned by a deep red and a scarlet. What a nice birthday present to get.

P.S. it is my birthday in January… any chance…?

2525. L Dub (5)

It takes the fertile imagination and immense skill of an artist like Sled One to re-imagine a mermaid the wrong way round. I don’t think that too many sailors would fall in love with this beast.

Sled One, L Dub, Bristol, October 2019
Sled One, L Dub, Bristol, October 2019

The underpass at Lawrence Weston (L Dub) has a rather different and more select band of regular artists than those we are used to in town, for example, Sled One, Smak, DJ Perks, Dun Some, DFC and a selection of DBK bombers seem particularly fond of the old place.

Sled One, L Dub, Bristol, October 2019
Sled One, L Dub, Bristol, October 2019

When I finally get round to doing my first piece in public, I think it will be here because it is out of the way and quiet. Probably not until the Spring though. In the mean time it is probably just best to enjoy brilliant work like this from the masters.