Soker – Page 6 – Natural adventures

1699. Dean Lane skate park (159)

A fabulous piece by one of Bristol’s finest graffiti writers, with a little addition by 3Dom, who seems to be rather busy on the streets just now. I got rather lucky with this piece, because I saw Soker just as he was sketching the piece out, over the top of a Mr Draws piece I had come to look at. I then had to go, and took a break for a week away on holiday. Luckily the piece was fully intact and untouched when I got back – respect to those taggers who decided to leave this one alone.

Soker and 3Dom, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2018

Soker is on something of a roll this summer, and his work appears to be as popular as ever. I posted his Simpsons Upfest piece on my Instagram account and it received more likes than any other piece I have ever posted by a factor of about 3.

I love the colour selections he has made for this piece, the blue and purple contrasting brilliantly with the chrome writing. There is so much to like here, and even if you are not a fan of burners and writing, surely this must generate some excitement – the quality shines through.

The whole thing is capped off briliantly by the addition of a face to the letter ‘O’ by 3Dom, bringing the whole thing alive and giving it incredible personality. The face almost looks like a transfer that has been rubbed onto the writing. A quality collaboration. Bravo.

1677. New Stadium Road (7)

There seems to be no stopping Soker at the moment, it seems that everywhere I go in Bristol there is a new piece by him. What this means is that there will be several posts following this one in the near future featuring his work.

Soker, New Stadium Road, Bristol, August 2018

I rather like this one in the foot tunnel under the M32 spot, and for once my photographs aren’t too polluted with the awkward light conditions that seem to be omnipresent on this wall. I like the colours – blue and yellow/gold are always a strong combination, but what I really like about this piece is the kind of effortlessness it conveys, Soker just seems to be, like several of his ASK fellows, an artist at the top of his game.

1640. Upfest 2018 (2)

Daa da da da da da da da daa daa dada dada. Getting right to the heart of the matter is this brilliant Simpsons piece from Soker. He really is quite one of the best writers around and this sofa scene totally proves it.

His use of the Simpson characters on the sofa, a scene so familiar to anyone who watches the show, to create his name is inspired, and taking a closer look, there is almost a Picassoesque look to Lisa and Homer in particular.

The whole scene is well observed, with the lampshade and the picture of a sailing boat on the wall, and is indeed a special homage to the genius of Matt Groenig.

I managed to catch up with Soker, which I have never managed to do before, and had a quick chat on the Friday, again on the Saturday morning and later on in the Spotted Cow. I think he had slightly overdone his merrymaking on Friday night and had to abandon painting on the Saturday, nursing a bit of a sore head.

I asked him why sometimes he wrote Soker and at other times Sokem. His answer seemed sensible to me…he started off with Soker (pronounced Soccer), but found the R difficult to write, so changed it to Sokem, before reverting once he found the R easier.

This has to be one of my favourites from Upfest 2018, and is really an outstanding piece.

1569. M32 roundabout J3 (87)

I love the sunny spell we have been enjoying in Bristol except for two things. The first is that there is a water supply leak on my allotment and the Council have turned off the mains supply. That means no water, which means no vegetables and I am pretty upset about it. The second thing is the shadows cast by trees and buildings, making street art photography really tiresome at some sites.

This side of the M32 is a case in point and on the day and time I visited, several of the excellent pieces were partially obscured by dappled shade from the trees. Cameras don’t like dappled shade. This burner by Soker was only affected at the far right hand edge.

Soker consistently turns out incredible work and this colourful writing continues the trend. There is a lot of detail and care that has gone into this piece. Even if you are not a fan of graffiti writing, it is possible to appreciate the technical quality of work like this.

1439. Old Bread Street (14)

A fine trio of artists, Soker, Cheo and Hemper came together in 2016 and painted this fine collaboration. All three are at the top of their game and this formula – wildstyle, character, wildstyle – is one that works well. There is a balance and symmetry to the whole thing.

Soker, Old Bread Street, Bristol, September 2016

The chrome writing on the left is by Soker, and the letters SOKEM are easy to pick out. The lines are very clean and sharp and a careful look at the detail reveals incredible attention in each and every intricate shape. Magnificent.

Cheo, Old Bread Street, Bristol, September 2016

In the middle, the character piece is by Cheo, who else, and looks like a man who enjoys his music. I love the way his glasses change the colour of everything behind them, and the same with the goggles. beautifully done.

Hemper, Old Bread Street, Bristol, September 2016

Finally on the right some more writing in chrome, this time from Hemper. Of the three, he is the one I know least about. I think that these days, he is not as active as the others. The letters spell ‘HEMP’ and they have a slightly more forgiving and organic feel to them than those of Soker.

The whole thing is utterly lovely and I am puzzled why it hasn’t made it out of my archives until now. Some mistake surely. Damn that water droplet.

1311. M32 roundabout J3 (65)

There is a reliable consistency about the work of Soker. Always high quality and always delivered with some panache. In this piece of writing e has opted for a chrome finish on a wall background. The chrome complements the Rusk piece next to it.

Soker, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2018

There is a big thing for chrome writing, and it seems to be the colour of choice for many graffiti writers, I guess because of the impact it has. If I am honest, I’n not too sure about it, I feel it is a little over-used to achieve impacts, however what it lacks in subtlety it makes up for in clout. A nice piece of writing.

1284. Jubilee Street (5)

I don’t get over to Jubilee Street all that often, but managed to get there recently whilst shopping for a chandelier in Gardener Haskins, a nearby and completely bonkers department store.

Soker, Jubilee Street, Bristol, January 2017

This is a super piece by Soker that sits in a bit of a backwater and probably doesn’t get seen all that much, apart from by the children in the adjacent school. The walls here are very much dominated by ASK members, in particular Deamze, and tend to remain unchanged for long periods of time. Visiting only occasuionally doesn’t seem to matter too much in this spot.

1228. Dean Lane skate park (99)

Clearly very excited about the release of the recent Star Wars movie (and who wouldn’t be?), it would appear that Soker, who usually writes his name, may have been inspired to spray this R2D2 piece. It is possible there is more to it than that, but it matters not, this is a brilliant clean piece.

Soker, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2017

On one of the feature walls at Dean Lane, this piece works beautifully, the proportions are all nicely done and the colours assembled well. The piece also generated some good banter on his Instagram account with his stablemates Cheo and Voyder (Darth Voyder).

All great fun.

1158. Bedminster

This piece and the one adjacent to it by Deamze have gone now as the buildint they are sprayed on is now surrounded with anti-graff hoardings, presumably because some development work has begun.

Soker, Bedminster, Bristol, September 2017

This is yet another high-quality piece from the Soker production line. Strong clear lines and colours, clean work from this great writer. There is a party feel to this piece with a backdrop of orange flashes and blue bubbles that contrasts cleverly with the pink and green lettering. The baseball caps on the letters adds a nice tough to the piece.

1155. Dean Lane skate park (91)

A wonderful recent piece on the long wall at Dean Lane by three of Bristol’s very best street/graffiti artists, 3Dom, Soker and Cheo from the ASK stable. I think that this might have been another Halloween collaboration – they have been very popular this year.

First off, on the left is a curious surreal house/shed/kennel with something swirly going on in the middle. 3Dom always has this dream like imagination that presents the familiar combined with the bizarre. The dripping house and shadow underneath are very nice touches to this piece. Great to see 3Dom being more visible on the streets again after a gap of several months.

I suspect that regular readers will be very familiar by now with the writing of Soker (text says SOKEM) or at least if you are not, where have you been? His writing is always of a high quality and I have rarely been disappointed.

Finally, rounding off the collaboration is a wonderful homage to ‘Freddy Krueger’ by Cheo, complete with razor fingers, stripy t-shirt and a pumpkin face. This is a fun piece that really stands out…it is a pity that there is a bit of glare on the photograph. Most annoying.

3Dom, Soker, Cheo, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2017

All in all this was a nice halloween surprise for me in this spot which I regularly visit. Great work from the boys.

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	hitandrun1964 on What is that?
	Sheree on 7470. M32 roundabout J3 (…
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