Consistency. A word that comes to mind when I think about graffiti writing by Soker. His work is always immaculate, beautifully conceived and generally just brilliant in every way.
This piece is the third that I have posted from this magnificent paint jam earlier in the month, featuring mainly artists from ASK plus one or two guests…more on them later. The crew have really raised the bar this time.
There is one circumstance in which is is absolutely ok to buff over someone’s work, and that is when it is your own.Here is an example of just that where Soker has painted over one of his own pieces, and if you look closely, you can see the similar shape of the letter ‘R’ in both.
Wildstyle writing (graffiti writing) is an incredible artform in its own right, and I am a big fan of it. That has not always been the case. In the early days of photographing street art, I simply didn’t get it and considered it inferior and messy. Having studied it for close on four years now, I am able to enjoy it just as much as conventional street art. Soker of course is the master of this form.
Yet another fine collaboration between Cheo and Soker – these two seem to be on something of a roll at the moment, producing countless pieces all over the city of Bristol. This one perfectly fills the space on the hoardings in front of a new development.
The piece is bookended by a pair of mischievous spray can characters painted by Cheo, and in the middle of all of this is a dazzling piece of writing by Soker which spells out SUMOE. I guess I should know what sumoe is all about, but alas I have no idea. There is a whole bunch of #sumoe graffiti Instagram, most of it in the USA.
Cheo has pretty much nailed it with his bookends as he seems to with pretty much everything he does. With their dark furry eyebrows, there is something of the Muppets in his characters. Of course we are also graced with the presence of one of his signature bees.
Soker’s writing is composed primarily of four horizontal layers ranging from light blue at the top through to light purple at the bottom, each layer smattered with accents or decoration. He has also worked quite an unusual double 3D shadow cast by the letters. This is a great collaboration from this ASK duo, and well worth the trip to Raleigh Road.
A collection of graffiti art from the Bristol writer Soker
All photographs taken by Scooj
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
