5422. Dean Lane skate park (629)

Enn Kay, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2023
Enn Kay, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2023

There is such a vast spectrum of types, methods and styles of street and graffiti art in Bristol, and there is room for everyone, which makes it one of the most exciting venues in the world for urban art. All artists are welcome and nobody is overlooked. Enn Kay (NAK) burst onto the scene from nowhere about two to three years ago and has been improving along the way with each piece.

Enn Kay, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2023
Enn Kay, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2023

This is a lovely character/letters piece featuring Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants, beautifully recreated by Enn Kay, alongside the letters NAK. The whole thing is beautifully clean and tight – a top quality artwork from an artist on the up.

4617. Cumberland Basin

Dave Sharp and #DFTE, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2022
Dave Sharp and #DFTE, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2022

Sometimes street art is edgy, sometimes political, and sometimes just great fun, and this collaboration by Dave Sharp and #DFTE falls into that latter category. The two pieces on a black buffed wall leap out at you, and it is a sour old soul that couldn’t find something to like about it.

Dave Sharp and #DFTE, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2022
Dave Sharp and #DFTE, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2022

To the left is a fabulous SpongeBob SquarePants piece, by an artist I don’t think I have come across before, Dave Sharp, and what a great job he has done, bringing the children’s cartoon character to life. To the right is a typical philosophical phrase from #DFTE, albeit in a much larger format than his smaller framed pieces. “Happiness is being confidently weird” – I think I can live with that. Nice drips, by the way.

4576. Cumberland Basin

Anyone who reads this blog will know that Mr Underbite, who only emerged on the Bristol scene earlier this year, has become a firm favourite of mine. The character is nicely thought out and now the artist is playing with this concept in this fun piece in Cumberland Basin.

Mr Underbite, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2022
Mr Underbite, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2022

Mr Underbite has created a mash-up of his character (of the same name), with the SpongeBob SquarePants character Patrick Star, which is probably not a combination that would naturally spring to mind. The outcome is mildly grotesque, but both elements easily identifiable. I look forward to plenty more of these mash-ups, if indeed it is a direction that Mr Underbite chooses to go in.