Goober and Maes, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2025
As you will know, I am on holiday. Writing posts can be a challenge while away. Routines are disrupted and inevitably trying to snatch a moment to write posts can be tricky. I am writing this after a long day of skiing, in preparation for tomorrow when I will be skiing… get the picture? This piece is a nice collaboration from Goober and Maes.
Goober and Maes, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2025
I have not posted much from either artist, but have plenty of their work, particularly from Maes in my archive. The collaboration works well, with Goober’s superb exploitation of the ‘OO’ opportunity, and some particularly imaginative letter shapes from Maes, whose work is on a huge improvement trajectory. Looking forward to posting more from both artists.
Oh what a beauty from Dirtygypo in the tunnel. He has been writing all over the place with his characteristic letter style, but I am still no closer to having any idea what his letters spell out. The only way out of this particular conundrum is to bump in to the artist at some point and ask him.
Dirtygypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2024
This is a really colourful piece with each letter element containing a different colour fill, and there is a special treat in the letter that looks like a reverse ‘t’ with a mosaic of colour shapes creating interest and variation. This, like his other pieces, is lively and vibrant and a very welcome contribution to the Bristol street/graffiti art scene.
A couple of weekends ago I bumped into Logoe just as he was finishing off his 9th piece in 24 hours or so. What! His productivity when he visits Bristol is simply off the scale. He saves up his time and paint and then blitzes the streets when he can. It all sounds a little obsessive to me, but who am I to comment?
Logoe, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2023
What is notable is that even when he is rushing through the pieces, the quality of the final outcome is consistently. While we were chatting the subject of the dots arose, and I said to him that the row of little dots or ovals were fairly unique to him. It turns out that he started introducing them to his pieces to cover up little mistakes, and then they became a feature. He admitted that they are still used to cover up mistakes sometimes.
Logoe, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2023
Both of these pieces, one at each end of the tunnel, are written in a cartoony script style, with thin letters, and both spelling out LOGOE, each beautifully themed with great colours. Of course the dots are there playing their part.
Logoe, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2023
I am away in Cornwall at the moment, but I have a feeling that he might have paid another visit to Bristol this weekend, and if so, I’d better make sure I have enough memory on my camera.
I had seen this piece at the entrance to St Werburghs tunnel for a while, and there was something about it that stood out, but I couldn’t pin it down. I didn’t post it because I didn’t know who it was by. A serendipitous catch up with Logoe recently at the other end of the tunnel provided me with some insight about the piece. Logoe was raving about it and said it was by Drax, a highly-regarded old-school writer, and one of the original graffiti writers, from London I think.
Drax, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2023
Armed with that background, I revisited the piece after our conversation, and the ‘something special’ about the piece is its class. It is fairly modest and unsigned, so definitely a piece for those in the know. The beautifully finished letters spell DRAX, and the more you look at the fills and borders, you can see that it is by a highly experienced and skilled artist. My only slight concern (and this is a me thing) is the colour scheme – regular readers will know that I am not a big fan of brown, and I am not too sure about the brown/blue combo. Great to have the mystery solved.
Still, Pekoe and Maes, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2023
For some unknown and rather annoying reason, my attempts to photograph this fabulous collaboration from Still, Pekoe and Maes, were poor at best, despite visiting it and photographing it several times. I think that something to do with the greyscale colours of the piece and the artificial light in the tunnel messed with the autofocus on my camera and on my phone. This is the best you’re going to get.
Still, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2023
To the left a rather haunting piece from Still, including an excellent Betty Boop character to the right, and ghosts that look like they might have come from one of her early cartoon sequences. With the black and white colours it certainly has a 1930s kind of look to it.
Pekoe, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2023
Next up we have another letters piece from Pekoe, who is definitely having a try at improving her graffiti writing, and in this game as we all know, the only way to improve is to practice. Getting into the ghostly spirit of the collaboration, Pekoe has included drips on the border and in the fills and included a number of eyes.
Maes, St Werburghs, Bristol, May 2023
Maes is an artist who is quite early on in his development, and has surrounded himself with more experienced artists. He is getting to grips with his letters and hasn’t fully settled on a ‘Maes style’ just yet, although his letters are always large and bold, so there is never any mistaking the artist. This is an interesting collaboration which might have been better suited to October rather than May, but was definitely a talking point in the tunnel for a little while.
Logoe has been back in town and that can only mean one thing… lots of new pieces painted over a couple of days, liberally sprinkled in a variety of spots around the city. This is the first of his new batch I am posting, so expect a few more over the coming weeks.
Logoe, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2023
Written in rather attractive colours, the beautiful script letters flow effortlessly across the wall at the end of the tunnel. There is a rather nice series of peaks at the top of the letters, and an ellipsis at the start of the word Logoe. No recent Logoe piece is complete without a spread of oval spots running along the length of the piece. Great to have him visit again.
It was a quiet walk with the dog, there wasn’t much new to look at in the tunnel, except for this lovely piece, that probably says BEN, although I can’t see it myself, by Benjimagnetic. Perhaps I should have asked him, because I bumped into him while he was painting it.
Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2023
I’m not sure what the phrase “There’s gaps in your galaxy” means, but it must have some relevance. The design work in Benjimagnetic’s writing is superb and the layers of patterns and shapes disguise the letters brilliantly. Although this is a small piece, it is a little gem, and still there in the tunnel last time I looked (two days ago).
I met Kid Krishna when he was painting this piece, and we chewed the fat for a little while. He was hungry and kept going on about getting a takeaway, and asked me whether I thought he could get food delivered to the tunnel entrance. Can you imagine having that conversation 25 years ago? How the world has changed.
Kid Krishna (WIP), St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2023
While I had Kid Krishna’s attention, I asked him about his letters and how he builds up his pieces. He told me that he starts with the letters CRIE, and that he writes the letters starting on the right and paints to the left – it’s just how he does things. H builds up the letters in layers until the whole thing ends up pretty much disguised. It is no wonder I have always struggled to read his stuff.
Kid Krishna, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2023
This particular piece is a belter, and has a kind of industrial or mechanical feel about it, almost looking like an engine or something. Kid Krishna continues to turn out extraordinary work.
There are quite a few of these large rocks dotted around Bristol, I think originally strategically placed to stop people illegally parking on curbsides. Several of them have been brightened up by the brilliant artist Rowdy. Best known for his toothy crocodiles, this artist has a knack for turning the mundaine into something interesting.
Rowdy, St Werburghs farm, Bristol, July 2018
Seeing the world through a different lens is a skill. Helping others to see your visions is a gift, and one that Rowdy exploits with ease. This rat, I’m sure, is a favourite with the thousands of visitors to the city farm, young and old alike. I’ll see if I can dig out some more of his ‘rock works’.
This is a piece from my archives from way back in April 2016. It is a tribute piece to Buzz by the enigmatic OHMS.
OHMS, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, May 2016
The colour quality is poor due to the lighting conditions in the tunnel. The only way I am ever going to overcome these problems is to buy a much better camera with all the proper flash gadgets, but I have to say that is not my style. Another triumph from OHMS and the Splab Gang.
Natural adventures 