Tag: St Werburghs

3978. St Werburghs tunnel (260)

Here is one from the archive which I dedicate to Paul H, because he helped me to find it by supplying a date (late September 2019). It is by Chill, who made his debut on Natural Adventures about a week ago. It was following comments on that post that Paul pointed me in the direction of this piece, which I am pleased to share with you now. I love it the way things work out like this.

Chill, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2019
Chill, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2019

I believe Chill is a tattoo artist who occasionally paints walls, and you can see from the black and white colours and general design the tattooist’s hand. It is a bright and vibrant piece and confirms my view that Chill ought to hit Bristol’s walls more often.

3977. St Werburghs tunnel (259)

What a fabulous treat this piece was. I haven’t seen anything from Nugmoose for a while, and certainly never in the tunnel at St Werburghs. Obviously encouraged by collaboration partner Slakarts, no stranger to this spot, the pair have produced this wonderful dual piece.

Nugmoose and Slakarts, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2021
Nugmoose and Slakarts, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2021

On the left is a curious (as always) alien maggot kind of creature with some alien hieroglyphs sitting on a cloud. The whole thing is a little weird, but Nugmoose does weird really well. To the right is Slakart’s contribution which is also a little odd, but tells a rather nice story. It looks to me as if an alien space ship is dropping rain down on the character, who is holding hands(tentacle) with the alien. Imaginative fun from this creative pairing.

3959. St Werburghs tunnel (258)

Stivs has presented me with another golden opportunity to feature his work on Natural Adventures by painting this cracker in St Werburghs. His calligraffiti writing is improving with every piece, and this is an outstanding example of what he is capable of.

Stivs, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2021bday 034 12-16 Sept 2021_edited
Stivs, St Werburghs, Bristol, September 2021bday 034 12-16 Sept 2021_edited

Painted in black and red with a blue border, the letters have the appearance of having been painted with brush strokes – an effect perfected by Voyder in some of his Bristol works. There is so much to like about this, particularly the crispness and the thin yellow lines running through the piece. Lovely stuff.

3906. St Werburghs tunnel (257)

Update

Rather embarrassingly, and I had the slightest concern about this, this piece is not by Pl8o after all, although I don’t know who it is by. Everything I have written about Pl8o still stands. I will change the captions to reflect this.

An artist I used to write about quite a lot was Ysae, but he seemed to disappear off the scene for a while. Maybe this is by him, there is a signature, or is that a shout out. The dangers of thinking I know more than I actually do. It happens.

I am rather looking forward to producing a gallery of work by Pl8o and when I have collected a few more pieces by him I will do so. The reason I say this is that he has been playing with all sorts of ideas around his letters and is going through something of a script writing phase, but it is the development of these ideas that is fun to witness.

Unknown, Ysae?, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021
Unknown, Ysae?, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021

In this piece Pl8o has gone with a much more curvy and flowing script style and incorporated some drips and floating ovals to embellish the letters. The colours are perhaps not my favourite, but work well together and certainly stand out in the orange gloom of St Werburghs tunnel. A nice piece.

3887. St Werburghs Tunnel (255)

This is another piece of old-school writing from graffiti artist Sake. I don’t know how it has happened, but Sake has only really come onto my radar in the last couple of months, having met him in St Werburghs tunnel. I have a feeling that I might have photographed a number of his pieces in the past, but just haven’t published any of them. I will need to do a thorough search of my archives, but time is a real constraint for me at the moment.

Sake, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2021
Sake, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2021

In this piece, Sake spells out his name with classic lettering filled with stars and bars and a lovely 3D shadow in blue. Having spoken to the artist a couple of times, it would appear that he is a bit of a purist and doesn’t have a lot of time for ‘toys’ (new or unskilled writers). I think that he harbours great affection for the early days of graffiti writing when things were more edgy and spray paints more difficult too use. He does well to recreate these old-school pieces.

3885. St Werburghs tunnel (255)

Throughout the whole of the last year, Benjimagnetic has been consistently turning out superb BEN pieces, and this is one of the more recent one of them. I love the way that he has been developing his style and that recently he has simplified the look of his work without compromising his technical ability.

Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021
Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021

This piece from the tunnel is notable for its extraordinary fills, particularly in the blue segments. This graffiti writing is clean and sharp, and the white border that lifts the letters is superbly consistent – the work of an experienced hand. It must surely be time for a Benjimagnetic gallery?

3874. St Werburghs tunnel (254)

This is the second recent piece from Tasha Bee that appeared at the other end of St Werburghs tunnel to her collaboration with Antikki. It is such a pleasure to see her painting again. Although she is really busy with her Pot Heads business, I hope that she finds time to splash a little paint at walls more often.

Tasha Bee, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021
Tasha Bee, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021

This is classic Tasha Bee. A stylised portrait with eyes shut, this time wearing a rather colourful and fetching cap. The criss-cross patterning on the cap I think is a technique she picked up from Soap a while back. Let’s hope this is not a one-off return to painting.

3872. St Werburghs tunnel (253)

Here we have another fine piece of graffiti writing from Rezwonk in St Werburghs tunnel with a multicolour splash. I think it was painted at roughly the same time as the Sunday Funday paint jam a few weeks back.

Rezwonk, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021
Rezwonk, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021

I am a little short on time to write too much about this piece as I am heading off for another fishing trip this morning and have to sort myself out and write another post before I go. Suffice it to say that Rezwonk has used his metal panelling and rivet style again which is great to see.

3859. St Werburghs tunnel (252)

This was what was left behind on the day Goldie came to town. For those of you who haven’t heard of Goldie, I can summarise as follows: he is a musician, music producer, DJ, artist and actor. When in the tunnel though, he is just another graffiti artist… no room for celebrity here. The occasion was a large paint jam, Funday Sunday, from a few weeks back and this is a loose collaboration from Goldie and Bristol’s 3Dom.

Goldie, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021
Goldie, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021

I haven’t seen any of Goldie’s work before so I don’t have much to compare it with. His style is quite traditional, with a deep 3D shadow and central vanishing point, and the letters spell out Goldie. He has certainly gone for a full-on colour splash and his work is surely accomplished. A very nice piece.

3Dom, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021
3Dom, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021

To the right of Goldie’s letters is an unusual piece from 3Dom, the story of which I just can’t seem to pin down. There is a serpent with a hand instead of a head, holding the Earth gently in its long fingers. The tail of the serpent wraps all the way over to the left of Goldie’s piece, hence the partial collaboration. There is an orange arrow piercing the hand. The piece is packed out with symbolism, but I’ll be damned if I know what any of it means. It all looks very nice though. A fun collaboration.

3853. St Werburghs tunnel (251)

There are goods and there are greats, and Rowdy is a Bristol great. His style might look a little bit ragged and untidy at times, but his ideas and contribution to Bristol modern culture has been incalculable, largely due to his unique crocodiles.

Rowdy, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021
Rowdy, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021

This wonderful example was painted during the Funday Sunday event a few weeks back alongside many other Bristol greats. The trademark crocodile patrols the murky waters while a bad flits by in the moonlight. It doesn’t happen often, so finding a Rowdy piece is always exciting.