4202. St Werburghs tunnel (273)

I haven’t seen anything from Elvs for quite a long time, so this is a welcome come-back from the Wales-based artist. Elvs often accompanies his writing with a small character piece, and this time he has included a fabulous TAZ, the Tasmanian devil from the cartoon series of the same name.

Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2022
Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2022

The yellow and bronze/brown colours are quite good ones for the tunnel, because pretty much everything ends up looking like these colours anyway because of the lighting. As always, a distinctive and tight piece of classic wildstyle graffiti writing from Elvs.

4189. St Werburghs tunnel (272)

It has been great to see Kool Hand returning to the streets lately, hooking up with various friends to paint with them. I have a feeling that he might have been in London, or certainly out of Bristol, for a little while, but has been in Bristol over the winter and sprayed quite a few pieces of which this is one.

Kool Hand, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2021
Kool Hand, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2021

This misbehaving orangutan piece is part of a larger collaboration that I will return to at some point in the future. Kool Hand has taken his little character and made him a little bigger and animated him a little more than usual, which is great to see. I’m never too sure about street art with guns though, it somehow doesn’t sit well with me. Is this way too woke? Nice to see Kool Hand back I. Town.

4187. St Werburghs tunnel (271)

It feels like barely a day goes by without posting something by Chill, such is the recent turnover from this revelation on the Bristol street art circuit. Although he has done the odd piece here and there, he really seems to have found some time and confidence to hit more walls more often.

Chill, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2021
Chill, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2021

This is a fun character piece in St Werburghs tunnel with two cartoon portraits taking delight in a brown of milk. I have no idea what is going on here, a little bizarre I might say, but the artwork is clean and crisp as always. Creative, imaginative and a whole lot of joy from Chill, who is just going from strength to strength.

4167. St Werburghs tunnel (270)

An infrequent, yet most welcome, artist is Smut – ‘everyone loves a little bit of Smut’ remember? Recently Smut has hit a couple of walls with his characteristic clean and tidy script writing.

Smut, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2021
Smut, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2021

Although the tunnel at St Werburghs is a honey pot for graffiti and street art, it is a beast for getting decent photographs, and I am disappointed with these ones which are a little blurred. His other piece on the M32 roundabout (to come) is altogether more satisfying. It is always a pleasure finding a Smut piece.

4131. St Werburghs tunnel (270)

Mest is an artist whose writing is improving all the time, not only in quality but also in creativity. Sticking to his standard letter shapes, he gets his variety through his fill designs and colours. I have so many more of his pieces that are not yet published, but posting pieces on Natural Adventures is a very competitive marketplace at the moment. I will get round to publishing more in due course.

Mest, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2021
Mest, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2021

The colour contrasts between the orange background and cool blue letter fills works wonderfully, a real hot and cold battle going on in front of our eyes. Mest has also been playing a little by picking out some of the brick work with pink lines. A sprinkling of little yellow dots rounds the piece off nicely. A fine piece from Mest which gets me ever closer to publishing a gallery of his work… watch this space over the next month or two.

4129. St Werburghs tunnel (269)

Logoe continues to hit Bristol walls hard, this time with his friend Silent Hobo, to create this lovely collaboration on the entrance to the tunnel in St Werburghs. Their content and styles are so very different, but there is a chemistry there that brings the whole thing together seamlessly.

Logoe and Silent Hobo, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2021
Logoe and Silent Hobo, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2021

The writing by Logoe is distinctive with its thin script-like letters and gorgeous fills, decorated with spots and stars along the length. The youth, so brilliantly portrayed by Silent Hobo, is wearing a blue hoodie and sporting big hair and glasses. I am not at all certain what the axe is all about though. So good to see these two combining again.

4108. St Werburghs tunnel (267)

I tend to prepare posts in advance for my street art blogs, perhaps as many as twenty pieces lined up and prepped for written content to be added. It is sorting and sizing the images that takes the most time. Downloading a stream of conscious thought can be surprisingly quick, largely because most of it is conversational nonsense, like this, and comes naturally.

I say all of this because it is quite coincidental that this lovely piece by Benjimagnetic,  which has been lined up for some time, is ready for posting just two days after I met the artist for the first time.

Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2021
Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2021

I have noticed that Benjimagnetic seems to be toying with some different design ideas lately and moving away from his quite scratchy abstract writing and transitioning into more solid and colourful pieces, while keeping the essence of his style. It is a difficult transition to describe, but it is definitely happening. For me, I have to say that I am definitely liking his new work a lot, and hope this is more than just a passing phase. A superb tunnel piece.

4106. St Werburghs tunnel (267)

I like the work of Mind Control very much, although the theme of his pieces often carry an underlying threat of violence, which I am not so keen on, and this piece in the gloom of St Werburghs tunnel is one of those pieces.

Mind Control, St Weburghs, Bristol, Novemmber 2021
Mind Control, St Weburghs, Bristol, Novemmber 2021

It turns out though, that it is a tribute piece to a young man called Josh Schoolar who died last year, in Manchester. Josh was an activist who had been out to Syria (joining the International Freedom Battalion) to fight against Isis, and this piece is painted from a photograph of Josh from that time.

In his memory, Josh Schoolar’s family set up an annual fund of £300 for an up and coming young street artist, and Mind Control was the first recipient of this award, and painted this tribute piece as a thank you.

I have learned that it is important to understand what lies behind a piece of artwork as well as simply seeing what is in front of you. This is not a violent piece at all, but a fond and heartfelt recognition of a young life lost.

4077. St Werburghs tunnel (266)

To get the colours right in these pictures, I had to do a bit of manipulation, which if I hadn’t would have left them as yellowy-orange stains on the wall which really wouldn’t do. Instead, you can see the colours, which you can see with the naked eye, but in photographs are negatively impacted by the orange lighting in the tunnel.

Corupt, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2021
Corupt, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2021

The letters STICK are by Corupt, who is going through a bit of a purple patch at the moment which means that you should look out for more of his work appearing on these pages soon. Corupt is an artist who keeps himself to himself, and although I have seen him paint, at the top of a ladder, I still haven’t met properly.

From a technical point of view, this piece is on-point and skilfully crafted, but it is also rather beautiful too, with some excellent blended shading in the letters. More outstanding work from Corupt is in the pipeline.

4049. St Werburghs tunnel (265)

I have a feeling that this mask-like face may have been a Halloween piece from Laic217, at least it was certainly painted around that period at the end of October. The piece is far from typical of Laic’s work but contains his recognisable style.

Laic217, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2021
Laic217, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2021

Set on a vibrant pink background the grey scale demon stares out from the wall menacingly. The mask-like structure is rather static and fixed, which is different to most of his other work which tends to be full of animation and movement. Great to see something a little bit different.