Tag: St Werburghs

1455. St Werburghs tunnel (19)

It is always great to find another Epok piece, especially when not expecting it. I don’t often get to St Werburghs tunnel, so when I do pretty much everything is new to me. I hadn’t seen this piece on social media, and although it is a fresh piece, I obviously didn’t get here in time to see it clean.

Epok, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, April 2018
Epok, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, April 2018

One day I would live to get into the mind of taggers and bombers to understand their thinking. Are there any protocols? Is everything a fair target for their graffiti? What do they respect/disrespect? Do they care about anything? My guess is that they have little conscience and genuinely don’t care what they do. Wreckless anarchy, which is probably quite an attractive option for some people. The class and quality of Epok’s work shines through though – this is a really good piece by him. Hats off.

1382. St Werburghs tunnel (18)

Photograps taken in St Werburghs tunnel are a real challenge. The colours are yellowed out if you don’t use a flash, and when you do use a flash (a non-sophisticated one like I use) you get horrible reflections obscuring the art. This piece by Fiver (Fiva) looks a bit dreary, but it was far from that in the flesh.

Fiva, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, June 2016
Fiva, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, June 2016

Fiver is an artist I have featured a couple of times this winter, having not seen much from him for quite a long while. This is an old one, full of charm. I believe the character is Donkey Kong of Nintendo fame. A fun piece.

1305. St Werburghs tunnel (17)

I think I said it quite recently that I don’t often get down to St Werburghs tunnel, which is a pity really because I miss out on a lot of gems like this one from Whysayit. I am beginning to think that he might simply be whysay or YSAE, because his Instagram handle which used to be Whysayit has changed to Whysissy and again to Whydot. However, I am not retrospectively going to correct all my posts. I shall call him Whysayit.

Whysayit, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, January 2018
Whysayit, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, January 2018

Once again we such great quality of ideas and shading from this graffiti artist. When I see great writing, I often wonder whether the artists could do characters or something other than writing. There is something of a split between graff writers and street artists, but some have crossed the divide and others, such as Deamze and Voyder seem to be equally comfortable with both.

1091. St Werburghs tunnel (15)

Having recently posted about Elvs, I thought I would dig out more of his work from my files, and this beautiful piece was in St Werburghs tunnel back in May 2016. He really does have a wonderfully ornate style, but he keeps his lettering even in height, so the whole piece could fit into a rectangular surround.

Elvs, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, May 2016
Elvs, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, May 2016

I really like the way that he has replicated the pattern in the top part of the ‘e’ and the top part of the ‘s’, which I think is a trademark feature of his work. There is also a cheeky little one-eyed pyramid poking out of the top of the piece. This is really superb wildstyle writing.

Elvs, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, May 2016
Elvs, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, May 2016

872. St Werburghs tunnel (14)

I took this picture way back in June 2016 before I knew who it was by. I liked it at the time – I don’t photograph everything I see, and many pieces don’t make it into this blog…I have a little bit of editorial control. It is of course by Hire, and shows his trademark jagged Gothic form.

Hire, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, June 2016
Hire, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, June 2016

There is a symmetry to this piece,  and if you look closely, you will be able to make out the letters HIRE. Nice one.

857. St Werburghs tunnel (13)

It seems that street/graffiti artists tend to have peaks and troughs in their activity. I suppose that, like the rest of us, life, jobs, family and so on just get in the way a bit. I introduce this piece with this observation because Sled One, who was extremely productive last year, seems to be a little quieter. This may just be a false perception, and I am not seeing his stuff as much as I used to – I might be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sled One, St Werburghs Tunnel, Bristol, June 2017
Sled One, St Werburghs Tunnel, Bristol, June 2017

This is of the usual high standard that Sled One attains, it appears, with such ease. This wildstyle writing is so very easy on the eye, like much of his work. I particularly like the ‘accent’ lines he uses to emphasise the letters or that wisp around the piece giving it a sense of animation. I will not tire of his outstanding work.

Sled One, St Werburghs Tunnel, Bristol, June 2017
Sled One, St Werburghs Tunnel, Bristol, June 2017

729. St Werburghs tunnel (12)

I’ll let you into a little secret. I tend to write my posts in batches, and usually in advance by about a week, which is why there is always a bit of a time delay between the appearance of a recent piece and my posting of it. I do this out of necessity, because of my full time job and finding pockets of ‘me time’ to do some writing. I mention this because yesterday (my realtime – Sunday 9 April) I met Laic217 in Moon Street, working on a piece that I will post in a week or two. He is as enigmatic in person as he is in his street art.

Laic217, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2017
Laic217, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2017

This piece appeared a few weeks back in St Werburghs tunnel alongside the great work of Silent Hobo. An alien face, bucket hat and gold chain with a planet pendant mark this out as an obvious Laic217 piece, irrespective of the fact that he has signed it Laic on the arm.

Laic217, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2017
Laic217, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2017

I am still enjoying finding and writing about Laic217’s work, it almost feels like a game of hide and seek. I would point out that he is a better painter than I am a writer and he is more prolific than I could ever be. On to the next one.

701. St Werburghs tunnel (11)

Well here is another weekly dose of Laic217. This piece is from a short while back and can be found at the city farm end of the St Werburghs tunnel, although turnover there is so rapid that it might have gone by now.

Laic217, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, March 2017
Laic217, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, March 2017

This piece bears some resemblance to his larger work in the Dean Lane skate park, and has something of the grotesque about it. Drug culture seems to play a large part in Laic217’s pieces and it looks like this pink individual is smoking weed. Not the most beautiful piece you will see, but all part of the broad and imaginative portfolio of this artist.

Laic217, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, March 2017
Laic217, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, March 2017

692. St Werburghs tunnel (10)

This is another quick piece by Whysayit at one end of the tunnel in St Werburghs. I can’t believe that I missed this when I went in to photograph pieces in the tunnel, and it wasn’t until I came out again that this caught my eye.

Whysayit, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, March 2017
Whysayit, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, March 2017

I really do like his style of graffiti art, the way he disguises his letters (YSAE) with curvy shapes and the colours he uses and the outlines to his pieces. I am also rather fond of his tagging, which is peculiar, because as a rule I dislike tagging. All in all a nice piece here.

Whysayit, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, March 2017
Whysayit, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, March 2017

670. St Werburghs tunnel (9)

Face F1st has been rather busy lately, and I am struggling to keep up with posting all his new works. This is a nice piece from St Werburghs tunnel, but as with all of the tunnel pieces, the photographs just don’t do the work justice.

Face F1st, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, February 2017
Face F1st, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, February 2017

I couldn’t quite get the shots I wanted of this piece, because there was some kind of a photoshoot going on in the tunnel, and someone had parked a car in the way. The colours are really great, and the characteristic face is nicely folded into the C of FACE. I still get a bit of a kick out of finding a Face F1st piece.

Face F1st, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, February 2017
Face F1st, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, February 2017