Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
I am well used to seeing outstanding pieces by Benjimagnetic, but I think that this recent one in the tunnel is the cream of the crop so far. The graffiti writing is so striking in form and colour, and it is difficult to walk past without stopping and admiring it.
Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
When I look at the design elements, I am reminded of a kind of 1960s retro feel about it, bringing things like magazine racks and shelving units that were oh so modern when I was growing up. There were a few TV cartoons at that time that really picked up on this modern style. Perhaps I am imagining things, but that is what I see in this amazing work. I’m not entirely certain what the letters spell, but I have a good feeling that it spells GRO. Tight, colourful, beautifully designed and superbly presented. What more could a man want?
I have said it many times, but Bloem is one of the most improved and gifted new artists painting the streets of Bristol, whose outstanding talent and creativity is put to good use for all to enjoy. It took me a long wait to finally get a decent picture of this piece, as there was a large black van parked in front of it for what seemed like an eternity. Patience is a virtue, and it was well worth waiting to get a shot from the front.
Bloem, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Once more, Bloem includes some of her favourite elements, including the hand with pointy fingernails, a chain and a beautiful flower. These elements bind together nicely, and I daresay that there is a fair amount of conscious or unconscious symbolism going on here. I think that the grey plants are orchids and if we are talking of symbolism, they are associated with love, beauty and refinement.
Bloem, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
The big orange centrepiece flower looks like a chrysanthemum and acts as a fabulous focal point of the piece. Not only is the composition original and beautiful, but it is really well executed too. Great work from Bloem.
Hemper and Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Hemper and Hypo have been smashing it recently, and this is a wonderful recent collaboration in the tunnel. I fear that while I am away in France I will be missing a whole bunch of their work.
Hemper, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Hemper, like Kid Krishna, has had something of a lifestyle change and has come out of it all guns blazing. This is a combination piece of writing and little blue characters, which might have been a joint effort from both artists. Vibrant and energetic.
Hypo, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
After a quiet January, Hypo too has been in outstanding form through February and this is yet another fine piece from him, with great colour transitions and his familiar HYPO moniker. An outstanding collaboration.
Mr Crawls, Kool Hand and Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
This is something of a rarity, a character collaboration. Often you get combinations of characters and graffiti writing in small or large collaborative efforts, but exclusively character pieces is unusual and just how brilliant is this collection from Mr Crawls, Kool Hand and Daz Cat?
Mr Crawls, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Mr Crawls has hit the ground running this year with some outstanding pieces and a slight change in direction or modification of his characters. He is always looking to move things forward and adding new ideas around his central theme of a bird wearing a hat. This most recent phase I would describe as stylised cartoon work.
Kool Hand, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Another artist who has been busy over the winter is Kool Hand, and what a good artist he is, I have just updated his gallery and there are some really fine pieces to enjoy there. This piece features a three-quarter profile of his famous orangutan character, this time in green. Crisp and clean and really well presented.
Daz Cat, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
An artist whose work has become more sophisticated and complex over the last few years is Daz Cat. In the early days his cat pieces were fairly two-dimensional, and although fun to find, had plenty of headroom for improvement. Now Daz Cat is operating at an entirely different level, turning out first class portrait pieces (mostly of cats) with every outing. This smiling cat is a perfect example of his work, so full of character and detail and a enjoy to behold. Below is an example of his early work to give you an idea of what I am talking about. This is a very fine character collaboration.
It must be fun ‘going big’ from time to time, and on a bad-weather day there is no place better than St Werburghs tunnel to spread yourself out a bit. Mr Draws has made the most of the space with this long piece of graffiti writing, which even with a wide-angle shot is impossible to photograph head on.
Mr Draws, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Under the lights of the tunnel, this chrome piece takes on all sorts of colours, from silver through to gold. Decorative arrows point inwards to the letters spelling Mr Drawers, the long format version of his name. The impact of the letters is enhanced with a colourful background using that effective combination of blues and pinks. Going large can be fun.
Tao Create and Big Hev, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Of interest, but not really of much importance, is the gender split of street artists and graffiti writers in Bristol which I would say is around the 60:40 Men to women, but it is noticeable that a higher proportion of women are painting now than were ten years ago, when I first started this blog. This is a fabulous collaboration from Tao Create and Big Hev, who have painted together before, and I assume are friends.
Tao Create and Big Hev, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
To the left is a portrait piece by Tao Create, who underwent something of a transformation in her style over the last year or so, taking her to a new and much higher level. I can’t find any information about whom this is a portrait of, but it is stunning nonetheless, with superb depth and texture in the greyscale shades. Big Hev’s words ‘I’ve been ghosted by a ghostboy’ are equally mysterious. The piece appears to be a tribute to GB perhaps? This is a striking collaboration, which sadly has been overpainted, but was a delight while it was there.
So many of the combination pieces painted in Bristol leave me wondering who the painted character might be portraying (there are often modern cultural references to cartoon productions of the 1970s to now), but every once in a while the character is one I am familiar with, and this is one of those moments. The character in this Haka piece is Percival Proudfoot Plugsley or Plug member of the Bash Street Kids from the children’s comic Beano.
Haka, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Indeed, this is not the first time Haka has incorporated Plug into one of his pieces and other members of the comic strip. The letters are classic Haka letters, nicely overlapping and filled with two colour shades and some yellow decorations. Some nice shout-outs too, including the ever-present tribute to CK1.
Zed in the Clouds, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2025
Only a few days ago I posted a piece by Zed in the Clouds and said at the time that he was hugely underrepresented on this blog, so as part of remedying that gap, here is a recent piece by the artist in St Werburghs tunnel, which is rather larger than his usual offering.
Zed in the Clouds, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2025
This combination piece features his familiar character donning a red bucket hat and the letters ZED. Both parts of the combination are filled with a cream tone that is draped in a mass of colour streaks that look like scribbles from a child’s drawing pad. All of the lines run vertically and are augmented with some star decorations. To round off the piece, Zed has included some blood-red drips throughout that bled from the border. Overall, a very nice piece.
Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2025
What a lovely clean and tidy piece this is from Benjimagnetic at the entrance to St Werburghs tunnel. Ordinarily, I would say that Benjimagnetic’s pieces spell out BEN, but I now know it says something different after Benjimagnetic corrected me the last time I mistakenly got it wrong.
Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2025
What I like about Benjimagnetic’s work is the way he deconstructs and then reconstructs his writing, so that it is composed of loads of design elements that come together in a novel way. Another artist who uses a similar deconstruction technique is Minto. Great colours in this piece and overall a classy bit of writing.
Today is my first day back at work after a week away, and I am bracing myself for a whirlwind of emails, and will be hearing about How I will be helping another department, which is causing me huge anxiety, as I am already working at full capacity. Inevitably, this and other future posts will be shortened until I am in a new rhythm.
I was lucky enough to bump into Sworm and also meet Omie for the first time, who was working alongside Sworm, as they painted their Christmas collaboration.
Sworm, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2024
This piece displays Sworm’s talents really well, and although the colour scheme is fairly simple, the overall writing is complex and beautifully worked. Because I saw this piece as a work in progress, I was struck by how similar the process was to how Elvs paints his pieces. Basically, Swarm started with the white fill, and then added the outline and detail as an overlay. The result is stunning. Unfortunately, when I returned to take these pictures, Omie’s letters has been overpainted, which was a real pity.
Natural adventures 