I have hung on to this picture for an absolute age. No particular reason. It is by DNT, and it resided in a little side lane off Stokes Croft. I just like it – it is a well crafted piece of writing, and it simply and joyfully says Bristolz.
I have nothing more to write – sometimes writing too much takes attention away from the graffiti. Enjoy.
Mr Penfold is first and foremost a designer, whose work is largely abstract and uses colours and shapes that remind me of a cross between the 1980s and art deco. Clean crisp lines and floating objects.
His graffiti/street art work is very different to anything else found in Bristol and instantly recognisable. Whilst I like to see his pieces appearing around the city, his style does not pull me in as much as some of the other artists in Bristol.
This is another piece that has been waiting and waiting in my archive and which I can at last write about, having recently found out who the artist is. The artist has been something of a mystery, and I have posted two of his pieces here before, the sinister cat and scary clown. It is of course Dose, AKA Kin Dose, AKA Nick Harvey.
I found out who he was by accident. I saw a poster advertising an art exhibition in the main street close to where I live, and there was the sinister cat on the poster, so I took a closer look. There was more information that helped me to track down Kin Dose on Instagram. Once on his feed, I looked through his work, and there was this piece…mystery solved.
Kin Dose is clearly extremely talented and versatile. I’ve not yet been to his exhibition (at the time of writing) but hope to get there before it closes.
For a long while now, there have been hoardings outside the Metropolis in Stokes Croft, but this is the first piece I have seen there, since they were erected, worthy of photographing.
I saw the piece being sprayed when I drove past it, but had to return with a camera. What I didn’t know at the time is that it was the elusive Face F1st at work. So now I have seen him, and I know he has a beard, but that is about it.
This time there is no FACE lettering, instead an octopus (something he has sprayed before) and a face emerging from the centre of the piece. It is certainly quite unusual, and the colours give it a rather understated appearance but it is a good piece and a slight extension of Face F1st’s usual format.
I really enjoy the political edge that street art brings to us, and one artist more than any other in Bristol, challenges the status quo and presents us with philosophical and political thoughts. ObjectØØØ.
It is a while since I posted anything from the arches of the Carriageworks, but things have become busy there recently. This piece by ObjectØØØ is of an organic robotic creature and carries a stark warning:
‘As all these incredible new technologies come online, who benefits? The warmongers and profiteers. Maybe technology can save us, but not in the hands of self-serving elites…‘
This is ObjectØØØ in full flow and at his creative best. Full of rage, anger and passion. I love this piece. RESIST.
Face F1st seems to have upped his game recently, producing pieces all over the city, and continuing to develop his style. Together with Laic217, he seems to be ‘in the groove’ at the moment.
This piece is on a famous wall with pieces from several Bristol artists on it including a piece by Mr Sleven (the three-eyed characters). I really like this piece by Face F1st, it feels like more time and effort has gone into its production and the face is simple and also wonderfully expressive.
I have more pieces by Face F1st in my pending folders, but I think this is the best so far.
A recent piece by Tom Miller in one of his favourite locations, the arches at the Carriageworks in Stokes Croft. This is a much calmer piece that we are used to from this artist whose surreal style challenges and provokes us. Not so much of the frenetic stuff flying about the place, but we do see a merging of body parts, in this case a hand and the head.
It is no secret that I am an admirer of Miller’s work, and have been from the first piece I saw at the same location back in December 2015. This piece plays on ideas, dreams and imaginings…light shining down from an umbrella. All very odd, but interesting to look at. The figure is set against a black background which gives the whole piece a clean appearance.
I am very glad that I photographed it when I did, even with the van parked right up against it (illegally I might add) because a day or two later it had been tagged and defaced. Pity.
All the time I am becoming aware of graffiti artists in Bristol that I have overlooked, for no reason other than it takes a while to work out who they are and to be able to recognise their style. One such artist that I have recently been enjoying is Whysayit.
I don’t know much about him, other than that he tends to stick with wildstyle writing, but it is a very distinctive and original style that he uses. His pieces pop up all over Bristol and tend to be found on heavily graphitised walls…no clean backgrounds for this artist. The letters spell out Y SAY (I think), and this is a particularly colourful and happy work. I am enjoying spotting his work more and more.
At the end of the south tunnel of The Bearpit is this fabulous festive collaboration between Mr Klue on the left and Decay on the right. This is a colourful coming together of two of Bristol’s best abstract graffiti artists, whose styles are markedly different but which somehow works really well.
The colour schemes aren’t matching, and the angular shapes of Mr Klue seem to be at odds with the curvy concentric rings typical of Decay, but as a whole it works, probably because the very fact that it is a collaboration offers a relationship between the pieces and even more so the artists.
An outpouring of Christmas cheer from two of my favourites. Perfect.
It would appear the Mr Klue has been really busy this winter. I have started to find a whole load of wonderful pieces by him recently, and this one is a real peach. His abstract style is unmistakable, and this one works well with vanishing points and perspective.
Natural adventures 