Street art – Page 164 – Natural adventures

5989. Cumberland Basin

Minto, Cumberlan Basin, Bristol, April 2024

The return of Minto to Bristol has, without doubt, been a highlight of the last six months as his unique graffiti writing style has significantly impacted on the already wide spectrum of styles on offer. Although Minto doesn’t follow a fixed formula, there is a lot that is distinctive about his work, in particular, it is often vertically quite compressed.

This dazzlingly colourful piece seems to have a trainer theme going on, with at least three trainers depicted in the MINTO lettering. There are also a couple of characters peering over the top of the letters, something that Minto builds into much of his work. This is a fine example of his work and an outstanding piece.

5987. M32 roundabout (569)

Saor and Andy Council, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024

Sometimes you see a piece, and it takes your breath away… this was one such piece. Absolutely everything about it is perfect, and it is, by some margin, my favourite piece of the year so far. In case it wasn’t obvious, it is a collaboration between Saor and Andy Council – not something I saw coming, but their styles very well together.

Starting with the buffed wall – If you’re going to do a serious statement piece it is always worth buffing the wall with an appropriate colour and the grey in this instance works well with the overall colour palette. The subtle soft pinks, maroons and greys are bought to life with some bright and vibrant greens, classy stuff indeed.

The writing is by Saor and is as ever so crisp and tight – no thick borders, only sharp edges. The character, a Vaughn Bode lizard, is by Andy Council and true to his composite style, is made up of pipes, vents and architecture, including the Clifton Suspension bridge all stitched together. This is a masterpiece collaboration by two brilliant artists.

5986. Brunel Way (270)

The wonderful thing about art is that you can create situations or landscapes or portraits and so on that are utterly fictional, unlikely, impossible, weird and that you are in control of this creative universe. Alternatively, some artists try to capture real life either through accurate representations or abstract interpretations. Bean has painted something verging on the weird side with this piece.

The character, who is wearing a rather curious hat, is holding his, or somebody else’s severed legs from which blue gloop is gushing. I’ll not attempt to interpret the piece, which is exceptionally painted in Bean’s trademark two-tone colour cartoon style. An entertaining and curious piece.

5985. M32 Cycle path (263)

Biers, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2024

Biers has been rolling out a good deal of wonderful writing/character combination pieces over the last year or so, and is deeply embedded in a rich vein of form. This piece is painted along the narrowest stretch of cycle path and getting pictures, even with wide angle capability, is tricky at best.

The WD40 letters are filled with a magnificent blue patterning, with some awesome designs floating on rippled blues. The character is Courage the Cowardly Dog, from a cartoon series screened in the late ’90s early ’00s, which passed me by completely – I was too busy trying to be a grown up. Set on a deep red background, this is a classy piece of work from Biers.

5984. M32 Cycle path (262)

Raid, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2024

I can’t really praise Raid’s work highly enough, and his level of consistency is admirable. I recently posted a gallery of his work and have updated it just now, because I wanted to include the link in this post just to demonstrate how good his work is.

Raid is a neat and tidy writer whose edges and borders are always on point, but it is in his creative and interesting fills where he excels, as this piece demonstrates. His skill is in not overcomplicating things or being too fussy, but doing enough and creating new ideas to keep the fill exciting. Pinks and blues always work well together, and in my book, this is an outstanding piece of its type.

5983. Frome Side (31)

Some outstanding writing from Kosc underneath the M32, which amply demonstrates his versatility and comfort with both graffiti writing and photorealistic characters and scenes. This particular stretch of wall is up a bank, and all photographs, unless photographed from the opposite back, are prone to slight distortion due to looking upwards at the piece.

The colour selection reminds me of a packet of boiled sweets that you might take with you on a long car journey – I can see lots of flavours there. Kosc has incorporated one of his trademark features in the writing that gives it an industrial feel, which is the inclusion of ‘rivets’ holding the ‘sheets’ of writing in place. Great stuff from a brilliant artist.

5982. M32 roundabout J3 (568)

Bogat, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024

Bogat has been lying low for a while, so it was rather nice to stumble across this vibrant piece on one of the subway entrances on the north side of the M32 Roundabout. He says that he hopes to be a little more active this summer, which is great news.

The colour selection for this character piece is exceptional, and the green has an amazing glowing quality – the colours are what you might expect in a spooky disco or ghost train, if you know what I mean. Bogat has made great use of light and shade to accentuate features, something I have spoken a lot about in Zake’s character work. A more than decent piece and first of many to come this year I hope.

5981. Dean Lane skate park (711)

I mentioned yesterday that you’d be seeing more of Noise today, and true to my promise, here is another fabulous piece from the artist. Noise has a very distinctive style, but I find it quite difficult to describe. His letters tend to be quite thick and nicely proportioned, and which work equally well in upper or lower case. His fills are dynamic, with plenty of interest.

Although this piece from Noise was completed, the wall opposite was being painted by other artists, and some of their kit was strewn around this wall, which I think adds a little to the overall ambience of Dean Lane. The fills in this piece are outstanding, and it is lifted (rather unsubtly) by the red drop shadow on a black background. Still more to come from Noise in what has been a busy month or so.

5980. Sparke Evans Park (95)

Noise, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2024

Noise has had a rich spell of form recently, painting at least three pieces and probably a few more too that I don’t know about. This fabulous writing/character combination piece was painted during an LRS paint jam in Sparke Evans Park.

This lively piece, full of vibrancy and colour, has a very strong Noise vibe about it, but is a little different from his usual work with the inclusion of a cat character making up the ‘O’ of NOISE. The cat is really well crafted and it would be great to see him do more of this kind of thing. Combination pieces allow artists to showcase their artistic skills beyond writing or characters alone. Watch this space (like tomorrow) for more from Noise.

5979. St Werburghs tunnel (420)

Ryder, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2024

Ryder organised a brilliantly well attended paint jam in St Werburghs tunnel back in February this year and this is his outstanding contribution to it. While I am used to seeing writing from Ryder, I am less familiar with his character work, so this combination piece was a joy to behold.

It is a pity that Ryder doesn’t get out to paint more often, because he is a real class act, and his writing is always out of the top drawer. These beautifully designed letters contained within a yellow outline and small drop shadow are immaculately crafted and contain a nice four-colour horizontal fill. Straightforward, not too fussy and easy on the eye.

The character is Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a franchise that passed me by, but one that regularly crops up in street/graffiti art. Ryder demonstrates his skills as not only an exceptional writer, but character artist too. Great work and a great paint jam to celebrate his exhibition in the Farm pub around the corner.

	Laura Newhampshire on Thursday Doors – 9 April…
	hitandrun1964 on 7576. Brunel Way (353)
	scooj on 7568. M32 roundabout J3 (…
	Sheree on 7576. Brunel Way (353)
	paulh121 on 7575. M32 roundabout J3 (…

	Laura Newhampshire on Thursday Doors – 9 April…
	hitandrun1964 on 7576. Brunel Way (353)
	scooj on 7568. M32 roundabout J3 (…
	Sheree on 7576. Brunel Way (353)
	paulh121 on 7575. M32 roundabout J3 (…

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