There is an artist in Bristol, who occasionally hits the walls of the city with his curious creations, often in chrome. I am talking about Blimma Blamma, at least I think that is what he is called (he/she doesn’t sign his/her work).
Blimma Blamma, River Avon, Bristol, March 2024
This piece includes some letters, which I can’t make out and a character,, customarily wrapped up in clothes with only his face poking through. There is something endearing about the characters and mysterious about the work, which leaves one guessing what the story is. I think I need to do a little more research on the enigmatic Blimma Blamma.
Smak, Sled One and Oust, Coach and Horses, Bristol, March 2024
The wall on the Coach and Horses is one of the best ‘outdoor galleries’ in Bristol and often hosts some really classy work that tends to remain untagged for reasonably long periods. It probably doesn’t have the same turnover as some of the more accessible or popular walls, which means we can enjoy the artwork for longer. This collaboration is by Smak, Sled One and Oust.
Smak, Coach and Horses, Bristol, March 2024
Smak needs no introduction on Natural Adventures, being something of a staple over the years. This is a finely crafted and executed piece of writing that spells out SMAK. The colour palette is is perfect, and offset by the appearance of a black and white stripe design on some parts. The writing is wonderfully intricate without being over-fussy – clean crisp and classy.
Sled One, Coach and Horses, Bristol, March 2024
We don’t get to see enough of Sled One’s genius on our walls these days, so everything we do get to see, we ought to be grateful for. In this central panel, Sled One has painted a cat toasting a mouse on a stick over a fire, surrounded by barbed wire. There is a story here, but not one I can tell you. There is a mixture of styles, which is a bit unsettling. The cat is approaching photorealistic, but the mouse is most definitely cartoon, which confuses my brain somewhat. Brilliant artwork.
Oust, Coach and Horses, Bristol, March 2024
The right hand side of the collaboration is some unusual writing from Oust. The letters are more like constructions, with hints at industry and engineering. I haven’t come across Oust’s work before, so am a little unsure if his style is always like this or that this is a one-off. I guess Oust was visiting, and took the opportunity to paint with friends/acquaintances. There are some great colours and ideas in the piece which is full of contained energy. Fabulous collaboration.
Trawling through my archives in search of a particular piece definitely has some extra benefits, which mainly consist of unearthing ‘lost’ work that was either by an unknown artist at the time or simply got left behind due to the volume of photographs coming in each week. I was so pleased therefore, to stumble on this lovely wheatpaste by Abbie Laura Smith from last summer during my last rummage.
Abbie Laura Smith, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2023
The small paste up, looks like it is slightly out of focus, but that is due to the double line outline of the portrait. I love the way that Abbie Laura Smith has placed this colourful piece on a colourfully tagged column, almost disguising it, and as I have said before, the placement of paste ups is just as important as the artwork, and she has smashed both elements with this one. I am so pleased to have been able to share this, albeit ten months late.
This is a throwback piece to last June, which has remained dormant in my archives, because at the time of photographing the piece the artist was unknown to me. Since then, the artist’s identity has emerged and is known as j9449j, which is a bit of a mouthful. This is great news, because I have several more pieces in the archives to share and I really like their work.
j9449j, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2023
The abstract piece hints at a rural landscape, certainly there are some organic forms in the piece. This artwork is so original, at least in the context of street art, that it is difficult to assess against any normal criteria or conventions. For example the small additional piece to the right works perfectly as a counterbalance to the larger piece on the left, There are some lovely shapes and patterns and a carefully thought out colour palette. Enjoyable and unusual stuff from j9449j.
Mr Crawls and Mote, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2024
One of the great joys of the last six months has been the thriving partnership between Mote and Mr Crawls. Rarely do you get the chance to watch on as two artistic talents arrive at a confluence and thrive as collaborators, while maintaining their individual identities.
Mr Crawls and Mote, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2024
This collaboration, on the ‘wet wall’ on the north side of the river underneath Brunel Way features two toothy monsters set on a chrome background (a strong feature of their recent work). On the left, Mr Crawls has a go, and smashes it, at painting a monster, which is a bit of a departure from his birds. The purple-faced monster, in spite of the array of sharp teeth, looks gentle enough. On the right Mote has created a monster, also with sharp teeth, in which the fill patterns give the piece away as one of his. As I have said before, they tend to bounce ideas off one another, and you can see how they have both shared an approach to painting the eyelids. So much fun from these two.
It was a great pleasure to meet Haka, alongside Inkie and Sepr, when he was painting this piece as part of a collaborative wall last month. Although Haka had pretty much finished when I caught up with him, he did subsequently add another character to the right of the piece.
Haka, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024
Those familiar with Haka’s work will recall that he tends to paint combination pieces with his customary letters accompanied by characters from children’s books, shows or comics. When I was a kid, there were three popular children’s comic, Beano, Dandy and Beezer, and these characters come from one or other – I think that they are from the series Bash Street Kids, although the modern revised version, not the one I grew up with. The two characters here are Wilfred and Danny.
Haka, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024
There is mischief in this piece, with a bright and vibrant HAKA and the cheerful duo. I cannot think of a more appropriate place to paint these characters than in this spot, which is often frequented by real-life Bash Street Kids. Great stuff.
Bursting onto the walls in Dean Lane was this stunning and vibrant piece of writing from Kosc. Kosc is an artist who appears to be equally at home with writing or character/scenic pieces, and only a few posts ago I shared an amazing Samurai mask that he painted as part of an NTS Crew collaboration. He is a master of his styles and designs.
Kosc, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
This piece cries out to be seen, with its bright colours and busy letters spelling KOSC. As I look at it now, I wonder to myself whether he ran out of the orange colour for the ‘O’, or whether the letter is deliberately more yellow to create a focal point to look at. I guess I will only find out by asking him in due course. A great find, that didn’t last too long, if my memory serves me right.
Conrico has been turning out some sensational pieces lately, and what is interesting about this one is that he posted on his Instagram feed some sketches of the animated Chinese lantern before painting this wall, which goes to show how much thought goes into the pieces that artists paint.
Conrico, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2024
The letters CONRICO are superimposed on what looks like an afternoon landscape with the lantern on the left and a building on the right. As ever, Conrico’s artwork looks like it is painted with a brush rather than a spray can, and I imagine he paints with lots of short controlled sprays to achieve this effect. There is character writing on the side of the building, hinting at an East Asian scene. Wonderful stylised clouds finish off this fine combination piece from Conrico.
Saor, Kosc and Mudra, M32 Spot, Bristol, March 2024
Although this outstanding collaboration from Saor, Kosc and Mudra was painted a few weeks ago, it has taken me quite a long while to get round to posting it, which is largely down to the sheer volume of new art appearing on the walls of Bristol at the moment. I would say that this winter, in spite of the appalling weather, has been one of the busiest I have know for street/graffiti art and my archives are bulging.
Saor, M32 Spot, Bristol, March 2024
Saor has made a few visits to Bristol lately, and has smashed each piece out of the park, and this is another in a succession of unbelievable artworks. In line with the overall collaboration colours, Saor has disguised his SAOR letters in an outstanding geometric design. What I love about Saor’s work is the blended of borders, which means that all of his lines have to be ultra crisp and sharp, which, of course, he excels at.
Kosc, M32 Spot, Bristol, March 2024
In the middle of the triptych is a brilliant samurai portrait piece from Kosc, unfortunately a little obscured by the street sign. There is a lot of precision in the detail of the mask and Kosc has achieved incredible depth and texture in the piece. Kosc is an artist who appears to be at the top of his game these days and is producing some outstanding work.
Mudra, M32 Spot, Bristol, March 2024
Rounding off the collaboration is this unusual piece of pixelated writing from Mudra, which seems to be playing with the letters ‘.CON’ (dot con). The skull in the middle of the letters, is a little strange, in fact I find the whole piece odd, and a bit out of kilter with the rest of the collaboration. There might be a story about the piece that I don’t know about which might explain it. Altogether though this is yet another amazing collaboration from the NTS crew.
Ooh! I love this abstract writing piece from Mr Klue. It has been a while since I last saw one of his pieces with the distinctive ethereal steps. The colours too are a slight digression from his recent penchant for purples and blues.
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2024
It is almost impossible to distinguish them, but the letters Spell out KLUE, as is customary in his pieces… I will get caught out one day, I’m sure, when they spell something else. There is something that is very pleasing on the eye about this piece, and a version of it would not be out of place in an art gallery or hung on a wall. Fabulous work from Mr Klue.
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