This piece by Serm, tells a story not only about his work, but also about the street art scene in Bristol, or any other place with a graffiti culture. As a photographer and chronicler of street art and graffiti in our city, I and others like me, have a pretty good grasp of what is going on, of who painted what and when. It is an earned privilege to have this overview, but it is also a rare one. Most artists, quite rightly, are interested in finding a spot where they can paint their new idea, without much consideration for what was there before.
I came to photograph a new piece by Petro, but instead found this lovely piece by Serm. It is obvious that Serm didn’t know that the Petro piece was so new, otherwise he would have perhaps found another space. Serm has, however, broken a convention by painting over half a piece, which is considered to be a bit rude. A collaboration might have been a better option to paint over Petro’s piece. Enough background.
I have only seen a handful of Serm pieces and none of them with a character, so this was rather special. The writing is skilfully done in white with some shades of grey fills, but overall rather minimalist. The colour comes in the shape of the Yosemite Sam character on the right-hand side.
I am minded to do a gallery of cartoon characters, just for fun, because there have been so many painted by artists over the years, and all of them worth celebrating (of course time will be the limiting factor). The last time I saw a Yosemite Sam was in New York in October 2017, by Crash. This one by Serm compares very well to that one.
Natural adventures 