7056. St Werburghs tunnel (516)

Mind 49, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025
Mind 49, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025

Mind 49 has always been an activist, and although his art has mellowed in recent years, his principles are still very much intact. This anti-war piece is striking, poignant and beautifully presented.

Mind 49, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025
Mind 49, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025

Skulls are a common motif/subject in street art and this is one of the very best examples I have ever seen. Mind 49 has captured the tones, shading and depth perfectly. Strangely, the helmet almost seems as though it is painted by a completely different artist. It is lacking in detail, the perspective is slightly out and the flags a bit untidy. I don’t know why this is, whether it is a deliberate device or that Mind 49 has absolutely cracked the skull and needs to work on helmets. It is a mystery.

The message to take home is clear. ‘Destroy the war machine’, which is directed at the UK, the USA and Israel. I could go into a long and thoughtful essay about the war in Palestine, and the impotence of voices that want an end to the killing and suffering. History will not look favourably on the genocide and the parallels with WWII concentration camps and justifications for extermination. Can’t people see the paradox? I’ll stop there. It upsets me too much.

7055. Cumberland Basin

Totosoapcity, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
Totosoapcity, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

Every once in a while I take a trip through my archives and spot pieces that I failed to post first time round, and give them a second chance. This is a piece by Totosoapcity from a year ago, July 2024, before I knew his name, which is why I probably didn’t post it then.

Totosoapcity, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
Totosoapcity, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

All of Totosoapcity’s pieces are instantly recognisable, because of the shape of his letters, which is quite unique, and doesn’t seem to deviate too much from piece to piece. I think the letters spell ARSA, with the ‘S’ reversed. In this piece he has gone form the trusty pink and blue combination with a cream and red striped drop shadow and red border with decorations. Decent, unusual and distinctive writing. Watch this space for more of his work from my archives.

7054. Dean Lane skate park (851)

Dibz and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2025
Dibz and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2025

I can’t think how many times Dibz and Fade have teamed up in the last couple of years, but it must be into dozens, and this piece shows the true nature of total collaboration, where both artists created this incredible work together, and it isn’t possible to know who painted what. Lots of crew shout-outs are scattered around the outside of the piece in pink. Wildstyle writing at its best.

The piece spells out, rather appropriately, ‘Wild Style Addicts’ which probably sums up these two rather well. The gold and purple colours complement one another well, and it all looks very neat and tidy on the black wall.

7053. Dean Lane skate park (850)

Zinso, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2025
Zinso, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2025

I will have mentioned that Zinso has been rather busy of late, and also that he appears to be relatively new to Bristol. How wrong am I? I was looking through archives and noticed that I have posted pieces by the artist way back in 2019 and 2020, but those were character pieces and not writing. I can’t believe that in the intervening years I haven’t noticed his work, so have to assume that he has found a new burst of energy and time recently

Zinso, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2025
Zinso, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2025

This is a rather neat piece of bubble writing with a really deep 3D drop shadow, lifting the piece nicely off the wall. The piece is really nicely finished and greatly superior to most bubble writing that I see, that is usually associated with quick throw ups. Loads more to come soon, and below are a couple of his pieces from a few years ago.

Zinso, Brunel Way bridge, Bristol, January 2020
Zinso, Brunel Way bridge, Bristol, January 2020

Zinso, M32 Spot, Bristol, November 2019
Zinso, M32 Spot, Bristol, November 2019

7052. M32 Spot (205)

Silent Hobo, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025
Silent Hobo, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025

I wish I had photographed this piece before it got tagged up at the base, because it is another truly classy column piece by Silent Hobo underneath the M32. I have noticed that many of Silent Hobo’s recent pieces have a rather melancholic tone, and I wonder if he is expressing himself through his art and the stories it tells.

Silent Hobo, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025
Silent Hobo, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025

In this piece, a young man is looking rather sad, and has a wooden stake piercing his heart. I would interpret this as being heartbroken, but perhaps I am reading too much into it. What I can say is that Silent Hobo’s portrayal of Bristol youth and their preoccupations and joys is unparalleled.

7051. Narrow Quay

#DFTE, Narrow Quay, Bristol, June 2025
#DFTE, Narrow Quay, Bristol, June 2025

These are three small boards outside a café on Narrow Quay, which I assume are commissions, or at the very least, permitted by the establishment. The artist is #DFTE and illustrate perfectly his philosophical musings delivered in his singular letter style with plenty of drips.

#DFTE, Narrow Quay, Bristol, June 2025
#DFTE, Narrow Quay, Bristol, June 2025

The first declares “love you too” presumably in response to a statement. The second is s little more challenging, and is perhaps a great reflective motto, “Don’t believe everything you think.

#DFTE, Narrow Quay, Bristol, June 2025
#DFTE, Narrow Quay, Bristol, June 2025

The third board in this trio, “Your anxiety is lying to you” is, I think trying to be helpful, but to anyone who suffers from anxiety, it probably just confuses and upsets – I can imagine tying oneself in knots over that statement. These original pieces represent a great way of integrating street art into our everyday lives. Nice work from #DFTE.

7050. L Dub (74)

Turoe and Veks, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025
Turoe and Veks, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025

This is a wonderful old school combination piece painted at the L Dub spot by Turoe, although I think that the character might be by Veks. Everything about this oozes class and experience.

Turoe and Veks, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025
Turoe and Veks, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025

The character wearing a baseball cap has been buffing the wall with a roller, thus indicating a form of self-portraiture. The letters, spelling STYLE are perfectly filled with blended horizontal shades transitioning from purple through red and orange to brown. A striped 3D drop shadow rounds off this piece off nicely and create a metallic sheen effect.

7049. Stapleton Road

Mage and Piewaste, Stapleton Road, Bristol, June 2025
Mage and Piewaste, Stapleton Road, Bristol, June 2025

This is one of those stacked collaborations that have to be taken as a pair, because separating them might look a little bit awkward. I am not 100% sure that it was painted as a collaboration or whether both artists painted their pieces separately, but you can see that Piewaste’s piece overlaps Mage’s piece above it, and was therefore completed second.

Mage and Piewaste, Stapleton Road, Bristol, June 2025
Mage and Piewaste, Stapleton Road, Bristol, June 2025

Mage has presented a regular set of letters, but with a creative fill that includes a dashed line pattern reversed out. It is great to see an artist reinventing himself in the way he has with a completely new set of letters, although I have to say I preferred his old letters.

Piewaste, who has written WASTE in letters that are close to anamorphic, creating a strong sense of depth and three dimensions, also includes his trademark eyes looking out from the writing like a cartoon forest at night (kind of thing). Nice to see these two pieces together like this.

7048. L Dub (73)

Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025
Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025

It seems today that it is all about Hypo – the previous post was a birthday tribute to Hypo from Subtle, Ulow and Minto, and this is one of his very own pieces from L Dub. Hypo has had a purple patch that has been continuous for about two years now and shows no signs of abating.

Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025
Hypo, L Dub, Bristol, June 2025

The letter blocks in this piece are each assigned a different colour, and have a lot of strong graffiti writing motifs, such as the arrows and little double bars, stitching the letters together. It is interesting to note how different the ‘H’ and the ‘O’ chrome letters look quite different due to the different colour drop-shadows. Another nice piece from Hypo.

7047. M32 roundabout J3 (696)

Subtle, Ulow and Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Subtle, Ulow and Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

This fine trio of pieces was painted as part of Hypo’s birthday celebrations, and brings together Subtle, Ulow and Minto – quite a line-up. There is a whole lot of colour and talent on display, marking out this section of wall as being a bit special.

Subtle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Subtle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

To the left, Subtle has created a masterclass of colour and design, with some wicked letters spelling HYPO, set on a fabulous red background with pink spots, looking like wrapping paper around the writing. Outstanding stuff.

Ulow, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Ulow, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

We don’t get to see Ulow’s work all that often, so it is always a great pleasure to come across one of his characters. The superb presentation of different tones and shades create a wonderful 3-dimensional effect as if the character is walking straight out of the wall. A combination of simplicity and complexity all in one character piece.

Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

Rounding off the trio is this busy piece of writing from Minto. The style here has as much to do with what is absent as it does with what is present, a little bit like Benjimagnetic’s writing. Lots of colourful splashes and unfilled spaces combine to spell out MINTO, in a complex arrangement. Altogether an outstanding collaboration. Bravo!