Elvs is another very consistent artist whose work continues to brighten up our Bristol walls. With this recent piece he includes a fabulous character which some might recognise from the TV cartoon series Top Cat, I think it is Brain or Fancy.
The writing is vertically striated with three colours, pink, purple and yellow and spells out ELVS as you’d expect. The whole piece is framed nicely on a blue patterned background bounded with a yellow border. A fine piece from Elvs.
I don’t know the significance of the Irish theme in this piece, other than that he dedicated it to ‘Marie’ who I presume has an Irish connection. As ever the work is meticulous, which is extra remarkable as he finished the piece in double-quick time to avoid the rain.
Spelling out MARIE, the writing is split into three horizontal colour chunks to represent the Irish tricolour. For good measure he has included a four leaf clover at the centre of the piece. Beautifully presented and only slightly water damages, great work from Dibz… again.
This is the third piece by Big Hev that I have posted in recent weeks, which, I think, brings me up to date with her work in Bristol so far although I can’t be certain about that. Once again this young artist wows us with a big, bold and colourful portrait filling up one of the concrete walls of the battery.
There is a lot to like about this piece, starting with the great colour selections. It is impossible to ignore this piece as you wander around the old WWII buildings. I am full of admiration for artists who get out there and just do their stuff and I wish I had the courage, conviction and talent to join them. Big Hev will improve her technique, but her style identity is already forming, and I am so excited to witness her progress.
This excellent piece from Conrico is part of an unlikely three-way collaboration from Ryder, Soap and Conrico himself, tucked neatly under the M32 motorway. The piece is an incredible mash up of Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny, where the former seems to have been a little careless with his shotgun.
This is a fine piece that showcases Conrico’s distinctive style so well. There is always a lot of movement in his pieces, illustrated with fluid lines, rather than the cleaner stiffer lines adopted by other character artists. It is especially nice to see this, because I have sometimes had some difficulty finding recent pieces by him.
Oooh, I haven’t seen anything from Hire for quite a long time, so to come across this in Dean Lane was a very pleasant surprise indeed. Of all the artists in Bristol that have changed their format or styles, I think Hire wins the prize for reinventing himself. There are traces of his older work, which the trained eye might see, but overall the new style, and different letters, seem like a new artist has hit the town.
His letters spell out ODIAH, rather than HIRE, and I don’t know if it means ‘oh dear’ or spells something in his Polish language – a quick look at Google Translate tells me not.
The piece itself is out of this world. Crisp, clean letters in black on a dark blue background, with a cream border, and some supreme letter shapes. This is a welcome return from Hire.
This is the third component of an extraordinary collaboration by Smak, who painted this writing on a shared pink background along with Ments and Sled One. What made this super-extraordinary was that on the same day this was sprayed, the other side of the wall was being painted by 3Dom, Feek, Piro, Epok and Sepr. For followers of street/graffiti art, this was a truly momentous occasion.
As we are accustomed to seeing from Smak, this is a highly accomplished piece of work. The blend of angular letters combined with spheres and a fluid metallic look to some elements makes for a fascinating and creative piece. There is so much skill, experience and patience in this piece, a triumph.
I love coming back to photographs that I have in my archive, just waiting there for an artist identification. It is so fulfilling and closes a circle – a great feeling, like a detective solving a case. I was struck by this piece along the River Avon back in November last year and a little bit peeved that I couldn’t place the artist at all. I discovered the artist’s identity recently after I found another piece at Purdown and started investigating Instagram accounts of other artists who had painted up there – eventually I tracked down Antikki. All I needed to do was look at the signature… d’oh!
This is a lovely wholesome design piece and has a feel good factor about it – dancing figures bouncing bums in beautiful colours, what’s not to like? Antikki’s style is one that works equally well on walls or in smaller studio designs. I love it when designers and artists hit the streets, it kind of lends legitimacy to street art in a curious way. More to come soon.
My heart always beats a little faster when I find a new Sepr piece, and this one, part of a full wall collaboration, is pure Sepr at his creative best. As with so many of the great Bristol character painters, it is often very difficult to know what is going on, but art I guess is partly the intention of the artist and partly the interpretation of the viewer.
The rather concerned character seems to be holding a mask with a happy face on it, so maybe this piece is about hiding our true feelings and emotions behind a happy facade. The soft touch and expert spray work from Sepr is epitomised by the shades of orange on the character’s shirt giving the material depth and texture. This is a tour de force from one of the very best in Bristol.
This is an old Daz Cat piece from way back in October last year – I am posting it now because it is new to me since I only recently went up there to get some photographs. These concrete slabs that formed part of the gun emplacement are a favourite with artists such as Daz Cat, Kool Hand, John D’oh, Soap and a handful of others.
What is cooler than a cat wearing ski goggles? I love the way that the tinted lens has projected through onto the cat’s eyes. This is a fun piece from Daz Cat.
Recently some goats have appeared in this spot, and I am sure that they have contributed to the general muddiness there I also think that they stand up against these walls with their muddy hooves – how else would this mud end up on the front of these pieces?
Many of the old classic Disney films would have a weird and frankly rather disturbing sequence, often adopting a different illustrative style to the rest of the film. Ryder has brought one of those to light with this magnificent pink piece at the M32 Spot. Who can forget the drunken pink elephant hallucination scene from Dumbo? – what was that all about in a children’s cartoon?
Ryder has done a magnificent job with his elephant characters and an equally disturbing set of faces incorporated into his RYDER lettering. Part of a collaborative wall, this is a wild and stunning piece of graffiti writing and shows off Ryder at his very best.
