Street art – Page 56 – Natural adventures

6888. Dean Lane skate park (826)

Every day, pretty much, I see graffiti and street art and every once in a while I see something by an artist I know and I think to myself ‘this is special, this is really classy’. This clever piece of combined writing and a portrait by Conrico left me feeling that this was special, definitely a ‘keeper’.

Conrico has painted his name, but instead of a solid or patterned fill, there is a portrait of a girl behind, as if you are peering through the letters to see her. The piece is expertly executed, but at the same time incredibly modest. No fanfare, no showing off, just a really great fusion piece.

Conrico has been turning out some great pieces recently, and this one expands and continues the series. As ever, I look forward to more.

6887. Stucley Place Camden Town, London

Drake, Stucley Place, Camden Town, London, April 2025

Wandering around without a set route is quite the best way to find street art in my experience. Following a map or guide only takes you to specific places, and it is by turning down a back street, or catching a glimpse of something in your peripheral vision and going to investigate it that makes exploring places so much fun. I see too many people navigating their way around the place with their head down looking a little screen and Google Maps or some other way finder and missing all the incredible people, architecture, events or nature that surrounds us. That’s enough sanctimonious nonsense. I found this superb Drake piece while wandering about aimlessly with my head and eyes up.

This is an outstanding greyscale portrait piece by Drake, an artist whose work I have seen in Bristol, but that I don’t know much about him. The piece has a commercial element to it in so much as it is promoting Nemesis, a tattoo parlour – perhaps a friend of Drake’s. Certainly a superb piece.

6886. Camden High Street, London

Dave Bain, Camden High Street, London, April 2025

It is always gratifying to find pieces by artists I am familiar with when I am on my travels, especially if they are from the West Country, so to come across this large mural in Camden Town by Dave Bain was rather special. Camden High Street and the area around it is curious in that it hosts the full range of art from high-end murals to tagging and everything in between.

This mural is full of colour and is a wonderful representation of the vibrancy of the area, with a punk character, musician and generally cool people having a good time. I think the days when Camden Town was a special place have long since gone, and it is now a honey pot for tourists with all the customary trappings, and references to its cool history. Maybe I am being a little harsh, but it is not how I remember it as a kid. Starbucks I am sure are rightly proud of this fine Mural.

Pura Decadencia

A gallery of fabulous graffiti writing and a selection of vampire teeth from Bristol/Spanish artist and tattooist, Pura Decadencia.

Instagram: puratattoos

All photographs by Scooj

Pura Decadencia, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2025

Pura Decadencia, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, December 2024

Pura Decadencia, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2024

Pura Decadencia, Brunel Way, Bristol, May 2024

Pura Decadencia, Brunel Way, Bristol, April 2024

Pura Decadencia, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

Pura Decadencia, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020

Pura Decadencia, Brunel Way, Bristol, June 2023

Pura Decadencia, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2020

Pura Decadencia, East Street, Bristol, September 2021

Pura Decadencia, Redcliffe subway, Bristol, March 2021

Pura Decadencia, River Avon, Bristol, November 2020

Pura Decadencia, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2021

Pura Decadencia, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2021

6885. Harmood Street, Camden Town, London

Irony, Harmood Street, Camden Town, London, April 2025

The highlight of my recent trip to Camden Town, was finding several pieces by Irony, including this one, that I had never seen ‘in the flesh’ before. He really is one of my favourite artists, and all of his work is of the highest quality. What I particularly like is that he seems to be equally comfortable painting high-end festival walls or spots like this one – he isn’t precious at all, and is a very modest gentleman.

There is a hell of a lot going on in this wonderful detailed portrait piece, and symbolism that I don’t think I will get to the bottom of, although it is possible that he is ‘patching up’ the piece in a clever way. While writing this post, I have found out that this is a repair job on a piece that was originally painted in 2018, and so the plasters and the eye patch are probably literally covering up blemishes in the original.

Irony (from a photograph by the artist in 2018 and posted on Instagram), Harmood Road, Camden Town, London — Irony (from a photograph by the artist in 2018 and posted on Instagram), Harmood Street, Camden Town, London

The facelift is quite stunning, and as you can see from this photograph taken by the artist of the original piece, the portrait has taken on a quite different persona. It is an amazing recognition of his talent and respect from others, that his work is still there seven years on in the first place.

As ever, outstanding work. You can see more of his pieces in this short gallery.

6884. Purdown (88)

It would seem that Daz Cat is rather partial to the concrete blocks up at Purdown, and whyever not? The spot is a wonderful oasis away from the bustle of the streets and has some stunning views over the north and east of Bristol, the dog particularly likes it up there, perhaps it is the lure of the stinky goats.

Daz Cat has switched things up a bit by painting this cat portrait upside down, which would completely goof me up, but I am not an artist, and maybe it is concepts like this that separate out the ways artists and non-artists see the world. The purple cat has a fine gold nose ring and a vapour trail from eyes to ears, which must be symbolic of something, and is an idea Daz Cat has used before. This is a fun piece from the cat supremo.

6883. Dean Lane skate park (825)

Werm and Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025

Tucked away behind the iron fence of the swimming pool at Dean Lane is this fabulous collaboration combination piece from Werm and Zake. Werm, more than adequately providing the symmetrical letters, and Zake offering a couple of different cheeky characters peering over the top of them.

The horizontal band colour scheme, painted on an off-white background, works really well, and Zake has cleverly incorporated the band of colour into his characters. I’m not quite sure what it is about it, but this feels like a really classy piece to me, and I really like it.

6882. Cumberland Basin

Totosoapcity, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2025

I have seen quite a few pieces by Totosoapcity in Bristol before, but hadn’t known who the artist was, so haven’t posted them. This could mark the opening of a little floodgate for when I do some digging in my archives, which I like to do from time to time. I’m not sure that Totosoapcity is from Bristol, but must be reasonably local I would think, because we see visits every few months.

This piece is part of a large collaboration from a group of artists I am not too familiar with, but who have done a great job on this wall, selecting a themed colour approach to all their writing. I think the letters here spell ARS(Z)A, and have a pleasing symmetry to them. The red, pink, black, brown, yellow and orange colours are not my favourite combinations, but work reasonably well – not sure about the pink. They do, however, contrast perfectly with the themed grey banner background, which is consistent through the entire collaboration.

6881. Cumberland Basin

#DFTE and Dave Sharp, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2025

These two artists collaborated on almost this exact spot back in July 2022 – how time flies, I had it in my mind that it was last year. From what I can gather #DFTE and Dave Sharp are good friends, and this fine collaboration ‘anxious iron giants’ combines the distinctive writing of #DFTE with the artistic talents of Dave Sharp.

I would love to see more from #DFTE – the power of words is so beautifully presented with his unique style, going big on the drips, but he doesn’t seem to paint all that often. Dave Sharp, I don’t know much about, but he has captured the Iron Giant robot really well, perhaps tinged with a little anxiety… who knows. Their combination works really well, and as a bonus, here is their last one…

Dave Sharp and #DFTE, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2022

6880. Greenbank (154)

Mr Crawls, Greenbank, Bristol, March 2025

Oh dear! Mr Crawls’ gull is looking a bit glum in this piece on the long hoarding at Greenbank. Painted on a favoured chrome background, the usually happy or cheeky gull looks like he is down in the dumps. It is clever that Mr Crawls can portray different emotions with tweaks to his ‘archetypal’ bird.

The stylised cartoon character has a downturned (mouth) bill and heavy-lidded eyes, dripping with sadness. The piece is really well presented and clean and tidy, and another in a wonderful series of character pieces by Mr Crawls.

	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…
	beth on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…
	Sheree on 7420. Cumberland Basin
	Dan Antion on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…
	wrookieschu on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…

	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…
	beth on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…
	Sheree on 7420. Cumberland Basin
	Dan Antion on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…
	wrookieschu on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…

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