Tag: Stylised

6892. M32 roundabout J3 (676)

Slakarts, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025
Slakarts, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025

It is a pity that Slakarts doesn’t appear to have much time for painting his stylised character pieces these days, but on the upside it probably means that he has a busy work and social life that is keeping him occupied. It is a bittersweet problem that real life can get in the way of the things we love to do with our ‘free’ time.

Slakarts, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025
Slakarts, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025

This is a welcome return of the Slakarts face that is so familiar, as you can see in this updated gallery of his work. The character face has two tongues, a duplication device often used by Slakarts, is bordered with a strong, thick red line and filled with nicely worked patterns in yellow and white. A welcome return from Slakarts.

6876. Kitchen Street, Liverpool

Coloquix, Kitchen Street, Liverpool, March 2025
Coloquix, Kitchen Street, Liverpool, March 2025

Although I have only posted one other piece by Coloquix before, I am familiar with the artist’s work, and have been following their Instagram feed for years. I was surprised to find this painted shutter piece, because More often I am used to seeing wheatpastes by Coloquix.

Coloquix, Kitchen Street, Liverpool, March 2025
Coloquix, Kitchen Street, Liverpool, March 2025

The stylised character is the trademark of the artist, and here she nestles in a quarter moon with a friendly face. The horizontal bars of colour run across the piece nicely and overall it is a happy soulful piece and a good find during my stroll in Liverpool.

6680. Greenbank (148)

Mr Crawls, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2025
Mr Crawls, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2025

Slightly coincidentally, I published a gallery of Mr Crawls’ work this morning, which included this wonderful bird character as the most recent picture in the gallery. Scroll back eighteen months or so, and this piece feels like it is a modernised version of one of the first pieces I saw by Mr Crawls. Something that both he and his painting partner Mote have done exceptionally well is gently upgrade their styles, and this one may be setting the scene for Mr Crawls for the year to come.

Mr Crawls, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2025
Mr Crawls, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2025

The bird portrait is highly stylised, rather than caricature, and the boxy look creates a completely different sensation for the viewer. Even though the lines are straight, for the most part, Mr Crawls has managed to squeeze out some expression and emotion in the bird’s face. There is a lot to like about this style, and I’ll be interested to see if he takes us in a new direction.

Mr Crawls, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2023
Mr Crawls, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2023

5012. M32 Cycle path (196)

Slakarts, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Slakarts, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

I came in search of a Face 1st piece, but instead found this wonderful Slakarts colour fest, so you win some, and you lose some, I guess. I have noticed that in some areas of Bristol, the turnover has been on the high side, which means that if you snooze, you lose, and I have been doing a fair amount of snoozing recently.

Slakarts, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023
Slakarts, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2023

Although Slakarts has had a fairly quiet twelve months, the pieces he has painted are real belters. I’m not sure that I can convey just how good this piece is technically. The design is great, but the definition between elements with the thick, crisp black lines is outstanding, and the colour fades and shading, to give depth are excellent too. This is Slakarts at his best.

4121. M32 Cycle path (151)

It feels to me like Slakarts is taking his art to a new level and his recent pieces have shown real dynamism and creativity. This recent piece from the M32 cycle path, works on his stylised character portrait, but presents it in an entirely new way.

Slakarts, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, December 2021
Slakarts, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, December 2021

The piece is made up of two portraits facing one another in subdues grey colours, with some lighter highlights that express freedom and confidence in his work. Contrast this with one of his recent colourful pieces and you see an artist whose range is wide and skills are of the highest order. A lovely ephemeral piece.

Slakarts, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, November 2021
Slakarts, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, November 2021

2872. Montpelier bridge

On the footbridge over the railway that divides St Werburghs and Montpelier is this lovely panel piece by Lobe. I had no idea it was here and can’t tell you how old it is, but it looks pretty fresh to me, and if it is old, has weathered pretty well.

Lobe, Montpelier, Bristol, April 2020
Lobe, Montpelier, Bristol, April 2020

I think that finding pieces that you don’t know about is by far the most rewarding for a street art hunter (incidentally a phrase I dislike – it has the ring of ‘trainspotter’ about it), and when it is by an artist you admire that makes it a little more special. Lobe has managed to get the piece to fit the space perfectly, and some thought has gone into it. Great hair and hat. Love the piece… perhaps she should to more here.

2838. Dean Lane skate park (296)

Each of my next few street/graffiti art posts is going to begin something like ‘another trip back in time’ and this one is no exception. I cannot think for the life of me why I never posted this gorgeous piece from Tasha Bee (Keep it Colourful), but what a pleasure to do so now, especially when she has put the brakes on her street art work lately.

Tasha Bee, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
Tasha Bee, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019

This one is from June 2019 at Dean Lane, and is a real beauty so typical of her stylised faces work. I miss her soulful faces and hope that when all this Covid-19 thing is behind us she will pick up her spray cans and paint the town red.

2798. Armada Place (19)

Lobe is probably one of the most distinctive artists in Bristol, with her portrait pieces composed of strong black outlines, solid fills with shading against the black lines, all contained within a white outline strip. How amazing it is to see how her work has developed over the last year or so. (Note to self, time for a Lobe gallery?)

Lobe, Armada Place, Bristol, February 2020
Lobe, Armada Place, Bristol, February 2020

I believe that this piece was painted at the same time as a recent Rusk piece although it is not part of a collaborative effort. It is great to see Lobe ‘hitting’ this board as I consider it to be a much under-used spot by decent street/graffiti artists. Enjoying the ride.

2576. Cheltenham 2019 (21)

Anyone who made their way into Cheltenham for the Paint Festival from the station along the Honeybourne Line would have seen this utterly striking piece by Fink. Three stylised faces in bright and beautiful colours on a brick wall between the two tunnels. If you look carefully you will see that within each of the faces, there is a background of countless more faces. Fink creates these faces in one single spray movement.

Fink, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, Bristol, September 2019
Fink, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, Bristol, September 2019

I don’t know too much about Fink other than that at one time he used to spray little characters in Bristol and I assume he used to live here. I have seen on his Instagram account that he is currently working in Dubai, so I guess his visit to Cheltenham was combined with a trip home. A great opener for the festival.

2421. M32 roundabout J3 (164)

Having broken the ice with a recent Lobe piece under Brunel Way, I said that I would trawl up some slightly older pieces by her from my archive and true to my word…

Lobe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2019
Lobe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2019

The piece from June this year I have a feeling didn’t last very long, so I was pleased to have managed to capture it. I am a huge fan of her style, a lovely design kept simple using nine colours and shading to die for. The use of orange and pink on the shirt and hat to highlight light and shade is to my mind really clever. Bold and unique, her work is yet another fabulous addition to the vast Bristol spectrum.