Tag: Sub

7270. Monarch’s Way

Sub, Monarch's Way, Bristol, October 2025
Sub, Monarch’s Way, Bristol, October 2025

In the centre of town, alongside the Harbourside (a floating harbour), there is a large office building called Canons House, locally known as the Lloyds building as it was the regional headquarters of Lloyds Bank, which they sold in December 2024. The Grade II listed building (only completed in 1991) is now undergoing a major redevelopment, and you know what that means… hoardings. The shiny white hoardings are not the easiest to paint, and the area is not one much frequented by street/graffiti artists, so finding anything of interest here is unlikely. However, Sub appears to have made himself at home with a couple of pieces, and there is a massive commission by Esme Lower too (coming soon).

Sub, Monarch's Way, Bristol, October 2025
Sub, Monarch’s Way, Bristol, October 2025

Sub has been working hard, and is improving so much with his overall presentation. His fills have been getting a little more intricate with some nice details, and here he has created a wonderful marbled effect on the white background, making good use of the hoarding colour. I do wonder if his enormous letters might be holding him back a little – it is a lot of space to fill, and whether an additional letter, might give him more creative latitude. I’m sure he is happy with what he is doing, but I think he is ready to take a big step forward.

7066. M32 roundabout J3 (697)

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

I am rather liking it that Sub is starting to switch things up a little and push his boundaries. Because he has only three letters to play with, his pieces tend to be quite large and impactful, perhaps at the expense of subtlety or detail, but this piece is quite different from his usual fare.

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

Sub has offered up a scorching scene of burning letters, that meld into one block, set in a nighttime landscape. This is a great creative advance, and probably took him some distance from his comfort zone. One small detail that I’m sure he will have learned is to do the border last, so that it retains the crispness between the letters and the background. All good stuff, and plenty more to come soon.

6839. M32 roundabout J3 (670)

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025

This is something a little different from Sub, who usually likes to go large and tends to be quite conservative with his use of colour. I am guessing that it might have been a bit of a dregs piece, I also think he is rather fond of newly buffed walls, and this one proved irresistible.

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025

He has stuck to his simple three letter formula, with a deep, in this case unfilled drop shadow, but the obvious part of the piece is the splatter of colour throughout, keeping it lively and joyful. Sub continues to paint a lot and is gradually expanding his technique and scope.

6769. River Avon (78)

Sub, River Avon, Bristol, February 2025
Sub, River Avon, Bristol, February 2025

Alas, we leave France today, our skiing adventure over for at least another year, but it will be good to get home and reunite with our son who has returned from his travels in Thailand. I haven’t left myself much time to write today’s posts, as we have an early transfer down the mountain to Chamberis airport. I will start with this piece from the ever-improving Sub.

Sub, River Avon, Bristol, February 2025
Sub, River Avon, Bristol, February 2025

Big bold black letters (only three of them) have customary deep drop shadows in grey, creating a chunkiness Sub specialises in. Some random pink splatters break up the large black surfaces. A wispy blue background finishes the piece nicely, with a few subtle spots mixed in. Sub is a very busy boy.

6734. Greenway Bush Lane (4)

Sub, Greenway Bush Lane, Bristol, January 2025
Sub, Greenway Bush Lane, Bristol, January 2025

The great thing about a new graffiti spot, such as the long hoarding at Greenway Bush Lane, is that you can spread your wings a little and occupy as much space as you like without the awkwardness of painting over someone else’s work. Sub has ‘gone for it’ with his large SUB letters and a couple of smaller signatures, just in case you weren’t sure who he is.

Sub, Greenway Bush Lane, Bristol, January 2025
Sub, Greenway Bush Lane, Bristol, January 2025

Sub continues to develop his writing, and his familiar chunky letters and deep drop shadow (in two shades) are going from strength to strength. The pink plasma strip runs nicely through the letters, which in their monolithic form are rather flat. To me, it feels like he is locked a little into his format, and to go to the next level, he might need to try something different, and then import his discoveries back into his customary style. Having said that, he seems to be very happy doing what he is doing, and that is the most important thing.

6702. Frome Side (50)

Sub, Frome Side, Bristol, January 2024
Sub, Frome Side, Bristol, January 2024

It is really important to give credit where credit is due and to recognise the determined efforts of artists looking to practice and improve. One such artist is Sub, whose giant letters are to be spotted all over Bristol. I think it is fair to say that his pieces are impressive but not quite exceptional, and with more work refining his style, we could be witnessing something quite special developing.

Sub, Frome Side, Bristol, January 2024
Sub, Frome Side, Bristol, January 2024

This combination piece includes a pink anime cat, which I think might be a Pokemon character called Mew. The big bold letters have a characteristically deep drop shadow, making them look very chunky indeed. It is great to see Sub experimenting with bubbles and some mesh work on the background. Sub is definitely one to watch.

6654. M32 roundabout J3 (650)

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2024
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2024

The Bristol City Council have continued on their mission to buff some of the popular graffiti walls, probably as a community service offer for offenders. It is a futile exercise, creating new clean backdrops for graffiti writers and street artists, let alone taggers and bombers. Sub moved in on this spot reasonably quickly, marking it out with a couple of drafts, reserving the space, before painting this large piece.

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2024
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2024

Sub is working really well to improve his work, and it is certainly paying off for him. His colour selection for this piece is wicked, his 3D drop shadow effective and his plasma cloud is a nicely worked feature, but I feel that with such large flat letters he needs to experiment a little bit more with fills or decorations. This is a fine eye-catching piece, and I fully expect to see further development this year.

6558. M32 roundabout J3 (641)

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2024
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2024

Sub paints his large three letter pieces reasonably often, but I have been waiting for one that has the ‘wow’ factor, and with this enormous piece on the roundabout, I think he has pretty much got there. I first saw this piece on Instagram, before I photographed it, and was actually really keen to go and see it for myself.

Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2024
Sub, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2024

I think that the buffed wall really helps in this instance, and the colour selection of orange and blue works really well. Sub has paid great attention to the dimensions of the drop shadow, which drifts off to the left. There is a fusion of his letters, through which the blue fill bleeds across the piece. The thing I like the most is the thin line patterning, which is just about right. Any more decoration and it would look fussy, any less and it would look bare. In my view, this is Sub’s best piece to date.

6505. Peel Street Green (35)

Sub, Peel Street Green, Bristol, October 2024
Sub, Peel Street Green, Bristol, October 2024

The wall at Peel Street Green is naturally broken into sections and each one is quite large, offering lots of space for artists to show off their work. I think that this presents SUB with a bit of a problem, because his letters, only three of them, end up being so large, and it becomes difficult to keep the fills interesting.

Sub, Peel Street Green, Bristol, October 2024
Sub, Peel Street Green, Bristol, October 2024

Sub writes with large letters that he typically fills with single or multiple horizontal fills. He is still developing his style, and is improving from piece to piece, but I think that to lift his work to the next level he might think about how he treats his fills, or perhaps varies his letter shapes. Having said that, I admire anyone with talent and determination getting out there and decorating walls, Sub included.

5917. M32 roundabout J3 (561)

Sub and Bloem, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024
Sub and Bloem, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024

It took me a little while to work out, but should have been obvious from the start that Sub and Bloem usually paint together, and this collaborative space on the roundabout was adjacent to another that they were painting as I photographed this one. It is great to see two young artists out there pushing boundaries and practicing their skills.

Sub and Bloem, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024
Sub and Bloem, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024

To the left, Sub has painted another of his distinctive pieces with very large letters, lifted with a thick drop shadow and accompanied by some wispy smoke, in the Mr Klue style. On the right, Bloem has painted a hand, as she likes to do, holding a pair of her trademark cherry devils (with smiley faces). Although the two pieces are discrete, they share a cloudy background, and there is a suggestion that the hand emanates from Sub’s ‘B’. Always good to find their work.