Taboo – Natural adventures

7974. Cumberland Basin

Taboo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2026

This is a vast piece by Taboo on a long wall alongside the tobacco warehouses on the north side of Cumberland basin. I don’t venture down this track all that often, so it is possible that this piece might have been here for some time.

Just to confuse things, Taboo has written his letters in reverse, including the crew name PLB. His anti-style lettering is given some uniformity, governed by the height of the wall, but still the shapes and nature of the lettering is unconventional. A ‘normal’ sized burner spelling Dorn interrupts the flow of the piece a little, but pretty much gets absorbed into it. Fine work from Taboo.

7952. Brunel Way (369)

Taboo, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2026

This piece is the pick of three tribute pieces under Brunel Way for Slippy. I know little of Slippy, but the artist here is well known to Natural Adventures, Taboo. This is a classic piece of anti-style graffiti writing from the artist.

The letters spell out TABOO, although some might struggle to see all the letters immediately. Simply presented in white with a black border and some blood-red drips, perhaps symbolising death. This piece really encapsulates the edgy and underground nature of graffiti writing, and the kind heart that sits behind it.

7912. Temple Way (7)

Continuing with my rapid-fire posts, this was written yesterday on a train coming back to Bristol from Dorchester, because by the time this goes live I’ll be in the air somewhere over Greece (I hope) with a very early start.

A stunning new combination piece from Taboo just near the main entrance to Temple Meads Station, combining his anti-style lettering with a great rendition of Disney’s Pluto. He is so very good at these combination pieces, mixing the familiar with the less so.

7865. Cumberland Basin

Taboo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2026

Although we have had an exceptional summer, it has at times simply been too hot and unnaturally so. The wall to wall sunshine experienced in late June, July and early August has also let to a disproportionate number of my photographs featuring disruptive shadows, about which I cabn do very little. The shadow on this lovely piece by Taboo gets to me every time I look at it.

The piece appears to be a tribute to… Taboo (There is a number 25, and I wonder if that reflects 25 years of graffiti writing). The letters are made up of the letters TABOO, creating a larger TABOO and incorporating some train carriages and the words ‘Train maximalist’. All a little bit confusing. The whole thing though is great to look at and set on a buffed background. Gotta love those drips.

7859. Greenbank (190)

Whenever I find a Taboo piece I always know to expect the unexpected. His anti-style approach means that conventions and regularity are thrown out of the window and you have to invest in his work and trust the process. If you submit to his style, rather than try to fight against it, it all becomes so much more enjoyable – which could be said for graffiti writing more generally.

These single colour cartoonish letters with a deep drop shadow in the same colour are accompanied by a little crocodile character at the right hand side. Some little white accent spots and crocodile teeth lift the piece with subtlety and skill. The piece is accompanied with the words ‘make it snappy’ a phrase that rounds off the joke that begins ‘give me a crocodile sandwich…’. A fine but of fun from Taboo.

7817. Temple Way (6)

This piece by Taboo has been around for ages, years. It took me a long time finally to photograph it, and then a long time to post it, but at last I have managed to do it. It is on a hoarding on a main road without parking, and I drive past it every time I go to Temple Meads Station.

Taboo’s antistyle letters, unusually not spelling out his name, are accompanied by a Disney like wolf with multiple exaggerated eyes. It is all a bit odd, verging on disturbing, but actually just very typical of Taboo. So glad I got round to it before it and the hoardings go.

7773. Cumberland Basin

Taboo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2026

This is a brilliant piece of anti-style graffiti writing from Taboo, which demonstrates clearly how interconnected and varied the art world is. The piece is a touching tribute to David Hockney, whose own unconventional style won over the public’s imagination and whose legacy will forever influence artists worldwide.

Taboo’s unconventional green letters sit on a pink background, but it is the scene inside the second ‘O’ that steals the show. There is a little pastiche of a swimming pool and diving-board, a theme so familiar in many of Hockney’s paintings. Such a lovely idea and tribute to pay. Bravo!

7757. Dean Lane skate park (932)

I have recently been having a virtual conversation with Taboo, and it is great to have a bit more of a connection with the artist. Over the last couple of months, I have found a stack of old pieces by Taboo, and he has been painting quite regularly, so I have a lot of catching up to do with his work.

This is a perfect example of Taboo’s anti-style graffiti writing, and this might be a good time to offer a definition of what anti-style means:

A rebellious sub-genre that rejects traditional graffiti rules like legible letterforms, flow, and colour theory.

The pink letters here spell out TABOO, and, consistent with a lot of his writing, his letters have a midline running through them giving them a bit of a 3D lift. A nice piece that might be inaccessible to some, but is a fine work in my eyes.

7614. Cumberland Basin

Taboo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2026

I don’t tend to find as many new Taboo pieces as I used to, and that might be down to two factors. He might be painting less frequently, and/or maybe he isn’t painting the regular spots so often, and so I don’t come across his work as much. The upshot is that finding any pieces by the artist these days is a happy moment.

I have a feeling that this piece was painted as part of a birthday paint jam, I forget who for though. The red letters in anti-style form spell out TABOO in a combination of lettering and designs, with the second ‘O’ being formed of a jail window with eyes glaring from the dark space behind the bars. A fine piece from Taboo… I need to find more.

7267. Coronation Road

Rowdy, Ryder, Taboo, Sage and Solar, Coronation Road, Bristol, January 2025

I photographed this building way back in January, but never got round to posting it. I am doing so now, because there was a large fire at the site, a former metalworks, in early October. The building ceased to be in use in 2020, and became an obvious opportunity for graffiti, and several writers from around the city duly obliged. I don’t believe that this was any kind of overall collaboration, more an accumulation of pieces over time from Rowdy, Ryder, Taboo, Sage, Solar, and one other.

The top row (the former canteen of the building and most severely fire-damaged part – arson, by the way) is a combination collaboration from Ryder and Rowdy, both of whom are significant players on the graffiti scene in Bristol. Taboo’s dominant epic piece takes up the whole of the middle floor, and some smaller pieces from Sage, Solar (PLB) and Phase (?) occupy the ground floor. This is more of an interesting mosaic than anything else really – iconic in its own way, but now alas, ashes.

	hitandrun1964 on All change
	Bill Bisgood on All change
	cjsmissionaryministe… on All change
	M. on All change
	Sheree on All change

	hitandrun1964 on All change
	Bill Bisgood on All change
	cjsmissionaryministe… on All change
	M. on All change
	Sheree on All change

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