Tag: Taboo

3053. M32 roundabout J3 (230)

Is it at all possible that this piece is all by one artist? Well not only is it possible, it is in fact true. The extraordinary piece is by extraordinary artist Taboo and is an old school/new school style split work.A piece like this really shows off the obvious talent of the artist in some style.

Taboo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020
Taboo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020

On the left hand side of the piece is a wonderful old school piece of wild style writing with a superb character smoking and sporting a fine red hat. The letter shapes, shading and fills are superbly done and appear to be being sucked into a contraption  converting the artwork into something altogether more modern.

Taboo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020
Taboo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020

On the right hand side, the piece is altogether more surreal and eclectic and perhaps reflects a more new school approach to graffiti writing. I have no idea what is going on here but there might be a clue to Taboo’s approach which is the little note at the bottom ‘find your own’. This is a really interesting piece from an artist who would seem to have had a new lease of life.

3036. M32 Cycle path (64)

Another artist who has been pretty busy since the end of May is Taboo, and his ‘new school’ work is really rather quirky and organic. The central part of this piece looks like a standard throw up, and then it has a dynamic and beautifully painted character incorporated into the work, almost as it it were by two artists – something Taboo does very well.

Taboo, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2020
Taboo, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2020

I really don’t like this hoarding at all though. It is at the start of the M32 cycle path, and the large sky above it makes photography, without flaring, almost impossible. Dull days or dusk are probably the best times to come down to this spot.

Taboo, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2020
Taboo, M32 cycle path, Bristol, June 2020

Back to the piece ‘landed in the wrong dimension’, Taboo has painted an incredible Mickey Mouse figure with a surreal distortion to the top of his head that circles round into the A of TABOO. There is something edgy and unsettling about the whole thing, challenging the familiar. Great work.

2993. Dean Lane skate park (322)

This is the second of three large recent pieces by Taboo that appeared at the back end of May. Unfortunately, the third and largest had been overpainted by the time I got to it, such is the high turnover of work at the moment.

Taboo, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2020
Taboo, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2020

I’m not sure if it is just me or what, but the piece seems to say ABOO without the T… maybe he just ran out of space or the T and A are conflated. Big letters, a snake and a skull give me all I would need from a large burner like this. Great work.

2962. Dean Lane skate park (315)

I don’t know this artist’s street name, but I call him Taboo because I use the convention of naming him after the letters he writes. His Instagram account is @forbidden_association which doesn’t tell us much more about him.

Taboo, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2020
Taboo, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2020

This new piece in Dean Lane is really nicely done and incorporates Tom Cat from Tom and Jerry. The letters, which spell out TABOO, are nicely done and have a chunky heavy look about them which is typical of the artist. If you are looking for a light touch, fine detail and finesse, you are unlikely to find it here, and yet the character element of the piece has a much softer touch. A really nice and rather unusual piece.

2690. Dean Lane skate park (272)

This is a really interesting piece to write about because it has given me an opportunity to introduce you to an artist I have never posted before here on Natural Adventures. I have a whole ton of his work in my files, but didn’t quite know how to break the ice. The artist is Taboo, or at least that is what I will call him (her?) until I know more about them, which currently is zilch. You can see the word TABOO in reverse in this piece (I thought it said EAT when I first saw it) with the OO being made out of the eyes of the skull.

Taboo, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020
Taboo, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020

There is a definite style here that is consistent across all of his work, with quite bold lettering that is in a font all of its own. The artwork is quite crude, in so much as it is not clean and crisp like so many graffiti writers in Bristol, but it has something in the raw approach that makes it rather effective. The skull appears to be firing beams out at the letters, which I am guessing might have been a bit of an afterthought.

All in all I rather like this different kind of piece from Taboo and over time look forward to posting more of his work and understanding more about the artist. A good start.