I took this picture way back in June 2016 before I knew who it was by. I liked it at the time – I don’t photograph everything I see, and many pieces don’t make it into this blog…I have a little bit of editorial control. It is of course by Hire, and shows his trademark jagged Gothic form.
There is a symmetry to this piece, and if you look closely, you will be able to make out the letters HIRE. Nice one.
Pretty much without exception, all of Laic217’s pieces harbour menace to a greater or lesser extent. Even though much of his work is weird, and he specialises in facial distortions, this one is weirder than most.
The fly is grotesque – a bluebottle of sorts. An interesting thing going on is the ‘fly’ is feeding on what looks like a steaming poo which makes up the numbers 217. I hope this is a joke and not some subconscious self-esteem issue.
Even though the image is quite disgusting, you really have to admire a creature of horror movie proportions wearing a bucket hat with a smiley on it. Acid wins the day. A trippy piece?
It seems that street/graffiti artists tend to have peaks and troughs in their activity. I suppose that, like the rest of us, life, jobs, family and so on just get in the way a bit. I introduce this piece with this observation because Sled One, who was extremely productive last year, seems to be a little quieter. This may just be a false perception, and I am not seeing his stuff as much as I used to – I might be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
This is of the usual high standard that Sled One attains, it appears, with such ease. This wildstyle writing is so very easy on the eye, like much of his work. I particularly like the ‘accent’ lines he uses to emphasise the letters or that wisp around the piece giving it a sense of animation. I will not tire of his outstanding work.
This is another quick piece by Whysayit at one end of the tunnel in St Werburghs. I can’t believe that I missed this when I went in to photograph pieces in the tunnel, and it wasn’t until I came out again that this caught my eye.
I really do like his style of graffiti art, the way he disguises his letters (YSAE) with curvy shapes and the colours he uses and the outlines to his pieces. I am also rather fond of his tagging, which is peculiar, because as a rule I dislike tagging. All in all a nice piece here.
This was a quick one by Mr Draws in The Bearpit. Mr Draws is another Bristol street artist who is hitting something of a purple patch in terms of productivity. I had always assumed that the Winter and early Spring were not particularly busy times for street/graffiti artists, but that has not been the case this year. I wonder if some of that is attributable to the relatively dry winter period we have had this year.
So we come back to mountains by Mr Draws, although these are a little more stylised than some of his previous peaks. If I were to be critical I would say that this looks like it was done really quickly. I remain, however very fond of his pieces…they are so different from the norm, and easily identifiable.
Face F1st has been rather busy lately, and I am struggling to keep up with posting all his new works. This is a nice piece from St Werburghs tunnel, but as with all of the tunnel pieces, the photographs just don’t do the work justice.
I couldn’t quite get the shots I wanted of this piece, because there was some kind of a photoshoot going on in the tunnel, and someone had parked a car in the way. The colours are really great, and the characteristic face is nicely folded into the C of FACE. I still get a bit of a kick out of finding a Face F1st piece.
It is great to see that Silent Hobo is back and busy. Back from where or doing what I am not sure, but in recent weeks he has hit the streets and that is good news. This piece is sited at the entrance to St Werburghs tunnel, which is fortunate, because the light quality is good there.
Once again we see the slogan ‘you are golden’ and there is something forgiving and loving in that. I like his representation of young people, always positive and upbeat.
The gold frame sets the piece off nicely and complements the green hoodie and yellow sneakers. Looking forward to a whole load more from Silent Hobo this year.
This is a piece from my archives from way back in April 2016. It is a tribute piece to Buzz by the enigmatic OHMS.
The colour quality is poor due to the lighting conditions in the tunnel. The only way I am ever going to overcome these problems is to buy a much better camera with all the proper flash gadgets, but I have to say that is not my style. Another triumph from OHMS and the Splab Gang.
It has been a very long time since I last saw a wheatpaste by Kid Crayon, but thank goodness he has continued his work, albeit concentrating on his wall spraying. This is a reasonably recent piece from St Werberghs Tunnel, in collaboration with a writer I don’t know and can’t decipher.
Kid Crayon is developing and refining his work all the time, but he keeps the bold colours and curious postures/gestures in his characters. The crayon is still there hovering near the character’s mouth, cigarette-like.
Kid Crayon was one of the first street artists in Bristol I became interested in, and I love seeing new works and how he is growing in confidence.
I have really grown to like the work of OHMS as it is markedly different from anything else on the Bristol graffiti art scene. I still haven’t tracked down the artist or crew, but will find something before too long I hope.
The work of OHMS usually appears to have an artistic theme based around the letters OHMS. They range from a ‘jungle‘ theme to a ‘cartoon space‘ theme for exmple. Always the filling of the lettering is ornate and colourful, and often includes artistic motifs. In this work an ancient Egyptian theme runs through it.
As the pictures were taken in a tunnel, they don’t really convey the vibrancy of this piece, but is is very good. Looking forward to loads more from OHMS as 2017 unfolds.
Natural adventures 