Haka rarely disappoints, and although he seems to have slowed down a little this summer, his work just seems to be always out there. This is a fun piece on the not-so-long hoarding on the Bristol to Bath cycle path, a hoarding that will before too long be entirely absent, as the new housing development nears completion.
Haka, Greenbank, Bristol, July 2023
Haka has an unrestrained vibe in his work and doesn’t seem to get hung up on convention, which affords him a freedom that comes across as very happy pieces. Here he has written his name alongside a ghost character from Ghostbusters (a movie that I can only think of as the original, as the glimpses I have had of the add-on films have left me cold). Always a great pleasure to see Hakka’s work.
There is such a vast spectrum of types, methods and styles of street and graffiti art in Bristol, and there is room for everyone, which makes it one of the most exciting venues in the world for urban art. All artists are welcome and nobody is overlooked. Enn Kay (NAK) burst onto the scene from nowhere about two to three years ago and has been improving along the way with each piece.
Enn Kay, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2023
This is a lovely character/letters piece featuring Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants, beautifully recreated by Enn Kay, alongside the letters NAK. The whole thing is beautifully clean and tight – a top quality artwork from an artist on the up.
It was an enormous pleasure to meet Bean for the first time recently in this exact spot. He was painting a third piece alongside this and another one. The young artist hasn’t been in Bristol very long, but his character pieces have already made an impression, and he is fast building a reputation. It is funny that some artists don’t seem to know too much about the other artists around them, but it would seem that Bean is aware and admires the work of many artists in the city, and much of our conversation focussed on the art scene here.
Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2023
This piece depicts, in a fabulous cartoon style, a young man complete with spray can in hand, setting about spraying some graffiti. There is something almost old-school about this piece that makes it the work of more than just a character piece, there is a sense of heritage blended with the contemporary. The piece is great fun and really nicely finished. If he carries on like this, Bean has a fantastic street art future ahead of him.
It would seem that Slakarts has been busy with real life lately, and his pieces are few and far between and tend to be ‘quick ones’ in contrast to the more sophisticated and designed pieces he was painting throughout 2021, 2022 and at the start of this year.
Slakarts, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2023
In this piece, Slakarts returns to his base character, cunningly fitted onto the column, with a slight stretch. Great fills and superb cutting-in of the black outlines throughout the piece. The selfish part of me wants to see more Slakarts pieces on the street for me to enjoy, but I am also happy that he might be busy with work/family or other distractions keeping him off the streets.
John D’oh has been a little quiet in Bristol lately, so it was great to find this new piece in one of his favourite spots underneath the M32 motorway. One thing that John D’oh is never short on is humour, and this Judy Garland Wizard of Oz stencil reinforces that point.
John D’oh, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, July 2023
The writing says (from the scarecrow) “Dorothy I can smell weed, urine and spray paint. I think we must be in Bristol”. Of course that made me smile, but for any potential visitors out there, this is a rather tongue-in-cheek, myopic view of our fabulous city. I rather hope to see more from John D’oh, as his artwork adds variety to the everyday fare of street art and graffiti in Bristol.
Finding this piece in the tunnel was one of the happiest street art moments of my year so far. Fiva (Fiver) has been absent from the Bristol street art scene for a long time (last seen in 2020), and I feared that he might have moved away or given up on painting altogether, so seeing this filled me with pure joy, as I am particularly fond of his work.
Fiva, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2023
In classic Fiva style, he has painted a huge piece with large block letters that have plenty of depth and stand out from the brilliant pink buffed wall. As is customary, Fiva has painted a character looking on from the left in wonderful cartoon style. The whole thing is so refreshing after the long absence. Welcome back Fiva, I hope that this isn’t a flash in the pan.
This wall, although part of the Dean Lane ‘furniture’ was only bricked up and made into one solid wall earlier this year, so in its current form it is a fairly new wall which was first painted by Haka (if my memory serves me correctly). It has now become a popular wall for large pieces of graffiti writing, and this is the turn of Mr Draws.
Mr Draws, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2023
Mr Draws has been and will always be one of the foundations of Natural Adventures, along with other artists like Face 1st, whose work is consistent, regular and enduring – the heartbeats of Bristol street art. In this tidy piece, the letters are beautifully painted, each one merging into the next, and the fills, with horizontal layers work nicely through the letters. The little white accent lines create a 3D effect, which along with the black drop shadow lift the writing off the wall. Set on a blue patterned background, the piece is another fine contribution from Mr Draws.
Natural adventures 