Urban – Page 104 – Natural adventures

6452. Redcliffe Way

Sepr, Redcliffe Way, Bristol, October 2024

These small pieces by Sepr have been lurking on the hoarding on Redcliffe Way for quite a while and have been on my ‘hit list’ for ever, I am glad at last to have photographed them before they have degraded too much or been tagged. I have a feeling that they might have been painted to promote the Bristol Tattoo Convention.

Both of these small pieces resemble samples or examples that tattooists offer their clients. King Cooper refers to an artist called James Cooper, who ran his business Dapper Signs, a sign writing company in Bristol, and who tragically died in 2023 aged 42. He was hugely respected by the urban art community.

Sepr’s second piece on this hoarding is a rather lovely character piece featuring a heart and an apple? With an arrow running through it. A conflation of William Tell and Cupid perhaps. Such simple yet expressive pieces, and both so obviously designed by a tattooist.

6451. New Stadium Road (59)

Logoe, New Stadium Road, Bristol, October 2024

We are in the midst of another Logoe blitz, that is to say that a couple of weekends ago he visited Bristol and dropped in excess of six pieces about the place, which is the way he rolls. He saves up all his painting energy, there aren’t many opportunities where he lives in Wales, and paints for England on his weekend visits to our city.

This is a particularly nice example of his script writing style – a lovely clean piece in beautiful copper tones, really brightening up this fairly dreary spot that still bears the smoke damage on the ceiling from an arson car blaze in this little underpass a couple of years ago. Logo is a Trojan, who simply doesn’t know when to stop, and I love it.

6450. Lower Approach Road (12)

Molly Mural, Lower Approach Road, Bristol, October 2024

Street art is often overlooked, especially if it is functional in nature and woven into our ordinary lives. This unusual piece from Molly Mural is just outside Temple Meads station, and looks like it is a commission from TCN, whoever they are. Perhaps the notable thing about the location is that it is virtually outside the best bakery in Bristol – Hart’s Bakery.

The colourful strip looks like a guiding path from a building to the bottom of the steps up to the station. There is plenty of colour and a tight design in this piece, but the overall effect is to brighten up the otherwise unexceptional tarmac. A wonderful piece from Molly Mural.

6449. M32 roundabout J3 (629)

Klashwhensober, M32 roundabout, Bristol, October 2024

Klashwhensober is as busy as ever, and I only tend to post a fraction of the pieces he produces, I expect I’ll need to go back through the archives and do a couple of sweep-ups of his work in due course. Every now and then one of his pieces catches the eye, and this one on the roundabout is one of those.

This modest spot is tucked away behind a tree, and isn’t easily seen without looking for it. Klashwhensober has written the word SOBER in ribbon letters, filled skilfully in blue and yellow, with a variety of well-painted patterns and features. There is some menace lurking in the form of clutching hands and fingers wafting from the cloudy background. I think that Klashwhensober’s pieces often indicate a busy and cluttered mind, and it would be interesting to see if he could create a piece of writing that was simpler in structure and could show off his skill as an artist. Unlikely to happen methinks.

6448. St Werburghs tunnel (451)

Kosc and Humor, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2024

Every now and again, something very special appears on the walls of Bristol, without warning or fanfare, and when you find them they blow your socks off. This collaboration between Bristol artist Kosc and Tunbridge Wells-based artist Humor is one such collaboration.

Kosc, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2024

The collaboration, I gather, celebrates the birthday of actor Jenna Ortega, who I must admit is a little bit off my radar, although I faintly recognise her from her Wednesday Addams character, and the 2021 film The Fallout looks like it might be worth watching. She clearly has a large fan base, which I assume would include Kosc and Humor. Kosc has painted a gorgeous piece of graffiti writing which picks up the colours used for the birthday candles.

Humor, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2024

I haven’t come across Humor’s work before, but this photorealistic portrait of Jenna Ortega is quite stunning, and something we don’t see nearly enough of in Bristol, outside of festivals or commissions.

On the day I originally photographed this collaboration, there was quite a lot of glare on the wall, it can be a difficult wall to photograph, because it gets impacted by shadows and sunlight at all times of the day. I did return on a duller day, and think I got a slightly better picture with less glare (and a few more autumn leaves on the ground). Stunning work, especially when you consider it is a greyscale portrait. I would love to think that this might be the first of many visits to Bristol by Humor, but I won’t be holding my breath.

6447. Stapleton Road

Logoe and Silent Hobo, Stapleton Road, Bristol, October 2024

Logoe and Silent Hobo are good friends and on his most recent visit to Bristol, it looks like Logoe found time to hook up with his mate and collaborate on this wonder wall. The combination of writing and story telling is original and eye-catching, and goes straight into one of my favourite collaborations of 2024. Logoe has pulled out all the stops with his distinctive script writing and produces a very tight and tidy piece with transitional coloured stripes filling the letters.

Silent Hobo, Stapleton Road, Bristol, October 2024

Sitting on top of the writing, Silent Hobo is telling us a story of what looks like heart break, but without the context is difficult to be sure. Rather ominously, the first panel has a woman saying ‘We’ve been through this already…’

In the next frame, a woman, is it the same woman, is saying ‘love is not enough’, a phrase that would wilt the heart of anyone on the receiving end of the comment

The final part has a man, looking a little worse for wear, saying ‘OK’, which probably means not OK. The three panels could be stand-alone pieces, or part of a continuous conversation, and I guess that it is for the viewer to decide which. A magnificent collaboration from this pair.

6446. Redcliffe Way

Mote, Redcliffe Way, Bristol, October 2024

I arrived at Bristol Temple Meads station a little early recently, on my way to a football match in London, and had a few minutes to kill in the area around the station and managed tom photograph some pieces that I have been meaning to capture for quite a while, one of which was this monster piece by Mote.

I have given up hunting down Mote pieces, and tend to embrace them as and when I come across them, so sometimes they are already quite old by the time I get to photograph them. This is a rather attractive looking character with the trademark cross lines for pupils in the eyes, a very Mote motif. This whole panel was decorated a while back by various artists, I think to celebrate the Bristol Tattoo Festival.

6445. Dean Lane skate park (769)

Dibz and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

Keeping up with Dibz and Fade can be a difficult thing to do… they are a combined force of nature with an energy and enthusiasm for graffiti writing that is unsurpassed in Bristol. This piece, entitled ‘Explosive material’ kind of does what it says on the tin, and contains writing from both artists amidst an explosion.

Dibz on top in blue and Fade below in red complement one another perfectly with their styles, and the fills are nothing short of miraculous, incorporating the clouds of the explosion behind. This is a well-worked graffiti writing piece from two artists who keep raising their level notch by notch.

For good measure, they both left behind quick throw ups painted at the same time as this piece:

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

6444. River Avon (66)

Werm, River Avon, Bristol, September 2024

Werm is a graffiti artist who can divide opinion with his carefully thought out and intricate pieces. I am rather enjoying his recent designs though and I consider this to be a first-class piece of graffiti writing.

The curves Werm has designed in to the letters take away the stark edges that the letters WERM naturally have. He has also endeavoured to create some clever bilateral symmetry to the piece, which is a device he has been working on for a little while. The fills are coherent throughout the letters, and the colour scheme works well. This is an admirable piece from the versatile artist.

6443. Hornsey Road, North London

Northbanksy, (Mikel Arteta), Hornsey Road, North London (Forever), September 2024

A short while ago I went up to London for my first football match of the season, to watch the mighty Arsenal play at home to Leicester City. I had arranged to meet a friend in a pub before the match and passed by a wall of black and white stencil pieces by the brilliantly named artist Northbanksy. The North Bank was the north stand at Highbury, the former home of Arsenal FC, where the nosiest home fans would congregate. You can see what Northbanksy has done with his name. This first piece features the Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta, and the quote is from his song, which is as follows:

We’ve got Super Mik Arteta,

He knows exactly what we need,

Kieran at the back, Gabi in attack,

Arsenal on the way to Champions League.

I have seen better stencils if I am honest, but I can’t help loving this.

Northbanksy, (Emile Smith-Rowe and Bukayo Saka), Hornsey Road, North London (Forever), September 2024

There are about a dozen or so stencils and this one features two of Arsenal’s home grown players, starboy Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe, who moved to Fulham at the start of this season. Northbanksy has selected a shot of the two that epitomises their friendship and reproduced it for all fans to admire. More to come from Northbanksy soon.

	scooj on Cocoon
	hitandrun1964 on Cocoon
	scooj on 7422. Stapleton Road
	scooj on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…
	scooj on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…

	scooj on Cocoon
	hitandrun1964 on Cocoon
	scooj on 7422. Stapleton Road
	scooj on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…
	scooj on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…

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