Urban – Page 63 – Natural adventures

6836. M32 roundabout J3 (669)

Nips, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025

When I come across any pieces by Nips, I know I am I for a fill treat, it is pretty much a sure thing and I like that about her work. This one was painted in quick succession with another, I guess it was a painting weekend or something like that.

In this piece her customary NIPS letters are filled with a nicely blended palette of blue, turquoise, pink and red and some reversed out spots for a little bit of decoration. The white accent lines do their job well, creating a fine 3D effect. The selection of a yellow background contrasts well with the letters and brings focus to them. A sound piece from Nips.

6835. St Werburghs tunnel (488)

Hemper, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2025

More from the irrepressible Hemper, this time at the farm end of the tunnel. His recent run of form has been quite extraordinary, and I imagine quite liberating for the artist himself. Although he always paints original designs, he has been pushing the boundaries a lot lately.

This is a chrome piece with brass knobs on, and unusually for Hemper it looks to be rather political or at least a social commentary piece. The chrome letters have anthropomorphic limbs which are crushing and vandalising a Tesla Cybertruck, a sentiment probably shared by many people in the current political climate. I feel that Cybertrucks should be side lined on their ugly appearance, let alone the hideousness of their owner. I am teetering on a bit of a rant, but simply don’t have time, so I will round off the post here. Superb work from Hemper.

6834. Dean Lane skate park

Fade, Jody and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2025

After a few posts from a trip to Liverpool, I return to my comfort zone of Bristol with this magnificent production piece from Fade, Jody and Dibz on the long wall at Dean Lane.

The triptych begins with some great writing from fade on the left, where the absence of colour and decoration within the letters demonstrates the artist’s talent in its rawest form. All the artwork is beautifully tight, and he switches up things a little with the black border fading to orange on the right.

In the middle is a superb portrait by Jody – I think the first I have seen this year – which presents a woman in three-quarter profile with loads of interesting light and shade cast across her face in red and blue tones, creating so much depth and interest. So very well painted, and as an example, have a look at the shadow cast under her nose. Brilliant. The hair is sensational too.

To the right, Dibz continues with the white letters, reflecting those of Fade on the left. This piece from Dibz is pretty much an archetypal work by the maestro and rounds the collaboration off perfectly.

6833. St James street, Liverpool

Liam Bononi, St James Street, Liverpool, March 2025

There were several memorable highlights to our recent weekend away in Liverpool, and nestled just under my wife’s completion of the half-marathon, and walking around the docks and the Liver building, was this utterly outstanding portrait mural by Liam Bononi.

The portrait piece, of a contorted agonised male face, is particularly impactful on account of both its size and its positioning on an entire elevation of a large, isolated Victorian building. There is so much detail in the face and hands, a signature of Liam Bononi’s work, and there is a fair amount of emotional wrestling going on here.

Without doubt, I am a big fan of Liam Bononi’s work, and the quality of his portraits. What a fabulous surprise to find one as magnificent as this on the back streets of Liverpool.

6832. New Bird Street, Liverpool

Molly Mural, New Bird Street, Liverpool, March 2025

As you will know from yesterday’s post, I recently spent a weekend in Liverpool, and the old ‘graff radar’, which I thought I had turned off, swung into active duty. Not being familiar with the street/graffiti artists in Liverpool, it was comforting to come across this rather nice mural by Molly Mural, who has painted many times in Bristol, where she is based.

I’m not sure how long the mural has been there, but I guess a while, as some of the paint was chipping. The piece appears to be full of symbolism and stories and is centred around the numbers 1 and 3. The abstract piece is characteristically colourful, and after doing a little Interweb search, it turns out it was inspired by Taylor Swift’s ‘second era’ and her lucky number 13. You live and learn.

6831. Jordan Street, Liverpool

Aske, Jordan Street, Liverpool, March 2025

A couple of weeks ago I visited Liverpool with my wife and daughter to cheer on my wife and our nephew-in-law who were running the half-marathon. After finding a strategic place to stop and wave them on at the mile marker, we had an hour or two to kill before being at the finishing line at the end of their admirable adventure. Our rather less energetic walk took us to a café, which happened to be in a street art district.

This discovery had been completely unplanned by me, I have only once before been to Liverpool, long before I was interested in street art, and didn’t do any research before our trip. I got lucky once again. While my daughter and niece, caught up and had a coffee, I ran around the area, like a mad thing, taking as many pictures as I could. This was one of the first.

As a football fan, I can appreciate that this is a fine piece on two levels. One, the quality of the portrait of Jurgen Klopp, former manager of Liverpool Football Club, and two, the love for football and how the local team touches lives. The artist is Aske, not known to me, and this is a fine tribute to a local hero. More from this Liverpool adventure to come.

6830. M32 roundabout J3 (668)

Kid Krishna, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2025

The council, for whatever reason, seem to like buffing the walls of the M32 roundabout with a neutral grey paint. I am not too sure what the purpose is, other than to give people doing community service a civic activity. That the exercise is costly and futile doesn’t really come into the equation. Once buffed, the wall becomes an inviting canvass for street/graffiti artists.

Kid Krishna didn’t waste too much time creating this CRIE piece in blue lettering with some yellow splashes. The piece carries a couple of messages: ‘drugs don’t work’ and ‘fight the power’, which suggests the artist is working through a few things, as are we all, at the moment. A nice ‘virgin wall’ piece.

6829. Cumberland Basin

Dirtygypo, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025

Dirtygypo has returned to the streets with a few pieces this spring, and this is a rather nice one painted in Cumberland Basin. The letters still puzzle me. There are thoughts that they could spell Pilger or Dirty, but I don’t think it is either of these.

The letter forms are consistent with his usual approach, but he has added in some great colours, and the lightening breaks in white really stand out through the piece. The characterisation of the first letter is one of several signatures that aid with identification, but to be honest, his writing is unlike anything by any other artists in Bristol and is easy to identify. It is just those damn letters that perplex me.

6828. Purdown (86)

There is something very exciting happening at the moment with Liz (Le Imposter Designs). Having dabbled for a while with her line and paint drawings/illustrations in selected spots, she moved on to working with spray cans, and it seems to have lifted her into a new world of possibilities, and her excitement is obvious to see through the frequency of her new pieces and her creativity.

Obviously, the central theme to Lis’ artwork is the representation of mushrooms and toadstools, and this piece on a concrete slab in Purdown is a great example. It is a pity that some twit has felt the need to tag the piece, but fortunately it doesn’t detract too much from the mushroom and rather cure hedgehog. While the main body of her work is achieved using spray paint, I think that some of the detail is achieved using pens, which doesn’t devalue it one jot. I am loving the emergence of Lis and can see a very bright future ahead.

Vulpes vulpes

Dead fox, Lawrence Weston, Bristol, February 2025

When it is our time

and we die, it is our time

skin and bones remain

by Scooj

	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…
	beth on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…
	Sheree on 7420. Cumberland Basin
	Dan Antion on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…
	wrookieschu on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…

	Suzette Benjamin on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…
	beth on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…
	Sheree on 7420. Cumberland Basin
	Dan Antion on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…
	wrookieschu on Thursday doors – 22 Janu…

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