Tag: Urban

6736. City Road (14)

Aspire, City Road, Bristol, March 2016
Aspire, City Road, Bristol, March 2016

Every now and again, I like to delve into my archives to see if there are any pieces that somehow were overlooked at the time, and I am always surprised by what I find. The next few posts are from 2016 and include this beautiful magpie by Aspire.

Aspire, City Road, Bristol, March 2016
Aspire, City Road, Bristol, March 2016

Aspire was one of my favourite Bristol artists in Bristol, and his depictions of birds in particular struck a chord with me as a trained naturalist. For a few short years, his work brightened up our streets before he packed his bags and moved to London, where I am told the streets are paved with gold. Fortunately, Aspire does return from time to time, but I miss his portfolio of stunning birds and their surroundings. As well as being a superb portrayal of a magpie, we also see evidence of his pixel clusters, something of a trademark for the artist. Those were the days!

6735. L Dub (63)

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, February 2025
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, February 2025

Donz is an interesting graffiti writer whose combination of letter shapes and, in particular, colour selections and fill patterns is quite unique. His work is further highlighted in this piece with the incorporation of a clean contrasting background buff.

Donz, L Dub, Bristol, February 2025
Donz, L Dub, Bristol, February 2025

The letters in this piece spell DONZ, and are beautifully contained within a clean black border. I think that what sets his work apart is his approach to his fills which are not blended, but rather, they are applied in contrasting splodges and decorated with complementary little circles. All I can say is that this is a very Donz look. We also have an introduction to the Art Beat Crew (ABC), which I haven’t noticed before.

6734. Greenway Bush Lane (4)

Sub, Greenway Bush Lane, Bristol, January 2025
Sub, Greenway Bush Lane, Bristol, January 2025

The great thing about a new graffiti spot, such as the long hoarding at Greenway Bush Lane, is that you can spread your wings a little and occupy as much space as you like without the awkwardness of painting over someone else’s work. Sub has ‘gone for it’ with his large SUB letters and a couple of smaller signatures, just in case you weren’t sure who he is.

Sub, Greenway Bush Lane, Bristol, January 2025
Sub, Greenway Bush Lane, Bristol, January 2025

Sub continues to develop his writing, and his familiar chunky letters and deep drop shadow (in two shades) are going from strength to strength. The pink plasma strip runs nicely through the letters, which in their monolithic form are rather flat. To me, it feels like he is locked a little into his format, and to go to the next level, he might need to try something different, and then import his discoveries back into his customary style. Having said that, he seems to be very happy doing what he is doing, and that is the most important thing.

6733. High Street Rochester

Hannah Adamaszek, High Street, Rochester, January 2025
Hannah Adamaszek, High Street, Rochester, January 2025

In January, I happened to find myself in Rochester, a lovely city that I have never been to before, where I was running a workshop. As is my wont when I am ‘on tour’, I got up early and strolled around town for an hour or so exploring. I was not expecting to find artwork from Hannah Adamaszek, but there it was, on a roadside sign – unmistakably Hannah.

Hannah Adamaszek, High Street, Rochester, January 2025
Hannah Adamaszek, High Street, Rochester, January 2025

Not only has Hannah Adamaszek painted the road sign for Seven Chakras Yoga Studio, but she has done a great job with decorating the columns of the small shopping arcade area, with some lovely Swiss cheese plant leaves, the trusted favourite of street artists everywhere.

Hannah Adamaszek, High Street, Rochester, January 2025
Hannah Adamaszek, High Street, Rochester, January 2025

I can only say that this was a super surprise and bonus on my Rochester Adventure, and confirmation that my street art radar is fully active and in good working order.

6732. St George skate park (23)

Mind 49, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2025
Mind 49, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2025

I missed this piece by Mind 49 last year, so it is looking a little worse for wear, although, given that it is in a skate park, it has worn well. I love the way that it has been painted onto a cracked ramp, which makes it feel like an organic part of the park, that it has always been there, kind of.

Mind 49, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2025
Mind 49, St George skate park, Bristol, January 2025

Mind 49 has been one of the great talents to emerge from the Bristol scene and has developed from a precocious talent, via an activist, into a fine painter of photorealistic portraits. Here, the beautiful profile with soft tones marking out light and shade of the face contrasts with the half-finished look of the shirt and hat. A truly fabulous piece.

Smut

A gallery of superb clean writing from the graffiti writer Smut

All photographs by Scooj

Smut, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2023
Smut, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2023
Smut, Peel Street Green, Bristol, July 2022
Smut, Peel Street Green, Bristol, July 2022
Smut, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2022
Smut, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2022
Smut, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2022
Smut, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2022
Smut, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, March 2022
Smut, Lawrence Hill, Bristol, March 2022
Smut, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2022
Smut, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2022
Smut, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2021
Smut, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2021
Smut, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2021
Smut, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2021
Smut, Purdown Battery, Bristol, September 2021
Smut, Purdown Battery, Bristol, September 2021
Smut, Purdown Battery, Bristol, July 2021
Smut, Purdown Battery, Bristol, July 2021

6731. M32 roundabout J3 (652)

Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025
Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025

I came across Hemper while he was painting this beast, and I think that even he was wondering if he might have bitten off more than he could chew. It is a tribute to an old crew DMT, and quite unlike much of the work I am used to seeing by the artist, although there are hints of his style in the words within the DMT letters.

Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025
Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2025

These pictures also demonstrate how the light can impact on the quality of photography. In the first picture, the sun is behind a cloud, in the second, the cloud has passed, and the sun is casting shadows of the trees onto the wall, all of this changed in the space of seconds. Hemper appears to have got his mojo going early this year, and is a very busy man, creating some superb graffiti writing.

6730. St Werburghs tunnel (474)

Haka, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Haka, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025

So many of the combination pieces painted in Bristol leave me wondering who the painted character might be portraying (there are often modern cultural references to cartoon productions of the 1970s to now), but every once in a while the character is one I am familiar with, and this is one of those moments. The character in this Haka piece is Percival Proudfoot Plugsley or Plug member of the Bash Street Kids from the children’s comic Beano.

Haka, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025
Haka, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2025

Indeed, this is not the first time Haka has incorporated Plug into one of his pieces and other members of the comic strip. The letters are classic Haka letters, nicely overlapping and filled with two colour shades and some yellow decorations. Some nice shout-outs too, including the ever-present tribute to CK1.

Haka, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2023
Haka, Greenbank, Bristol, January 2023

6729. Dean Lane skate park

Teykem, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2025
Teykem, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2025

I made a special trip down to Dean Lane to snap up some pieces by the PWA crew on the swimming pool wall, but was rather disappointed to see that they had been swiftly painted over, but as the saying goes, ‘you snooze, you lose’. There is no mercy and no rules when it comes to painting over other people’s work, but I do wish sometimes that bombers and writers in particular were a little bit more mindful about where they painted.

Teykem, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2025
Teykem, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2025

I have never come across Teykem before, and don’t have much in the way of background about his work. This piece has all the elements of graffiti writing, some nice letter shapes, and stripy drop shadow, but I would need to see more to know if this was a good example of Teykem’s work or not. It is, however, always good to introduce new artists to Natural Adventures.

6728. Purdown (84)

Nice One, Purdown, Bristol, February 2025
Nice One, Purdown, Bristol, February 2025

A couple of quick ones today. It is the morning after my mother’s 90th birthday party, which was a hugely enjoyable event in Farnham Castle in Surrey, but we need to have breakfast, check out and then drive back to Bristol. As I said yesterday, Nice one has been smashing it with his combination pieces already this year, and this is another new piece up at the Purdown anti-aircraft battery.

Nice One, Purdown, Bristol, February 2025
Nice One, Purdown, Bristol, February 2025

At first, it might not look like a combination piece, but you can just spot the top half of his Times New Roman ‘N’ and the dot of the ‘i’ at the bottom of the piece. The First World War dogfight scene is just something you don’t see anywhere in Bristol and confirms Nice One as one of the most original and exciting artists around. Fabulous work.