I unearthed this piece recently while digging about in my archives. It is a place-appropriate combination piece that is very much at home in the DIY skatepark underneath the M32.
Conrico has written his name with thinly filled green letters, through which a skater is powering. There is some great movement in the piece indicated by the skater’s posture and the little wisps around his feet and the skateboard. This is a rather unusual and wonderfully observed piece from Conrico.
It can be difficult sometimes to identify unsigned pieces, and it can take a bit of luck swiping through Instagram profiles to reveal the artist. So it was with this piece. I was looking up Mr Sleven for a recently posted poster piece, and spotted this in his feed. Pennies dropped and I am freed to post it now.
Perhaps the reason I didn’t think of Mr Sleven immediately when I spotted the piece, is that he has been inactive for quite a while. The message is clear, ‘Love Wins’, although the skull with an arrow through it might imply a broken heart, so a little confusing. A heart patterned background is being obscured by a blue dripping sheet of colour. Lots to like about this striking piece.
What a lovely piece by Lupa in Montpelier Park. This little oasis in Montpelier has a rather neglected basketball court, a nicely revamped children’s play park, some greenery and this wall. A compact community space surrounded by buildings. The wall, although not a legal graffiti wall is tolerated, and I’m sure rather enjoyed by locals who use the park.
Lupa is a straightforward ‘what you see is what you get’ (WYSIWYG) artist. No frills or pretension just some nicely presented letters and colours. I love her work. The choice of bold colours in this piece works very well, and it stands out, set on the blue bubble background. There is some joy in this piece.
Recently a whole cluster of these illustrative ‘tower’ pieces started appearing in the area around Cumberland Basin, and they are quite unlike anything else I have seen before. If you look closely at one of the rings of the tower you might notice the words Zeks One. So this is by Zeks who we normally think of as a graffiti writer.
I like it when artists latch onto an idea and then start replicating that idea while the enthusiasm for it remains. There is something strangely charming and infantile about the tower, and this one, painted over a Creamylines piece, works well with the existing sun and birds around the top. Watch this space for more of these from Zeks.
The photographs of this combination piece by Sub, is a perfect example of why it is important to take pictures, even if the light conditions (sun/shade) aren’t perfect, because when I returned for a second attempt, the character had been dogged, so we’ll have to make do with these.
Sub has been steadily improving, and has successfully added characters to his writing portfolio. His letters here are very nicely presented with some pink cloudy smudges, a plasma burst and some horizontal drips. Sitting alongside is a fun ghostly cartoon character – I am not sure if it is a Sub creation or an existing character that he has copied – I am not familiar with it. I just did a little research, and I think it might be a Super Mario ghost King Boo, without his crown. A great commbination piece.
When I first saw this wonderful piece in the tunnel I did’t post it, because I didn’t recognise the artist’s style, and to my shame, I couldn’t read the letters. It took seeing an Instagram post for me to have that ‘of course’ penny dropping moment.
It is by Mr Riks, and it is easy enough to see that when you know, but the framing of the piece within the confined green box and the uniform shape and design of the letters threw me. Needless to say, it is an exceptional piece of graffiti writing, with a great colour scheme and letters that really pop out from the wall.
Ooh! this is a gorgeous piece by Guimeujoven, an occasional visitor to Bristol and an artist who painted a large piece at this year’s Upfest (coming soon). This is a very special piece which in its presentation looks fairly simple, bur is in fact technically excellent and complex.
Starting with the background wall, which is irregular and has real character, like an old wall might. The main character holding a spray can in depicted in solid fill shades. Where the technical brilliance comes in is within the red circle, where the shadings are continued through the piece but in red tones instead of Khaki and greys. Just brilliant and really good to look at.
j9449j or All 4 Nothing if you prefer is a very different kind of writer. His nature-based anstract writing is nigh on impossible to read, but his decorative style is easy on the eye, and it doesn’t really matter that the letters are so disguised.
This piece has an interesting colour selection choice which on paper probably would look a bit odd, but the blue, white, green and chrome actually looks good – it is unusual to see chrome incorporated into a piece in this way. This is just one of several recent pieces from the artist, who seems to be on a bit of a roll.
This little corner of the M32 roundabout where the footway underpass meets the outside walls has been a popular spot for Daz Cat over the years. It is the perfect size and shape for his cat characters and often left alone by graffiti writers because of the portrait dimensions.
This is a superb classic Daz Cat cat portrait piece. The sophistication that he brings to his pieces is lightyears away from his early work, and offers so much depth and detail. I love the little close-fitting hat, but the tongue hanging out wins me over completely – a great observation of cats that sometimes strike this pose. A fine piece by Daz Cat.
They’re at it again. Although it took Dibz and Fade a little time to warm uop this year, once they got going they have been fairly relentless all summer long. This is just a nice study in wildstyle graffiti writing on one of their favourite walls.
The pair have gone for a pink theme, although when I first saw the collaboration, my first thought was Liquorice Allsorts and I can’t unthink it. This is a great example of technical graffiti writing executed to the highest standard. Exactly as I’d expect from these two.
