A gallery of fabulous DESI and VEIL writing from Bristol artist Desi
Instagram: @cherrybombb20
all photographs by Scooj
Desi
Tag: Veil
5061. M32 Cycle path (200)
Desi and Evey are painting buddies and frequently meet up to paint together. In fact, I met them yesterday painting together with Peggy in Sparke Evans Park, a spot I have to return to, because they hadn’t completed their work while I was there.
As I have said on numerous occasions about both Evey and Desi, is that they are improving all the time. Evey has painted this rather nice bubble writing EVEN, but the most striking thing about it is that it is a tribute piece to her (I assume) grandpa, and the letters are sad ones and the ‘V’ is a broken heart.
Desi has gone with her Veil variant in this piece and offers up thee hearts – how lucky we are. The letters are nicely filledand the white spots add a bit of depth. I would like to see Desi start working on some more complex fill patterns, which I think she is ready for. (What am I? Some kind of school master? Cringe).
5039. M32 Cycle path (198)
This VEIL piece brings a splash of colour to the overhang under the M32 on the cycle path. Desi seems to prefer writing VEIL these days, and I have no complaints about that at all, the letters work well and allow her to express herself the way she likes to.
The word that springs to mind every time I see this is ‘colourful’ and when the photograph was sitting as a thumbnail in my ‘February folder’ it stood out from the crowd. Definitely an attention grabber. Nice letters, nicely presented, and another piece in Desi’s growing portfolio.
5007. Cumberland Basin
I met Desi earlier this week when she was painting a new piece in Dean Lane with her friend Lupa. I took the opportunity to ask Desi why she had started painting the letters VEIL, and her answer was swift and honest – “no reason, I just wanted to play with some letters”. So there you have it, sometimes there simply isn’t a backstory or meaning.
This is a very nice piece, simple in structure and well executed. Desi continues to improve, with strong fills and sharper lines, getting better with each new piece. It is interesting that most times (but not always, as I have learned to my deep embarrassment) you can spot the gender of the artist. For example, it would be a rare thing for a male artist to put a heart instead of a dot on top of the “i” as Desi has done here. It is almost as if handwriting is transposed onto the wall in some way.
4589. M32 roundabout J3 (417)
Bristol definitely has it’s fair share of female graffiti writers; Mena, Evey, Lewse and Bnie to name a few, and it is great to watch Desi develop her writing and join this growing cohort. You will have seen work on Natural Adventures before, but using the letters DESI, however, recently she has switched it up a bit to write VEIL.
What is interesting is that although Desi’s letters may have changed completely, her individual style shines through, and she needn’t have signed it for people to know who painted it. This might be her best piece to date, it is really neat and tidy, and the fills are as good as I have seen from the artist. Much more to come from Desi, I’m sure.
1586. Raleigh Road, Tobacco Factory (12)
At the far end of the Tobacco Factory staff car park is this modest and ephemeral piece by Annika Pixie. It was painted during an annual weekend paint jam organised by Stephen Quick.
This wispish and haunting portrait is very much in the style that is associated with Annika. There are two things I particularly like about thuis piece…the veil-like see through curtain that sits between the subject and the viewer, and the nicely arranged stencils that surround the whole piece.
Natural adventures 