Werm is becoming one of those consistent, drumbeat graffiti writers whose work is always there and reminds us what the Bristol street/graffiti art scene is all about. His current style takes us through his playing with symmetry of the letters WERM, forever striving for perfection.
Werm, River Avon, Bristol, March 2025
In addition to his beautifully presented letters, Werm has set the piece on a pattern of pixelated cubes, adding just enough interest to lift the piece. Unfortunately, the afternoon sun has crept into the right-hand half of these pictures, but that is a daily hazard when photographing street art… and bins, and parked cars etc.
Werm is continuing along his journey, experimenting with bilateral symmetry in his writing. The symmetry in this one is notable, but I think that it might be the colour scheme that initially attracts the eye, with some nice contrasting reds, greens and oranges.
Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2025
What baffles me about writers like Werm is how they manage to get everything ‘right’ if you know what I mean. For example, in this piece the green drop shadow veers off to the right, but it needs to be perfect across all the letters otherwise something would look out of kilter. I suppose the old adage, practice makes perfect, applies here, but it is still an admirable talent.
Today’s posts will have to be the quickest ever. I am staying in Godalming and running a workshop today and forgot to write the blog posts last night, so am squeezing these ones in before breakfast. This is a fine symmetrical piece by Werm on the long wall at Cumberland Basin.
Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2025
At first glance, this doesn’t look too much different from many of his other pieces, but look a little closer and you can see that the subtle fill to the letters is contiguous throughout all the letters, which is a tried and tested technique by graffiti writers, and executed really well here by Werm.
This is a neat and tidy piece of Winter writing from Werm painted in his symmetrical theme design. What is particularly attractive about this piece is that the proportions work really well, and it is really tight.
Werm, River Avon, Bristol, January 2025
Orange and green are common colour combinations in graffiti writing and are colours that work extremely well together. It looks like Werm too his time with this piece, as all the lines are nice and straight, the fills accurate and the highlights very nicely placed. First-class writing from Werm.
Kool Hand and Werm, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2025
I am tired, really tired. Returning to work from a week on leave is tough, and expectations on me are high. Over the Christmas period, I was informed that I would be ‘on loan’ to another team for 2 days a week. I was given no clear instruction, there was no discussion, and today I will be finding out what the tasks expected will be. I am unhappy about the situation, and it is causing me all sorts of unnecessary anxiety, but I will of course be professional and try to do the best job I can. My biggest concern is that I was already working at maximum capacity, and I am worried about the work I will have to drop, and the ‘clients’ I will have to let down. On a more cheery note (thank God I have street/graffiti art to lean on) here is a fine Christmas collaboration from Kool Hand and Werm.
Kool Hand, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2025
A frosty, cold background is a fine setting for both pieces, and Kool Hand has gone for some big KOOL letters which are nicely filled and have some snowy white accents to give a little bit of a 3D perspective. Very festive.
Werm, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2025
Werm presents his letters in the symmetrical form he has been painting throughout 2024, but it is the festive colour selection that is the talking point of this piece. The two-red colour stripes are slightly reminiscent (consciously or otherwise) of Christmas candy sticks, and the green 3D drop shadow completes the holiday mood. Some nice star bursts complete the piece very nicely indeed. A good Christmas piece in a year when there were fewer than usual around the city.
Werm has had a very good year in 2024, and tried out several new variants of his letters, sticking with some and abandoning others. This was a particular theme that saw him through most of the year, crafting the letters WERM into a bilaterally symmetrical pattern.
Werm, Peel Street Green, Bristol, December 2024
This one looks like it might have suffered a little at the hands of the weather, or the background wasn’t fully applied, which is a pity, because it distracts a little from the writing itself, demonstrating why backgrounds can be so important. It’ll be interesting to see if Werm moves on from this style in 2025.
Werm has an amazing capacity to concentrate on a particular style of lettering, focussing on that style for a period of time, and then trying something new and moving on, it feels like restlessness settles in after a few months and new challenges await. This is a wonderful piece that is new to me, and differs from his bilateral symmetry work that has been his hallmark for the last four months or so.
Werm, River Avon, Bristol, December 2024
Werm paints on this stretch of wall a lot, and many of his older pieces are on display here, it is a bit of a Werm gallery. The colours in this piece work incredibly well together, and the shape and form of the letters with some interlocking between them is a new and exciting aspect. I look forward to seeing whether this is a new phase of design that Werm will be adopting, or whether it is a one-off.
The Sparke Evans Park wall tends to look rather nice in the autumn and winter, with the browns and golds of the leaf litter beneath it. These colours provide a nice backdrop, and consciously or otherwise, this piece by Werm has picked up on those seasonal surroundings. The other good thing about this wall in the duller months is that it is possible to photograph it without shadows from trees being cast, resulting in horrible dappling.
Werm, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, November 2024
The writing, spelling out WERM, is one of the best examples of bilateral symmetry in writing you are likely to see. The symmetry becomes even easier to make out because of the colour regimes Werm has selected, breaking it down into sections, thus making it easier for the eye to make comparisons. The dark green background is just right too. Nice work.
I find myself sitting on a Great Western train on my way to London to get to a football match between the mighty Arsenal and Nottingham Forest. The journey has provided me with the gift of time that I don’t get too much of these days, and I am enjoying every second. I am even pushing the boat out with the third street art post of the day, something I am finding increasingly difficult to do.
Werm, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2024
This wonderfully symmetrical piece by Werm is typical of his style at the moment, and one in which I think he is hitting his best form. The letters in a script-like pattern spell WERM and are filled with two shades of orange. The drop shadow is dark blue and the border green. I feel instinctively that these colours shouldn’t really work well together, but somehow they do. In true graffiti writing style, Werm has included plenty of shout outs around the perimeter of the piece.
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.
Werm, River Avon, Bristol, September 2024
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.
Natural adventures 