Here is another fine piece from the slightly unloveable Turoe. This wall is in my view one of the best in Bristol, but it rarely fulfils its potential. I would love to see it fully buffed and some large-scale collaborations painted on it because these days it tends to look a bit messy.
This ‘shyte’ piece was painted back in April and stands out in chrome on a hot yellow, orange and red background. This is a classic wildstyle burner and another in the vast collection of pieces from Turoe.
Always tight, always pretty near perfect. I can’t think of a Dibz piece that hasn’t been meticulous in both design and execution, and if there are any I’ve yet to see them. This is yet another superb piece from Dibz in Dean Lane (his favourite spot) from a week or two back.
In most cases, Dibz buffs the wall first to ensure there is a focus on his wildstyle writing. The day glow green and pink colours stand out on the blue wall, and the design is simply outstanding. Dibz is an artist with a plan and he paints his plan and he does it well. A fine work.
This piece was photographed during a crazy purple patch of brilliant artists hitting the M32 walls a couple of weeks back and I just so happened to be fortunate enough to see them at work two days running. On the second day, when I took these pictures, I had returned to the roundabout to photograph the finished pieces from the day before and was treated with finding a whole ton more artists at work. It doesn’t happen often but when it does it is so rewarding.
I managed to introduce myself to Hemper for the first time and although I have seen him painting before, I’ve not really had the opportunity to say hello. When I arrived Hemper was about half way through this freestyle piece. It is something rather different and resembles slightly a stained glass window.
Hemper was using up dregs from cans hence the explosion of colour, and sprayed the colours first, before carefully going over each colour with the black outline to create this wonderful effect. A great piece on a great day.
Ments has been taking an experimental new direction over the last six months or so with a new kind of organic wildstyle writing. Â A blending of curved shapes and shades loosely coming together to form cryptic letters.
I would have to say that this piece has utterly won me over and I think it is one of the best pieces I have seen from Ments in a while. If these shapes and shades were worked in chromes, greys and whites, there would be a liquid metal feel to it, but no, he has gone for a full colour version of molten metal and it is fantastic. It has been worth the wait to see this new direction for Ments, and I have another new one to share with you soon.
So many artists have has a creative rush since the easing of lock down and one of them is Dibz. Ordinarily you’d be lucky to see a new Dibz piece once every two months or so, but I have seen three in the last month of which this is one.
Dibz is a precision graffiti writer. I have never seen anything by him that isn’t really tight, clean and crisp and I have never to my knowledge seen a throw up from him. This is a very classy piece of writing with a beautifully graded fill from dark red through to orange and yellow. The slim yellow edging on the upper sides of the letters creates a lifting effect. This is a piece for connoisseurs.
What I am rather shocked by is the sheer number of outstanding pieces I have in my archive, and I guess it just goes to show that the high productivity of great street art in Bristol is pretty much relentless, and people like me struggle to keep on top of it. At least this pause caused by the coronavirus lock down provides me with an opportunity to share pieces like this amazing Deamze one that I had left on the shelf.
Although he is now in Hobard, Tasmania, Deamze will be forever a legend in Bristol and is sorely missed. His combination pieces incorpoorating wildstyle writing and a character are out of the top drawer and these technical masterpieces are something we can only reflect on these days.
One of the great things about Bristol is that the reputation for street art draws artists to come and stay or live in the city, so that for every great artist that leaves, at least two arrive, so the future is bright. The king is dead… long live the king.
Back to more familiar territory with this absolute stunner from Hemper at the M32 from March 2016. Although it is obvious now to see the letters HEMS, at the time I took these pictures I was less familiar with Bristol artists and in particular the wildstyle writers, so I probably didn’t post this beauty because I didn’t know the artist,
I cannot begin to articulate just how good this piece is. The letter style is outstanding, but it is the horizontally graded fills with drips and dots that makes this piece special for me. A very classy piece from a top Bristol artist.
Another nice piece of graffiti writing from a resurgent Turoe One, nice and heavy on the chrome. Turoe One is a highly versatile writer who explores different styles and scripts and colours so that if he were writing something other than his name, it could be a challenge to identify his work. Does that make sense?
This photograph was taken during March and was probably my penultimate trip down there before lock down happened. I can walk to the North Bristol spots from home and have been able to check them out, but Bedminster is a bit of a hike, so I’ve not seen whether there is much new there, but I doubt it. I’ll continue to trawl through my archives.
A gallery of incredible graffiti writing from DBK artist Elvs
All pictures by Scooj
Tight is probably the best word to use when describing the work of Dibz. Always meticulously thought out, clean lines, perfect 3D shading, crisp fills and more often than not, fabulous colour choices. Dibz really pays attention to his pieces and each one is carefully constructed to produce a complete and stylish work.
This one in Dean Lane is simply another example of just how accomplished the artist is, and what he lacks in quantity, he more than makes up for in quality. There is beauty in this, and I challenge even the most ardent critics of graffiti writing not to concede that this is a high quality piece. Nice one.
