This is a cracking January piece by Smak of Read and Weep (RAW). Alongside a nice piece from Elvs, this fabulous example of wildstyle writing really showcases the technical art involved to create great graff.
Smak, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2018
With a little bit of training you can read the work SMAK, but it is all tghat surroubnds the letters that makes this piece stand out. the two predominint colours alternating through the piece, freat shadows and shading and a pleasing symetry to the whole work. One of Bristol’s best writers.
I think this is the last piece I have from the Halloween 2017 session by members of the ASK crew. The others were by Sepr, Sled One, Feek and Inkie. This is by the extraordinarily talented Epok.
Epok, Brunel Way bridge, Bristol, November 2017
Nobody writes quite the way Epok writes, with his highly designed angular letters which have a stro9ng geometric and architectural feel to them. The photograph really doesn’t do justice to this piece which is positioned under a bridge, where the light competes with the dark. All of the pieces here are much better seen in the flesh, than captured by a rank amateur like me. At least I can give you a feel for the artworks.
Another one from back in July last year, this time from Hire, who seems very much at home in Dean Lane. With a contrasting yellow background, this fabulous piece of gothic wildstyle writing stands out brilliantly.
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017
Hire is a highly talented graffiti writer, who I can’t help feeling is slightly overlooked in the Bristol scene, so I am certainly playing my part in ‘bigging him up’. I cannot be sure, but I think this piece says HIRE. I think it is classy.
Clearly Whysayit spent a little more time on this lovely piece in Moon Street than he has done on some of his other graffiti writing. One of the things I really like about this writer is that he can produce work on a spectrum, from scrawly tagging through to quick throw ups and to something like this which is a nicely executed clean piece.
Whysayit, Moon Street, Bristol, January 2018
The colours are excellent, the green hovering beautifully on top of the pink. The fill is clever too, starting as spots on the left, transforming to stripes on the right. Whysayit has also created a real feeling of depth to this piece. There is so much more to graffiti art than simply disguising letters.
I have become rather fond of Elvs pieces recently. I enjoy their symmetry and the Gothic styling. and the colours he uses. This is a recent example of his work on the roundabout of the M32.
Elvs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2017
I believe he comes from Cardiff, but tends to make fairly regular visits to Bristol to seek out some walls. He is in my view one of the best DBK artists…DBK seems to have such a broad spectrum from fairly hopeless taggers at one end right up to rather classy graffiti artists like Elvs. Nice new year piece.
Over the Christmas break, I took a train from Waterloo to Woking to visit the inlaws. I allowed myself some extra time to take a quick look at the graffiti art in Leake Street tunnel which runs under Waterloo Station. There was a great deal of wildstyle writing which I was not familiar with – London art is still a bit of a mystery to me – but I did recognise a couple of pieces by Sky High, of which this is one.
Sky High, Leake Street, London, December 2017
I know his work from visits he has made to Bristol in the past to Moon Street, Magdalen Place and Dean Lane. The piece features his characteristic block lettering in multiple styles and a curious snake at the left hand end. I have to say I am not sure about the snake, it is incongruous and I think the piece would be better without it. Maybe that is just me though.
SkyHigh, Moon Street, Bristol, July 2016Sky High, Magdalene Place, Bristol, June 2016Sky High, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2016
The truth about Face F1st is that I simply can’t keep up with him at the moment, he is being so incredibly productive. Another thing about his work is that it is largely confined to Stokes Croft and the M32 roundabout. I think I have only ever seen one piece of his in Bedminster.
Face F1st, City Road, Bristol, December 2017
In this piece we see Face F1st using some rather more upbeat colours compared with the sober tones he usually uses. I’m afraid that the focus in the feature photograph is really poor, and I might have to replace the picture when I next get a chance. I really like this piece.
It is always a pleasure to see a piece in progress and, if you are lucky enough, to see it again once completed. This was one such work by Ugar, our very own Hungarian Maestro.
Ugar, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2017
I am really interested in seeing how he layers his work and that in common with many other writers, he starts with draft outline letters and then fills in the background before filling the letters. This feels counter-intuitive to me…being a non-artist, I would simply slap the background down first and then work up from there…this is one of the reasons why I am not out there spraying (apart from an utter absence of talent).
Ugar, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2017
The final piece of wildstyle writing is exquisite and all the more admirable for being worked onto the pre-existing colourful piece beneath it. I must confess that I had come to photograph the Erase piece that Ugar sprayed over, and was a little disappointed initially. That was until I saw the final product. I am looking forward to seeing more from Ugar in 2018.
You’d have to go back to July 2017 to see this, although it remained for a few months. The fine Deamze piece was sprayed on the Where the Wall curated wall in Wilder Street and was one of three pieces sprayed at that time, the others being by Aintzane Crucet and Hide2
.
Deamze, Wilder Street, Bristol, August 2017
Deamze is the local artist of the three and probably played host to the other two, making arrangements for them to spray this wall. His is a technically fabulous piece, and the colour selections were made to blend in with the other two artists. I love the way that artists cooperate and collaborate like this, it certainly seems to bring out the best in them.
Hide2, Wilder Street, Bristol, August 2017Aintzane Crucet, Wilder Street, Bristol, August 2017
It is always a pleasure to come across writing by Whysayit. I know that it almost certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, graffiti writing rarely is, but once you have a taste for it and ‘get your eye in’ it becomes rather compelling and addictive.
Whysayit, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2017
In this piece, Whysayit is playing with the last letters of his usual moniker, so it has a slightly different form from the usual YSAE. Graffiti writing lends itself to this playful approach and it is all part of the game. As usual he has some decent colour selections and interesting shadow patterns in this one. Lots more of his work out there…finding it is the trick.