Writer – Page 106 – Natural adventures

5879. M32 Cycle path (255)

Todoaciem, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

There is something visually poetic about great calligraffiti, and whilst not always the easiest on the eye, it somehow feels like it is at the ‘high-brow’ end of graffiti writing. Whatever one’s opinion on the final product, there is a lot of control, discipline and skill required to create a stand-out piece of calligraffiti.

Todoaciem is one of two top-class calligraffiti artists in Bristol, and this piece on the M32 Cycle path amply demonstrates his quality. Painting in blue and yellow, a combination he has used to good effect before, Todoaciem has letters that stand out, because of their contrast, the yellow providing a drop shadow for the blue letters. A tidy piece from a skilled writer.

5878. Dean Lane skate park (695)

When I think about Hire’s art, I pretty much always visualise it in Dean Lane, and although he has painted other spots in Bristol, it is his favoured spot. This long piece of graffiti writing spells out ODIAH. I am not sure why Hire sometimes writes the word, and I have checked in Google translate that it isn’t a Polish word – something to ask him next time I see him.

Hire has prepped the wall nicely in this writing/character combination piece, creating something that is neat, clean and tidy. I suspect that writing on brick walls is a little easier as the uniformity of the letters can be measured on the brick courses, making things easy on the eye. I have no idea what the panda is all about, but it looks a little menacing, with its eye patch (clever) and broken bottle. It is always good to find Hire’s work, always.

5877. St Werburghs tunnel (410)

Lokey, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2024

A couple of weeks ago, Ryder organised a massive Read and Weep (RAW) paint jam in St Werburghs tunnel, drawing artists from Bristol and beyond, to congregate in the darkness and damp and produce some amazing art in a party atmosphere. One of the artists, who doesn’t paint nearly often enough, was Lokey.

Lokey has a special place in Bristol graffiti writing, because, other than Zase perhaps, he is the only artist who paints his letters in an anamorphic style. Anamorphic in this sense means that the letters appear to stand out from the wall, almost as if you are looking through 3D glasses. It is on the same spectrum of art as trompe l’oeil, designed to deceive and confuse the eye. Clever stuff, and always very welcome.

5876. Sparke Evans Park (694)

Evey, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, February 2024

This is a really interesting paint jam piece from Evey, celebrating Desi’s and her own birthday a few weeks back. The reason that it is interesting is that Evey has gone with a totally different style of graffiti writing from her comfort zone. This piece is a little bit more ‘hard-core’ and traditional, demonstrating her growing confidence and skills with a spray can.

I would say that this is a really great piece of writing, although I feel the bottom half is stronger than the top half, which may have something to do with the colour selections. The bottom half pops, the top half less so. This phenomenon is not peculiar to Evey, I see this in quite a lot of pieces of writing, where the top half drifts a bit. More contrast with the background might do the trick… but what do I know?

5874. Greenbank (108)

Laic217, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024

Laic217 seems to have a plethora of ways to surprise me. Often his pieces appear unannounced, and so discovering them definitely feels special, but what surprised me with this piece is that it immediately took me back to some of the very earliest pieces of his that I started photographing a few years back.

The character, for once, not a skull, is wearing a bucket hat with a satanic protection mask strapped to it. To the right of the portrait is a letter ‘L’ for Laic which has been hollowed out and blocked with a deep 3D drop shadow.

The face, with its harsh features, could only be by Laic217. I don’t know what it is about his style, but it is quite unique. Looking at the close up, it almost looks like it has been painted on a canvas with brushes, and maybe that is what gives Laic217 his uniqueness. This is yet another awesome piece from one of Bristol’s very best street artists.

5872. Dean Lane skate park (694)

Pekoe and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

It is not often that you find a Fade/Pekoe collaboration, but I have been photographing street art and graffiti writing for long enough to know that you should always expect the unexpected. I wonder whether this was a planned thing or whether they found themselves at the same place at the same time and decided to paint together. I guess I’ll only ever know if I ask them.

Pekoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

Pekoe has smashed it again with this wonderful portrait piece, and there is something about the presentation of her work these days that makes me think she is in a good place emotionally and that it is surfacing in her paintings. The subject has wonderful full lips, dark eyes, hoop earrings and an absence of tears. The decorative shapes help to break the piece up a little and add to it significantly.

You simply can’t hold Fade back at the moment – not that you’d want to – and his enthusiasm for painting walls is not only expressed in the quantity of the pieces he paints, but also in the incredibly sharp quality of his work. The letters here are very crisp, the transitions of the fills are exceptional and the 3D drop shadow nicely uniform. Fade comes across as a bit of a perfectionist, which is probably why he enjoys painting with Dibz so much. This is a very nice collaborative wall.

#DFTE

A gallery of short philosophical musings from the creative mind of Bristol’s #DFTE

Instagram: @d.f.t.e

all photographs by Scooj

#DFTE, Dean Lane, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024

#DFTE, Cheltenham Paint Festival, Cheltenham, July 2023

#DFTE, Weston Wallz,Weston-super-Mare, May 2023

#DFTE and Fishlock, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2023

Dave Sharp and #DFTE, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2022

#DFTE, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2019

#DFTE, Christmas Steps, Bristol, March 2020

#DFTE, Christmas Steps, Bristol, February 2020

#DFTE, Leonard Lane, Bristol, Jnuary 2020

#DFTE, Cumberland Road, Bristol, November 2019

#DFTE, Welshback, Bristol, September 2019

#DFTE, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2019

5869. M32 cycle path (254)

Soap, Zake and Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

Although street art and graffiti can be and is painted at any time of day and on any day, there is definitely a strong pulse of activity on weekends. At times, it can be more difficult for me to get out at the weekend than during he week, which might seem counterintuitive, but there is no rhythm to the weekends, and there is always so much to do. This fabulous PWA collaboration was painted at a weekend, but I didn’t get to see it until the following week on my rounds.

Soap, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

This one is a triptych with Soap on the left, Zake in the middle and Face 1st on the right, in the letters – character – letters format so commonly used in collaborations. Soap has painted a beauty, with big letters spelling out his name and a character from the cartoon series Adventure Time (I think) replacing the letter ‘O’. I m not too sure about the the bleeding heart, but I guess there is a story there, conscious or unconscious, somewhere.

Zake, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

In the middle is something rather different from Zake. We are used to seeing cartoon-style portraits, full of depth, so this bullet comes as a bit of a surprise. I am guessing that it is the bullet that is causing such carnage running through the whole collaboration.

Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

On the right, Face 1st has painted one of his blocky FACE pieces of graffiti writing, with very deep drop shadows and a rather distressed face peering through the ‘A’. There is an indication of trauma here too, continuing the collaboration theme. The crew are carrying on in 2024, where they left off in 2023, and that can only be good news.

5868. Dean Lane skate park (693)

It is rare to find a Fade piece these days that is not immediately associated with a piece by Dibz and at times his work can be eclipsed by the overall collaborations they create, so it is great to see a fabulous standalone piece of graffiti writing from Fade, and this is a beauty.

Painted in greyscale on a black background, the impact of the letters has to be really strong, and it is. Spelling out FADE in letters that pop out from the wall, especially along the bottom edge. A nice touch is the little black ‘ink’ trail all around the outside of the piece. All in all, a fabulous and rather special piece of graffiti writing.

5867. St Werburghs tunnel (409)

Kid Krishna, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2024

A little earlier in the year, Kid Krishna announced his return to the streets after a bit of a quiet period. Since January, he has been super-active and smashing it on walls all over the city, so much so that I am having to consider bunching a few of them together into a single post.

One of the things that Kid Krishna brings to his pieces is an incredible sense of colour, sometimes subtle and other times overt, but always carefully matched and incorporated. I have been puzzling over the character, and feel like I should know who it is, more than that, he was on some posters which I spotted in Nottingham, or something very similar. It will remain a mystery. This is a lovely fresh piece from Kid Krishna in the tunnel.

	Sheree on 7622. North Street
	paulh121 on Oblivious
	paulh121 on 7620. M32 roundabout J3 (…
	hitandrun1964 on What is she?
	hitandrun1964 on 7620. M32 roundabout J3 (…

	Sheree on 7622. North Street
	paulh121 on Oblivious
	paulh121 on 7620. M32 roundabout J3 (…
	hitandrun1964 on What is she?
	hitandrun1964 on 7620. M32 roundabout J3 (…

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