Sometimes she writes FLUX, but on this occasion she has written LUXE, that is how Bbygwya rolls. Although she hasn’t painted a character for her piece, her letters are very well executed in this contribution to Bnie’s birthday and Vozie’s Baby celebration paint jam underneath the M32.
Bbygwya, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023
Bbygwya has done a great job with her fills in this piece, that I don’t quite know how to describe, magenta squiggles on a purple base I guess. The stars are very clever, giving off a kind of yellow glow or aura. A nice contribution from Bbygwya on what must have been a great, fun day.
Dibz, Fade and Smak, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023
Here we have yet another classy collaboration between Dibz and Fade only this time they are joined by Smak in this Halloween extravaganza. The wall, as I have mentioned several times in the past, might be great fun to paint, especially if it is raining a little, but it is a devil to take decent photographs of unless the light conditions are perfect.
Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023
On the left, Dibz has painted a creepy ‘zombie’ hand clutching at a spray can, putting a finishing touch on the writing to the right of it. The letters are beautifully worked, and Dibz has adopted the traditional colours of Halloween pieces, namely, Orange, purple and black.
Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023
In the middle section, Fade has kept things simple with sticking to writing only with what looks like FADER, but could be something else altogether. All is neat and tidy with the piece as we’ve come to expect.
Smak, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023
On the right-hand side, Smak has joined in with the festive fun with some very fancy letters and a skull character peering over the K to the right. The backdrop to the whole thing is a wonderful spooky silhouette of dead trees and towers, finished off with some autumn leaves sweeping across the entire length f the wall. A classy collaboration from three fabulous writers.
Well this one took me a little bit by surprise, because it is a piece of graffiti writing from Mind 49 who doesn’t usually major on his writing, in fact I think this is the first writing only piece I have seen from this talented artist. Some of his portrait and other pieces have included a few letters, but nothing on this scale.
Mind 49, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023
Everything that you’d expect to see from a good graffiti writer is here… nice letter shapes, great colours and fills. The only thing that I think he needs to work on, and I am being super-picky, might be his outer border, which can be really unforgiving if the line is very thin. All in all, great to see something different from Mind 49, although, to be fair, all of his work is different from piece to piece. The piece fits a time context, with the ‘Free Palestine’ shout out.
I am only an occasional visitor to the Frome Side spot, which sits underneath the M32, adjacent to the M32 Spot, and access is a little tricky, especially in the wet weather, but particularly for the dog. I tend to save up my visits for a time when I can go alone, which these days isn’t all that often. I actually combined this one with a big shop at the Eastville Tesco.
Pekoe, Frome Side, Bristol, November 2023
What a treat awaited, a full wall of RBF paint jam pieces to celebrate Bnie’s birthday with a Rugrats theme. Pekoe absolutely came up trumps with this piece. She has smashed it here, combining her writing with a brilliant portrait of a Rugrats character (Susie Carmichael), and painting each of the letters in the style of the cartoon series, including a letter brick, a ball and a skipping rope. What a brilliant piece from Pekoe, demonstrating her talents with both characters and writing.
About a week ago I posted a piece by Biers which was not too dissimilar to this one. Similar colours and of course overall design of WD40, and incorporating a to cartoon character with ginger hair and glasses. The character from last week’s post was Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory, but I am stumped by this character.
Biers, Hepburn Lane, Bristol, November 2023
I was lucky enough to bump into Biers while he was painting this alongside Bags, but he hadn’t started the character, so I couldn’t ask him directly who it was. It is good to see that Biers is out and about again with his very ‘Bristol’ style of graffiti writing. I have mentioned this before, and I don’t know if this is a perception or a real thing, but I think that different cities and districts have ‘house’ styles, and Biers typifies the Bristol ‘house’ style.
Last week I posted a piece by Hypo that showed something of a development of his style into a more cryptic wildstyle approach. This piece on the other hand is the more familiar graffiti writing we expect to see from Hypo, and what a colour-burst it is too.
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023
The letters are clear to read, and there is a real sense of joy and optimism about the piece. The colours come together as if they were sweets in a jar and the whole thing looks almost edible. I love the design, and the colour fades and decorations, I think though, and I know I am nit-picking, that the black shadow might have been a little tidier. Beautiful work from Hypo.
This is an unusual piece, which I think was probably a Halloween celebration, by an artist I have not encountered before, Jak MCS. No pun intended, but this is without doubt an eye catching piece, and I would have posted it sooner had I known who the artist was.
Jak MCS, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, October 2023
I would like to think that the writing says something, but the only thing I can come up with is voodoo, although it looks more like goo goo. Each of the elements of the piece, the eyes, the letters and the background are well done, but for me, there is something not quite right and it might be something as simple as the thinness of the yellow paint. Great to see yet another artist painting in Bristol.
From time to time I get to see pieces that I really like and can’t quite explain what it is that sparks my interest. This is one of those pieces. I was mystified originally about the artist, and my first thought was WERM, but I discounted that very quickly on the grounds that the letters weren’t right, and it isn’t quite in his style – it was a plausible guess for about ten seconds. Then I had to do a little digging to establish that it is by Zaenone, an artist I know nothing about.
Zaenone, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, October 2023
The colourful fills fade into one another in vertical strips in quite an unusual way and the letters are open, allowing the bleed of fill through the whole piece. A nice, strong white border contrasts with the fills and the black drop shadow. Two weird faces bookend the letters and create some additional interest. This is a fun and well balanced piece from Zaenone.
Laic217, Zake, Face 1st and Chill, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Lately, Laic217 seems to have been adopted as a member of the ever-lively PWA crew, and certainly he appears to enjoy painting with them. This was a joyous paint jam, which Paul and I were lucky enough to witness in action (I returned a few days later to get the completed pieces), with all the contributors in great form.
Laic217 and Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023
To the left, Laic217 painted a small skull character, for which he can be forgiven, having already painted his Halloween piece on a nearby wall. Next to Lic217, Zake has painted another of his expressive face pieces. It is interesting to watch how Zake is slowly inching towards characters that are a little more realistic and I wonder if in five more years he will be dabbling with photorealism in the way that Shade One has.
Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Face 1st is and always will be one of my favourite Bristol artists, my landmark and barometer of the graffiti art scene in the city. This fun piece has a girl with a particularly gloopy face holding some laughing girl balloons. Chatting to Face 1st, it turns out that he is working for a while only a stone’s throw away from my house, and I have seen him at work on at leat one occasion.
Chill, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Chill rounds off this wonderful collaborative wall with a nicely designed character piece with some interesting Picassoesque undertones and a mouth that Sweet Toof would be proud of. The leafy tendrils from Chill’s piece stretch across the whole collaboration as a bit of a golden thread. This was painted for Halloween, but the only references seem to be the graves under Face 1st’s girl. A great piece on a great wall.
By the time you read this, I will be in Birmingham for a greater team gathering, the first since Covid19 first struck, and long overdue. I will be (I am writing this last night) arriving 45 minutes early and will try to sniff out some street art in the Birmingham New Street area (if there is any – I know there is tons in the city, but I just don’t know where. Keeping my fingers crossed. This is a belter from Rusk, who makes his second appearance in as many days.
Rusk, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2023
I would describe this piece as being funky, it reminds me of the rather carefree 1970s, when fashion and style took a monumental dive, which we can only now really appreciate through rose-tinted spectacles. Pulsating with colour and flashes, there is a lot of disco movement in the letters RUSK. Of course the whole thing is finished perfectly and a complete banger.
Natural adventures 