With this piece in St Werburghs tunnel, Inkie demonstrates his versatility, and shows that he can paint way outside his ‘house’ style that is so familiar to folk in Bristol. This piece was painted during the incredibly well attended February paint jam organised by Ryder.
Inkie, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2024
Inkie has painted something of a tribute to Galaxian, a computer game from 1979 that could be found in pretty much every pub or arcade in the early 1980s usually alongside Asteroids. The INKIE letters have been painted in the Galaxian brand style, and he has included rows of spaceships in formation. This is a wonderfully painted piece of ’80s nostalgia, which would have resonated with most of the other artists who participated in the paint jam.
The day I originally photographed this wonderful piece by Kid Crayon was very wet indeed, and although most days have been wet this winter/spring, that day was particularly wet. I mention this because, unfortunately, my original set of photographs were blurred with a spot of rain on the lens. Of course, by the time I returned to get more pictures, the piece had been tagged, so this post has a blurred untagged image and a crisp tagged one. It can be difficult to win at this game sometimes.
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
Kid Crayon has been out a couple of times recently, and it is great to see, I certainly miss his work during the long gaps of street inactivity. In recent years, his work mainly consists of a letters/character combination and with this piece he doesn’t disappoint. The letters are painted in modest colour tones, and the ‘seams’ ‘bolted’ together with ‘rivets’, a writing technique used by other artists in Bristol.
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
The character face is the star of the piece in my eyes an harks back to Kid Crayon’s early wheatpaste faces that got me curious about street art in Bristol in the first place, back in 2015. The trademark crayon is present, floating in front of the character’s face – who needs a signature and letters spelling out your name when you only have to include a floating crayon?
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
At the time of painting this wonderful piece, Kid Crayon left a little extra, as he often does, by painting the bin at the far corner of the skate park. Stylish stuff.
Probably the most notable ‘high-end’ collaboration partnership of the last twelve months has been that between Fade and Dibz. Shortly after Fade’s return to the UK, he teamed up with Dibz and they haven’t looked back since, turning out outstanding collaborative pieces on an almost weekly basis. For sure, the increased output from Dibz has been incredible, as he had slowed down a bit during the Covid years.
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
On the left Fade has written FADE in fairly soft lilacs with turquoise borders but surrounded them with vibrant bright oranges and yellows, providing contrast and interest. To the right is a character, Son Goku, from the TV series Dragon Ball – I never saw it, perhaps because I was too old, and didn’t have kids (1989-1996). I don’t know who painted the character… it may have been a joint effort.
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
To the right Dibz has adopted a similar colour scheme, although applied in a different way. Such perfect writing, wonderfully tight as you’d expect. These two continue to smash it with every piece they paint, and it doesn’t look like they will be slowing down any time soon.
Saor has been dropping some utterly outstanding pieces for such a long while now, that it is far too easy to take them for granted, and this beauty in Dean Lane is another one to come off the production line. Unfortunately, this piece, and others that were painted during the same session, was a little rain-affected, and there are a few unintentional dips knocking around.
Saor, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
The cartoon character, Astro Boy, is one that I can identify because I used to watch it repeatedly with my children when they were younger. The design of the letters SAOR is beyond brilliant, and as ever executed with extraordinary precision. It is interesting to contrast the familiar character with the high design of the letters, confusing the visual narrative a little. Just another wonderful piece from Saor.
How great it is that ShyHigh and Roo have friends/family in Bristol, because it means that if we get lucky, they swing by to visit and while here, decorate a few walls for us. Their latest visit yielded this exceptional piece from SkyHigh on the fat pillar wall underneath Brunel Way. Roo also painted a few nearby spots (to follow).
SkyHigh, Brunel Way, Bristol, March 2024
As I would expect, the large piece from SkyHigh is a wonderful mash up of letter styles to create the whole words SKY HIGH. Each letter is perfectly presented, and although discrete, somehow works with the letters adjacent. I love the ‘paper-based’ letters, ‘S’ written on note paper and the ‘i’ written on a ‘Hello my name is’ sticker. Brilliant work from a brilliant and creative writer. Come back soon.
Mind 49 is establishing himself as something of a new force in Bristol street art and graffiti writing, expanding his range and pushing boundaries with every new piece he creates. He is perhaps better known for his portrait pieces, that seem to capture the subject in an unconventional pose, but he has been working on his writing too recently.
Mind 49, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024
This recent piece, on the ever-diminishing hoarding which borders the Chocolate Factory development, demonstrates perfectly Mind 49’s writing style. Spelling out MInD, the letters are beautifully filled with a beautifully selected set of soft colours, which abut with one another with lines, stars and circles. Great drop-shadows, borders and decorations finish the job off nicely. We are lucky to have Mind 49 hitting a bit of a purple patch… long may it last.
I was fortunate yesterday in being in the right place at the right time and bumped into Inkie, Sepr and Haka who were painting a wall alongside the M32, I think with some links to St Patrick’s Day, or at least that is what Inkie implied. I managed to have a quick chat with Haka who continues to smash it with his writing/character combination pieces, heavily influenced by the picture books in his household.
Haka, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2024
This wonderful piece, painted as part of Ryder’s RAW paint jam, features The Very Busy Spider, created by Eric Carle (author and illustrator of The Hungry Caterpillar).Bookended by the letters HA-KA, the spider is waiting patiently in its web, faithful to the style of the illustrator. A fun piece that sadly didn’t last very long.
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, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024
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.
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, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
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.
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, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2024
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.
