Tag: Writer

5847. M32 Cycle path (252)

Pura Decadencia, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024
Pura Decadencia, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

Every once in a while, Pura Decadencia drops a piece as if just to remind us that she is still out there. It is a pity that she doesn’t paint on the streets more often, because her quirky writing and vampire teeth add breadth to the spectrum of styles, nationalities and content of Bristol’s street/graffiti art culture.

Pura Decadencia, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024
Pura Decadencia, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, February 2024

I think that this might be the tightest piece I have seen from Pura Decadencia, with nice bubble letters a strong yellow border/drop shadow and some lovely fills, with great transitions between the colours. Of course, not Pura Decadencia piece is complete without a set of vampire teeth drawing blood. I hope we don’t have to wait too long before her next piece.

5843. Greenbank (106)

Sub and Bloem, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024
Sub and Bloem, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024

I mentioned in a previous post what a pleasure it had been to meet Sub and Bloem painting together under the M32 a few weeks back. The pleasure continued on finding this pair of pieces on the long hoarding at Greenbank. While the two artists collaborate, in so much as they paint together, their work is separate and distinct.

Sub, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024
Sub, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024

Sub writes his bold oversized letters, with deep drop-shadows, and I guess that a challenge for him is to fill a space with only three letters. There aren’t too many writers who only use three letters, I suppose that Slim Pickings, who writes TES would be one. The fill is augmented with his trademark wisp of smoke running over it, and he incorporates some interesting drip work along the top.

Bloem, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024
Bloem, Greenbank, Bristol, February 2024

Alongside Sub is this quirky piece by Bloem. It would seem that she ha a bit of a thing for old ‘brick’ style mobile phones, and hands with pointy nails. What I like is that she varies these motifs from piece to piece, keeping both the theme running and keeping things interesting. Bloem is one of those artists whose work I always love finding, like Pekoe, Face 1st, Kid Crayon, Fiva, to name a few. This is a fine couple of pieces and I look forward to many more from the pair to come.

5839. Dean Lane skate park (689)

Raid, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Raid, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

With the exception of commissions or permitted walls, street art and graffiti art in Bristol is largely an illegal activity that can at times be edgy in either content or placement or indeed both. The former Salvation Army building, on which this writing by Raid has been sprayed, has recently been converted into flats/accommodation and abuts the skate park. Historically, this has been an area with a high level of graffiti and tagging, but the redevelopers cleaned up their walls, presumably to tidy up the building to make it more attractive to buyers/tenants. There is nothing more tempting for graffiti writers, in particular, than a nice freshly cleaned wall in an area of high graffiti activity, and it looks like Raid gave in to the temptation.

Raid, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Raid, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

From my perspective, not only is this a really nice piece from Raid, but it looks great against the clean brick wall… and there we have it, the edge, the mischief, the anti-establishment stance and so on that graffiti and street art have come to represent. We will all have our views on this, and that is what keeps the culture vibrant and the discussions fresh. For my part, I love street art and graffiti art (naturally) and prefer it to be in the right places. Sometimes you just have to admire the outliers too, and I admire this piece from Raid.

 

5837. M32 roundabout J3 (554)

Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024

I mentioned a little while back in a Minto post that we were likely to see a lot more of his work, and indeed that is exactly the case. There is something quite unique in the way that Minto combines his letters with characters or scenes to build up a story, and this one is a very green story.

Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024

The letters spell out, unsurprisingly, the word MINTO, and contains three or four faces sort of organically melded into the letters. To the right, the end face reminds me of the faces on the trains and other vehicles in the Thomas the Tank Engine books, but maybe that is just me. This is a nicely thought out and painted piece from Minto.

5834. M32 roundabout J3 (553)

Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol February 2024
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol February 2024

On return from a week out of Bristol, the first piece I came across was this double-header by Stivs, which was a bit of a treat. A few days later, I was lucky enough to run into Stivs, on the other side of the roundabout and he told me that before he wrote STIVS, he used to write CRAP or variants of it, and that these two pieces are in recognition of that.

Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol February 2024
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol February 2024

It looks like Stivs is enjoying some dayglo colours, giving his formal calligraffiti style letters a bit of a 1980s vibe. The first piece, I think, reads KRAP, which is slightly amusing because the word is at odds with the fine writing. Another artist who has done something similar in the past is Turoe, with his shite/shyte pieces.

Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol February 2024
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol February 2024

The second piece is perhaps a little easier to read. I am glad to see that my dog’s rear end has managed to make it into the shot, just as a reminder that he is with me 99% of the time when I am photographing street/graffiti art. I expect lots more to come from Stivs this year, especially as he now lives a little closer to this spot.

5833. Peel Street Green (27)

Mr Klue, Peel Street Green, Bristol, February 2024
Mr Klue, Peel Street Green, Bristol, February 2024

Mr Klue has definitely woken from his winter slumbers and is doing what he does so well, and decorating the walls of Bristol with his unique abstract ethereal letters. I am not too sure though that I have ever seen a piece of his on this wall before, and it is nice to see him break away from the security of his favourite spot in the tunnel.

Mr Klue, Peel Street Green, Bristol, February 2024
Mr Klue, Peel Street Green, Bristol, February 2024

I suspect that Mr Klue has a large stock of blue, green and white tints, as his last three pieces have all had very similar colour schemes. The letters spell, as usual, KLUE, but are so very well disguised. I am guessing, and hoping, that this early year flurry of pieces extends well into 2024.

5832. M32 roundabout J3 (52)

Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024
Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024

There was no stopping Hemper during the Covid period, but now things have returned to relative normality, his productivity has fallen back considerably, which makes it extra special when he does get out and paint one of his stunning burners.

Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024
Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024

This is a wonderful piece of graffiti writing bursting with colour and energy, spelling out the letters DRAPE, which I am guessing is a shout-out, rather than a tribute. Each letter in this piece has been given a different colour treatment and fill patterns. There is lots to look at and enjoy in this skilfully pulled together writing.

5830. St Mark’s Avenue (11)

Phour and Mates, St Mark's Avenue, Bristol, January 2024
Phour and Mates, St Mark’s Avenue, Bristol, January 2024

For a little while, now, I have been aware that Phour has been painting with a new companion, Mates. Their combinations can be seen in walls and fences all around Bristol, but I think that this is the first post with both of them on Natural Adventures.

Phour, St Mark's Avenue, Bristol, January 2024
Phour, St Mark’s Avenue, Bristol, January 2024

This collaborative wall is themed with chrome lettering on a red background. Phour, painting his distinctive and clean letters in a way that is very pleasing on the eye, kicks things off in this straightforward piece. Judging from the little bit of greenery in the letter ‘O’, I would guess that the piece has been here for a little while.

Mates, St Mark's Avenue, Bristol, January 2024
Mates, St Mark’s Avenue, Bristol, January 2024

To the right, Mates makes his debut on Natural Adventures with some very nice letter shapes in chrome, with a black drop shadow on the red background. The letter design feels very familiar, and reminds me of the kinds of fonts you would see in children’s comics like Beano, The Dandy, Beezer and so on. Watch this space for more from this pairing.

5829. Peel Street Green (26)

Sub, Peel Street Green, Bristol, February 2024
Sub, Peel Street Green, Bristol, February 2024

Having only recently graced the pages of Natural Adventures, Sub, I have a feeling, is going to feature more and more going forward. This large piece in Peel Street Green combines his big letters with a pussycat character. The piece was overpainted last week with some writing that incorporated (and by implication, took credit for) the cat… Sub has since returned and restored his own letters.

Sub, Peel Street Green, Bristol, February 2024
Sub, Peel Street Green, Bristol, February 2024

Sub’s letters tend to be super-large and simply filled, but it is the inclusion of his cartoon, manga-style cat, that adds lots of interest to the piece. This is a nice clean and tidy piece, and it will be interesting to see if the incorporation of characters will become more of a thing for the artist. Nice work.

5828. M32 roundabout J3 (551)

Marckinetic and Kid Krishna, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024
Marckinetic and Kid Krishna, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024

I am mildly hungover following a wonderful wedding party for our niece, in the extraordinary setting of Farnham Castle on the border of Surrey and Hampshire, and am writing this post sitting in the car, waiting to get home back to Bristol. Fast forward a few hours, and I am now completing this post at home, a little later than usual.

Marckinetic, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024
Marckinetic, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024

This is a fabulous collaborative wall from Marckinetic and Kid Krishna, a duo who have started off 2024 in vigorous fashion. Marckinetic’s disguised FFS letters are written in such a unique style and filled with his wonderful ‘cosmic’ patterning, that they simply couldn’t be by any other artist. Creative and wonderfully presented, his work is always a pleasure to see.

Kid Krishna, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024
Kid Krishna, M32 roundabout, Bristol, February 2024

Kid Krishna has been on fire this year too, after a relatively quiet period, so much so that I am going to have to gather up several of his early year pieces into a single post soon. The colours of this piece broadly match those used by Marckinetic, and create a feast for the eyes, enhanced by being painted on the black background. The letters CRIE are probably there somewhere. This is a fabulous collaborative wall from these unconventional graffiti writers.