Two artists that have had a great and productive year are Asre and Zinso, and I guess that their friendship/collaboration has in part helped each to keep at it. This is a nice, gentle piece by Asre in one of his favoured spots in Dean Lane.
The large letters are forgiving in form and filled with a subtle combination of lilac and soft pink ‘bubbles’. Two further things come to the aid of the letters, the black drop shadow and the vibrant green providing contrast. An uplifting piece from Asre.
I was so pleased to find this piece by Werm, who like many other artists has struggled to paint this winter, I assume, because of the rain. Werm painted this spot some years ago with a skull piece, and I think that this is a throwback piece to the original painted in February 2023.
I guess you could call this a combination piece, although the skull and letters are discrete. On the left, the skull (from the cat family I guess) is beautifully observed, with some great shading to bring out the form and depth. The proportions work really well – skulls can be very difficult to paint. The writing on the right spells out WERM stacked, two letters on top of the other two. Overall, this is a fine work from Werm and almost like a study to practice his craft.
There was a time when finding a Trafficity piece was something of a rarity, but it feels like he has ever so slightly turned up the dial over the last couple of years and is in a good rhythm. Trafficity’s work is quite remarkable in that he sticks to his intricate design piece after piece, with only colour changes and minor decorations. His consistency is his trademark.
Like Cort (see previous post), Trafficity belongs to the PAD crew, which is mainly composed of Polish artists. Bristol is full of these little communities of artists, sometimes defined by nationality, sometimes by gender, sometimes by friendship or sometimes a combination of all of these. The letters spell ZIOS, which is reasonably easy to see once you know. It is always good to find pieces by Trafficity.
Cort tends to bring some lovely colours into his work, often choosing ones that both contrast with and complement each other well. This approach brings into focus just how important colour selection can be, and that it is not a random process for most artists, but a carefully considered process.
The sunlight on this piece isn’t very helpful, but I think you get the picture. The KORT letters are so typically written in his unusual style, and pairs of letters are filled in common. It looks like he was running low on some colours, or the piece has been badly rain affected, because it is possible to see the paint lines in some of the fills. Another nice piece from Cort.
This was a piece from a little while ago by Kool Hand, celebrating his own birthday with some friends in the tunnel. For some reason, my iPhone was playing up that day, and my photographs a little blurry – some kind of auto-setting might have kicked in because of the low light levels.
The combination piece has the letters KOOL accompanied by a trademark orangutan head, and the whole thing is very nicely presented. Kool Hand is an artist whose work just keeps on developing gradually but consistently. A very nice birthday present to self.
For quite a while now, I have been photographing Fasho’s writing, but held back on posting any pieces due to the fact that I know nothing at all about the artist. It seems that until I meet them, I’ll not find out any more, so I thought I’d go ahead with this nice green piece in the tunnel.
Fasho has a rather unique style of writing that includes exaggerated rounded ends to all the letters, giving the writing a soft appearance. This combination piece (which I am assuming is all by Fasho, although the character might be another artist’s work) contains the letters FASHO and a gun-wielding soldier on the left. There is good definition between the green fills and patterns and the white and black borders, keeping the piece tidy. A peace icon in the position of the ‘O’ indicate where this piece is coming from. Much more from Fasho to come from my archives.
There was a time when Klashwhensober was the most prolific graffiti writer in Bristol, by some margin. For personal reasons that run came to a fairly abrupt end. After a quiet year or so, Klashwhensober has returned in a much more measured and regulated fashion, painting the odd piece here and there.
This piece on the roundabout has been painted over some other work, and is perhaps less defined around the edges than it might be. The letters spell SOBER and are nicely filled with red, white and blue, with some creative fills throughout. Although it looks a little busy, there is a calmness about this piece which I hope is a reflection on the artist’s current situation.
There is something rather nice when artists who are at the top of the ladder find time to get back to their roots with a bit of graffiti writing, and I don’t think there is anybody who does it better than Sled One.
This is a lovely piece on my favourite curved wall, which has been rather neglected of late, with the letters ASK, After School Klub, the most established Bristol crew. Sled One would have almost certainly free-styled this piece and probably rather quickly, but such is his talent that it looks pretty much perfectly conceived and executed. Cracking work.
A gallery of intricate, colourful and disguised graffiti writing from Bristol’s Dirtygypo.
Instagram: @dirtygypo
All photographs by Scooj
Haka is another of those artists who is at the very heart of the Bristol graffiti art scene. His authentic and good-natured style, and occasionally, although less so in recent years, politically motivated work has been replaced in the last three or so years with lighthearted children’s picture book combinations. This piece is just a straightforward piece of graffiti writing.
This bright and optimistic piece is painted on some relatively new hoardings alongside the River Avon, surrounding a new development – you can see the initial concrete pillars, which I am guessing will be lift shafts for the new building. Haka has produced a lovely clean piece with great yellow and orange colour separation and plenty of fill decorations. A drop shadow veers off to the right, and the whole thing is contained in a green background splat with orange crack lines. A really nice piece of graffiti writing.
Natural adventures 