7190. Lucky Lane (6)

#DFTE, Lucky Lane, Bristol, September 2025
#DFTE, Lucky Lane, Bristol, September 2025

Our street philosopher, #DFTE, has been at it again, this time with a large mural piece painted during the recent Bristol Mural Collective paint jam in Lucky Lane. Nobody else does anything like this, so it is always easy to identify his work.

#DFTE, Lucky Lane, Bristol, September 2025
#DFTE, Lucky Lane, Bristol, September 2025

‘Dream big and believe in yourself’ are fine words, and just the confidence boost we could all do with from time to time. It reminds me of a wonderful piece of graffiti that used to be in the centre of Bristol that simply said ‘You look beautiful’. #DFTE’s big and bold letters have the most wonderful drips, something he has developed and perfected over time. I still haven’t yet met the artist, but it is just a matter of time I am sure.

7188. Cumberland Basin

Ments, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2025
Ments, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2025

Aha! how absolutely blooming brilliant to come across this outstanding piece from Ments, an artist whose abstract work I have long admired, but who rarely seems to paint these days. This piece was painted alongside Sled One, both of whom were pioneers in ‘colonising’ this particular wall – now a firm favourite with local and visiting artists.

Ments, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2025
Ments, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, September 2025

There is a fluidity to Ments’ work, which comes across in this piece. Everything is carefully thought out, the colours and shapes, and even the scatter of blue shards bursting from left to right. A very classy piece that highlights how much Ments’ absence is felt.

7185. M32 roundabout J3 (716)

Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025
Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025

Soap doesn’t seem to paint all that often these days, especially since his PWA collaborator has moved to Herefordshire. It was therefore a wonderful surprise to come across this absolute belter from him a couple of weeks ago.

Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025
Soap, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025

I cannot really express how much I like this piece of graffiti writing. The letters are in a fancy thin script style, which, once you get your eye in, you can see spells SOAP. What makes the piece special is how the letters in green interact with the stunning pink background and all its decorations. Brilliant work from Soap.

7184. M32 Spot (207)

Mesk and ES3, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025
Mesk and ES3, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025

This is one of my favourite spots in Bristol, and is the perfect place for a double (and sometimes triple) collaboration. This time, Mesk has combined his talents with ES3 (an artist I don’t know), set on a sharp yellow background.

Mesk, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025
Mesk, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025

Mesk has kept things simple, which is incredibly effective in this case. His overlapping letters cascade from left to right in a slightly decreasing height. The tidy fill in four wavy horizontal bands is all that is needed here, and the solid border/drop shadow does some of the ‘heavy lifting’. A phenomenal piece.

ES3, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025
ES3, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2025

To the right, ES3, who I assume was visiting Bristol, and whose work I am not familiar with, has painted a fun combination piece. A cat character with crazy eyes is painted alongside the letters ES3, which mirrors the fill style of the adjacent Mesk piece, but in red colours. The piece is rounded off with a drop shadow and blue border. Definitely a gratifying find.

7183. St Werburghs tunnel (525)

Jee See, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025
Jee See, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025

Jee See doesn’t paint too much these days, but it is always great to find one of his SEISMIC pieces. This one from earlier this year in July was part of a Free Palestine paint jam, once again using street art as a place to comment on the issues of the day. This and other pieces offer a commentary and through this blog, I record them, archiving a little slice of our local and global history.

Jee See, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025
Jee See, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025

Jee See has been writing his angled SEISMIC letters for as long as I have known him, which must be ten years or so. In this piece the letters are draped in the colours of the Palestinian flag. No further words are needed. We all know what is happening. We all know that the Israeli state is committing genocide. We just want it to stop and to bring peace to the region.

7182. M32 roundabout J3 (715)

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025

I don’t think I have too much to add to all the words I have already written about Hypo this year. He has been simply sublime, turning out piece after piece of such high quality, and all the time improving too.

Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2025

This is a stunner, painted in the vibrant colours of fire; red orange and yellow. The hot piece is filled with these colours blended in different horizontal sequences through the HYPO letters. Adding to the base layer of shape and colours, Hypo has added white highlights and starbursts that create depth to the letters, added some bubbles for interest and bordered the whole thing with an ice cold line which includes some wonderful dips. A masterful piece.

7181. Greenbank (172)

Hire and Sait Bare, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2025
Hire and Sait Bare, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2025

I mentioned a couple of days back that Hire and Sait Bare have formed a collaborative partnership this summer which seems to be proving rather fruitful. This is a lovely colour-themed collaboration from the pair on the long hoarding on the Bristol to Bath cycle path.

Hire, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2025
Hire, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2025

Hire has written the most common of his letter forms HIRE, with some nice script letters in yellow that are far removed from his early pieces that were much more jagged and harsh. He has gone for an interesting interstitial fill within the boundary of the letters, which creates an interesting effect. The writing is painted on a background with a rather subtle pink cloud set on a grey buff.

Sait Bare, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2025
Sait Bare, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2025

Sait Bare has written BARE using the same yellow colour and background, which brings some synergy to the collaboration, but his letter style is quite different. There is a nice transition from solid green and bubbles through to solid yellow and some subtle green patterning. As a pair, these two are working well together and I look forward to more collaborations.

7180. St Werburghs tunnel (524)

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2025
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2025

I can’t quite remember if this combination piece from Mr Klue was painted in one session or two, but since they are by the same artist, it doesn’t really matter that much. It is quite unusual to find writing and the Mad Hatter character by Mr Klue adjacent to one another, so this is quite special.

Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2025
Mr Klue, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2025

Mr Klue’s gift for creating ephemeral graffiti writing is unparalleled in Bristol and his character is iconic, especially in this area. There are some great colours here and a lightness of touch that is a signature of his work. A real treat in the tunnel.

7179. Dean Lane skate park (866)

Real143 and Zase, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2025
Real143 and Zase, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2025

Just before I went away on holiday there was a spate of superb pieces from Zase and what I assume are friends of his. This is particularly great news, as Zase has been very quiet ever since his paining partner Dakor left the UK. This outstanding collaboration is by Zase and Real143.

Real143 and Zase, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2025
Real143 and Zase, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2025

The whole collaboration is an anamorphic masterpiece, with two distinct styles of writing. On the left is writing by Real 143 which I cannot decipher – perhaps it says REAL? to the right the familiar ZASE letters leap out from the wall thanks to the skilful design and shading.  Intertwined with the edges of the letters is a stunning magenta element that looks like some kind of muscle attachment or sub-cellular proteins or something like that, if you get my drift. An utterly outstanding collaboration from Zase and Real 143.

7177. M32 roundabout J3 (714)

Cort, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025
Cort, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025

More from the resurgent Cort, who has been smashing it in the second half of this year with some glorious vivid graffiti writing which is so much in his style. In this piece he is using the letters KoRt, which he has presented expertly.

Cort, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025
Cort, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2025

Cort’s letters are unruly and yet quite uniform, which he achieves through common themes such as the orange spots, mid-lines and a regular black drop shadow. I love his colour choices in this piece which have an upbeat feel, perhaps augmented by the strong, clean cream buffed wall. Some really nice work here from Cort. Spot also the cheeky piece by Corupt hovering high above.