Like many artists, Hire seems to have woken up from a bit of a pandemic slumber. Artists seem to have split into two camps over the last two years; those that went to ground and are now slowly emerging, and those that took advantage of the disruption and Furlough to paint like never before. Hire certainly belonged to the former.
Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2022
This is a nice double piece of ‘BFs’ from the Polish artist. I believe BF is a crew, but I don’t know what it stands for, anyway, Hire has gone for two different stylistic approaches to the letters and the end result is rather pleasing. His talent overfloweth.
This is a rather special collaboration from a pair of Spanish artists who seem to like painting together, Varo and Zake. Their styles are rather different, but their collaborations seem to gel really well together, maybe thanks to a common background and slight interface.
Varo and Zake, Brunel Way, Bristol, February 2022
To the left are some rather nice and colourful letters spelling out VARO. The letters kind of start with a dragon figurehead to the left and a different colour for each letter. The grey 3D shading is really nicely worked and bordered with a fine red line.
Zake, Brunel Way, Bristol, February 2022
To the right is one of Zake’s familiar faces, although this time it is attached to a body with the classic spray paint theme going on. I love Zakes faces that major on shadings to create depth and contours around the features. A classy double act.
I don’t need to say too much about how good this piece is. The quality, confidence, detail and finishing of this wildstyle graffiti writing by Dibz is of the highest order and the artist just keeps setting the bar higher and higher. This one was painted while I was out of the country, but thankfully it was respected and left un-tagged and I was able to photograph it.
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2022
In common with many of the artists I have met, Dibz is so modest about his work, and just gets on with it in a very matter of fact kind of way. If I could produce something like this, I’d be leaping about like a mad man telling everyone about it. The letters are bisected with two perfect straight lines that divide the whole piece cleverly into three totally different colour schemes. I can’t imagine how hard this is to do, and would have loved to witness Dibz at work on this one. Another stunner from the man.
The best thing about photographing and chronicling street art in Bristol are the surprises, and they don’t come much bigger than this fabulous three way collaboration from Logoe, Sepr and Haka. Three old hands (I hope they won’t mind me calling them that) on the Bristol scene combining their talents on one wall.
Logoe, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2022
To the left of the triptych is a truly fabulous piece of script graffiti writing from Logoe, who has been mad for it this winter. There really has been no stopping him, despite the fact he doesn’t even live in Bristol and blitzes our walls in short bursts.
Sepr, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2022
The middle section is a superb character piece from Sepr, featuring a beautifully dresses satan balancing a flaming earth on his finger. Why would such a thing be happening?… oh yeah, the planet is being run by imbeciles and climate change is going to change everything. Satan surely has a hand in all of this somewhere.
Haka, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2022
The right-hand section is a cheerful piece by Haka, that clearly demonstrates his ability when he puts his mind to it. Often his pieces have a rough-edge, grounded feel to them, but not this one. Here he has pulled-off some stylish writing and excellent fills that do the job nicely and round off the whole collaboration. Great work from these three.
Logoe, Sepr and Haka, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2022
Life can be one hell of a battle, and certainly Turoe has had a battle on his hands in recent years. This piece is a perfect visualisation of that battle that he has been fighting.
Turoe, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, January 2022
This is a stunning piece of writing in classical graffiti wildstyle style, in chrome with a nice looking blue outline that cleverly picks out the black 3D shading on a black background. The words ‘battle scars’ hint further at Turoe’s challenges.
If ever Altered Images wanted a new album cover for their outstanding LP Pinky Blue, this piece by Face 1st would definitely fit the bill. I know I have said it before, but I will never tire of Face 1st’s work, and although sometimes it is a little rough at the edges, it nearly always raises a smile.
Face 1st, M32 cycle path, Bristol, January 2021
This piece is perfect for the location and somehow just seems to have a great feel good factor about it. The colours set on the green background look fabulous and together with the 3D shading on the bottom of the letters lift the piece off the wall. More great stuff from Face 1st.
It took me a long time to get round to photographing this lovely piece of writing by Stivs, and when I got to it, the far right hand side had been ever so slightly overpainted by Elvs, but in a respectful way.
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2022
Stivs has been knocking it out of the park over the last year, with each piece seemingly more complex and ornate than the last. His calligraffiti style of writing is so pleasing to the eye, but far less forgiving of mistakes, because of the uniformity of the letter style. A magnificent technical piece, painted for a friend’s birthday, it can’t get much better than this, or can it?
One of the highlights of doing what I do, posting about street art that is, has been the re-emergence of Logoe on his visits to Bristol this winter. When he comes, he doesn’t just do one piece, he does loads; I think I counted six or seven from his last trip. So productive is he, I think I’ll have easily enough for a gallery soon.
Logoe, Sparke Evans Park, Brisol, January 2022
This beauty, in Sparke Evans Park, is a masterpiece in green, incorporating his wonderful script lettering and horizontal line of circle decorations. Such a distinctive style and aesthetically pleasing appearance adds to the wealth of outstanding graffiti writers who paint in Bristol. Look out for a whole bunch more to come.
I never seem to find nearly as many Conrico pieces as I know are out there, he hides them away from the usual spots. This one however is in a place I visit regularly and is a cheerful and fun piece of writing.
Conrico, New Stadium Road, Bristol February 2022
There is a lightness and joy about Conrico’s work, and an illustrative rather than hard-core graffiti style. The colour combinations in this piece are ones he has used before and he seems to be comfortable painting with them. I am always on the look out for his work and it is great when I chance upon a new piece.
I simply had to dig this piece out of my archive because I was lucky enough to meet the artist, Ceus, earlier this week painting a new wall very close to this one in Dean Lane. I was not alone in struggling to find out who the artist was, but now the riddle, from last October, is solved. It turns out that Ceus is another Spanish street artist. He lives in Bath and doesn’t have much time to paint as he has a very busy life in the restaurant business. A nicer bloke you couldn’t wish to meet.
Ceus, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2021
This piece is a real stunner, and it was such a shame not to be able to post it last year, but good things come to those who wait. Ceus is a really talented artist, as this piece demonstrates, and the burst of colour on a white background works exceptionally well. It is obvious now to see that the letters spell out CEUS… hindsight is a wonderful thing. I like everything about this piece, and it is a nice warm-up for the piece he painted this week, which I have to return to before it gets painted over. A gem.
