Tag: Writer

3310. M32 Cycle path (87)

About a week ago I posted a piece by Mena for the first time on Natural Adventures and it was well overdue. Over the coming weeks and months I intend to free several more Mena pieces from my archives, starting with this one painted in May this year on the M32 cycle path, a favourite haunt of hers.

Mena, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2020
Mena, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2020

Mena tends to stick to a regular letter structure, with a central kink and a leaning to the right. The rest is all about the fills, shadows and decorations. It is always great to buff a wall first, it prevents any distractions getting in the way of the piece itself, and in this case sets a neutral background for the dark colours and neon green line running through the piece. Nice tidy work.

3309. St John’s Steep (1)

There is no real surprise in finding a piece by Dott Rotten in this part of town as he happens to work not a stone’s throw away from this hoarding. I don’t see too many pieces from Dott Rotten, so it is always a pleasant surprise to find one of his SPOILT writings on my walks.

Dott Rotten, St John's Steep, Bristol, September 2020
Dott Rotten, St John’s Steep, Bristol, September 2020

This particular piece of graffiti writing is fresh on a new hoarding which is great, because hoardings like this in a central city location can become very untidy very quickly. Set on an orange wash, the letters SPOILT are nicely picked out and filled with a light blue colour and decorated with grey, blue and red spots. This is a classy piece of writing which I suspect was painted fairy swiftly (the fills are not quite as solid as they might be).

3308. M32 roundabout J3 (262)

Another one from a little earlier this year, and what a beauty it is from Hemper. This is a fantastically intricate piece of wildstyle writing from the artist in which each letter of the word HEMPERS (I think) is written with a completely independent style and colour regime and each is wonderfully elaborate.

Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2020
Hemper, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2020

I had a conversation with Hemper earlier in the year when he was painting this same wall, and he told me that he usually freestyles his pieces with a mental picture of roughly how he wants it to turn out. Well if this was what was in his head he has turned out a real gem. Exceptional work from an exceptional graffiti writer.

3307. Dean Lane skate park (365)

In have recently taken a couple of excursions into my archive (I have so much unposted material from earlier this year it is insane) and on one such search I found this lovely piece by Stivs at Dean Lane skatepark on the swimming pool wall.

Stivs, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 22020
Stivs, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 22020

At this particular spot, the high railings make taking front-on photographs rather tricky, but it is possible to get pictures from the side. This lovely piece from Stivs adopts his calligraphy style but in this case with fatter letters that have been filled with horizontal colour stripes and a silhouetted landscape/cityscape running through the middle. A very nice piece.

3306. Brunel Way bridge (71)

It seems that most places I look I find a piece by Pl8o, and they are usually superb too. He fits into a category alongside Phour of artists that I have only relatively recently posted on Natural Adventures, but whose work I have been photographing for quite a long while… a visit to the archives may well be on the cards.

Pl8o, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2020
Pl8o, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2020

Pl8o would appear to favour this spot and area of Bristol for his work although I have seen his writing elsewhere. This looks like a bit of a ‘quick one’ painted over at least two older pieces of writing – time to buff the wall I say. Even though the background is a bit messy and distracting, the shape and form of Pl8o’s letters is great – he has chosen some excellent letters/number to work with. I like this throw up, there is a sense of joy about it.

3304. Dean Lane skate park (364)

Always tight, always pretty near perfect. I can’t think of a Dibz piece that hasn’t been meticulous in both design and execution, and if there are any I’ve yet to see them. This is yet another superb piece from Dibz in Dean Lane (his favourite spot) from a week or two back.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020

In most cases, Dibz buffs the wall first to ensure there is a focus on his wildstyle writing. The day glow green and pink colours stand out on the blue wall, and the design is simply outstanding. Dibz is an artist with a plan and he paints his plan and he does it well. A fine work.

3303. M32 Cycle path (86)

I have a lot of photographs of graffiti writing by Mest, but have only posted a couple so far. He is an artist who sticks to a fairly strict formula in that his letter shapes are usually pretty similar, but it is his fills and colours that change from piece to piece.

Mest, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020
Mest, M32 cycle path, Bristol, November 2020

In this one he treats us with a chrome, grey and green colour palette that works really well, and for good measure he has painted a few bubbles too. There is a lot more to come from Mest, so watch this space.

3296. Dean Lane skate park (363)

I haven’t seen a piece by Turoe for quite a while and I understand that his absence may be attributed to a recent illness. Whatever the cause of his absence he makes reference to it with the words ‘back from the dead’ at the bottom right hand side of the piece.

Turoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2020
Turoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2020

Turoe has painted a reasonably uncomplicated piece although it has a real feel of a Slim Pickings TES piece, especially the two ovals at the start of the T and the fills drips and letter shading. Both artists belong to the No Frills crew so it is no surprise that their styles impact on one another. Welcome back Turoe.

3294. Dean Lane skate park (362)

Within street art circles, the digital social media network is a fairly crowded place, and a fair proportion of the pieces I photograph I have already seen on Instagram and I make a deliberate decision to go and find them. A smaller proportion of pieces I ‘discover’ all on my own and in a strange way this gives me rather more personal satisfaction. I suppose one solution would be to stop using social media (would probably be a good thing in the long run), but somehow these platforms lend themselves so well to the ephemeral nature of the art I love. I found this one without knowing of its existence and what a lovely surprise it was.

Soker, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020
Soker, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020

Soker has knocked it out of the park with this tight colourful and beautifully designed piece of graffiti writing in Dean Lane. The colours used with the letters complement each other so well whilst contrasting too – how does he achieve that? The whole thing simply oozes class, something I have said so many times when writing about Soker’s work. Classy work, classy artist.

3289. Cheltenham 2020 (11)

It is time for another short series of posts on this year’s Cheltenham Paint Festival back in September, starting with this lovely collaboration from Bristol artists Inkie and Soker. This is one of those collaborations where the artists share a wall and colour scheme, but each piece is otherwise independent.

Inkie, Paint festival, Cheltenham, September 2020
Inkie, Paint festival, Cheltenham, September 2020

On the left is a stunner from Inkie full of intricate detail. This is a piece which the artist obviously spent a lot of time on and that time has paid off because in my eyes this is a near-perfect piece of graffiti writing.

Soker, Paint festival, Cheltenham, September 2020
Soker, Paint festival, Cheltenham, September 2020

On the right of the wall Soker has similarly smashed it. To anyone seeing this and thinking this is just another piece of graffiti, think again… this is world-class writing from two of the very best, and how lucky are we that they both come from Bristol. The more I look at this piece, the more I enjoy it. Bravo!

Inkie and Soker, Paint festival, Cheltenham, September 2020
Inkie and Soker, Paint festival, Cheltenham, September 2020