It is funny how some artists seem to favour walls, such as Laic217 in Moon Street and Hire in Dean Lane, and this spot at the north end of St Werburghs tunnel is often occupied by Mr Klue.
In fine deep colours, this piece looks like it is a bit of a tribute to Hoax. Both artists belong to the COM64 crew which I think also includes DNT, Akarat and Mr Sleven. Often the word KLUE is hidden in his works, but here it is quite clear that he has written HOAX. A nice friendly piece.
A gallery of extraordinary graffiti writing by Epok, Bristol artist.
All photographs taken by Scooj.
I got really lucky with this one, I was doing a bit of an evening tour of favourite street art areas, and stopped at the M32 spot. I almost couldn’t be bothered to walk along the M32 cycle path, because I had been there quite recently, but something made me go and take a look anyway. Who should I find but Nightwayss, finishing off this striking and rather brilliant piece.
This was fortuitous on two counts, firstly to be able to meet the artist, who seems to be a very nice chap and secondly to be able to photograph it as a finished piece. All too often I have work in progress photographs without a final completed piece, because by the time I return it has been buffed or tagged.
We chatted a little about his work and I asked Nightwayss why he likes to feature monkeys in his work, he told me it was because they are quite like us so we can identify with them, which I get. There is a lot to look at and admire in this piece, which is full of detail, like the dunce cap (what is that about?) and a wrist watch around the monkey’s head. An unexpected and most welcome surprise.
This brightly coloured piece by Soap looks almost good enough to eat. Lots of stuff in there that looks like delicious confections, and the trademark mouth/teeth seem to be getting stuck in.
I have said it before about his recent work, that Soap seems to have found a new spring in his step and there is a joi de vivre in his work over the last year or so. It is great to see this, and in my view his work just seems to be getting better and better.
I love it when it happens, when an unannounced collaboration appears as if by magic. This sensational work from Smak and Hazard is one of those special pieces, and I think they have absolutely smashed it.
Smak has again gone for one of his double burners, where he has cleverly crafted two versions of his name into one piece. If you look carefully, there is one in blue and one in mostly orange. Such an accomplished thing to do from an artist who seems to be at the top of his game at the moment.
Then to Hazard’s fabulous frog, which I have to say has come as a huge surprise because I am more used to seeing her portrait pieces. I am a naturalist by training, and I have always had a bit of a soft spot for amphibians, especially frogs, so this piece really chimes with me.
Everything about this frog is good, the colours and the shading and the light reflecting off the body and the eye. Such an unusual piece to find on the streets of Bristol, but a wholly welcome one. More of this kind of thing please! A great collaboration on Upper York Street, so utterly well worth a look.
I recently posted a collaboration piece by ‘Ware’ and Jaksta from Upfest 2016, and I stated then that I wasn’t very familiar with ‘Ware’s work. Well nothing has changed there except that I now know his Instagram moniker is @mickeyraw and I able to see when he has painted new work. I found this one down in Moon Street recently, and it is a fine piece of wildstyle writing by this RAW artist.
The colours work really well together and the execution of the piece is truly first class. I am looking forward to seeing more from ‘Ware’ or do I call him Mickeyraw? I started with Ware, so will continue until I know better.
Another fine combo from Laic217 and Cort in St Werburghs tunnel. I feel like I haven’t seen too much from Laic217 in recent months, although actually he is still reasonably productive and I see maybe a couple of new pieces each month.
The Character piece has several themes that we have seen from Laic217 before. A skull, a brick wall, this time in the form of glasses and a brilliantly crafted hoodie jacket complete with zip.
More than other pieces that Laic217 has produced, this one feels surreal, probably because the brick wall obscures the eyes, or more correctly the eye sockets, so the character is dissociated from its surroundings… warning, beginning to sound a little pretentious.
It would seem that Cort recently has been rather fond of extending the length of his name, and in this case to CORTONE. I wonder if by lengthening it he gives himself more scope to play around. I like what he has done here, and I particularly like the random white surround with trios of black dots in it. All in all a nice collaboration from these two friends.
There was a recent paint jam down at the M32 with fur artists participating. The only one that I recognised was Smak, so I guess the others were visitors to Bristol, or don’t paint all that often. This piece by Smak was the pick of the bunch, although the others were pretty good too, and I’ll post them in due course.
The colours of this piece stand out so brilliantly against the white background and I consider this to be a truly masterful piece of writing. I am pretty hacked off that I cut off the ends of the piece in both photographs but the pavement here is pretty narrow and it is difficult to get the full span of a piece in shot. I am even more annoyed that I went back there last night and forgot to retake the pictures. Sensational work though.
I haven’t seen a whole lot of Mr Draws’ work lately – I think he has been out and about, but by the time I get to find his pieces they have been over-painted, so it was most gratifying to come across this one in Dean Lane last week.
His ideas are simple and his execution very much in the style of high-class bombers, but in my mind what really sets him apart from others is his willingness to try new concepts and colour patterns. This piece really works for me, it is easy on the eye and I just can’t stop myself following the purple spiral from the centre outwards and back again. The multicoloured fill is a joy. All good from Mr Draws.
Not very often, but often enough to satisfy the appetite, Dibz creates one of his extremely precise and complex pieces of wild style writing. I have seen a few where he uses this black and red combination which he seems to favour.
Somewhere in there it probably says DIBZ, but I’ll be darned if I can find it. The whole thing is just so sharp and crisp, and technically pretty close to perfection. This is what the highest quality writing looks like. Bravo Dibz.
Natural adventures 