Although I have seen a few pieces by Rapt recently, this is my first post featuring the artist from Newport across the Severn Estuary. He seems to favour St Werburghs tunnel and I think he probably lift-shares with Elvs, as they are often to be found painting side by side.
Rapt, St werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
Rapt has a strong and bold writing style and tends to stick to his basic font which includes an upside down ‘T’ at the end of it. In this example he has some nice cracks in the lettering, some great shading and bullet holes and blood for good measure. Look out for more from this artist.
Elvs, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023Elvs and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2023Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2022Elvs, Cheltenham Paint Festival 22, Cheltenham, July 2022Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2022Elvs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2020Elvs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2022Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2022Elvs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2021Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2021Elvs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2021Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2021Elvs, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2020Elvs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020Elvs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2020Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2020Elvs, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2020Elvs, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2017Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, February 2020Elvs, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2019Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2019Elvs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2019Elvs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2019Elvs, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2019Elvs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2019Elvs, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2016Elvs, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2018Elvs, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2018Elvs, Dean Lane skate park, Bristol, March 2018Elvs, Raleigh Road, Bristol, January 2018Elvs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, January 2017Elvs, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2016Elvs, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, May 2016Elvs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2017
From the moment I saw this piece I have had a terrible earworm and as the Coronavirus pandemic has worsened so has the earworm. To avoid the perilous infection don’t read the small writing under the ‘U’ of Subtle.. oh oh, too late… you’ve done it now! This is a cracking and topical piece by Subtle under Brunel Way in one of his favourite spots.
Subtle, Brunel Way, Bristol, March 2020
I have seen several Coronavirus-related pieces lately and some are humorous and some less so. It is difficult to know where the lines are in making light of the pandemic – this is uncharted territory. In my view Subtle gets away with it in this piece, mainly because I now he is a great bloke and also it is a rather good piece.
Ryder has stamped his moniker all over Bristol, either with the letters RYDER or with his ‘R’ character. Because his work is everywhere, it is sometimes difficult to know whether you have already photographed a piece or not, and that was the case with this one on the M32 cycle path. While I might have photographed it, I haven’t posted it until now.
Ryder, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2020
The obvious thing to comment upon is the dynamic and free-form fill that Ryder has used – not solid, but rather more organic, like the kind of fills you might see from Ugar (what’s happend to him recently?). The whole thing is unusually subtle from Ryder, but look closely and you’ll see that it is a real gem.
Elvs has spend a lot of productive time in St Werburghs tunnel this winter and created a crop of stunning pieces. I’m not sure about the significance of the bunch of grapes, but the leaves are more like those of an olive tree rather than a grape vine (#onlysaying).
Elvs, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2020
Set on a yellow background, and sticking to his tried and tested formula of letter font and shapes, Elvs has a horizontal grading through the piece from pink to dark pink to brown. He has cleverly incorporated black 3D shading on the top half of the piece and yellow outlines at the bottom. This is another fine piece, but I have to say that I don’t think the yellow background does the whole thing any favours.
Figuring this one out might be a challenge for those unfamiliar with Bristol artists, because the word VODKA might have little meaning and certainly isn’t a name we see here. Regular readers will all have seen an awful lot of work by this artist in Natural Adventures and so might be familiar with the letter shapes and style.
Soker, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2020
It is of course by Soker and a gentle nod to artist Vodka (@ren_jeffys). It is a beautifully conceived and executed piece down on the M32 roundabout. Soker has been on fire over the last month or so – it will be interesting to see if he continues as the Coronavirus restrictions grow.
Another triumph for Turow One on the famous curved wall in Dean Lane skate park. There is something rather pleasing about the greyscale graffiti writing topped with a vibrant pink and lilac drippy splodginess. The writing is deliberately made to look kind of messy and drippy, but all the elements of skillful work are there.
Turoe One, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
I think that Turoe One might be topping the chart in Bristol as being the most productive astist in town just at the moment, with perhaps the exception of Face 1st who is in a league of his own. Since the weather has improved a little, the turnover in Dean Lane has increased, and this wall in particular has seen a fair amount of action. This is a classy piece of graffiti writing from a confident and accomplished artist.
Definitely Hire has come out of hibernation with this, his second piece in a week in Dean Lane, coming so quickly after his rabbits that I wrote about in Natural Adventures last saturday. I always describe Hire;s writing as having a Gothic look, and this piece typifies that.
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
The rather compact writing is very well disguised and I can only guess that it says HIRE as most of his pieces do, but I can’t quite see it here. When you look carefully at the piece you may notice that the writing is in two colour combinations. One is black and white, the ther brown and yellow. The more you know this, the more discrete the two sections become, it is almost like an optical illlusion. Another fine technical piece from Hire.
From the feature image it is difficult to gauge the significance of this collaborative wall from little more than a week ago in Dean Lane skate park. I gave you a little hint earlier this week with a piece by Rusk which is on the left hand side of this wall behind the fence and which can’t be viewed from this vantage point.
Soker, Inkie and Hemper, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
I had decided to take the dog for a walk to Dean Lane and talk about being in the right place at the right time… this was it, and so utterly random that I had chosen to go down there. Not only were Soker, Inkie and Hemper busy doing their thing, but Rusk was also there and watching on were The Agent, Angus, DJ Perks and Tes (Slim Pickings).
Soker and Inkie, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
It was a little bit like I had died and gone to graffiti heaven. To see these established writers all at work simultaneously was a rare treat indeed, and that other artists who had been tipped-off were watching on made the whole thing feel extra special.
Inkie and Hemper, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
I had met all the artists before with the exception of Hemper who seems to have had something of a renaissance of late, but this wasn’t really the right time to introduce myself, more an opportunity to watch how these guys go about their businness.
Soker, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Soker’s chrome piece on the left is near perfect and spells out Sokem (the R and M are interchangeable in his name). The photographs of the finished pieces were taken a day or two later.
Inkie, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Inkie’s central panel is classic Inkie and whilst also in chrome stands out due to the deep 3D shading in a striking scarlet colour. This is the third Inkie I have seen so far this year which is not bad going especially as there haven’t been any festivals in that time.
Hemper, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
I am less well acquainted with Hemper’s work simply because he hasn’t painted as much as the others until relatively recently. Again in chrome, this third panel of the triptych mirrors the colours of Soker’s piece on the left to give some symmetry to the collaborative work. A landmark wall and a red letter day.
Soker, Inkie and Hemper, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
A gallery of brilliant graffiti writing from Bristol’s Subtle.
All photographs by Scooj
Subtle, Greenbank, Bristol, November 2024Subtle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022Subtle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2022Subtle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2021Subtle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, September 2021Subtle, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2021Subtle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2021Subtle, Brunel Way, Bristol, March 2021Subtle, M32 cycle path, Bristol, March 2021Subtle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, October2020Subtle, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2020Subtle, Brunel Way, Bristol, March 2020Subtle, Brunel Way, Bristol, March 2020Subtle, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2020Subtle, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2020Subtle, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019Subtle, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019Subtle, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019Subtle, St Werburghs, Bristol, March 2019Subtle, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2019Subtle, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2019Rezwonk and Subtle, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018Rezwonk and Subtle, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018Subtle, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018Subtle, Moon Street, Bristol, November 2017Subtle, Armada Place, Bristol, November 2017Subtle, Armada Place, Bristol, January 2016Subtle, Moon Street, Bristol, April 2016
