Writer – Page 35 – Natural adventures

6925. Dean Lane skate park (832)

It is a little disappointing that I have missed a couple of pieces by Hire this year, which is a real pity. You have to be quick off the mark in this game, and if you snooze, you lose. However, it does feel like Hire’s pieces, a bit like Kid Crayon’s pieces, tend to get painted over rather quickly. I am not sure if this is deliberate targeting or simply bad luck, I would like to think it is the latter, but whatever the reason, it makes their work feel even more precious.

This is a slightly strange piece by Hire, which I think is meant to represent a pile of poo, with some excited insects making the most of it. Certainly it is an unusual composition in brown (why is everyone painting with brown this spring?), spelling out ODIAH, letters which Hire likes to use from time to time. How much better the piece looks with the subtle green glow on the edge of the letters, without which it would all look a little flat. Unusual and interesting work from Hire.

Lemmings that pivot

Winds of change blowing

charter for sycophancy

to be seen to do

by Scooj

I have been around the block a few times in my job as a public servant and civil servant, and observed the ‘change lust’ that occupies Ministers, their Special Advisers and organisational seniors. It is a sight to see, where ‘yes men and women’ unquestioningly make change, because ‘change is the new norm’, and who would dare challenge or suggest alternatives.
All Governments and Government Departments do it. It causes disruption, but the surge in activity looks like something is being done, and ‘that’s what the voters want to see’. What the voters don’t see are the inefficiencies of change, the costs of change, and that top-down change rarely results in the outcomes hoped for, but hey ‘at least we were doing something’.
I’m an old cynic. It is my job to question and to call out what I think is wrong. I am no pragmatist or ‘human resource counter’, I am a brilliant employee who has to go through and try to survive another huge change, but survive I will. And all the others who are caught up in this flurry of excitement will move on and take their disruption with them.

6923. St Werburghs tunnel (496)

Corupt, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2025

This bold piece by Corupt is in the darkest part of the St Werburghs tunnel, and I had to do a little bit of brightness and colour manipulation to bring out the best in these photographs. The tunnel is a great street art/graffiti spot, especially in wet weather, but the light conditions can make photography very challenging at times.

This is a really beautifully presented Chrome piece, spelling out STICK, set on a pink background, with a fine red line outside the thicker black border, a design element that is a bit of a signature of the artist’s work. There is something rather unusual and appealing about his letter style. Great piece if you can actually see it in the gloom.

6922. Dean Lane skate park (831)

There are a couple of things that are slightly unusual about this piece by Fade. The first is that it is a solo piece and not a collaboration with Dibz and second, it has unfamiliar letters, as it is a tribute to ‘the Mrs’ to use Fade’s words, although I can’t remember her name, and I am struggling to decipher the letters.

The graffiti writing is flawless, as you would expect, and stands out on the large wall with a black background. There is a little too much brown for my own personal taste, but I have spoken enough about that in recent posts. Really stand out work from Fade

6921. M32 roundabout J3 (679)

Short, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025

This piece, by Short, is really easy to miss. It is in one of the tunnels under the M32 roundabout where the lighting is poor, and one’s mind is focussed on not being run down by a bicycle or e-scooter rather than stopping to look at the graffiti writing. If photographing such pieces is hazardous, I can’t imagine what it is like to try and paint in such a confined space.

The black, joined-up letters, spelling SHORT are somewhat augmented, deliberately or otherwise, by the background created by a previous artist’s large chrome letters, which creates the perfect backdrop. I am enjoying the way that Short is popping up in different places around the city, and offering us a type of graffiti writing that is a step up from throw ups, and developing all the time.

6918. M32 Cycle path (289)

Werm, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2025

Now, regular readers will know that brown is my least favourite colour when it comes to graffiti writing, and it is a path I am unlikely to deviate from or be persuaded otherwise, so the selection of brown aside… this is a really nice tight piece by Werm.

I rather like this letter style, which while keeping up the symmetry theme that Werm enjoys so much, also has something of a feel of Marvel or DC Comics about it, as if it should say ‘blam’ or ‘whack’ or something like that. Definitely a fun piece, well presented. Pity about the colour.

6917. Stokes Croft

Hemper, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2025

There are some newish hoardings at the bottom end of Stokes Croft, as the gentrification of the area once more picks up momentum. Kid Krishna has, as you would expect, pounced on these blank canvasses, but he left this space for Hemper, and what a banging piece it is too.

Overall, the piece has a copper metallic feel to it, with the highly illustrated letters spelling out HEMS. The piece is obviously an homage to DJing and to sound systems, perhaps a reference to the Blue Mountain Club that was knocked down behind these hoardings. There is too much to describe in this sensational piece, so perhaps the best way to enjoy it is to spend a moment looking at each element of it.

Of course, you can take a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. These two are symptomatic of the world we live in, where shutting yourself off and hiding behind headphones is the norm – no effort required, no thought given to exploring the world right in front of your eyes. C’est la vie I suppose.

6916. Dean Lane skate park (830)

Painted on one of Bristol’s most iconic walls, the curved wall in Dean Lane skate park, this is a birthday tribute piece to Soker by Dibz. Pieces like this have the capacity to confuse, because the letters do not spell the artist’s name, and I have in the past misidentified pieces because of it.

Dibz really is a master of graffiti writing and is at the top of his game, something he has maintained for such a long time now, without any dip in form. The letters are filled with a solid black fill, and finely written ’50s’ indicating it was Soker’s 50th birthday. Great to see one of Dibz’ small signature tags in red at the top right too. Excellent work, and a fine birthday tribute.

6914. St Werburghs tunnel (495)

Mr Draws, St Werburghs, Bristol, April 2025

This is an interesting wall at the entrance to St Werburghs tunnel. It is a space that can be filled with one or two or even more pieces, because of its length. There is a bit of a difficulty with the full length pieces, like this beauty from Mr Draws, and that is there is quite a bit of street furniture in the way that makes it a little challenging to photograph.

The spot also suffers from shading on sunny days, so being there at the right time is quite important. On the day I took these pictures, it was dazzlingly bright, indicative of the remarkable spring we are enjoying. Mr Draws has written his joined up letters DRAWS with a very nice horizontal striped fill pattern of magenta, turquoise, blue and yellow, which works remarkably well. The letters are broken up with a shower of ‘leopard’ spots, which offer a really interesting texture to the piece. There are some nice drips too. This is a really good large piece from Mr Draws, no messing.

6912. Cumberland Basin

Rozda, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2025

I love this kind of slightly unconventional, not quite anti-style, unconventional graffiti writing, which, although it looks a bit scruffy is actually technically really well thought out, designed and pulled together.

It was painted as part of a large collaboration, with each piece sharing a common background and base colours, but each with its own unique style. I know nothing of Rozda, the artist, so would guess that they were in Bristol as a visitor for this paint jam. I like this a lot.

	skat on London bound
	M. on 7494. Purdown (100)
	hitandrun1964 on Donz
	beth on 7494. Purdown (100)
	scooj on 7487. St Werburghs tunnel…

	skat on London bound
	M. on 7494. Purdown (100)
	hitandrun1964 on Donz
	beth on 7494. Purdown (100)
	scooj on 7487. St Werburghs tunnel…

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