Awkward, Fade and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024
The FUA (From Up Above) boys are at it again, although this time they are joined by Awkward, and have opted for a smaller wall for this collaboration. In this piece we see our two main protagonists getting closer and closer to fusion in their work.
Fade and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024
Fade on the left and Dibz on the right have opted to use the same colours, 3D drop shadow, decorations and background, and it is only their stylistic differences that separate them. Dibz’ work tends to be a little bit more angular than the smoother edges of Fade. The colour transitions in the fills are excellent in both halves.
Awkward, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024Awkward, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024
The central piece is book-ended by two characters by Awkward, who has painted with Dibz and Fade in Dean Lane not all that long ago. Messages contained in the speech bubbles are ‘roll the dice’, ‘Awkward’ and ‘Stop the war’. The characters look typically alarmed/animated with their exaggerated eyes and wobbly outlines. A rather nice collaboration from the three artists.
This intriguing piece presented me with a bit of a riddle, until I paid proper attention to it. Sentinel 793 is the musical alter ego of Benjimagnetic, and this piece featured on his Instagram feed as a prop for his music, combining his two passions/talents.
Benjimagnetic, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2024
It is definitely a departure from his usual work, and takes an original idea and presents it really well. The name of the track (I guess) is ‘Some things change’, which accounts for all the small writing that makes up the whole 793. I like the way the 793 numbers interlock and slightly stand out from the wall with the skilful application of white shaded borders. Something a little unusual.
Kid Crayon and I Am Ian, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
One of the really enjoyable things about this summer has been the re-emergence of Kid Crayon and his painting partner, I Am Ian. They have collaborated several times recently, with their blend of colourful writing and cartoon-style characters. This piece is what I would call a ‘true’ collaboration, where it becomes difficult to determine exactly who painted which bits.
Kid Crayon and I Am Ian, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
I don’t know I Am Ian to be a writer, so I guess that the letters are by Kid Crayon, as is the character on the left, I think. Although both characters are very similar in style, I think that the one on the right might be by I Am Ian. The whole piece is a fantastical mickey-take of the Cabbage Patch Dolls, turning them into a drug gang, ‘the Cabbage Patch Cartel’. Both mischievous and witty and great fun. More to come soon from these two.
Note to self… take better photographs. This piece is something of an outlier. It is by an artist called Whos, who is known for his anti-style writing, so when I first saw this it didn’t register that it might be by him. It was only after talking to Conrico at the Cheltenham Paint Festival who confirmed that it was indeed by Whos and that Conrico, while painting to the left of this piece, encouraged Whos to push the boundaries.
Whos, Greenbank, Bristol, July 2024
This urban landscape, making up the letters WHOS, is really imaginative, and coming from an artist more used to the free from of anti-style graffiti writing, is a great effort. The dark industrial colours lend themselves very well to the piece and help to create a special atmosphere, which would not have been achieved with bright pinks and yellows etc. I really hope that Whos is encouraged by this foray into a world of opportunities is just the beginning… we’ll have to wait and see.
Dirtygypo is making his presence felt in Bristol, with his pieces appearing in various spots with some regularity. With this piece in the little tunnel at Cumberland Basin, he has abandoned his customary colours for monochrome letters with a black border.
Dirtygypo, Cumberland Bain, Bristol, July 2024
I am still struggling to read what his letters spell out. I can see an S, a couple of Is a Z and a T perhaps, I am sure the penny will drop eventually. His playful graffiti writing has a light-hearted touch to it, and I am very much enjoying finding them on my ’rounds’ with the dog.
Dime, Jody and Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
What a wonderful triptych piece on the roundabout which is what I would describe as a unique collaboration between Dime, Jody and Turoe. I am not familiar with Dime and am guessing that he was visiting Bristol and made contact with artists in the city to see who’d like to have a paint. That is how I imagine these kind of things happen.
Dime, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
The collaboration starts with a stunning piece of graffiti writing from Dime, with nicely defined letters, beautiful fill colours and a deep 3D drop shadow. The borders are nice and thin and flawless, and the letters are lifted with contrasting orange and red blobby decorations around the outside. The way I think about decorations in a piece is to try and imagine what it would look like without them – often they enrich what might have been something a little ordinary. Decorations are part of the composition, not just an afterthought.
Jody, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Jody has been smashing it all over the place for a sustained period, and I understand from talking to Fade, is really enjoying himself. In this piece he provides the filling in a graffiti writing sandwich and features a cartoon style cool character striking a pose with a cloudy background. I love the sparkle on the sunglasses, a brilliant touch.
Turoe, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Rounding off the collaboration is a piece of writing from a Bristol legend, Turoe, although I originally thought it was by Soker it is actually a tribute collaboration to Soker who had a cycling accident recently (Thanks to Jay for the background information). If ever you want to know what outstanding graffiti writing looks like, then look no further than Turoe, and this piece demonstrates why. Perfect colour selection, superb interlocking letters without being over-engineered, a deep and contrasting 3D drop shadow and tight border. All the elements are there and they are brought together by a master of his craft. All in all, this is a fabulous and quite unexpected collaboration. We are blessed, and a fabulous tribute.
I have been suffering from Elvs withdrawal symptoms… it seems such an age since he regularly visited the city, although this is his second piece painted in July, so there is some hope, I guess. This piece feels like classic Elvs, and I think I know what I mean when I say this, because his writing remains similar from piece to pieces, but there is something here that reminds me of some of his older work.
Elvs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
The colour selection, including the background colours, just seem to work so well together, with the break in red tones disrupted through the central section. The writing spells ELVS and the letters are created with the thin highlight lines, so typical of Elvs’ work. There is a lovely grey drop shadow with a central vanishing point which rounds the piece off nicely and without which it would all look pretty odd. Excellent stuff from Elvs.
He gets absolutely everywhere, does Grimes, and what a delightful thing that is. He has even made it into the narrow Leonard Lane with this fine chrome piece. You might spot some double yellow lines, that could possibly be the most useless yellow lines in the country, given that it is a dead end, incredibly narrow and if a driver was stupid enough to drive into the lane, they might never get back out again.
Grimes, Leonard Lane, Bristol, July 2024
Even when he paints in a single colour, Grimes manages to generate great energy from the form of his letters and in this case some orange ‘flame’ decorations around the perimeter. The letters spell out GRIME and are beautifully finished with a decent 3D drop shadow border. Still more to come from this relative newcomer to Bristol.
Rusk, Ulow and Corupt, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
At first glance, this piece might look like a collaboration between Rusk and Ulow, but regular readers will have seen the figure (by Ulow) on the right before in a collaboration with Hypo a short while ago. What has happened here is Rusk has gone over Hypo’s piece, but worked carefully to retain the Ulow character. It is rather nice to see Corupt getting in on the act too, with a nicely delineated piece sitting atop the others.
Rusk, Ulow and Corupt, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Rusk, who has written RUSKY, has produced a banging piece of graffiti writing. It looks like there are five horizontal colour transitions in the letter fills, with some tidy lines in white and brown breaking things up a little. A tried and tested 3D drop shadow with ‘glowing’ yellow spheres dotted around the place lift the letters nicely. This is a nice and tidy piece from Rusk.
There is no doubt in my mind. I simply have to publish a gallery of great graffiti writing by Noise, because his work is now so completely bedded down in Bristol, something he has managed to do in a relatively short amount of time. As well as working solo, he has also teamed up with a host of other Bristol artists in his celebrated collaborations, which has helped him to become super-established.
Noise, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024
This magnificent gold and red piece, painted on one of my favourite walls, is big and bold, and has the tiniest nod to calligraffiti on the up ticks on the tops of some of the letters. I like the shout-outs to Dibz and Fade, who were probably painting other walls in Dean Lane at the time, and interestingly the words ‘Joburg-Bristol’ which makes me think that perhaps Noise has South African connections.
Natural adventures 