One of the great joys of being a street art hunter and chronicler is the sheer number of endorphin ‘mini-snacks’ one gets exposed to on each exploratory walk. Some artists elicit slightly more excitement than others, and there doesn’t seem to be any logical explanation for why that might be. One artist whose work I particularly enjoy seeing is Nips, and it feels like there is progression with every new piece.
Nips, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2024
I would say that Nips is a bit of a fills specialist, keeping her general letter shapes constant, while experimenting with colours and patterns in the fills and in that respect, she has excelled in this stunner. Her selection of colours and outstanding designs within the letters is utterly joyful. The whole thing looks rather like a sophisticated wallpaper design, and that is meant as a compliment. Nips continues, I am pleased to say, with her trademark face appearing as the dot of the ‘i’. More endorphins please.
I am hugely encouraged to see that Kid Crayon had rediscovered his appetite for painting on the streets, or perhaps he has had a slight lull in his commercial work, whatever the reasons, he has painted several pieces of late, including this surfing polar bear behind the railings at Dean Lane.
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024
The combination piece features a rather cool polar bear surfing on an orange board in a sea of bubbles. The words Kid Crayon create a fine backdrop for the bear. Readers will know how much I like Kid Crayon’s work, however, this piece seems to lack something from my point of view. I think that maybe the black background isn’t right, or perhaps the bubbles don’t quite work, I don’t quite know, but when it comes to Kid Crayon I do set my expectations very high, so am probably just being a bit hyper-critical. More to come soon.
I am pretty sure that these pieces from Minto and Bags are part of a collaboration, rather than ones painted in isolation that happen to be next to one another. There is definitely some interaction from the Bags piece that overlaps onto the Minto side, but not necessarily vice versa.
Minto, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2024
Unlike most of his recent ‘deconstruction’ pieces, Minto has opted for a full size portrait, with the only writing being the ‘Minto’ on the subject’s hat. It comes across as a bit of a quick one, and may have been a dregs piece, because the fills aren’t particularly solid. Certainly this is Minto showing a slightly different side to his work, and for some reason it is a very memorable – maybe it is the green, maybe the hat… who knows?
Bags, M32 Spot, Bristol, July 2024
Bags is a woefully underrepresented artist in Natural Adventures, and I think the only way I could rectify that would be to go through my archives and present several mini-galleries, just to catch up a bit. I think that Bags enjoys collaborating a lot, especially with his No Frills friends such as Biers and Slim Pickings. His letters are always recognisable and presented in roughly the same format, with the fills representing the main differences from piece to piece.
Acer One, Dibz, Jody and Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2024
I don’t think that I have ever seen so many production pieces as I have this year. The driving force behind these productions is the Dibz/Fade FUA brotherhood, and they have been oh so busy over the last eighteen months or so. In this full wall piece, they have been joined by Acer One and Jody, and what an amazing piece it is (gone now of course – overpainted by further FUA productions).
Acer One, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2024Acer One, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2024
The production is bookended by two pieces by Acer One using his highly designed lettering spelling out ACER on the left-hand side and JODY on the right-hand side, thus ensuring that all four artists are named overtly in the production. The writing is painted over a moon/sun icon, and commensurate with the oriental feel of the entire collaboration.
Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2024Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2024
There is a second set of inner bookends provided by Dibz and Fade, who present their wildstyle writing in a similar style and adopting an identical colour palette and decorations. In terms of painting, these two are brothers from different mothers, and while it is possible to tell the art of one from the other, it is becoming more difficult to do so.
Jody, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2024
Everything about the production points towards the centrepiece which is provided, as is often the case, by Jody, and he has surpassed even his very high standards with this astonishingly beautiful portrait piece. Jody has been working on this robot/human interface a fair bit lately, and this follows on from his remarkable Upfest piece (not yet posted here). It is the detail in the piece here that is so admirable, the hair and garland, the features of the face, machinery in the neck and patterns on the kimono. The portrait is a fitting climax to the whole production and shown how the coming together of different elements complement one another in perfect balance. Awesome stuff.
This amazing combination piece by Stivs is something of a rarity in Bristol, and indeed in many towns and cities in the UK. I have mentioned it before that nudity, realistic or cartoon, tends to be avoided by most artists, which I find a bit strange, because the ‘edge’ that is associated with graffiti culture appears to be ‘missing in action’ in this respect. I think that there are probably two main reasons that we don’t see nude art on our streets; the first is that most street artists probably find it slightly embarrassing territory, the British reserve coming into play. Contrast that however with any art gallery where nudes are mainstream.
The second, and rather more practical reason is that nudes are almost instantly dogged by the ‘sensibility police’, who perceive that they are doing the wider public a service – personally I find that utterly bonkers, but it always happens, and nude pieces don’t last long in their original form. It took only a couple of days before this piece was daubed with black paint over the breasts. A more creative and skilled ‘protestor’ might have painted a bra or top, adding to the humour of the situation, but no… just cross it out with rage and anger.
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
‘Norks’ is slang for breasts and in this cartoon character, Stivs has opted for cheeky exaggeration. The character reminds me very much of those ‘saucy’ holiday postcards that filled the racks in trinket shops in seaside resorts up and down the country during the 1960s and 70s. These days, such things are no longer the norm, and definitely speak of a bygone era.
Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
While some may find this combination piece by Stivs offensive, I do not. I like it and celebrate the boldness, taking us to a place that is both uneasy and challenging. Stivs’ artwork is outstanding, and this piece will be remembered for its difference from the mainstream – all part of the very rich diversity of the Bristol street art scene. If nothing else, the piece raised a few eyebrows.
Over the last couple of months I have tried to post three pieces a day (upped from two a day before) to try and do justice to the sheer quantity and variety of artwork in Bristol. The harsh reality though is that about 60-70%, still, of the art I photograph never sees the light of day. I could make things easier for myself by being more selective and only posting ‘high-end’ pieces, but that is not what this blog is all about. Within these pages I strive to include, new entrants alongside established artists, stencils alongside graffiti writing and so on to reflect the diversity of the street art/graffiti scene in the city. So I shall plod along driven by my own enthusiasm and desire to share the amazing art in this Bristol.
Dirtygypo, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024
This is the second piece by Dirtygypo that I have posted and it most definitely won’t be the last. His work is bright and energetic and although different in style to Grimes, for example, it leaves one with a similar feeling of excitement and positivity. These two artists, and there are others, appear to be bringing something fresh to the mainstream that we are used to here, and I thoroughly welcome it. Great use of colour and unusual letter shapes, nicely defined with a black border combine to make this a really rather good piece.
It is a rare privilege to witness a character artist segue so seamlessly into graffiti writing, and Bloem, with this outstanding piece, proves what I already knew, that she is a natural. Not only has Bloem managed to give writing a go, but she has created a very neat and tidy piece, of a standard that many wannabe graffiti writers never reach.
Bloem, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2024
Her colour selections are excellent and blended expertly as they transition through the letter fills. The letters are very nicely proportioned and regular enough, without being too regimented. All the borders and lines are clean and crisp, patterns simple and well executed, and the white highlights do enough to create a 3D look to the writing. It helps that the graffiti writing is presented on a white background with some black spots, creating contrast and framing everything very nicely. I very much look forward to more experimentation from Bloem.
I get a little bat squeak of excitement when I see a piece that is obviously by an artist new to me, tempered by mild anxiety that I don’t know who they are and may not get to post their work until I find out more. Everything happened quite quickly with this wonderful piece by Nuke, thanks to Instagram, and I am thrilled to be able to post this debut piece for Natural Adventures.
Nuke, M32 Spot, Bristol, June 2024
This is a very interesting and compelling graffiti writing/character combination piece that has an interesting quality to it. It has a ‘soft-focus’ appearance and yet is clearly defied and masterfully painted. The 20 years refers to the length of time that Nuke has been painting, and his experience certainly plays out in this piece. I don’t know if he was passing through or whether he is staying in Bristol, but this is one of two recent pieces painted in the city by the artist.
Just as I was beginning to think that Minto was going on a bit of a ‘slow-down’ he comes up trumps with several new pieces in a relatively short period of time. This is an interesting piece that was created during a paint jam at the roundabout. I have noticed that Minto has changed his style a little recently and appears to be undergoing a ‘period’ of deconstruction, where the elements of his work appear to be a little fragmented, as if several thoughts are going on all at once.
Minto, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024
Concealed within the piece are the letters MINTO, with the ‘INT’ being reasonably clear, but the ‘M’ and ‘O’ are more tricky to see. For clarity, he has signed it in yellow bubble writing on the left. The colourful piece is full of eclectic decorations and a couple of characters, but for me lacks a little cohesion. The blue and grey background I would guess has some kind of meaning, but it is a little lost on me. Lot more to come from Minto soon.
In Bristol, there are dozens, literally, of writers bubbling under the surface. Many of these are not as well known as some of the more established graffiti writers, but every once in a while one of them breaks cover and rises up a level or two. This often coincides (unsurprisingly) with their appearance on Natural Adventures. Omie is one of those artists whose work I have noticed and admire.
Omie, Greenbank, Bristol, July 2024
The refreshing thing about Omie’s work is that every piece is completely different from the last in style and composition, which keeps things very interesting. These heavy block letters spelling out OMIE in dark grey-green tones are given extra weight by a chunky 3D drop-shadow. Some orange decoration around the outside provides plenty of contrast to help the piece stand out. Nice work from Omie.
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