Writer – Page 92 – Natural adventures

5967. M32 roundabout J3 (567)

Raid, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2024

It has been a genuine pleasure discovering a wide variety of Raid pieces over the last couple of years, and what I have noticed that as well as experimenting with his letter shapes, he has also been improving his fills immeasurably.

It would appear that Raid painted this one in the rain, and wasn’t overjoyed about it. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear to have affected the piece in the slightest. The fill is exquisite and imaginative, and it would appear that Raid has hit upon a winning formula. Everything about this piece is good, and the finishing is perfect, right down to the fine orange border. Bravo Raid!

Bean

A gallery of outstanding cartoon characters and writing from Bristol artist Bean

Instagram: @ceelo_bean

All photographs by Scooj

Bean, M32 Cycle path, Bristol April 2024

Bean, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2024

Bean, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, October 2023

Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2023

Bean, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2023

Klashwhensober and Bean, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2023

Bean, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2023

Bean, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2023

Bean, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, April 2023

5965. Cumberland Basin

Stivs, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

I don’t know who or what CLANCY is, but it makes for some fabulous calligraffiti by Stivs, who has been having something of a purple patch this spring. The colours that Stivs has chosen for this piece are rather regal and opulent, but also a little garish in a fairground kind of way, if that makes sense.

As ever his letters are beautifully crafted and have that regularity and discipline required for calligraffiti. There are three tones of purple used in the letters, each in the same orientation to create depth and a 3D effect, and this is offset by the yellow tones, looking like gold, for the drop shadow. This is a highly accomplished piece of writing from a master of the craft.

5963. M32 Cycle path (259)

Inkie, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024

Inkie is arguably the second most well known street artist in Bristol, but unlike his contemporary (Banksy) still visits and paints in the city frequently. I was in the right place at the right time when he, Sepr and Haka were painting this wall together and although I have met Inkie on a few occasions, we actually had quite a long chat this time, whereas usually it is a ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ kind of thing.

This is a classic piece of Inkie writing, almost archetypal, which oozes confidence, capability and class. Green and orange work really well together, and we discussed the merits or otherwise of orange paint, which in this case was really thin, and he wasn’t overjoyed about it. There are some paints that just seem to be partially transparent and require more coats, and this was one of them. Unless you knew about the thin paint, you probably wouldn’t notice. Classy work.

5960. M32 roundabout J3 (566)

Stivs, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024

Profanity alert! It is a long held tradition for graffiti writing to be edgy, either in location, style or content, and sometimes writing profanities disguised or otherwise is part of that attitude, without which street and graffiti art would be nothing. Some of the earliest graffiti from Roman times was essentially cock and balls doodles in public spaces.

Stivs presents us with the word ‘FUCK’ styled with his exquisite calligraffiti writing that brings a bitter-sweet challenge. Great colours that smack you in the face and beautifully finished, this is graffiti art at its subversive best.

5955. Cumberland Basin

Marckinetic and Kid Krishna, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

Two things to notice immediately about this wonderful collaboration from Marckinetic and Kid Krishna. The first is the diabolical weather – it feels like it has been raining all winter, and is something of a miracle that artists have been painting in quite the frequency that they have and the second is the bright yellow background drawing attention to the pieces.

Marckinetic, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

On the left, Marckinetic has painted one of his FFS pieces in his unusual writing style using elongated straight-lined squares and rectangles to form his letters. The letter fill has a clever marbelled effect, and the very deep black drop shadow is filled with an inky night sky with yellow stars and suns. Lovely and original work from Marckinetic

Kid Krishna, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2024

To the right is a rather more densely packed array of shapes and forms making out the letters CRIE. There is loads of colour and activity in the letters, which at times is almost overwhelming, and this is sometimes what you get with his work. Other times he will paint something so simple, he has it all in his armoury. There are lots of FFS tags all over the piece and a little “Four Five Six” to help us along with one of the acronyms for FFS.

5954. Dean Lane skate park (707)

Here we have yet another classy piece from Biers, who is enjoying an extended period of inspiration and productivity, he really is turning out some banging graffiti writing/character combinations, and challenging my knowledge of popular cartoon culture from the last few decades (which is, I’m afraid rather rudimentary).

The colours and drippy fills in the WD40 are fantastic, and all very tidily finished. The ‘0’ I am guessing is an Easter egg, and the character emerging from it is Jesus, so I have to assume that the piece was painted over, or close to, the Easter weekend. Such is his purple patch these days, that I have several of his pieces that are becoming ‘trapped’ in my archive, which I really ought to do something about.

5952. M32 roundabout J3 (564)

Klashwhensober, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024

There is a lot of truth and honesty about Klashwhensober’s work. Sometimes his work can be a little scruffy and rushed, and sometimes it can be glorious, clean tidy and creative. This piece falls into the latter category, and s a general observation, his trajectory is upward and he is producing quite a lot of classy pieces at the moment.

The black letters on a blue background, spelling SOBER, are nicely done and complemented with a fine blue drop-shadow and tidy accents and starbursts. The inclusion of a character in the middle of the piece definitely improves the overall look and balances out the piece well. Great work from a still-productive Klashwhensober.

5948. Sparke Evans Park (93)

Decay, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2024

This is just brilliant, a new piece from Decay. A while back, Decay was a regular painter on Bristol’s streets, often teaming up with Rezwonk, but then he moved away, and his pieces pretty much dried up except for the odd appearance at a festival or occasional paint jam. I understand that there is a chance that he might be hitting Bristol’s walls a little more often, due to his business settling down a little and having a bit more available time.

Decay holds a special place in my journey as a recorder of street art because he was the first artist I ever spoke to while he was painting a piece down in The Bearpit. I am so pleased to see that he has lost none of his creativiy and skill and has produced this beautiful DK incorporating, of course, his Chuck character. I cannot tell you how pleased I was to find this piece, and I am greatly encouraged by his little message at the bottom of the piece, “Back in the Room”. Bravo!

A reminder of his work here in this gallery.

5947. Dean Lane skate park (704)

There has been no stopping Biers and his WD40 pieces this year, each one a real pleasure to find and photograph. His tried and tested formula of writing his letters and incorporating a character in the ‘0’ continues to delight and keeps his inspiration fresh. The idea is one adopted by other writing/character combination artists such as Zaenone, and builds a series of ‘collectible’ works.

It looks like Biers spent plenty of time with this one… it is neat and tidy with plenty of clean sharp lines and borders. Although the letters are generally fairly static from piece to piece, the two elements that give Biers scope for inspiration are the colour scheme and the character. Although these colours are not my personal favourite, he has worked them superbly into the horizontal layers with some drift shapes between them. The character is a treat, although I don’t know what popular culture cartoon he comes from. Altogether an awesome piece from Biers.

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