It has been great to see Rusk ticking over nicely so far this year with his outstanding writing and conscientious approach to his work. He has cleverly and sensitively incorporated a piece of Dibz/Fade work into this piece; the teenage mutant ninja turtle.
Rusk, Brunel Way, Bristol, March 2024
Rusk has been working on this ribbon writing style for a little while now, and it is really effective having an anamorphic aspect to it. While the ribbon letters are great, I am, unusually, not totally convinced by the purple and white underlines, they simply don’t quite work for me – perhaps I am being a little picky. Overall though I am judging Rusk by his own very high standards and this remains an excellent piece.
Mind 49 and Fino, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2024
There was a good turnout for the LRS paint jam in Sparke Evans Park last month, with some really good pieces, including this collaborative work from Mind 49 and Fino (previously referred to as 3F Fino in Natural Adventures). The two totally different styles and subject matter of these two artists have combined really well.
Mind 49, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2024
Mind 49 is consistently turning out some outstanding portrait pieces at the moment, and pushing himself to continue refining and improving his work. I understand that his subjects are randomly selected images, and therefore represent anonymity. His style is edging towards photorealism although the textures of his artwork look very much like brush strokes. Great stuff.
Fino, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, March 2024
It would appear that Fino has awoken from his winter slumbers and is starting to paint a little more now, and I was lucky enough to meet him a short while ago while painting with Tao Create on the M32 Cycle path. I thought that he might have moved away, but far from it… just a winter rest. The colours he has chosen for his FINO letters are exquisite, and the fills and borders are beautifully neat and tidy. This is a simple and attractive piece and a great counterbalance to Mind 49’s portrait piece.
My initial irritation with finding this piece – I had come to find something else (I think a piece by Hire) that I hadn’t yet photographed and that had only been on this wall for a few hours – was quickly replaced with the joy of seeing another fine piece from visiting artist Zaenone.
IMG_7705_edited
Zaenone’s pieces can be broadly described as having chunky letters ZAEN, with character bookends, although occasionally he omits the characters. The sumptuous reds of the letters occupy much of the space of the piece and smack you in the face. The strength of the colours is offset and counterbalanced by the two wizard characters augmenting the whole thing perfectly. It is always a pleasure to find Zaenone’s work, even when painted over other artist’s recent work – it is a jungle out there.
I think that Hypo and his friends are particularly partial to this spot on the M32 roundabout, and I say that because many of his pieces have been painted here. This one was painted alongside Hemper and Turoe, two legends of the Bristol graffiti writing scene.
Hypo, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2024
Hypo hasn’t gone for the symmetry that we often see with his letters, or at least, not as obviously. There are some great colours in the vibrant piece, and some classic drips and spots by way of decoration. I am not fully convinced by the 3D drop shadow, which looks a little conflicted in one or two places. Overall though this is yet another cracker from Hypo.
There is an artist in Bristol, who occasionally hits the walls of the city with his curious creations, often in chrome. I am talking about Blimma Blamma, at least I think that is what he is called (he/she doesn’t sign his/her work).
Blimma Blamma, River Avon, Bristol, March 2024
This piece includes some letters, which I can’t make out and a character,, customarily wrapped up in clothes with only his face poking through. There is something endearing about the characters and mysterious about the work, which leaves one guessing what the story is. I think I need to do a little more research on the enigmatic Blimma Blamma.
Smak, Sled One and Oust, Coach and Horses, Bristol, March 2024
The wall on the Coach and Horses is one of the best ‘outdoor galleries’ in Bristol and often hosts some really classy work that tends to remain untagged for reasonably long periods. It probably doesn’t have the same turnover as some of the more accessible or popular walls, which means we can enjoy the artwork for longer. This collaboration is by Smak, Sled One and Oust.
Smak, Coach and Horses, Bristol, March 2024
Smak needs no introduction on Natural Adventures, being something of a staple over the years. This is a finely crafted and executed piece of writing that spells out SMAK. The colour palette is is perfect, and offset by the appearance of a black and white stripe design on some parts. The writing is wonderfully intricate without being over-fussy – clean crisp and classy.
Sled One, Coach and Horses, Bristol, March 2024
We don’t get to see enough of Sled One’s genius on our walls these days, so everything we do get to see, we ought to be grateful for. In this central panel, Sled One has painted a cat toasting a mouse on a stick over a fire, surrounded by barbed wire. There is a story here, but not one I can tell you. There is a mixture of styles, which is a bit unsettling. The cat is approaching photorealistic, but the mouse is most definitely cartoon, which confuses my brain somewhat. Brilliant artwork.
Oust, Coach and Horses, Bristol, March 2024
The right hand side of the collaboration is some unusual writing from Oust. The letters are more like constructions, with hints at industry and engineering. I haven’t come across Oust’s work before, so am a little unsure if his style is always like this or that this is a one-off. I guess Oust was visiting, and took the opportunity to paint with friends/acquaintances. There are some great colours and ideas in the piece which is full of contained energy. Fabulous collaboration.
It was a great pleasure to meet Haka, alongside Inkie and Sepr, when he was painting this piece as part of a collaborative wall last month. Although Haka had pretty much finished when I caught up with him, he did subsequently add another character to the right of the piece.
Haka, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024
Those familiar with Haka’s work will recall that he tends to paint combination pieces with his customary letters accompanied by characters from children’s books, shows or comics. When I was a kid, there were three popular children’s comic, Beano, Dandy and Beezer, and these characters come from one or other – I think that they are from the series Bash Street Kids, although the modern revised version, not the one I grew up with. The two characters here are Wilfred and Danny.
Haka, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, March 2024
There is mischief in this piece, with a bright and vibrant HAKA and the cheerful duo. I cannot think of a more appropriate place to paint these characters than in this spot, which is often frequented by real-life Bash Street Kids. Great stuff.
Bursting onto the walls in Dean Lane was this stunning and vibrant piece of writing from Kosc. Kosc is an artist who appears to be equally at home with writing or character/scenic pieces, and only a few posts ago I shared an amazing Samurai mask that he painted as part of an NTS Crew collaboration. He is a master of his styles and designs.
Kosc, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
This piece cries out to be seen, with its bright colours and busy letters spelling KOSC. As I look at it now, I wonder to myself whether he ran out of the orange colour for the ‘O’, or whether the letter is deliberately more yellow to create a focal point to look at. I guess I will only find out by asking him in due course. A great find, that didn’t last too long, if my memory serves me right.
Conrico has been turning out some sensational pieces lately, and what is interesting about this one is that he posted on his Instagram feed some sketches of the animated Chinese lantern before painting this wall, which goes to show how much thought goes into the pieces that artists paint.
Conrico, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2024
The letters CONRICO are superimposed on what looks like an afternoon landscape with the lantern on the left and a building on the right. As ever, Conrico’s artwork looks like it is painted with a brush rather than a spray can, and I imagine he paints with lots of short controlled sprays to achieve this effect. There is character writing on the side of the building, hinting at an East Asian scene. Wonderful stylised clouds finish off this fine combination piece from Conrico.
Saor, Kosc and Mudra, M32 Spot, Bristol, March 2024
Although this outstanding collaboration from Saor, Kosc and Mudra was painted a few weeks ago, it has taken me quite a long while to get round to posting it, which is largely down to the sheer volume of new art appearing on the walls of Bristol at the moment. I would say that this winter, in spite of the appalling weather, has been one of the busiest I have know for street/graffiti art and my archives are bulging.
Saor, M32 Spot, Bristol, March 2024
Saor has made a few visits to Bristol lately, and has smashed each piece out of the park, and this is another in a succession of unbelievable artworks. In line with the overall collaboration colours, Saor has disguised his SAOR letters in an outstanding geometric design. What I love about Saor’s work is the blended of borders, which means that all of his lines have to be ultra crisp and sharp, which, of course, he excels at.
Kosc, M32 Spot, Bristol, March 2024
In the middle of the triptych is a brilliant samurai portrait piece from Kosc, unfortunately a little obscured by the street sign. There is a lot of precision in the detail of the mask and Kosc has achieved incredible depth and texture in the piece. Kosc is an artist who appears to be at the top of his game these days and is producing some outstanding work.
Mudra, M32 Spot, Bristol, March 2024
Rounding off the collaboration is this unusual piece of pixelated writing from Mudra, which seems to be playing with the letters ‘.CON’ (dot con). The skull in the middle of the letters, is a little strange, in fact I find the whole piece odd, and a bit out of kilter with the rest of the collaboration. There might be a story about the piece that I don’t know about which might explain it. Altogether though this is yet another amazing collaboration from the NTS crew.
Natural adventures 