Tag: YSAE

6286. New Stadium Road (57)

Whysayit, New Stadium Road, Bristol, August 2024
Whysayit, New Stadium Road, Bristol, August 2024

This is rather a special piece from Whysayit, because it is unusual to see anything by him quite as big and bold as this one, and to see his work on a (partially) buffed background. The anti-style letters spell out YSAE (why say), which stand out really well.

Whysayit, New Stadium Road, Bristol, August 2024
Whysayit, New Stadium Road, Bristol, August 2024

Although nicely finished, there is something quite raw about this piece, especially in the translucency of the orange colour, a colour, along with yellow, that can (depending on the brand of paint) be rather thin. I don’t know if he was running out of paint, or whether it is a feature, but the tail of the letter ‘E’ is finished off in white, in throw up style zigzags. The letters are finished off with a rather nice 3D drop shadow in dark blue with vertical green stripes and a clean white border. A very nice example of Whysayit’s work.

5760. M32 Spot (178)

Whysayit, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2023
Whysayit, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2023

In my opinion, a much overlooked artist is Whysayit, who writes the letters YSAE in a distinctive anti-style all of his own. Indeed the whole PLB crew, to which he belongs, are an elusive bunch, who don’t get nearly as much recognition as they deserve, but maybe that is the way they like it. I first became aware of his work when he used to paint alongside Kleiner Shames a few years back, and I recently published a gallery of his fine work.

Whysayit, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2023
Whysayit, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2023

This colourful piece is brought alive by the striking red background, which definitely helps it to stand out. Imagine if it had been painted on an unbuffed wall, it could struggle to be noticed. The pastel shades transition across the letters from pinks to blues to light green in a pleasing way. A drop shadow in blue is bordered off not with one line, but two, a black and a peach. Nice work all round from this unsung hero.

Whysayit

A gallery of anti-style graffiti writing from Bristol’s fabulous Whysayit (YSAE).

Crew: PLB

All photographs by Scooj

Whysayit, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2023
Whysayit, M32 Spot, Bristol, January 2023
Whysayit, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2022
Whysayit, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2022
Whysayit, Frome side, Bristol October 2022
Whysayit, Frome side, Bristol October 2022
Whysayit, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2022
Whysayit, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2022
Whysayit, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2022
Whysayit, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2022
Whysayit, Thomas Street, Bristol, February 2018
Whysayit, Thomas Street, Bristol, February 2018
Whysayit, New Stadium Road, Bristol, February 2018
Whysayit, New Stadium Road, Bristol, February 2018
Kleiner Shames and Whysayit, New Stadium Road, Bristol, February 2018
Kleiner Shames and Whysayit, New Stadium Road, Bristol, February 2018
Whysayit, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, January 2018
Whysayit, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, January 2018
Whysayit, Moon Street, Bristol, January 2018
Whysayit, Moon Street, Bristol, January 2018
Whysayit, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2017
Whysayit, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2017
Whysayit, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Whysayit, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Whysayit, Moon Street, Bristol, July 2017
Whysayit, Moon Street, Bristol, July 2017
Whysayit, M32, Bristol, June 2017
Whysayit, M32, Bristol, June 2017
Whysayit, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2017
Whysayit, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2017
Whysayit, Moon Street, Bristol, July 2016
Whysayit, Moon Street, Bristol, July 2016
Whysayit and Kleiner Shames, Moon Street, Bristol, July 2016
Whysayit and Kleiner Shames, Moon Street, Bristol, July 2016
Whysayit, Horfield skate park, Bristol, April 2017
Whysayit, Horfield skate park, Bristol, April 2017
Whysayit, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, March 2017
Whysayit, St Werburghs tunnel, Bristol, March 2017
Whysayit, Upper York Street, Bristol, January 2016
Whysayit, Upper York Street, Bristol, January 2016
Whysayit, Unity Street, Bristol, February 2017
Whysayit, Unity Street, Bristol, February 2017
Whysayit, Moon Street, Bristol, January 2017
Whysayit, Moon Street, Bristol, January 2017
Whysayit, Armada Place, Bristol, December 2016
Whysayit, Armada Place, Bristol, December 2016
Whysayit, Upper York Street, Bristol, September 2016
Whysayit, Upper York Street, Bristol, September 2016

4836. Cumberland Basin

Whysayit, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2022
Whysayit, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2022

It is good to see that Whysayit (YSAE) has settled into a pattern of writing reasonably regularly, and in doing so has managed to creep his way back onto the pages of Natural Adventures, which is a good thing. I believe that this piece might have been painted during a paint jam for Solar, but that is simply guesswork.

Whysayit, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2022
Whysayit, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, November 2022

Whysayit’s unruly letters are always nice and curvy, nothing sharp or angular about his work at all. There are three discrete horizontal fills and a delightful pink shadow to round things off. Nothing too showy, simply good graffiti writing. It is interesting to see where his heart lies with the phrase “I’d rather do a Tipex tag…”

4768. Frome side (17)

Whysayit, Frome side, Bristol October 2022
Whysayit, Frome side, Bristol October 2022

I first came across Whysayit (YSAE) a few years ago when he regularly collaborated with Kleiner Shames. Although I have never met him, I have enjoyed his irregular anti-graffiti style over the years, and this one under the M32 is a banger.

Whysayit, Frome side, Bristol October 2022
Whysayit, Frome side, Bristol October 2022

The organic writing is simple, spelling out ‘YSAE’ in two tones of pink. Light pink for the letters and dark pink for the drop shadow. Combine these with a black border and white highlights, and you have straightforward, quality writing which lifts nicely off the wall. Sometimes less is more.

4553. Greenbank (47)

You might recall that almost two weeks ago I posted a piece by Whysayit, commenting that I haven’t seen much of his work in recent years. It would seem that he is becoming a little more active, and this is one of two pieces by the artist on the Bristol to Bath cycle track at Greenbank.

Whysayit, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2022
Whysayit, Greenbank, Bristol, June 2022

Whysayit has a very organic style, spelling out YSAE, with letters that look like they have been squeezed out of a tube. The colour combination is a bit iffy in my view, with a solid, pale sandy yellow for the letters and a turquoise blue for the deep shadow. Yellow and red colours have been splashed in for letter shadows and drips. This is an interesting piece that has elements of Miro or Tanguy in it. I’ll be on the look out for more from Whysayit.

4530. Cumberland Basin

I was in Cumberland Basin yesterday and this piece by Whysayit was being buffed over to make way for the latest Bristol Womxn Mural Collective paint jam, which is all part and parcel of the street art wall recycling process, without which the whole scene would simply die. I haven’t posted much work by Whysayit (YSAE) since his painting partner, Kleiner Shames, moved to London, which is a pity, because I really like his letter style – I might have to dig a few photographs out of my archive.

Whysayit, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2022
Whysayit, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2022

Whysayit’s letters are irregular, but they also are quite easy on the eye, with their curvy shapes. The solid ills are in strongly contrasting colours – no fades here. Painted at the back end of the Queen’s platinum jubilee, I don’t thing there is much doubting what Whysayit’s views on the monarchy are. It is nice to be able to post this piece after such a long gap since the last one, (about four years).

1593. Thomas Street

This is one from the archive byWhysayit, who now calls himself something entirely different, and who I am unable to find on Instagram any more. Out of convention and organisation of my blog and tags, I will continue to call him Whysayit or YSAE, which is what the letters spell out in his writing.

Whysayit, Thomas Street, Bristol, February 2018
Whysayit, Thomas Street, Bristol, February 2018

A quick one on the side of what used to be Meat Liquor on the corner of Thomas Street and Stokes Croft. Although it is quick, it is nicely worked and the lines are clean, only the white filling is a bit dodge…maybe he was running out of paint/time.