I believe that this beauty from Zaenone was another that was painted to celebrate Werm’s birthday on the long wall at Cumberland Basin. I guess the message ‘happy birthday Werm’ is a bit of a giveaway.
Zaenone, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2024
This is a bright and joyful piece by Zaenone, allocating a different colour to each of the letters ZAEN1. Lots of sparkles and highlights vpgive this piece a bit of energy, but it is the spotted border surrounding the whole thing that makes it feel a bit special, like a light bead around the whole thing. Very nice piece by Zaenone.
I think that one of the under-rated walls and indeed partially unseen by many is the swimming pool wall at Dean Lane skate park, that lies behind a fence and a hedge for much of its length. If you can be bothered, and historically I am guilty of not bothering, you can access the space between the wall and the hedge/wrought iron railings and see quite a few pieces, and the turnover here is reasonably high. At the right-hand end of the wall, the hedge stops and there is a stretch which can be seen and photographed easily from the ‘wrong’ side of the fence. This piece by Zaneone is in that visible stretch.
Zaenone, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2024
Even without his customary book-end characters, Zaenone’s pieces have a certain symmetry to them. The letters spell ZAEN1, with a reversed E. He has chosen some nice red, orange and yellow colours, and there is depth provided by the 3D drop shadow, and the blue shading around the outside frames the graffiti writing nicely.
We get three main types of artists in Bristol, broadly speaking. The resident artists who paint regularly, or at least are present in the city. Artists who visit on a reasonably regular basis, but live outside the city, and whose work can appear in fits and starts, and artists who visit usually as a one-off either for a festival, or to paint in Bristol because of its reputation as a street/graffiti art hub. Zaenone fits into the second category, and it is always great to come across his work.
Zaenone, St Werburghs, Bristol, June 2024
This recent piece in the tunnel is colourful and beautifully presented. It comes without the character bookends that I have become accustomed to, but it is clean and crisp, and the buffed background gives it plenty of space to shine. The letters spell out ZAEN1, and apart from the ‘E’ are beautifully filled with blended colours. A colourful drop shadow with bars completed the piece nicely.
For most people, coming across a street/graffiti artist while they are actually painting is probably something of a rarity. Because I am out most days in all the most popular spots, it is quite unusual not to meet someone while they are painting, and on this day I happened upon Zaenone and The Mole as they were working on this collaboration.
Zaenone, M32 Spot, Bristol, May 2024
I had not met Zaenone before, although we have exchanged a few words on social media before. He was fairly quiet when I met him, and I mostly spoke with The Mole. This is a classic piece from Zaenone, typically bookended with characters and the letters ZAEN sandwiched in the middle. The combination has a psychedelic buzz going on, with the hippy characters and the multicoloured fills, topped off with peace symbols.
The Mole, M32 Spot, Bristol, May 2024
The Mole has written INCA and included his familiar mole character on the right of the piece, beautifully filled I might add. I asked him where the inspiration for the word Inca came from, and it is completely as you might expect, he has an interest in the Incas. The Mole character was created and developed during the first lockdown (if I remember correctly). As ever it is always great to welcome these LRS lads back to Bristol for a paint.
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.
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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 did another bit of digging through my archives, something I like to do from time to unearth some overlooked or ‘left behind’ pieces, and found this beauty by Zaenone, which I photographed in St Werburghs tunnel a year ago before I had clocked the artist.
Zaenone, St Werburghs, Bristol, January 2023
The large, bold letters spell ZANE, but in this one are not accompanied by character bookends, unlike the other pieces I have posted by the artist. The fill is simply magnificent, incorporating a range of blue and green colours that drift into one another, and decorated with dozens of little symbols and marks. The whole thing is a really beautiful piece of graffiti writing, and I am so pleased to have found it in my archive and put a name to it too.
I think I might have to revisit my archives, because I have only recently become aware of the great work of Zaenone, but am told that he has painted in Bristol before. Perhaps I photographed but didn’t post his work because I didn’t know who he was – a little job for me over the Christmas break, maybe.
Zaenone, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2023
This is a lovely crisp and clean piece of writing, superbly presented on a yellow, grey and black background. I think that sometimes backgrounds are underrated, but they can make or break a piece, so thought is needed, and it is obvious that Zaenone has thought about this one. The letter fills and transitions are beautifully done and not overcomplicated or busy. I haven’t seen enough pieces by Zaenone to know whether he always incorporates ‘bookend’ characters, but in the two pieces I have seen, he has, and they are a unique and fun contribution, which really makes his work stand out. Looking forward to more from him in Bristol.
From time to time I get to see pieces that I really like and can’t quite explain what it is that sparks my interest. This is one of those pieces. I was mystified originally about the artist, and my first thought was WERM, but I discounted that very quickly on the grounds that the letters weren’t right, and it isn’t quite in his style – it was a plausible guess for about ten seconds. Then I had to do a little digging to establish that it is by Zaenone, an artist I know nothing about.
Zaenone, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, October 2023
The colourful fills fade into one another in vertical strips in quite an unusual way and the letters are open, allowing the bleed of fill through the whole piece. A nice, strong white border contrasts with the fills and the black drop shadow. Two weird faces bookend the letters and create some additional interest. This is a fun and well balanced piece from Zaenone.
Natural adventures 