There are a couple of things that are slightly unusual about this piece by Fade. The first is that it is a solo piece and not a collaboration with Dibz and second, it has unfamiliar letters, as it is a tribute to ‘the Mrs’ to use Fade’s words, although I can’t remember her name, and I am struggling to decipher the letters.
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
The graffiti writing is flawless, as you would expect, and stands out on the large wall with a black background. There is a little too much brown for my own personal taste, but I have spoken enough about that in recent posts. Really stand out work from Fade
Painted on one of Bristol’s most iconic walls, the curved wall in Dean Lane skate park, this is a birthday tribute piece to Soker by Dibz. Pieces like this have the capacity to confuse, because the letters do not spell the artist’s name, and I have in the past misidentified pieces because of it.
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
Dibz really is a master of graffiti writing and is at the top of his game, something he has maintained for such a long time now, without any dip in form. The letters are filled with a solid black fill, and finely written ’50s’ indicating it was Soker’s 50th birthday. Great to see one of Dibz’ small signature tags in red at the top right too. Excellent work, and a fine birthday tribute.
I have always struggled with artist naming conventions on Natural Adventures. Most artists have a name and retain it as their brand, especially old school artists like Inkie, Nick Walker, Mr Penfold, Banksy, Cheba and so on. Their Instagram accounts reflect their name – easy-peasy.
However, an awful lot of artists, graffiti writers in particular, may write a word, or sign a piece that is totally different from their Instagram name, for example: Jee See (who writes Seismic and whose Instagram is @jee.see_t.daemonic_luke.solo) or Biers (who currently writes WD40 and whose Instagram is @nofrills40). So you can see that naming artists can be a tricky thing – I blame the hacking of social media accounts, which means people are frequently changing their digital account names.
I say all of this because when I first came across Bbygwya (and it took me ages to master the name), this was her then Instagram account, however, she writes variants of the word Flux, and her current Instagram is @livelaugh_luxe. What is a man to do? The name of an artist is important for me, because it forms part of the tagging and sorting on WordPress which allows me to find past posts and images. So generally I use the first name that I came across and stick with it, even if it seems to be the wrong name now. Did any of that make sense?
Bbygwya (Flux), Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
This is a real beauty by Bbygwya (Flux or Luxe – see the problem?) in Dean Lane, with plain white letters and a little bit of black detail sitting on top of a fabulous Conrico piece, featured here previously. Somehow, Bbygwya has skilfully blended her piece with Conrico’s, intentionally or otherwise, but the final look is a good one.
Fade, Jody and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
Here we have yet another epic production collaboration from Fade, Jody and Dibz, who have been knocking it out of the park for a couple of years now, creating some breathtaking triptychs from the two writers and the ‘character’ artist.
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
I watched them for a short while while they painted this piece, and while the two writers were well advanced with their work, Jody’s skull portrait was still some way off. On the left, Fade has produced some gorgeous ‘lava’ letters tinged with some turquoise highlights and some purple smoke plumes. His letters look like CREAM, but I can’t be sure.
Jody, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
The centrepiece is an outstanding screaming skull by Jody. He really is a most talented artist, both in his studio work and his street art. His technique is simply awesome, and he manages to create such depth and texture with the deft strokes of the spray can. Brilliant stuff.
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
Dibz, to the right, mirrors the colours of Fade, as is so often the case with these production pieces. The letters spell DIBZ, a little easier than Fade’s to read, and contain the same hot lava look. The triptych as a whole has a searing heat about it, as if the poor soul in the middle is trapped in hell. Outstanding collaboration.
This was the second wheatpaste I found by Christain (Tian) Lecouble on his recent visit to Bristol, during which he scattered a dozen or so paste ups in the East Street area of the city. In my mind, he is a brilliant artist who uses a sense of nostalgia to enhance his collage style. He is an accomplished and successful artist in his own right, and his paste ups seem to be a bit of a fun distraction for him.
Tian, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
The sepia tinted boxer is taken from a painting he composed called ‘Philadelphia Miracle’ and features the boxer Richie Kates whose career spanned 1969 to 1983. Tian is 61, and so I am guessing that Kates entered his mind at that time, and these works are representations of his own past, which resonates with me as I am the same age. This is one of many more Tian wheatpastes from this visit to come on Natural Adventures.
Every day, pretty much, I see graffiti and street art and every once in a while I see something by an artist I know and I think to myself ‘this is special, this is really classy’. This clever piece of combined writing and a portrait by Conrico left me feeling that this was special, definitely a ‘keeper’.
Conrico, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
Conrico has painted his name, but instead of a solid or patterned fill, there is a portrait of a girl behind, as if you are peering through the letters to see her. The piece is expertly executed, but at the same time incredibly modest. No fanfare, no showing off, just a really great fusion piece.
Conrico, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
Conrico has been turning out some great pieces recently, and this one expands and continues the series. As ever, I look forward to more.
Tucked away behind the iron fence of the swimming pool at Dean Lane is this fabulous collaboration combination piece from Werm and Zake. Werm, more than adequately providing the symmetrical letters, and Zake offering a couple of different cheeky characters peering over the top of them.
Werm and Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
The horizontal band colour scheme, painted on an off-white background, works really well, and Zake has cleverly incorporated the band of colour into his characters. I’m not quite sure what it is about it, but this feels like a really classy piece to me, and I really like it.
Lis seems to do herself proud every time she goes out to paint, and this is another fine outing, with a couple of small pieces in Dean Lane. Here she has painted one of her mushrooms, but this time as a rather cute skateboarding character, which is totally appropriate for the spot.
Lis, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2025
I anticipate a great future for Lis, who I am sure will start to attract commissions, the more she practices and the more exposure she gets. As well as this character piece, she also left behind a little ‘extra’ on a nearby wall, featuring a cluster of toadstools. This is going to be a most enjoyable journey as Lis goes from strength to strength.
In the Dean Lane skate park there are a lot of ramps and slopes that provide a perfect canvass for street artists. There are two drawbacks: the first is that they are a challenge to paint and the second is that they get scuffed up pretty quickly by the skating, scootering and biking activity.
Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2025
I think I got to this cheeky Zake portrait piece reasonably soon after it was painted, because it is in quite good condition. This is a classic Zake portrait, with lots of expression, and plenty of contours and depth. A fine small piece from the cartoon character specialist.
I have met ESKA on a couple of occasions, and he is a genuinely nice bloke. In our chats, I was under the impression that he was passing through Bristol, as he has quite an itinerant lifestyle. However, it seems that he is hanging around longer than I thought, which is brilliant news, because his work is outstanding, and quite different from the Bristol style we are used to seeing here.
Eska, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2025
This is a fine piece on the back of the long ramp in the skate park. Normally, his letters spell out ESKA, but I am not convinced that is the case here. His colour choices are superb, and there is a remarkable anamorphic effect, with great depth in the piece.
Eska, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2025
One of the special features of Eska’s writing is hidden in the small details, such as the little figures watching on at some futuristic spaceships or something like that. Always, his work contains plenty of hidden messages and symbolism, and of course they are finished to an incredibly high standard. Long may his stay in Bristol last.
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