6477. Dean Lane skate park (771)

Rusk and Elvs, Dean Lane skate park, Bristol, October 2024
Rusk and Elvs, Dean Lane skate park, Bristol, October 2024

Getting into full swing with Halloween-related pieces, I bring you this magnificent collaboration from two great graffiti writers, Rusk and Elvs. Neither of these artists seem to be quite as productive as they have been in the past, but their presence is always good news, because of the quality of their work.

Rusk, Dean Lane skate park, Bristol, October 2024
Rusk, Dean Lane skate park, Bristol, October 2024

Dark colours, predominantly purples and blues, are the order of the day, or should I say night. Rusk has opted for a combination piece including both graffiti writing and a little cartoon Count Dracula character. The letters are clear and obvious and given emphasis with a layered 3D drop shadow. The character is a fabulous accompaniment and I wonder why Rusk doesn’t do more character pieces than he does. The piece is set on a spooky haunted house style background, which stretches across both pieces.

Elvs, Dean Lane skate park, Bristol, October 2024
Elvs, Dean Lane skate park, Bristol, October 2024

To the right is a sensational piece by Elvs, whose work is utterly unique. Watching Elvs paint his pieces is fascinating because he starts with the fill shape, and then adds in all the borders and detail, bringing the letters ‘ELVS’ to life. The colour choices are amazing and work superbly well, that green drop shadow doing a great job. A wonderful spooky collaboration.

6475. Dean Lane skate park (770)

Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024

Anyone who knows me will know that I am not a fan of ‘over-celebrating’ Halloween. The festival is so commercialised and has veered away from the modest affair that it used to be when I was a child. It is a generational thing, I know, but it doesn’t really ‘do it’ for me. One aspect that I am prepared to get excited about, rather predictably, is the Halloween-themed street art that always appears around this time of year, starting with this ghostly piece by Biers.

Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024

Biers has been writing his WD40 moniker quite a lot recently, although without his accompanying characters, which is a bit of a pity, because his combination pieces are part of his USP. The graffiti writing is accompanied on this occasion by a cute-looking ghost who looks a little embarrassed, judging from his red cheeks. The whole piece is nicely finished and achieved without the need for borders, which is great to see.

6445. Dean Lane skate park (769)

Dibz and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Dibz and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

Keeping up with Dibz and Fade can be a difficult thing to do… they are a combined force of nature with an energy and enthusiasm for graffiti writing that is unsurpassed in Bristol. This piece, entitled ‘Explosive material’ kind of does what it says on the tin, and contains writing from both artists amidst an explosion.

Dibz and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Dibz and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

Dibz on top in blue and Fade below in red complement one another perfectly with their styles, and the fills are nothing short of miraculous, incorporating the clouds of the explosion behind. This is a well-worked graffiti writing piece from two artists who keep raising their level notch by notch.

For good measure, they both left behind quick throw ups painted at the same time as this piece:

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

6441. Dean Lane skate park (768)

ESKA, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
ESKA, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

Ooh, it was a genuine pleasure to meet ESKA and his partner while he was painting this absolute beauty. I have not come across the artist before, but that is not all that surprising, because he travels around the country on a barge, which is currently docked in Bristol Floating Harbour – I understand that his boat is easy to seek out, because it has his artwork festooned on the outside.

ESKA, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
ESKA, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

While ESKA was painting I struck up a conversation with his partner who told me that there is a lot of symbolism in his pieces and that everything has a meaning – unpicking this might be quite difficult, so I will probably stick with talking about the aesthetic quality of the piece.

ESKA, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
ESKA, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

Unfortunately I never got a photograph of the full completed wall, because by the time I returned, somebody had painted over the left-hand edge of the piece, but you can see from the WIP shot what it might have looked like. The colour palette is gorgeous, and I love the way ESKA has incorporated his letters into the magical scene. This piece is a real feast for the eyes. More to come from this itinerant artist.

6438. Dean Lane skate park (767)

Awkward, Dean Lane, Bristol September 2024
Awkward, Dean Lane, Bristol September 2024

It would appear that Awkward is going through a bit of a purple patch, having made only occasional appearances for several years, he is now painting regularly in the Deaner. This one was part of a wider collaboration, or at least it was painted at the same time as some other pieces on the wall.

Awkward, Dean Lane, Bristol September 2024
Awkward, Dean Lane, Bristol September 2024

In Awkward, perhaps more than with other artists, we see a strong crossover between his art and music – perhaps Benjimagnetic could give him a run for for his money – and indeed Awkward promotes Sentinel793 (Benjimagnetic) in this piece. The two cartoon characters appear to be rather ghoulish, with empty eye-sockets that are connected by wisps of smoke. Nice work from Awkward, although it might not be to everyone’s taste.

6435. Dean Lane skate park (766)

Zake and Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Zake and Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

I wrote in a post recently that Zake appears to be at his happiest when he is collaborating with others, and here he is teaming up with Werm to create this integrated collaborative piece in the Deaner. Worm’s symmetrical writing has been somewhat disrupted by a mouthwatering (literally) cartoon portrait piece by Zake.

Zake and Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Zake and Werm, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

The colours are all a bit muted because I took the photograph in the late afternoon, and the wall was in the shade. Sometimes collaborations like this don’t work too well, because the elements don’t integrate very well, but in this instance I think the pair have done really well here and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Nice work.

6432. Dean Lane skate park (765)

Fade, Pekoe and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2024
Fade, Pekoe and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2024

Every once in a while I go back a month or two into my archives looking for pieces that get missed or overlooked but that deserve to be published on Natural Adventures. How I let this one pass me by I’ll never know, but it is a wonderful collaboration between Fade, Pekoe and Dibz.

Fade and Pekoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2024
Fade and Pekoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2024

Fade and Dibz paint this wall a lot, and I mean a lot, so it is really nice to see them hook up with Pekoe to collaborate with them. There is a strong spider theme coming across in the collaboration, and Fade’s letters have webs suspended from them and forming part of the fill. The dark letters are topped with a nice red colour for variation, and he has painted a tidy 3D drop shadow. Nice stuff from Fade.

Pekoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2024
Pekoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2024

Pekoe has painted a small portrait centrepiece between the two writers, of a woman with a red face and spider hair theme going on. I don’t know if this is a fictional Pekoe character or whether is is meant to be some kind of spider woman character, but it is nice and tight and beautifully presented (a rose between two thorns?)

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2024
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2024

The Tryptich is completed with a fine example of wildstyle writing from Dibz, whose letter fills, decorations and colours reflect Fade’s on the other side. I would have liked to have known more about the spider theme, but my curiosity will have to remain unresolved until I next meet one of the artists. A nicely finished themed collaboration.

6425. Dean Lane skate park (764)

Risky, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Risky, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

I have been aware of Risky’s writing about the place for some while now, but I would say that in the last six months or so he has really upped his game, and is turning out some rather nice writing and some interesting fills, where his earlier pieces were perhaps cutting his teeth or practising.

Risky, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Risky, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

This one in Dean Lane follows a fairly basic formula, and has been executed really well. The letters RISKY are in two tones of red giving a basic light/shadow effect, which provides depth to the letters. The writing has a contrasting green drop shadow and the whole thing is bordered with a dark blue line. There is lots of thought and care that has gone into this piece of graffiti writing, and I look forward to this continuing evolution from Risky.

6417. Dean Lane skate park (763)

Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024


The curved wall in Dean Lane skate park is one of the most iconic and popular in Bristol as evidenced by the thick layers of paint that periodically peel off, often more than a centimetre thick. You can get a feel for the popularity of the wall from my updated ‘one wall many faces’ gallery of this wall 

Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

Mr Crawls has done us proud with one of his bird characters that have become so familiar around the city. One of the things that I love about his work is that he is constantly evolving and that even though he may return to former themes and subjects he always incorporates new elements that he has picked up along the way. This is a particularly attractive bird.

6409. Dean Lane skate park (761)

Lokey, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Lokey, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

This wall in Dean Lane has taken a lot of paint recently, and anything painted here hasn’t lasted more than a few days, and so it was for this wonderful piece of anamorphic graffiti writing by Lokey. The piece was part of the celebratory paint jam marking Andy Council’s birthday (note the AC50), and encouraged by Paul H, we visited the spot the day after the works were finished, which was just as well given that several of them didn’t last long.

Lokey, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
Lokey, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024

Recently, Lokey has been taking his daughter with him to paint (which, incidentally I think is brilliant), but on this occasion it was just him, so he was able to put maximum effort and concentration. I think that this is probably the best piece I have seen from Lokey for a while… so full of precision and a perfect teaser for the eyes. Those letters really pop. Wonderful stuff.