Dean Lane – Page 22 – Natural adventures

6036. Dean Lane skate park (717)

I think that it is fairly common knowledge that ACAB is a subversive acronym derived from the phrase ‘all cops are bastards’. I am guessing that it was coined in North America, because we don’t generally use the word cop in the UK, preferring the terms Police, bobby, old Bill, ‘pigs’ or even ‘copper’ but rarely cop. ACAB is used liberally in street/graffiti art, and this piece on the curved wall by Mr Draws, has a humorous take on the letters.

Firstly, I would say that this is a really attractive piece by Mr Draws, who continues to gently push his boundaries all the time whilst retaining his style and identity. The design is great, the letters are nice and tidy and the fill colours work surprisingly well. Mr Draws has softened the tone of the acronym so that it reads ‘all cats are beautiful’, and has added in a cat character for good measure. Perhaps one could term this piece ‘fluffy subversion’.

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The little passage alongside the swimming pool wall in Dean Lane is often full of surprises, and I was thrilled to find this lovely floral piece by Peggy, especially as she has been reasonably quiet over the winter.

Peggy, who I guess has been busy with her tattooing, managed to find some time to create this display of leaves and, of course, a flower including an eye in the centre. Lots of symbolism tied up with the eye, but I am not too sure what it might mean. Peggy has chosen a nice palette of colours and finished the piece neatly. Perhaps this is a sign of more activity over the summer – fingers crossed.

6015. Dean Lane skate park (715)

Werm is producing, in my view, some of his best writing work at the moment, having pulled back a little from his highly technical and complex pieces. There is something a little more accessible about his graffiti writing now, that hasn’t always been the case.

The colours in this piece spelling out WERM are certainly eye-catching and benefit from the buffed black wall, which enhances the impact of the writing. I suspect, consciously or otherwise, that the selection of purple and yellow for the letters might be related to the colour wheel, where they are complementary colours – they do work well together. I wonder if we’ll get to see Werm incorporating characters in his work, he would be more than capable of doing it and has done so once or twice in the past. I’ll ask him next time I see him.

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Fade, Dibz, Noise and and Awkward, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024

I am not sure that I have seen this wall painted as much as it has been over the last year or so, not just painted, but painted with so many high-quality pieces. This recent collaborative piece is by Fade, Dibz, Awkward and Noise.

Fade and Awkward, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024

The left-hand end of the wall is collaborative combination from Fade and Awkward. Starting with the latter, I think that this is the most extensive bit of work I have seen from him, with so much more than his usual mega-tag face. Here Awkward has included a complete character as well as some woodland beasties and flowers, with loads of little details. The character is wearing a Cheech Wizard hat and surreptitiously holding a spray can. Fade has painted some beautifully finished letters, acting as a central platform for Awkward’s decorations.

Dibz and Awkward, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024

The middle section is by Dibz with a combination of outstanding writing and a couple of characters… a Vaughn Bode Lizard and another masked character whose name I don’t know, both faithfully reproduced. There have been a whole ton of Vaughn Bode inspired pieces lately, and I guess it is a theme from World Wall Stylers or something like that.

Noise and Awkward, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024

Rounding off the wall and sticking with the colour theme, Noise, who seems to be enjoying a spate of collaborations, has produced another of his NOISE pieces composed of dense letters with stunning fills and transitions. Awkward makes another appearance with a character peeping over the ‘S’ along with a couple more woodland bugs. Altogether a wonderful piece from the foursome.

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Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024

These pictures are my second attempt at capturing this fine bird piece by Mr Crawls, the first effort resulted in photographs that had the piece in brighter light but scattered with shadows. Sometimes overcast days are much better for certain spots, such as Greenbank and Sparke Evans Park, as well as anywhere with overhanging trees or herbage.

Mr Crawls has been having a great few months, especially since joining up with Mote, a partnership that appears to have stretched both artists with some terrific outcomes. In this bird piece, Mr Crawls has used his favoured chrome background as a backdrop for his raptor(?) character sporting a rather nice hat. Although Mr Crawls has been experimenting with all sorts of creative monsters, it is comforting when he returns to one of his classic birds.

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Dibz and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024

The machine that is Dibz and Fade continues to produce outstanding collaborations, and this one in Dean Lane is a cracker. The Dark Knight is a popular icon for street artists, and Dibz and Fade have gone with the darker variant of the caped crusader, unlike the comedic, lighter cartoonish options they might have gone with

When I asked Fade how I should attribute the artwork in their pieces, he suggested that where the lines become blurred, just label them Dibz and Fade. The writing is attributable, with Fade on the left and Dibz on the right, but the rest of the work is collaborative. A well-thought-out piece, tidily presented – what else would you expect?

5981. Dean Lane skate park (711)

I mentioned yesterday that you’d be seeing more of Noise today, and true to my promise, here is another fabulous piece from the artist. Noise has a very distinctive style, but I find it quite difficult to describe. His letters tend to be quite thick and nicely proportioned, and which work equally well in upper or lower case. His fills are dynamic, with plenty of interest.

Although this piece from Noise was completed, the wall opposite was being painted by other artists, and some of their kit was strewn around this wall, which I think adds a little to the overall ambience of Dean Lane. The fills in this piece are outstanding, and it is lifted (rather unsubtly) by the red drop shadow on a black background. Still more to come from Noise in what has been a busy month or so.

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Chill, Face 1st and Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

One of the strong themes of Bristol street art in 2023 was the continuing presence of the PWA crew as a major force in the city’s graffiti scene. That presence has seamlessly continued into 2024. This February triptych from Chill, Face 1st and Zake in Dean Lane is part of that contiuity.

Chill, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

I feel that I rather take Chill for granted a little, simply expecting every piece he paints to be as brilliant as the last, and in this respect he never disappoints. He has been introducing more colour into his pieces and adding more points of interest in beautiful doodle formats around his characters, such as the flower and little bird here. I feel that Chill has or desires to have a strong connection with nature, which I applaud.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

Face 1st is a hero of Bristol street art, and an ever-present throughout the nine years I have been writing about it. In this piece, a girl with big FACE hair, Face 1st has chosen some bright and striking colours that scream out very loudly from the wall behind the fence. There is some revisiting his brain theme and lots of splodges and drippy bits. Lots of fun here, although this girl doesn’t seem to be too happy.

Rounding off the triptych is an unusual piece by Zake, who has incorporated a couple of ideas I haven’t seen from him before. I love it that artists often choose to push the boundaries of their craft. The orange lenses of the glasses the character is wearing work very nicely, the challenge here being to keep the face intact and seamless behind the orange colour. The other weirdness is the eye in the mouth, for which I have no explanation, it is just a bit odd and unsettling. The three PWA boys have smashed it once again.

5971. Dean Lane skate park (709)

Zake and Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024

I don’t do this too often, but I forgot about today’s posts until just now (8.42am). I have a lot on my mind. I am in Buxton in Derbyshire with work. Today’s posts are going to be super-short.

A brilliant pairing of Face 1st and Zake from the PWA crew. Zake smashes it with this gorgeous cartoon portrait full of texture and depth.

Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2024

The writing from Face 1st is a little unusual but nonetheless captivating. Spelling out FACE and no smiling girls this time.

5958. Dean Lane skate park (708)

Awkward tends to drop his pieces in twos and threes, which is something he can easily do because his mega-tag characters are generally quite small. On this occasion he painted one on the door at the bottom right-hand end of Dean Lane and the other on the wall of the swimming pool, about 50 meters apart.

This door is a candidate for the One Wall, Many Faces series of posts which I will get on to when I have a bit of spare time (thumbs diary, that’ll be 2029 then). Awkward has created a vision in yellow, with vibrant blue eyes and speech bubble set on a gorgeous black and red background. The characters he paints are a little bit on the eccentric, some might say, weird side, but they are distinctive and compelling.

The character on the swimming pool wall uses the same three colours which are rotated, so the face is blue, the eyes and background yellow and the speech bubbles red. The writing in the speech bubbles is usually a signature, AWK WARD split over two lines, and in this piece he has included a year date ’24’. It is always a great bonus to find his work.

	TiffanyArpDaleo on 7700. Cumberland Basin
	Wes Vinglun (aka) Ni… on 7703. North Street
	Laura Newhampshire on Roman Snail
	paulh121 on 7701. North Street
	hitandrun1964 on 7699. Macscot Road – Upf…

	TiffanyArpDaleo on 7700. Cumberland Basin
	Wes Vinglun (aka) Ni… on 7703. North Street
	Laura Newhampshire on Roman Snail
	paulh121 on 7701. North Street
	hitandrun1964 on 7699. Macscot Road – Upf…

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