5905. Dean Lane skate park (700)

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

Collaborations from Fade and Dibz are becoming part of the furniture these days, and it would be easy to slip into complacency or to take their work for granted. What I have to remember is that we are very lucky in Bristol to have two artists of this calibre at the top of their game and painting on at least a weekly basis.

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

It is becoming increasingly difficult to determine who paints which bits of their collaborations these days, but my guess is that Dibz painted the letters FADE and Fade painted the character piece. It appears that the pair are on a bit of a Dragon Ball frenzy at the moment, as this is the second recent character from the cartoon series to appear in Dean Lane. This time it is the turn of Majin Buu.

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

The work of Dibz and Fade is pretty much always tight, and rarely, if ever, do they turn out anything that looks scruffy or rushed. This is what they do and they look like they are absolutely loving doing it. The benefactors of their labours are those that seek out and find their work.

5894. Dean Lane skate park (699)

Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024

The day I originally photographed this wonderful piece by Kid Crayon was very wet indeed, and although most days have been wet this winter/spring, that day was particularly wet. I mention this because, unfortunately, my original set of photographs were blurred with a spot of rain on the lens. Of course, by the time I returned to get more pictures, the piece had been tagged, so this post has a blurred untagged image and a crisp tagged one. It can be difficult to win at this game sometimes.

Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024

Kid Crayon has been out a couple of times recently, and it is great to see, I certainly miss his work during the long gaps of street inactivity. In recent years, his work mainly consists of a letters/character combination and with this piece he doesn’t disappoint. The letters are painted in modest colour tones, and the ‘seams’ ‘bolted’ together with ‘rivets’, a writing technique used by other artists in Bristol.

Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024

The character face is the star of the piece in my eyes an harks back to Kid Crayon’s early wheatpaste faces that got me curious about street art in Bristol in the first place, back in 2015. The trademark crayon is present, floating in front of the character’s face – who needs a signature and letters spelling out your name when you only have to include a floating crayon?

Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024

At the time of painting this wonderful piece, Kid Crayon left a little extra, as he often does, by painting the bin at the far corner of the skate park. Stylish stuff.

5893. Dean Lane skate park (698)

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

Probably the most notable ‘high-end’ collaboration partnership of the last twelve months has been that between Fade and Dibz. Shortly after Fade’s return to the UK, he teamed up with Dibz and they haven’t looked back since, turning out outstanding collaborative pieces on an almost weekly basis. For sure, the increased output from Dibz has been incredible, as he had slowed down a bit during the Covid years.

Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

On the left Fade has written FADE in fairly soft lilacs with turquoise borders but surrounded them with vibrant bright oranges and yellows, providing contrast and interest. To the right is a character, Son Goku, from the TV series Dragon Ball – I never saw it, perhaps because I was too old, and didn’t have kids (1989-1996). I don’t know who painted the character… it may have been a joint effort.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

To the right Dibz has adopted a similar colour scheme, although applied in a different way. Such perfect writing, wonderfully tight as you’d expect. These two continue to smash it with every piece they paint, and it doesn’t look like they will be slowing down any time soon.

5888. Dean Lane skate park (697)

Saor, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
Saor, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

Saor has been dropping some utterly outstanding pieces for such a long while now, that it is far too easy to take them for granted, and this beauty in Dean Lane is another one to come off the production line. Unfortunately, this piece, and others that were painted during the same session, was a little rain-affected, and there are a few unintentional dips knocking around.

Saor, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023
Saor, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2023

The cartoon character, Astro Boy, is one that I can identify because I used to watch it repeatedly with my children when they were younger. The design of the letters SAOR is beyond brilliant, and as ever executed with extraordinary precision. It is interesting to contrast the familiar character with the high design of the letters, confusing the visual narrative a little. Just another wonderful piece from Saor.

5885. Dean Lane skate park (696)

SPZero76, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
SPZero76, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024

It has been a while since I saw an EAT Crew collaborative wall, the crew being Kid Crayon and SPZero76, so what an absolute pleasure it was to come across this piece (one half of the collaboration) a couple of weeks back. SPZero76 used to paint a lot more in Bristol than he does these days, but his energy and style have not diminished in any way at all.

SPZero76, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
SPZero76, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024

In this animated piece, an alien tentacled monster is grabbing hold of a couple of raccoons that have clearly been decorating walls with their spray cans. It looks to me like the alien represents authority in some form or other and is pretty angry, which contrasts delightfully with the carefree expressions on the raccoons’ faces. There is so much detail to enjoy in this magnificent piece from SPZero76.

5878. Dean Lane skate park (695)

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

When I think about Hire’s art, I pretty much always visualise it in Dean Lane, and although he has painted other spots in Bristol, it is his favoured spot. This long piece of graffiti writing spells out ODIAH. I am not sure why Hire sometimes writes the word, and I have checked in Google translate that it isn’t a Polish word – something to ask him next time I see him.

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

Hire has prepped the wall nicely in this writing/character combination piece, creating something that is neat, clean and tidy. I suspect that writing on brick walls is a little easier as the uniformity of the letters can be measured on the brick courses, making things easy on the eye. I have no idea what the panda is all about, but it looks a little menacing, with its eye patch (clever) and broken bottle. It is always good to find Hire’s work, always.

5872. Dean Lane skate park (694)

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

It is not often that you find a Fade/Pekoe collaboration, but I have been photographing street art and graffiti writing for long enough to know that you should always expect the unexpected. I wonder whether this was a planned thing or whether they found themselves at the same place at the same time and decided to paint together. I guess I’ll only ever know if I ask them.

Pekoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Pekoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

Pekoe has smashed it again with this wonderful portrait piece, and there is something about the presentation of her work these days that makes me think she is in a good place emotionally and that it is surfacing in her paintings. The subject has wonderful full lips, dark eyes, hoop earrings and an absence of tears. The decorative shapes help to break the piece up a little and add to it significantly.

Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

You simply can’t hold Fade back at the moment – not that you’d want to – and his enthusiasm for painting walls is not only expressed in the quantity of the pieces he paints, but also in the incredibly sharp quality of his work. The letters here are very crisp, the transitions of the fills are exceptional and the 3D drop shadow nicely uniform. Fade comes across as a bit of a perfectionist, which is probably why he enjoys painting with Dibz so much. This is a very nice collaborative wall.

5868. Dean Lane skate park (693)

Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

It is rare to find a Fade piece these days that is not immediately associated with a piece by Dibz and at times his work can be eclipsed by the overall collaborations they create, so it is great to see a fabulous standalone piece of graffiti writing from Fade, and this is a beauty.

Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

Painted in greyscale on a black background, the impact of the letters has to be really strong, and it is. Spelling out FADE in  letters that pop out from the wall, especially along the bottom edge. A nice touch is the little black ‘ink’ trail all around the outside of the piece. All in all, a fabulous and rather special piece of graffiti writing.

5863. Dean Lane skate park (692)

Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

I am enjoying the regularity with which Biers is turning out his pieces at the moment, with at least one or two each month. The broad format is the same, with his WD40 letters, and a character poking through the ‘0’.

Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

The character has baffled me a little, and my Google search has yielded nothing, so he will have to remain a mystery. Perhaps the skull next to the character would offer an extra clue, but it is not enough for me. The letters are really clean and tidy, a feature of Biers’ recent work, and the colour palette is lovely, although slightly lost on the pinky background. Perhaps something with a little more contrast might have worked better, but what do I know?

5857. Den Lane skate park (691)

Nips, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Nips, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

This lovely piece by Nips was slightly hidden from view, behind the hedge and fence on the swimming pool wall in Dean Lane. I think that I have been pretty late to the party when it comes to posting pieces by Nips, but I now have the artist fully in my sights and I’m sure there will be plenty of appearances from now on.

Nips, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Nips, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024

The letters, spelling NIPS, painted in a great and eye-catching combination of black and mint green are set on a complementary pink drop shadow. The star of the piece though, for me, is the crazy dog character making up the dot on the letter ‘i’. It is details and additions like this that elevate a good piece to a great one. More to come from Nips before too long.