Dean Lane – Page 32 – Natural adventures

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Jay Kaes, Inkie and Gabs, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2023

I am a little pressed for time this morning, so short posts only today. This is a fabulous graffiti writing masterclass collaboration from Inkie, and two visiting artists either side of his piece from Jay Kaes and Gabs, neither of whom I have come across before.

Jay Kaes, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2023

To the left Jay Kaes has written KAES beautifully, with a deep 3D effect. There is s nice little shout out to Bristol too which is a bit of a crowd-pleaser.

The middle piece will be much more familiar to readers of Natural Adventures, because it is by Bristol stalwart Inkie. There are some great colours in this classic wildstyle writing that is so typical of his work.

Finally to the right, and mimicking the colour palette of Jae Kaes piece, is another fine piece of writing by Gabs, spelling out, yep you guessed it, GABS. The piece came a little bit out of the blue, but when Inkie paints in Bristol it is usually to do something a bit special in collaboration with others.

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Dibz and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2023

There is no stopping these two at the moment, Dibz and Fade are on a roll and seem determined to make hay while the sun shines. The writing, by Dibz, is characteristically complex and perfectly finished, when is it ever not? The fill is a lovely earthy mix of colours in a style resembling army camouflage patterning. The 3D drop shadow has an icy cool feel to it, with a low central vanishing point, which works really well.

The superbly painted character, by Fade, is not known to me, but is probably, from the look of it, a Disney cartoon character. Since I and my children grew up, my knowledge of children’s cartoons has diminished and I often have to rely on Interweb searches to work out what people have painted. In this instance I have drawn a blank, so unless you know, you’ll have to linger, like me, in ignorance.

Update: Painted as part of the World Wall Stylers camouflage challenge.

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2023 has been a very good year for PWA (Pirate Wall Art) so far, with dozens of pieces being painted either individually or as part of a paint jam. Chill, a reasonably new member of the crew, has been super-busy this year with his really cool cartoon sketches.

This character in green and orange, surprisingly good bedfellow colours, is holding a delicate and rather beautiful flower, perhaps demonstrating his caring/compassionate nature. Chill has come a long way from his rather small black and white pieces to these larger and more colourful works. I was lucky enough to catch up with Chill, a lovely bloke, shortly after he had completed this piece which he had painted alongside a Danish (I think) visiting graffiti writer Wizer.

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Noise has only recently come into my consciousness, but I don’t know whether that is because he is reasonably new to Bristol or whether I simply had a blind spot. Whatever the reason, I seem to see his pieces on a reasonably regular basis, which is great, because I like his rather big brash letters.

This piece on the recently bricked up wall under one of the large Dean Lane skate park ramps spells out NOISE in great big chunky letters that take no prisoners. There is plenty of room for fills, which are beautifully done in turquoise and white, bounded by tidy black borders and drop shadow and a red outline. This is another attractive piece from Noise.

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Klashwhensober and Bean, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2023

In my experience it is unusual to find a Klashwhensober collaborative piece, so this one painted with Bean was a bit of a treat. The letters, spelling S BER, by Klashwhensober, have been augmented with a fabulous cartoon character by Bean, replacing the ‘O’.

Altogether the whole piece is a lot of fun, and is a coming together of two artists who are rather busy with their painting at the moment. Klashwhensober’s letters are filled with a gentle blend of red and pink set on a lilac background. Bean creates some wonderful cartoon characters in a style that is both beautifully finished and recognisable. This is a wonderful collaboration from the two artists.

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Pura Decadencia and Mono, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020

I took a short journey into my archives to find this small collaboration, something I rather like doing from time-to-time, as there are so many fantastic artworks that never make it into this blog. These pieces were painted in Dean Lane way back in December 2020.

Pura Decadencia, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020

To the left is an iconic mega-tag piece featuring one of Pura Decadencia’s mouths, complete with vampire teeth and and very long tongue. I really like her straightforward design that remind me a little of the Rolling Stones logo, filled with mischief. Pura Decadencia paints only occasionally, and I was encouraged by her recent piece in Brunel Way, and hope she’ll bring more of her artwork to Bristol before too long.

Mono, who I believe is no longer living in Bristol has been concentrating on her illustrations and animations that are really fantastic. This is a creative and imaginative piece of a rat (?) smoking a joint. The rat’s tail stems directly from its head, there is no body. The piece as a whole feels slightly provocative and edgy, which is sometimes so easily forgotten with a majority of rather more sanitised street/graffiti art. Altogether this is a fun collaboration decorating utility boxes, which deserve to be painted.

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Awkward is an artist who makes occasional appearances in Dean Lane, although I’m not sure I have seen his work anywhere else in Bristol. He specialises in his mega-tag character faces that are usually accompanied by a speech bubble.

In this piece, the unnerving character painted in red has huge yellow comedy eyes. The nose is represented only with two nostrils, resembling a skull. The speech bubble has the letters AWK sitting above WARD. The whole piece is set within a blue cloudy background with a few bubbles. These rare appearances, I feel, don’t fully do justice to an artist who has clear and obvious talent, but who may be constrained by time to put into his artwork. His pieces are always worth looking out for though.

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There is such a vast spectrum of types, methods and styles of street and graffiti art in Bristol, and there is room for everyone, which makes it one of the most exciting venues in the world for urban art. All artists are welcome and nobody is overlooked. Enn Kay (NAK) burst onto the scene from nowhere about two to three years ago and has been improving along the way with each piece.

This is a lovely character/letters piece featuring Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants, beautifully recreated by Enn Kay, alongside the letters NAK. The whole thing is beautifully clean and tight – a top quality artwork from an artist on the up.

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This wall, although part of the Dean Lane ‘furniture’ was only bricked up and made into one solid wall earlier this year, so in its current form it is a fairly new wall which was first painted by Haka (if my memory serves me correctly). It has now become a popular wall for large pieces of graffiti writing, and this is the turn of Mr Draws.

Mr Draws has been and will always be one of the foundations of Natural Adventures, along with other artists like Face 1st, whose work is consistent, regular and enduring – the heartbeats of Bristol street art. In this tidy piece, the letters are beautifully painted, each one merging into the next, and the fills, with horizontal layers work nicely through the letters. The little white accent lines create a 3D effect, which along with the black drop shadow lift the writing off the wall. Set on a blue patterned background, the piece is another fine contribution from Mr Draws.

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Cort is another ever-present writer in Bristol who, year in year out, turns out his peculiar brand of writing on a regular basis, always there in the background, never any fuss. I have met Cort on several occasions, and he is way too modest about his work, and reluctant to say very much too, which is fine, not all people feel the need to chat.

This piece in Dean Lane, is so typical of Cort’s work, with his unusual letter font, combining curvy shaped letters with straight angular ones. His colours are also quite peculiar to the artist, and the stand-out element is probably the red patterning on the grey level of the fill. It is the simplicity, nothing too busy, and the unique style that I enjoy most about this pice. Cort is probably one of the most under-represented artists on Natural Adventures, and I ought to post more of his pieces than I do.

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