Tag: Dean Lane

4349. Dean Lane skate park (477)

I have always and will always love the work of Hire. Hire is one of a large contingent of Polish artists in Bristol, each one bringing something rather special to our city, and becoming part of its rich cultural heritage.

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022

This is a beautiful piece of writing set on a deep rich red background, giving it something of a sumptuous feel. I have to confess that I am not quite sure what the repeating pattern of letters says, I am used to picking out the letters HIRE or BF, but this is a bit of a mystery. As an exercise in repetition is is a stunner, and you might have a bit of fun playing ‘spot the difference’ between the three sections. Fine work from Hire.

4330. Dean Lane skate park (476)

I am coming to the conclusion that I have already said as much as I can about the work of brilliant graffiti writer Dibz. I have run out of superlatives, something that actually happened years ago. Dibz is an artist that I like to try and post every time that I photograph his work, because it demonstrates the high end of graffiti writing in the city, but this frequency makes it difficult to write anything interesting or original.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022

This is one of the best walls in the whole of Bristol and one which Dibz favours. His wall preparation has paid off, with the grey-blue backwash providing a perfect neutral setting for the antics of Disney’s Merlin and his owl from the cartoon film The Sword in the Stone – a film I have never seen.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022

The writing is outstanding, the colour transitions perfect, the spray cans inspired and the characters crisp, sharp and engaging. This is a masterclass from one of Bristol’s very best.

4327. Dean Lane skate park (475)

There are all sorts of conventions in the world of graffiti and street art, and broadly speaking most artists remain within the boundaries, albeit on a vast spectrum. There are some artists who seem to linger on the fringes of convention, either through their content or style, and I would class Taboo as one of those.

Taboo, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022
Taboo, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022

Although Taboo’s writing and character combinations are reasonably conventional, his lettering style and incorporation of characters is not, and this is what sets him apart from other artists. In this piece ‘reality is not enough’ his unusual letters, spelling out ‘Taboo’ in chrome, serve as a backdrop to a C. S. Lewis character from Alice in Wonderland, the caterpillar puffing on a hookah. This is wonderful hallucinogenic stuff, and I am rather sure that the author would probably approve.

4314. Dean Lane skate park (474)

This was something of a red-letter day for me, turning up at Dean Lane to find Mudra painting alongside Kosc and Flava136 (who has now changed his moniker to Saor). Unfortunately, Flava136’s piece had been painted over by the time I returned to get pictures of the completed works, but Mudra and Kosc’s were intact.

Mudra, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2022
Mudra, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2022

Mudra is an artist who, although he has only been painting in Bristol for a couple of years, has firmly established himself in the city and is definitely going from strength to strength. With each of his pieces, his confidence and dynamism grows, and I am thoroughly enjoying the ride.

Mudra, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022
Mudra, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022

This is a curious piece that, for once, doesn’t spell out Mudra, but instead incorporates the letters NTS, a crew name (I don’t yet know what it stands for). There is a typically stylised Mudra face with a giveaway coloured nose and for some utterly unknown reason a bird perching at a bird box. Great to see and great fun.

4308. Dean Lane skate park (473)

Cort is a quiet, unassuming, Polish artist who has been writing in Bristol for several years now, but he is an artist I have only met on one or two occasions. Although he has finished this piece in Dean Lane by the time I arrived, he was still in the area chilling. I did manage to exchange a few words, but I’m not entirely certain he enjoys conversation about his art, and he comes across as rather modest.

Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2022
Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2022

I happen to think that this is one of his finest pieces to date, and there have been an awful lot to choose from, and it also demonstrates what a good character artist he is too, although he rarely paints characters. The colour selections are attractive and there is good balance between the character and the writing, with a clever bordered box drawing all the elements together.

Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022
Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022

The character is really nicely painted in a semi-abstract form, including a Mickey Mouse hand. The character is smoking a joint, a theme commonly used in street art, which chimes with the ‘edgy’ or rebellious nature of the art form. Cort also spells out the crew name (PAD) for us, which in full is Paint and Destroy. This piece raises the bar for Cort, and I will be looking out for more characters from him.

4293. Dean Lane skate park (472)

For a little while Varo was a quite quiet, but over the winter and into spring he has become very busy indeed, often pairing up with compatriot and painting friend Zake. It seems that everywhere I go at the moment, I see a new throw up or bull head, but with this piece down in the skate park, he has really raised the bar, in my view.

Varo, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022
Varo, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022

There are actually two Varo pieces on view here, the upper one has been there for a while and is a classic piece of Varo writing, but the new piece below it is a beauty. A clever symmetrical design spelling VARO, with the vague appearance of a bull with horns and a little halo. The colour blending has worked really well between the pink and peachy colours, and the whole thing has a sumptuous deep 3D shadow in red. A fine offering from Varo.

Varo, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022
Varo, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2022

4290. Dean Lane skate park (471)

Although I was very pleased to see this piece from the revitalised Biers, I was at the same time gutted to find that he had sprayed over a magnificent Ceus piece that I saw as a work in progress (WIP) but never got to see in its final form. Such a pity as it was really rather magnificent. The law of the jungle!

Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2022
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2022

Biers, who currently writes WD40 has created a piece with his always recognisable lettering style and a fabulous lollipop-sucking Kojak character. Some of the older readers among you will remember this ‘must watch’ cop series starring Telly Savalas, which was a tv highlight for my family when I was a kid. Who loves ya baby?

4285. Dean Lane skate park (470)

It is always great to meet a new artist, and on this particular day there were a lot of artists painting in Dean Lane skate park and I knew all of the except Trafficity who painted this fabulous stylised piece of writing which spells out ZIOM. Trafficity is another Polish artist and paints with compatriots Cort and Laic217 under the PAD crew label.

Trafficity, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2022
Trafficity, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2022

The green-blue tones with horizontal transitions are very nicely done, with lots of little detailed pixels and blocks dotted about the letters. There are some lovely details and scrolls through some of the holes in the letters too. ZIOM actually means ‘dude’ or ‘mate’ in Polish, and is a pretty cool thing to be writing, I reckon. I look forward to seeing more from Trafficity before too long.

4277. Dean Lane skate park (469)

I have a feeling that Tuco would approve of this piece from Veeez, an artist I have been calling Veee, but am in the process of updating. Tuco, another Bristol graffiti writer has a thing for mattresses, and I sense there could be some mattress-envy going on here.

Veeez, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2022
Veeez, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2022

Veeez has been working like a beast, getting his rather special mega-tags embedded all over the city. There is barely a nook or cranny that hasn’t been visited by the artist. He has two or three variants, and in this post he has both the face, as shown on the mattress and his little ‘mushroom’ character below.

Veeez, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2022
Veeez, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2022

I think I will have to start multiple posting his pieces, like I do with Maybe, because otherwise Natural Adventures would be in danger of becoming the Veeez show. It is great to see how quickly and how well the artist has made himself at home.

4273. Dean Lane skate park (468)

This is the last archive piece for a while and is from the much underrepresented artist on Natural Adventures, Lewse. I think I have rather a lot of her pieces lurking in my archives, and I hope to liberate them all in the fullness of time.

Lewse, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2017
Lewse, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2017

This one from the Deaner dates back to November 2017 and is full of colour and movement. Of course, no Lewse piece is complete without a cartoon character, and here she has incorporated Disney’s Goofy for good measure. A lovely piece from several years ago.