Tag: Dean Lane

3369. Dean Lane skate park (369)

These tight collaborations from Dibz and Shade One are becoming something of a feature in Dean Lane this year, and it has been a genuine privilege to see and photograph them.

Dibz and Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020
Dibz and Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020

The precise graffiti writing from Dibz paired with the stylised portraits from Shade One have a crispness and professional look about them. The walls are always nicely prepped and the work carefully done.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020

On the left, the black and white writing from Dibz is so sharp and painted to appear like a sticker, along with all the surrounding ‘shout outs’. Note the little fold over on the far left, a trick repeated in the top right-hand corner of Shade One’s contribution.

Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020
Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020

Shade One creates these amazing portraits that have a sophisticated comic book feel about them. What lies behind those eyes? I love the shirt collar too. Overall another excellent production from this pairing.

3364. Dean Lane skate park (368)

Mr Draws continues to experiment and try new things, which is one of the reasons I love his work. His writing is perhaps less conventional than some writers in Bristol, but it has a freedom and joy about it, an unpretentiousness if you like.

Mr Draws, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020
Mr Draws, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020

I like the way the colours overlap from one letter to the next and the random positioning of the letters adds interest. Great colours, simple and effective. Always great to see work from this Bristol legend.

3326. Dean Lane skate park (367)

At the far end of the bowl in the skate park is this fantastic illustration piece by Squinty. I’ve not come across the artist before, but this is a real beauty in a style that you don’t see in Bristol all that often.

Squinty, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020
Squinty, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020

In his Instagram profile, Squinty describes himself as an artist, film maker, graffiti artist and illustrator. He describes this piece as a quick throw up. How can that be? This is a lovely piece and I’d love to see a whole ton more from the artist.

3321. Dean Lane skate park (366)

Technically first-class and exactly what you’d expect to see from Elvs, this is a lovely recent one in Dean Lane skate park. Although Elvs lives in Wales, he makes the trip over to Bristol on a remarkably regular basis and that can only be good for Bristolians.

Elvs, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020
Elvs, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020

I was going to write that this is classic Elvs, but I guess that pretty much every piece he paints is classic Elvs. That doesn’t mean to say he is a one-trick pony, far from it, but he does have a style and method that he tends to stick to. Horizontal fills in warm colours are broken up by fine detail lines in black at the top and white at the bottom. The 3D shadows are also horizontally split with black at the top and blue underneath. Same basic framework with innovative detail. Nice work from Elvs.

3307. Dean Lane skate park (365)

In have recently taken a couple of excursions into my archive (I have so much unposted material from earlier this year it is insane) and on one such search I found this lovely piece by Stivs at Dean Lane skatepark on the swimming pool wall.

Stivs, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 22020
Stivs, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 22020

At this particular spot, the high railings make taking front-on photographs rather tricky, but it is possible to get pictures from the side. This lovely piece from Stivs adopts his calligraphy style but in this case with fatter letters that have been filled with horizontal colour stripes and a silhouetted landscape/cityscape running through the middle. A very nice piece.

3304. Dean Lane skate park (364)

Always tight, always pretty near perfect. I can’t think of a Dibz piece that hasn’t been meticulous in both design and execution, and if there are any I’ve yet to see them. This is yet another superb piece from Dibz in Dean Lane (his favourite spot) from a week or two back.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020

In most cases, Dibz buffs the wall first to ensure there is a focus on his wildstyle writing. The day glow green and pink colours stand out on the blue wall, and the design is simply outstanding. Dibz is an artist with a plan and he paints his plan and he does it well. A fine work.

3296. Dean Lane skate park (363)

I haven’t seen a piece by Turoe for quite a while and I understand that his absence may be attributed to a recent illness. Whatever the cause of his absence he makes reference to it with the words ‘back from the dead’ at the bottom right hand side of the piece.

Turoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2020
Turoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2020

Turoe has painted a reasonably uncomplicated piece although it has a real feel of a Slim Pickings TES piece, especially the two ovals at the start of the T and the fills drips and letter shading. Both artists belong to the No Frills crew so it is no surprise that their styles impact on one another. Welcome back Turoe.

3294. Dean Lane skate park (362)

Within street art circles, the digital social media network is a fairly crowded place, and a fair proportion of the pieces I photograph I have already seen on Instagram and I make a deliberate decision to go and find them. A smaller proportion of pieces I ‘discover’ all on my own and in a strange way this gives me rather more personal satisfaction. I suppose one solution would be to stop using social media (would probably be a good thing in the long run), but somehow these platforms lend themselves so well to the ephemeral nature of the art I love. I found this one without knowing of its existence and what a lovely surprise it was.

Soker, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020
Soker, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2020

Soker has knocked it out of the park with this tight colourful and beautifully designed piece of graffiti writing in Dean Lane. The colours used with the letters complement each other so well whilst contrasting too – how does he achieve that? The whole thing simply oozes class, something I have said so many times when writing about Soker’s work. Classy work, classy artist.

3286. Dean Lane skate park (361)

Mr Draws has been turning out some really nice pieces recently and this one is a particularly colourful one. His work has a tendency not to last too long, probably an artefact of the walls he paints rather than any commentary on the quality of his work.

Mr Draws, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2020
Mr Draws, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2020

In this piece, as usual, he spells out DRAW! and his fills are a colourful array of lines, spots, stars and squiggles. This is classic ‘make it up as you go along’ artwork and looks like it was fun to do. The streets of Bristol would be duller without Mr Draws.

3272. Dean Lane skate park (360)

Around the time of lock down when the streets were rather empty, some artists took the opportunity to hit walls hard, some others disappeared almost entirely… Soge was most certainly in the former category. The he went a bit quiet, and this newish piece in Dean Lane is the first I have seen for a month or two.

Soge, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2020
Soge, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2020

One would normally associate Soge with his elaborate graffiti writing but he has been moving gently in the direction of character pieces (who can forget his lock down beavers?). This is an unusual and fun piece, clearly commenting on the coronavirus pandemic and our obsession with the news and ‘pandemic group behaviours’. The character looks like something out of Dungeons and Dragons and is really nicely painted and the green gives it a magical feel. A more than decent piece.