Although I somehow inexplicably managed to omit this outstanding piece by Elvs first time round, I think it might well be my favourite of his. Painted in Dean Lane in May 2017, the form and colours come together in something close to perfection.
Elvs, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017
In the nicely balanced piece, the artist has used three shades of pink and three shades of blue to give the blended effect of moving from light to dark to light horizontally. Added to that, he has split the piece into vertical thirds swapping the the colours to create a harlequin effect. Clean lines, beautiful fills, incredible details. Tight.
Last year, Georgie had a few paste up sessions concentrated around the Dean Lane and Stokes Croft areas. This is a really nice Brexit piece and so simply sums up the divided nation along the lines of I’m ok with this and I’m not ok with this.
Georgie, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2019
I’m alright Jack plays on the disgusting appropriation of the Union Jack by the Brexiteers whose portrayal of remainers as unpatriotic was quite disgusting, but a very powerful narative that underpinned the whole debate. Only the future will tell us whether the experiment is a mistake or not and in any case, many of the problems will be masked by the imppacts of coronavirus, giving this Brexit government the perfect excuse to waffle their way out of uselessness.
On the long wall at Dean Lane back in September of last year was this rather unusual piece by Logoe. It seems that at the back end of last year, Logoe was quite productive and painted a few pieces like this with his central writing overwritten with smaller messages, The whiole thing looks like it has been tagged, but it is in fact all his own work.
Logoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019
I’m not quite sure what all the smaller script says but I thik it goes like this:
‘Baby we living in the moment, been a menace for the longest, but I ain’t finnished I’m devoted, and you know it and you know it.’
Possibly the lyrics from a song or a message to a loved one, I just don’t know. Just Googled it. The lyrics are from a song by Kanye West called Black Skinhead. So there we have it. Enjoy.
This is an older TES from Slim Pickings (TES) painted back in July 2018, before I had properly registered how many different versions of his ‘super-tag’ he had produced. I post his pieces rather sparingly, because to some they might seem a bit repetitive, but for others the joy is in scrutinising the subtle differences between the designs of each one and the use of different colours and fill patterns.
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2018
One thing that remains consistent with Slim Pickings is that his work is always immaculately presented. The lines are always clean and the fills solid without thin bits that you see on a lot of throw ups for example. The red and green work well and the yellow outline sets the piece off nicely.
This wonderful triptych collaboration from Piro, 45RPM and Epok appeared last september on the garage wall at Dean Lane. Don’t ask me why I never posted it… inexplicable. This collaboration follows the format of sharing a wall and colour scheme with three associated pieces.
Piro, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019
On the left is a fabulous piece of graffiti writing from Piro, an artist whose work is almost entirely absent from Natural Adventures, which is a pity, because he has an incredible style and technique. His work is always incredibly tight.
45RPM, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019
The centrepiece character is by 45RPM depicting a devilish glass of beer or perhaps ginger beer or something more alcoholic altogether. This is a nice feature that joins the two pieces of graffiti writing really well, a segue beer if you like.
Epok, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2019
The piece on the right is from Epok and is absolutely stunning in my book. The letters spell out EPOK and the design and colour elements of the writing are so very easy on the eye. I haven’t seen much from Epok lately, so finding this one in my ‘coronavirus’ archive was a real treat.
Anyone who reads Natural Adventures regularly will know that I have a soft spot for Polish artist Hire, whose Gothic writing and spiky rabbits regularly adorn the walls of Dean Lane skate park. This piece from July last year treats us to both central elements of his work.
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
The writing part of the piece is expertly done and I particularly like the way that two tones of orange are used and blended to great effect. The 3D shading is very distinct, but I fear slightly dominates the brittle nature of the letters.
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
The rabbit, although menacing, is perhaps a little kinder than some of his spikier cousins… it looks like it has had a bit of a shampoo and set. How on earth I allowed this one to sit in my archive until now, I’ll never know.
When a large wall like this one at Dean Lane skate park is prepped along its full length, you know you are going to be in for a treat. This piece is a collaboration between Dasco and Apnea.
There are three basic types of collaboration. One is where two or more artists contribute to a single piece of work and it can be difficult to be sure which artist painted which bit; another is when two artists paint together at the same time, but their pieces are discrete. The third type of collaboration is amply demonstrated here where artists paint alongside each other, but the theme or colour scheme used join the pieces up in some way. There are other types of collaboration of course, but I’ll not go into those here.
Dasco, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
On the left is a super piece of writing from Dasco, who in recent months has made his presence known in Bristol with a series of outstanding productions. His work is assured and clean and he changes his design and style with each new piece, where some artists such as Elvs or Slim Pickings tend to stick to a basic formula that they play with.
Apnea, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
On the right of the wall is a piece from Apnea, and I have to confess that I know nothing about the artist and don’t recall seeing much of their work. I am guessing that Apnea may have bee a visitor who hooked up with Dasco for a while, but I could be quite wrong (I usually am). This too is a nice piece, although not quite as tight as Dasco’s.
There is no order or plan with which I am going through my archive (during lock down) I am simply skipping from monthly folder to folder, spotting something and thinking, ‘ah yes, this needs posting’. This exact process has happened several times with Slim Pickings (TES) and each time I put the moment back to be returned to another time. Well, enough is enough. Here is a rather lovely TES from March last year, that didn’t get posted first time round.
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2019
As I would always expect from Slim Pickings, this is a really tight and clean piece, painted in pillar box red set on a dull bronze background with some green gunge and drips for good measure. The white highlight lines are just enough to give the letters a 3D feel. Clever and consistent. Note to self… high time I did a gallery.
The great thing about looking back is that you get to see what artist’s work looked like some time ago and how they might have developed over time. This fabulous pair of rabbits from Nevergiveup (#followmyrabbits) is from April 2018 and is notably different from more recent incarnations of the characters in two respects: the amount of decoration on the torso is much more limited, and the ears much smaller than on the 2020 versions.
Nevergiveup, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2018
We have to remember that the artist has only been in Bristol for about three years, it feels much longer because of the abundance and spread of rabbits, but in street art terms it is a relatively short time. The image below is a more recent incarnation pf a Nevergiveup rabbit, can you see the differences?
I think that regular readers of Natural Adventures will be more used to seeing rabbits from Nevergiveup (#followmyrabbits) than from Hire, but it was the latter who painted them in Bristol first, especially in The Bearpit and Dean Lane.
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2017
This old one is on the famous curved wall at Dean Lane skate park and is beautifully finished. Set on a dark red and rather moody background, this menacing rabbit (with Gothic styling) is painted in a grey-green that contrasts brilliantly with it. One that escaped my clutches from way back in February 2017. Nice to free it.
Natural adventures 