Oainted directly over a Hire piece, Slim Pickings has produced another outstanding TES piece in Dean Lane. By now, everyone should be familiar with ‘stock’ shape of Slim Pickings’ work so it is the fills and detail that is of real interest.
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
His work is always sharp and clean and in this piece his colour contrasts work really well. I like also how the colours used are reversed out on the ‘S’, and by that I mean, reading left to right, he has sprayed orange letters with red spots which becomes a red letter with orange spots. Nice tidy work, from the master of TES.
I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and watch Casette (@ros-fables) as he finished off this rather beautiful whale piece in Dean Lane. I haven’t come across the artist before, so it was great to meet him, albeit briefly, on his visit to Bristol from (I think) the west country.
Casette, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
The sperm whale (blue whale?) is set on a fat striped background, a theme that is carried into the body of the whale. I was pleased to see Casette using a bit of cardboard to mask the spray over some of the details, something I have started doing quite a lot – obviously a legit technique. Pleased to have seen this lovely one-off, until he next returns.
It feels like a pretty long time since I last saw anything by Kool Hand in Bristol, and I figured he might have moved to London because he has posted a few pieces on Instagram from there. But here is a new piece in Dean Lane, and I hope this signals a return.
Kool Hand, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
In this piece we see a return of his monkey/orangutan character, but just the head (looking a bit fierce) this time. I love the use of bold, vivid colours, the simple single-colour fills and clean designs. I think that if I try to do characters I might try something a bit like this, but to be a fraction as good would be success.
This is the second post I have written about a piece by DFC1848. You may recall from the last one that the artist is better known to me as a street art hunter who takes great pictures of street art in Bristol, Cheltenham and further afield.
DFC1848, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
DFC1848 has started doing a bit of spraying himself, and in my eyes it is pretty good. This little character contains the letters DFC, although what these stand for I have no idea… I’ll have to ask him next time I see him. I went to this wall yesterday, and sadly (but rather predictably) it has been sprayed over, but it is possible to see remnants of the piece. I am full of admiration for his work and inspired to carry on practising so that I can take the leap and do a piece on a wall somewhere, sometime.
It is the shape and style of the letters that give this artist away, it is of course Cort, but he has recently taken to writing PAD, although here it looks like PIADY. There are many things to admire in this piece, which was painted solo, rather than with his friend Laic217.
Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
The two contrasting backgrounds of pink and blue add interest to the piece and the little details such as the red dots and lines and the gold rings are typical motifs used by the artist and ones that make his work so distinctive. Unusual and full of interest.
It is impossible to tire of the beautiful and bold writing of Subtle. This magnificent recent piece in Dean Lane is a perfect example of his writing style that is always so instantly recognisable.
Subtle, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2019
I like the fact that he has taken time to prepare the wall properly and chosen such a magnificent pink/magentafor the letters which are so cleanly painted. As is often the case with his work he has included just a few little highlights on the letters that lift the whole thing up another level. Subtle consistently turns out these superb pieces, which in this case is anything but subtle.
Only a couple of weeks ago I posted a piece by this artist, Bandito, from Upfest 2018 and stated that I didn’t know anything about him, well the same applies today. In that post I referenced a recent piece by him, and this is it.
Bandito, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2019
I am a big fan of tidy, clean and well-executed writing, and this one ticks all my boxes. His three-colour layering works very nicely, and the accent touches such as the stars and the yellow dusting around the outside of the piece are nicely done. I think I’ll need to keep my eyes peeled to see if I can find more from Bandito.
I said in a post a few days ago that Hire had come out of hibernation, and this, as if to prove it, is the second piece from him in the space of a week or so. This is an incredible work, which I am guessing spells HIRE, although I don’t quite know how it can, bevause of its bilateral symmetry. If I look at it hard, I can convince myself I can read HIRE, but I can also read AVA, so it could probably be anything.
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
I have always liked Hire’s work, but I can never really understand why it gets painted over so quickly most of the time. Maybe it is the walls he chooses to paint that limits the lifespan of his work, or maybe there is a respect thing going on. I don’t know, but he certainly gets my respect and lots of it.
Recently on the long wall at Dean Lane skate park was this No Frills extravaganza from Biers, Slim Pickings and Bags. It seems that these guys, and they are not alone, are well and truly out of hibernation and painting furiously at every opportunity.
Biers, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
On the left is a wonderful ‘creature from the wack (sic) lagoon’ by Biers set in his ‘O Yeah’ writing. I do like his character-writing work and the shapes of his letter style is pretty unique, and I know how hard he works on drafting these pieces because he shares his sketches regularly on Instagram. It is great to see them come to fruition.
Slim Pickings, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
In the middle of this collaboration is the distinctive ‘Tes’ of Slim Pickings forever reaching out for perfection in this form of writing. I don’t think I have ever knowingly seen anything by him that isn’t a version of this. A master of consistency and colour combinations.
Bags, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
Finally on the right is a piece by an artist I still know nothing about other than that he is in the No Frills crew/movement, Bags. His letters are large, clean and bold. You can see how he has used the brick-line to fade between the two shades of filling, a great technique for getting straight lines. Looking forward to seeing more from Bags and maybe if I get lucky coming across this lot when they are out painting.
Well these two seem to have come out of hibernation, and this is one of two recent collaborations between Soge and Hire. These two are both Polish artists who have adopted Bristol as their home and have been collaborating for a few years now.
Soge, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
On the left is a fine and rather complex piece of writing by Soge, which does actually spell out SOGE although it is highly disguised. His style is like a kind of organic Gothic and seems to be from the same school as Hire and quite unusual for Bristol. Long thin sections of lettering with sharp points, this is technically very difficult and brilliantly executed.
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
On the right is one of Hire’s trademark rabbits which are altogether more ‘street’ and sinister than the rather cuddly rabbits painted by fellow countryman Nevergiveup. There is a lot of menace in this rabbit – not one I’d like to meet on a dark night – and you can see how the fur, all pointy, reflects the style in Soge’s writing. These two would seen to enjoy each other’s company and it is a pleasure to see them back out and painting again.
