Long before Bristol became inundated with Nevergiveup’s jolly bunny rabbits, there were some rather more moody, sinister even, rabbits lurking in dark corners. They were the creation of fellow Polish artist Hire. A little while back, Hire sprayed a few of these at Dean Lane, and this one with those scary eyes was, in my view the pick of the bunch.
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2018
I haven’t seen any of his work for a little while now, but that is the name of the game… artists, just like the rest of us have peaks and troughs in the spare time they have, and maybe Hire is in one of those troughs. I really do like his rabbits, they have an edge to them.
A couple of days back I posted a great piece by the lovely artist Cros, and said that I had seen some of his work before – this is that work. Back in September Cros and his friend Lorris took over two-thirds of the long wall at Dean Lane to produce this wonderful collaboration.
Cros, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018
The letters Cros creates tend to be quite angular, but have a soft touch to them. His fills are really neat too with all sorts of nice patterns and shapes in green, orange and black. Everything is neat and tidy and I like his rings and arrows, both classic writing motifs.
Lorris, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018
This is the first piece (I hope of many) by Lorris that I have posted and it is a really charming piece. Now, I wonder if I would have said it has a feminine touch if I hadn’t known that Lorris was a woman. Difficult to know really – the lettering in soft and curvy, but the clincher is the hair bow on the ‘O’ of Lorris…I can’t imagine a male artist ever spraying a hair bow in anything other than a photorealistic portrait. All my unconscious bias being laid bare there. Anyhow I really like her style and can’t wait to see more.
I seem to be forever trying to play catch up with some of the artists in Bristol, such as Mr Draws, Face 1st, Deamze and in this example Tasha Bee. With only writing two posts each day and having to share as much as I can from Bristol streets and Upfest and occasionally London and further afield, inevitably some good works struggle to make it on to these pages. Often too good to leave out, I try to publish them, but often a long time after completion. Certainly I have enough material to last me for at least a year if I stopped taking pictures today.
Tasha Bee, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018
This is a lovely example of Tasha Bee’s work from last year at the Dean Lane skate park with each of the two figures reversed out, so one green with lilac features and the other lilac with green features. All round a lovely calming work. See more in my Tasha Bee gallery.
I got lucky recently on a lunchtime walk to Dean Lane to find Cros painting this fine writing and character along with Cort and Laic217 who had unfortunately left before I arrived. Together with Cros was his friend Lorris, and together they had collaborated in Dean Lane some weeks before. I have pictures of that collaboration, but didn’t know who they were, so didn’t post them at the time…watch this space.
Cros, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2019
Cros is a really nice guy, originally from Spain but now living in Bristol who said he plans to be much more active painting on the streets when the weather gets a bit better. I can’t wait. When I first saw this piece I was getting a bit confused, because the lettering is quite similar to Cort’s lettering, but Cort was working on another piece next to it, also the letters themselves are quite similar…CROS and CORT. The character is what separates them, as I don’t think I’ve ever seen one from Cort.
Cros, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2019
Cros has a lovely touch and this is a nice clean piece. Unfortunately he hadn’t finished when I had to go, and indeed didn’t finish until the following day. I managed to get out a couple of days ago to take a picture of the finished piece, but the light was all wrong. This is also a difficult wall to photograph and these pictures really don’t do the piece justice. A great sign of respect that the piece is still there completely untagged.
As long as Soker keeps turning out fabulous graffiti writing, I will keep photographing and sharing them. This one from a few weeks back was part of a wall shared with Dibz, which I have already posted. It is a beautiful chrome piece with blue and black shadows. Showy and subtle both at the same time.
Soker, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2019
It is interesting that when I post his pieces on Instagram, they generally get fewer likes than street art pieces, which leads me to conclude that graffiti writing is more of an acquired taste…that is except for his Upfest 2018 Simpsons piece, which was my all-time most popular Instagram post. I wish I knew how these things worked.
Back to home soil now and the warm and familiar sight of a Dean Lane piece by Laic217. This is the second recent piece that I have seen where he has been playing with these red eyes which are slightly disconcerting in their non-human (robotic) quality.
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2019
There is a slight shift in style too in this overall piece. To me it has a water-colour kind of quality and looks like it has been lifted from an artist’s sketchbook. This feels like Laic217 is moving on to a new level, where his confidence and competence is allowing him to experiment more.
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2019
I believe he was supposed to be painting this wall with Cort and Cros, but had arrived long before the others and had pretty much finished before they arrived. This is a pity, because it is a long time since I last met this elusive artist.
Those rabbits, they just keep coming and you can never quite be sure where the next one is going to leap out at you from. You can be sure however that Nevergiveup will never give up and will keep spraying these little characters around not only Bristol, but wherever he finds himself.
Nevergiveup, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2019
This tall thin rabbit is on the gateway into the North Entrance of the Dean Lane skate park and is really skilfully sprayed on a highly textured stone surface. Just another reminder of the fun and quality created by this Polish artist.
Clean, sharp, crisp, brilliant design and a touch and tone that altogether scream out the name Dibz. This is a really classy piece from the local artist, and if I have any complaints at all it is that we just don’t see enough of his work around the place.
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2019
Everything about this is good and even if you are not a fan of graffiti writing you must be able to appreciate the quality of this piece. From the cerise background, which acts as a brilliant host colour for the rest of the piece, to the split colours used in the lettering and the graded shading therein, this piece oozes quality. I could go on, but feel that I am in danger of sounding a little too unctuous and so will leave you to judge the piece for yourselves. It is good though.
I get a great thrill when I see work from an artist new to me, and this piece from Diced Mango in Dean Lane came as a most welcome surprise. This work reminds me a little of the work of Pekoe, simply because it has some commonalities of bright colours, a female face and ‘scribbled’ hair.
Diced Mango, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2019
I have since seen more work from Diced Mango and I think that this might be a thing…I hope so. The artist is Alexander Richardson A.K.A. Alex the Maverick of Maverick Media. It is great to see real people with real jobs doing real street art/graffiti art, always striving to brighten the place up. A nice first piece by this artist for Natural Adventures.
Another overlooked piece from my archives, this time from Elvs in Dean Lane. It is very possible that this remained on file for so long because at the time of seeing it, I didn’t know the artist and so left the picture in a folder. Because the turnover of pieces in Bristol is so high, many that I photograph never see the light of day, but on my occasional trawls through the archives I like to dig some oldies out.
Elvs, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2016
Elvs’ skills are obvious for all to see, and the crisp lines on his distinctive writing style are a pleasure to observe, and in this one, the shading within the letters is masterful. A great piece on the bit of wall that is very difficult to photograph…as you can see.
Natural adventures 