Tag: Dean Lane

919. Upfest 2017 (1)

The spirit of Upfest is alive and well.

I took a quick walk to Bedminster the day before the festival began, and I came across these two artists in Dean Lane. They said that they hadn’t managed to get a space at this year’s festival, but were hoping to find a wall somewhere, and they had started with this one.

Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

They come from Thessaloniki in Greece, and their names are Apset and Ionas. They were so friendly and happy for me to chat with them for a while. I warned them that at last year’s festival this wall was sprayed several times over and that I hoped their piece would remain.

Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

Without question, the piece is very different from the things we usually see in Dean Lane. It has a real Mediterranean feel to it, which was most welcome, given the showery nature of the weather this year. I managed to find Apset’s Facebook page, but failed to find out much about Ionas.

Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

They did eventually find some boards to spray in the South Street park venue and I’ll cover these another time. Equally uplifting was that this piece remained in place and untagged for at least three days.

Two great artists, a great first piece at Upfest and a great place to start my posts for Upfest 2017.

914. Dean Lane skate park (68)

I met Hire the day he was just finishing off this piece. I told him how much I liked his rabbits as well as his writing, and he told me the back story to this particular piece. So, here’s a thing, even when a bit of graffiti or street art appears to look like nothing out of the ordinary, there are nearly always stories sitting behind them. Sometimes these stories are overt, other times covert.

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017

Interestingly, another polish street artist, NEVERGIVEUP, was just around the corner sizing up some tarmac on the skate park for a piece he was going to work on that afternoon. Neither seemed to know each other, but both are polish and spray rabbits. Very different styles, but some commonality. Both really nice people too.

909. Dean Lane skate park (67)

I wouldn’t have been able to post about this piece if I hadn’t been talking with Hire. He was finishing off a piece at the Deaner (to follow soon) and he pointed out this work to me as having been sprayed by one of his friends Soge.

Soge, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017
Soge, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017

I have not come across Soge before, but it seems that he is another Polish graffiti artist hitting the streets of Bristol at the moment. This is a great piece of writing, spelling out SOGE in a rather Gothic style, sprayed over a blue brick wall backdrop. I am very much enjoying this cohort of young Polish graffiti artists in Bristol, they are bringing something different and interesting to the streets, and they seem to be very busy.

898. Dean Lane skate park (66)

A  colourful party is happening here. Over a backdrop of a rather splendid Face F1st piece Guts has sprayed one of his characteristic doodles. The colours he uses really bring things to life, and when I use the word doodle, it is not in a derogatory way, but more a descriptive term for the aggregation of characters and forms. In some ways it shares a resemblance with Loch Ness.

Guts, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017
Guts, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017

This spot is on a wall which is squeezed into a narrow stretch by the back of a skate ramp, and is therefore rather difficult to photograph. The more I see of Guts’ work, the more I like it. I haven’t seen too much of it around and will have to work harder to find it.

897. Dean Lane skate park (65)

When you see a really strong piece of writing like this and it says ASK, you can be pretty sure it is by Sled One, which indeed it is. This is a great work that the photograph fails to capture, there is some flaring on the lens, which is a bit annoying.

Sled One, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017
Sled One, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017

Although Sled One has been a little less active on the streets than he was, say a year ago, he is still capable of dazzling us with the quality of his pieces. He makes great choices with his colour selections and takes care with his shadings. I particularly like the eye sitting within the ‘A’, and the accent stars.

Sled One, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017
Sled One, Dean Lane, Sled One, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2017Bristol, July 2017

A nice surprise down at the Deaner.

876. Upfest 2016 (143)

This is a really interesting piece by the Dutch street artist Pronk-Stukken, not only for its unusual and captivating subject, but also because it was sprayed at Dean Lane skate park, which is not an official site for Upfest artists, and one that gets sprayed numerous times over during Upfest. My guess is that he had another piece somewhere at the frstival, which I don’t appear to have photographed.

Pronk-Stukken, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Pronk-Stukken, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

This piece reminds me of a camel, but that is just what I see. I loved this piece the first time I saw it, and still like it now. One of my favourites of the festival. Regrettably it looks like Pronk-Stukken will not be returning this year.

Pronk-Stukken, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Pronk-Stukken, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

873. Dean Lane skate park (64)

I have just been reading Skor85’s biography on the Upfest 2017 website and found out that she is of Polish origination, adding to the vibrant Polish street art community  that appears to be growing in Bristol.

Skor85, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2016
Skor85, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2016

This is an interesting piece, from one of her favourite spots at Deaners, from July last year, around the time of Upfest. Some philosophy to go with the solemn figure drowning his/her sorrows. I love her use of colour and highlight lines on the head, arms and legs. Subtle and modest, her work always interests me.

864. Dean Lane skate park (63)

Skor85 is an artist I know precious little about, but I have been finding pieces by her all over Bristol. She is not the most prolific of artists, but her work is out there and some of it I have recently discovered in my archives. Her work is usually a little understated, and frequently accompanied with some message or other.

Skor85, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017
Skor85, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017

This piece is tucked away on the back of a skate ramp, and opposite one of the main graff walls. The more I look at it the more I like it. At first is appears to be a bit crude, but  actually the layering is really good, and the fine lines creating the detail are nicely done. More to come from this artist, and best of all she will be at Upfest, so I hope to get a chance to meet her.

863. Dean Lane skate park (62)

I am absolutely loving this  EAT crew partnership of Kid Crayon and SPZero76. As street artists go, their styles are quite different, KC tending to have softer lines and whose characters have a kind of lumpy quality to them…I’m not sure I have used the right term there, but I know what I mean. SPZero76 tends to use sharper lines and his characters are altogether more angular and prickly (another dodgy art term).

Kid Crayon and SPZero, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017
Kid Crayon and SPZero, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017

I mention their styles, because, of all the works they have done together that I have seen, this is the one where their art is starting to merge or rub-off on one another. The left hand side id by Kid Crayon and the right hand side by SPZero76.

Kid Crayon and SPZero, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017
Kid Crayon and SPZero, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017

I have absolutely no idea what is going on in this piece, but love the sort of Summer watery feel to it all. A purple giant, some little ‘ginger bread man’ type figures and a pretty lady bathing with a rubber duck. KC is clearly bonkers.

Kid Crayon and SPZero, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017
Kid Crayon and SPZero, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017

On the other side of things, SPZero76 gives us a couple of snorkelers a flamingo rubber ring and a pirate ship. The couple are in love. SPZero too is completely bonkers.

Kid Crayon and SPZero, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017
Kid Crayon and SPZero, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017

I absolutely love this collaboration and even more enjoy the way that these two just seem to love to paint all the time, about anything. This is one of my favourite pieces so far this year. Bravo.

861. Dean Lane skate park (61)

This is an absolutely wonderful piece by Dibz, featuring a character from the animated television series ‘Pinky and the Brain’. This is actually ‘the Brain’ as Pinky is somewhat skinnier and more stupid looking. Lots more from the excellent Wikipedia page on this cartoon.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017

What I like about this work is just how fantastically sharp and clear all Dibz’s lines are, it is a really strong technical piece. He spends a lot of time perfecting his designs before committing them to a wall, and his black book is well worth looking at on his Instagram feed.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2017

Care has been taken, even providing a neutral grey background to help the lime green and pink stand out on this piece. One of the best on this wall for a while. Incidentally, and quite by accident, it is on the exact same space as the previous post from Inkie.