Eight thousand street art and graffiti posts, and still going strong. This was never planned, I just kind of fell into it. I haven’t lost my appetite for documenting the amazing street art culture in Bristol, and only occasionally don’t feel like writing a blog post – most of the time it is and has been a great pleasure and privilege. It seems appropriate that Fade, one of the Natural Adventures regulars, should feature today.
Fade, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2026
This is a super-tidy piece by Fade, his letters designed and filled to perfection, with a great pink drop shadow and yellow border. The purple and pink background has a bit of a lava lamp look to it – something quite retro. A fine piece painted alongside Peggy and Jody.
Shade One, Fade, Jody, Jenks, Sikoh, Dibz and Rusk, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2026
However hard I try, I am not going to be able to do this large production wall justice. So many artists and so much quality on show in one themed piece. The artists, some of the finest around, are Shade One, Fade, Jody, Jenks, Sikoh, Dibz and Rusk, who has recently celebrated his 50th birthday. The piece is a throwback reminiscence of the video game Street Fighter (humorously labelled Street Writerz above the piece).
Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2026
Starting with the left-hand side, Shade One portrays the character E Honda in this outstanding portrait, painted in greyscale apart from the red striped on his face. A stunning piece augmented with a fine silhouetted scene.
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2026
Next up, is the character Dhalsim, rising high above some fiery letters by Fade. I cannot be certain who from this collaboration painted the character – perhaps someone out there could fill me in. Few, if any, of the elements were individually signed, so it is difficult to put names to all of them.
Jody, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2026
In the centre of the collaboration is another outstanding character piece, this time by Jody, who has faithfully recreated Chun Li striking a fighting pose. Brilliantly done.
Jenks, Sikoh, Dibz and Rusk, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2026
Moving further along the wall several characters come in to view. At the top left is Zanghief, holding a spray can (why not), possibly by Jenks. Below that is some bone writing and the head of Blanka, which I think might be by Sikoh. Top right is writing from Dibz spelling out Guile, another character from the video game, and rounding off the piece Ryu by Rusk.
Rusk, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2026
That last character fits nicely onto one frame so Rusk gets a second mention in this post. While this is one of the most dynamic themed production collaborations I have seen, it has been a bit of a tricky one to attribute elements to artists. My apologies if I have got any of this wrong. Superb piece, which I imaging will be around for quite some time.
Dibz, Fade, Inkie, Cheo, Jody, Goldie and Soker, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2026
This is a large production piece under Brunel Way, which is an RIP tribute piece dedicated to Lenzman, a Dutch drum and bass producer who died in July this year and was signed to Goldie’s Metalheadz label. The outstanding piece was painted by Dibz, Fade, Inkie, Cheo, Jody, Goldie and Soker. Legends all.
Dibz and Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2026
First up , Dibz and Fade have collaborated with some writing and a crown, with one or two characters joining them by Cheo.
Goldie Cheo and Inkie, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2026
Then we have Cheo, who has presented the Metalheadz logo alongside a couple of tulips, perhaps representing The Netherlands. Goldie has written Lenzman in his own special style while Inkie has topped the piece with the words ‘we’re still standing’.
Jody, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2026
Jody has provided a wonderful portrait of Lenzman in greyscale with a distinctive red wooly hat, a trademark item worn by the musician.
Soker and Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2026
The next section contains writing by Soker and Fade, spelling out the names of Lenzman’s children and wife, Nya, Riva and Ashanti.
Inkie, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2026
Inkie rounds off the whole production with a wonderful piece of writing ‘The Northern Quarter’ in his characteristic stylised writing. The whole thing is an absolutely superb and fitting tribute wall. Bravo!
The last two or three years have quite simply been phenomenal for Dibz and Fade. The duo collaborate regularly, particularly when the weather is clement, and also seem to be at the heart of larger collaborations and production walls. Ever present and ever brilliant.
Dibz and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2026
This is a lively tribute piece for Helch RIP, who I believe was a London-based graffiti artist. Who used a lot of large block letters in his work, which are faithfully and respectfully replicated in this collaboration. Helch passed away in August this year aged only 34 years. A lovely tribute.
They’re at it again. Although it took Dibz and Fade a little time to warm uop this year, once they got going they have been fairly relentless all summer long. This is just a nice study in wildstyle graffiti writing on one of their favourite walls.
Fade and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2026
The pair have gone for a pink theme, although when I first saw the collaboration, my first thought was Liquorice Allsorts and I can’t unthink it. This is a great example of technical graffiti writing executed to the highest standard. Exactly as I’d expect from these two.
After a slow start in the spring, Dibz and Fade have run off an impressive catalogue of collaborations this summer of which this one on the side of the newish skate ramp at Dave Side is a great example.
Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2026
The hot colours used in the writing are perhaps designed to conjour up the warm Mexican environment to link up with the Speedy Gonzales character Slowpoke Rodriguez. I imagine both artists had a hand in painting the character which is a brilliantly faithful representation. Some great flat lettering from Fade on the left, which is mirrored on the right by Dibz.
Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, July 2026
I have exhausted superlatives desribing Dibz’ and Fade’s work this year, and perhaps it is just better for me to let their wildstyle writing do the talking for me. And still they keep turning out more and more pieces – I struggle to keep up.
Shade One, Fade, Dibz and Sikoh, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2026
This is a fabulous production collaboration painted back in June this year by Shade One, Fade, Dibz and Sikoh. It is a difficult wall to photograph in its entirety at the best of times, because of the light incursion creating reflections at different times of the day. These four really are the crème de la crème of their field.
Shade One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2026
Starting at the left, Shade One has painted an incredible cartoon realism portrait of a futuristic woman wearing pink-tinted glasses with gold rims. I’m not quite sure what the apparatus on her head is all about, but it is imaginative and creative. The pink surround creates a grerat hard defined edge to the portrait.
Fade, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2026
Next up is some graffiti writing from Fade which I think reads SMOOTER and is likely dedicated to a friend. There is little more I can write about Fade and his work that I haven’t already written many times before. Precise and perfectly presented like the adjacent piece by Dibz.
Dibz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2026
The third piece in this production is by Dibz and mirrors the writing by Fade in terms of colours and to a point style. I cannot for the life of me decypher the letters, but that is wildstyle writing for you, it is intended to be disguised.
Sikoh, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2026
Moving on finally to Sikoh, one of the most talented artists around, in my view. He has overlaid his piece on top of Dibz’ writing, bringing it forward and lifting it from the wall. The colours match Shade One’s bringing about a symmetry to the whole collaboration. Here a tortured skull, part human part machine appears to be yelling out, whether in pain or rage it is difficult to know. So full of movement expression and perfectlky painted. What a collaboration!
This is a fine combination collaboration from Fade and Dibz, featuring the cartoon character Marvin the Martian. The character is sandwiched between two fabulous pieces of wildstyle graffiti writing from the pair. It is surprising how many times I have seen this character used in a graffiti piece… note to self, do a Marvin the Martian special when I have time.
Fade and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2026
Unusually, Fade is to the left, and Dibz to the right. Looking at the two writing styles together, you can see that Fade’s work is much ‘flatter’ and 2 dimensional, whereas Dibz has gone for more depth with great use of a drop shadow around his letters. I suspect that the character was a joint effort, which is often the case with these two. Great work.
Dibz, Fade and Rusk, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2026
The Wacky Races cartoon series is deeply embedded in some of my happiest memories. As children, my two best friends and I would watch it every week together, adopting our favourite characters – being the youngest, I got third choice and was Professor Patent Pending, which I was actually quite happy with. Our own fortunes were dictated by those of our chosen characters, and winning the race was joyful and bestowed bragging rights until the next episode.
Dibz, Fade and Rusk, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2026
This is a wonderful combination of writing from Fade and Dibz and the character piece by Rusk. The wildstyle writing is top class, with each piece hanging perfectly in the blue sky. The writing is accompanied by the words “Dibz Dastardly & Fadely”, a direct reference to the characters in Rusk’s character piece.
Rusk, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2026
Rusk has done a great job with Dastardly and Mutley in their flying machine, and has conflated Wacky Races with Stop the Pigeon, which was a spin-off series from Wacky Races. I love this collaboration, a real trip down memory lane – probably 55 years or more ago. Thank you.
Fade and Dibz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2026
When Fade and Dibz get together, magic happens. It is so easy to get blasé about their work, because we see it so frequently in Bristol and forget that these two writers are at the very top of their game. The precision of their work is extraordinary and at the very highest level.
Fade, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2026
This collaboration shows off their talents as wildstyle graffiti writers. To the left, in ‘fruit salad’ yellow and pink colours Fade has written his letters with three horizontal stripes, with complete confidence and competence. Great writing.
Dibz, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, April 2026
On the right, Dibz has also adopted slightly different ‘fruit salad’ colours nicely blended in horizontal strips and with a deep 3D drop shadow in black and nicely finished with some purple bubbles at the top. As a pair of pieces, it all feels so effortless, but that comes with the unconscious competence of years of graffiti experience.
