It is rare to find a Fade piece these days that is not immediately associated with a piece by Dibz and at times his work can be eclipsed by the overall collaborations they create, so it is great to see a fabulous standalone piece of graffiti writing from Fade, and this is a beauty.
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2024
Painted in greyscale on a black background, the impact of the letters has to be really strong, and it is. Spelling out FADE in letters that pop out from the wall, especially along the bottom edge. A nice touch is the little black ‘ink’ trail all around the outside of the piece. All in all, a fabulous and rather special piece of graffiti writing.
Dibz, Fade and Jody, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Good morning and happy Christmas Eve. A busy day for most, I expect, and definitely for me. One of my tasks today is to make a ‘Sussex Pond’ pudding, which is our alternative to Christmas pudding, which the kids and I don’t much care for. I’ll keep this short.
Dibz, Fade and Jody, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Wonderful work from Dibz, Fade and Jody, who have teamed up several times this year to produce some outstanding collaborations. This is a true collaboration where all the contributions are in the one piece. Jody painted the wolf, and Dibz the letters, so I expect that Fade painted the wonderful background.
Jody, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Jody steals thee show a little with his magnificent wolf portrait in the centre of the piece. It is so good to see so many street pieces from him this year, and I hope he continues into next year.
Dibz and Fade have been a tour de force this year and I have featured a lot of their work on Natural Adventures along the way. I think that this collaborative piece might be the last this side of Christmas, and it is yet another cracker from the duo, a Christmas cracker if you like.
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2023
Adopting their usual format for long walls of a piece of graffiti writing from each artist, positioned either side of a central feature piece by either of them or a ‘guest’ artist like Jody or Sikoh. To the left, Fade has written a lovely sharp FADER FUA in pink and green letters, either side of which are cartoon characters, although I have utterly failed to identify what film/series they come from.
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2023
On the right, Dibz has written his name in glorious gold with a sumptuous purple drop shadow and pink border, all as crisp as you’d expect from him. The character in this piece is, I think, Count Duckula, and some green gloop oozes from the piece in an evil way on the sides.
Fade and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2023
The feature in the middle portrays a full moon with the letters FUA KREW, which is their From Up Above crew name. I don’t know which artist painted the letters, but they are 100 percent on point, in quite a challenging arrangement. Some great work from two of the tidiest artists around.
This year has seen the emergence of a powerhouse of collaborative graffiti writing and scenes from Dibz and Fade putting together some epic walls. Their drive and commitment has been unrelenting, and 2023 has been a special year in Bristol because of it. In this collaboration, they have been joined by Sikoh.
Dibz and Sikoh, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023
This watery piece is yet another perfect example of their collaborative style. Dibz’ letters are submerged under the waves, with just a little bit of pink breaking the surface, which is really cleverly done. there is a strong sense of swell and movement from the waves.
Sikoh, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023
In the centre is a character, which according to Sikoh’s Instagram is a water bear pig, whatever one of those is. Naturally, the water creature is holding a spray can which is squirting bubbles. The bubbles are exquisitely painted. This is something of a rare appearance by Sikoh, whose work is always superb.
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2023
Rounding off the triptych is some great writing from Fade, which, like Dibz’, is largely submerged, with a little bit of pink breaking the surface. Fade has incorporated lots of arrows, perhaps indicating the fluidity of the underwater scene. A fine collaboration.
Dibz, Fade and Smak, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023
Here we have yet another classy collaboration between Dibz and Fade only this time they are joined by Smak in this Halloween extravaganza. The wall, as I have mentioned several times in the past, might be great fun to paint, especially if it is raining a little, but it is a devil to take decent photographs of unless the light conditions are perfect.
Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023
On the left, Dibz has painted a creepy ‘zombie’ hand clutching at a spray can, putting a finishing touch on the writing to the right of it. The letters are beautifully worked, and Dibz has adopted the traditional colours of Halloween pieces, namely, Orange, purple and black.
Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023
In the middle section, Fade has kept things simple with sticking to writing only with what looks like FADER, but could be something else altogether. All is neat and tidy with the piece as we’ve come to expect.
Smak, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2023
On the right-hand side, Smak has joined in with the festive fun with some very fancy letters and a skull character peering over the K to the right. The backdrop to the whole thing is a wonderful spooky silhouette of dead trees and towers, finished off with some autumn leaves sweeping across the entire length f the wall. A classy collaboration from three fabulous writers.
Dibz, Awkward and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2023
This is a rather interesting collaboration in Dean Lane, in which Fade and Dibz have done their thing, but have been joined by Awkward, whose big-eyed character faces are in stark contrast to Dibz and Fade’s sharp graffiti writing.
Dibz, Awkward and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2023
Dibz has written DIBZ and has a downwards and left facing drop shadow. Fade has written FADE and his writing has a drop shadow that goes up and to the right, which creates some imbalance in the piece (to my mind). Add to that the crazy character by Awkward and you have a collaboration made up of three great individual pieces, but the golden thread or flow is a little absent. Having made that observation, I still very much like the three core elements on this wall.
I am in a conference all day today, so I wrote this one last night, not that it makes any difference to anything at all. As reported several times before on Natural Adventures, Dibz and Fade have been unstoppable this year, painting some incredible pieces week in, week out. This beauty was on the long wall under Brunel Way.
Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2023
As with many of their recent collaborations, it can be difficult to know where the individual work ends and the combined work begins, but broadly speaking the writing on the left is by Fade, and under his tight writing he has the words ‘From up above’.
Fade and Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2023
The central character looks like something out of a Marvel or DC comic, but I am not sure that I can spend hours trying to find out who, although a quick Google search has led me to the door of Dark Phoenix from X-Men. Beautifully painted… these guys really are good. The banner spells out Tru Headz Kru (THK), which I assume is the two collaborating artists.
Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, October 2023
To the right, Dibz gives us another of his flawless pieces of graffiti writing, looking stunning in shades of green with a purple drop shadow. I can see several possible words in the letters, but most likely is DIBZ, although I can also see DARK, which would cross-reference nicely with the character. Still more to post from these two!
I have pretty much said it all when it comes to collaborations between Dibz and Fade. How on earth they find the time, the energy, the inspiration and the money for paint I will never know, but that is why they do what they do and I do what I do, I suppose.
Dibz and Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2023
This is one of those collaboration fusion pieces where each artist has contributed to all parts of the piece, although Fade probably did most of the writing and Dibz the character. I had to do a little research, and found out that the character is from the 1977 film Wizards and is called Avatar. I am pleased with myself finding this out, especially when there isn’t much to go on. These guys are far from done, more to come soon.
Collaborations between Dibz and Fade are fast becoming the most frequent on Natural Adventures, and they seem to be turning out at least one piece a week, which certainly keeps me on my toes. I try to post them all, simply because of their outstanding quality. Perhaps they will slow the pace a little over the winter months and I can turn my attention to other less well represented artists.
Dibz and Fade, Brunel Way, October 2023
This piece, quite small by their standards, features Scrooge Mc Duck, holding not a bag of money, but instead a spray can. The writing says FADE, but it is difficult to disentangle who painted what in this collaboration, but I am pretty certain Dibz painted the character and Fade the writing. Another very nicely executed piece from this productive pair.
Dibz and Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2023
It seems that every time I go down to Brunel Way, I will find Dibz and Fade happily redecorating the long south-facing wall under the main road. They were at it again this week with yet another imaginative co-production. This particular piece was painted a couple of weeks ago, and I caught up with them as they were nearing completion. Both artists, and Fade in particular (who has definitely bonded with my dog) are so generous with their time and happy for a chat.
Dibz and Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2023
I am pretty certain that the Yosemite Sam character was painted by Fade (he was putting on finishing touches). More obviously, the piece on the left is by Dibz and the one on the right by Fade.
Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2023
When you look at the work of the two artists side-by-side, I feel that Dibz’ pieces are always a little more intricate and sharper, while Fade’s pieces have a slightly softer and gentle appearance. To me, it is baffling how each artist is able to create a style and tone that is replicable from piece to piece – these guys are amazing.
Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, September 2023
On the right is Fade’s contribution. Fade has really captured the colours of cartoons, and all of his pieces have that exciting glow about them, in this case created by a gorgeous golden 3D drop shadow. Yosemite Sam is a popular character with street artists and in this instance Fade has more than done it justice. Yet more to come from this pair.
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