Tag: Shade One

3369. Dean Lane skate park (369)

These tight collaborations from Dibz and Shade One are becoming something of a feature in Dean Lane this year, and it has been a genuine privilege to see and photograph them.

Dibz and Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020
Dibz and Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020

The precise graffiti writing from Dibz paired with the stylised portraits from Shade One have a crispness and professional look about them. The walls are always nicely prepped and the work carefully done.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020

On the left, the black and white writing from Dibz is so sharp and painted to appear like a sticker, along with all the surrounding ‘shout outs’. Note the little fold over on the far left, a trick repeated in the top right-hand corner of Shade One’s contribution.

Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020
Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, December 2020

Shade One creates these amazing portraits that have a sophisticated comic book feel about them. What lies behind those eyes? I love the shirt collar too. Overall another excellent production from this pairing.

3264. Dean Lane skate park (357)

It is truly great to see that Dibz and Shade One seem to be collaborating rather a lot at the moment, and they have absolutely knocked it out of the (skate) park with this recent piece in Dean Lane.

Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2020
Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2020

The face is by Shade One and to me represents a great example of a crossover of old school/new school, and what I mean by that is that there are some lines, for example the eyebrows that are quite angular and remind me of old New York style graffiti characters, but the blue frame, bubbles and decoration are much more contemporary in style.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2020
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2020

As ever the graffiti writing from Dibz is outstanding, and the sharp clean lines with a complex colour scheme so expertly done demonstrate clearly why Dibz is simply one of the best graffiti writers around. The red object to the right of the piece I believe is a butt plug (although I might be mistaken) and was not part of the original collaboration, unfortunately it doesn’t add much to the piece in my opinion, and is ever so slightly annoying.

3175. Dean Lane skate park (351)

This superb collaboration from Dibz and Shade One was a precursor to their Cheltenham Paint Festival collaboration in the Honeybourne Line tunnel  painted last weekend. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see the finished Cheltenham piece, but was privileged to watch the pair working together.

Dibz and Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2020
Dibz and Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2020

This Dean Lane Piece is truly outstanding, and the quality of design and execution is of the highest order. I particularly like the blue bubbles, the largest of which provides the background for Shade One’s character on the right. What you see here is a near-perfect work from two very talented artists.

Dibz and Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2020
Dibz and Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2020

3050. Dean Lane skate park (332)

A short while ago there were a few tribute pieces that appeared around Dean Lane for the graffiti writer Desire, of which this was one. This piece is by Dibz, 2Keen and Shade One, although I’m not too sure which bit the latter painted because the Dibz bit is obviously Dibz and the 2Keen character is obviously 2Keen. Perhaps he did the rest of the writing, I don’t know.

Dibz and 2Keen, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2020
Dibz and 2Keen, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2020

I don’t know much about Desire, but this is a fine tribute and I like the touch ‘Rest in Power’. It is so good to see Dibz so active at the moment, and I haven’t seen a new 2Keen piece for a very long time indeed. This is a high quality collaboration.

 

 

2856. Dean Lane skate park (301)

This is what can happen when two outstanding writers combine their efforts. This supreme collaboration is by Dibz and Shade One, painted in Dean Lane on the same day that Rusk, Soker, Inkie and Hemper painted on the other long wall back in March. A red letter day indeed. The whole collaboration is set on a clean blue background with a magnificent silhouetted cityscape running horizontally through the piece.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020

On the left is an absolutely faultless piece from Dibz as we have become accustomed to expect. The fills are really subtle, dradig from a lighter blue at the top to a slightly darker one at the bottom, and the letters have just the right amount of accents in red to set the piece off nicely. This is what great graffiti writinng looks like.

Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020
Shade One, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2020

On the right we have some equally high-class writing from Shade One, an artist I know relatively little about. In this piece I particularly like the tiny ‘cracks’ in red through the letters and the stellar accents on the first and last letters. Magnificent. I am not too sure what the letters say, nor their significance, it looks like JOBE or TOBE. The only other post I have made from this artist was an Upfest piece from 2018.

Shade One, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Shade One, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

 

1847. Upfest 2018 (88)

Shade One is a Bristol artist who has been spraying since 1985, so can probably be considered as one of the godfathers of street art in the city. Having said that, I am relatively new to the street art scene here and anything older than about five years is a bit of a murky area and I need to do extra research.

Shade One, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Shade One, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

This is a striking cartoonesque portrait that for me has Disney written all over it. Something about it reminds me a little of Cruella de Vil. Fabulous crisp lines and solid fills, this is the work of an expert.