6739. Dean Lane skate park (807)

Fade and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025
Fade and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025

I caught up with Fade a couple of days ago, and he observed that I hadn’t posted much of his and Dibz’ work lately, He was right, but fortunately this collaboration was already in my pipeline, and is a timely reminder of their fantastic work. I would add that they have had a generally quiet start to the year, but are picking up the pace a bit now.

Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025
Fade, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025

Unlike most of their collaborations, the three elements are a little bit fragmented. The writing from Dibz and Fade is distinct and there is no general colour theme, and the tank is a little bit out of context. Fade has gone for some beautifully finished letters, in the corners of which are a bunch of explosions. The writing is set on a nighttime cloudy sky.

Fade and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025
Fade and Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025

That brings me on to the tank, which I assume is a joint effort. I don’t quite know what the tank represents, but I guess you could take your pick – Gaza, Ukraine or even a metaphor for Trump’s wreckless and aggressive international policies. Maybe it is just a nice picture of a tank.

Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025

Dibz’ outstanding writing has a camouflage thing going on, but it is subtlely applied, and contrasts beautifully with the orange (but it looks like copper) 3D drop shadow. This wall has been a great place for Dibz and Fade to showcase their work, and recently, they have painted it again (keeping the tank intact) – to come soon.

1672. Cortona, Tuscany, Italy

It is an extraordinary thing to travel to a foreign land and enjoy all that feels exotic and different, to bathe in a culture and history so different from your own. More extraordinary still is to stumble upon the familiar in such a context, but that is exactly what I did on a recent visit to Cortona in Tuscany.

qWeRT, Cortona, Italy, August 2018
qWeRT, Cortona, Italy, August 2018

Of course, while walking through the streets of the town I needed no encouragement to take a peek down the side streets to see what surprises might lurk. I have to say that wheatpastes by qWeRT were not exactly what I had in mind, but that is precisely what I found.

qWeRT, Cortona, Italy, August 2018
qWeRT, Cortona, Italy, August 2018

Altogether I think I discovered five pasteups by this ‘Natural Adventures’ regular, each in a different stage of decay. I would guess that these had been up for a few years, and I find it all rather touching that the civic authorities haver chosen not to take them down.

qWeRT, Cortona, Italy, August 2018
qWeRT, Cortona, Italy, August 2018

What also interests me is that there are copies of the same wheatpastes, but they appear each to have been hand painted separately rather than printed. I admire qWeRT’s choice of destination for these wheatpastes and am thrilled to have inadvertantly found them.

qWeRT, Cortona, Italy, August 2018
qWeRT, Cortona, Italy, August 2018

It also looks like qWeRT has dropped the Y from the signature since pasting these up.

1378. Stokes Croft, the Carriageworks (35)

This old one in Stokes Croft is by DNT, most of whose street work ends up in this immediate vacinity. I particularly like this image, because of all the other bits of graffiti around it. It says something about this spot.

DNT, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2016
DNT, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2016

Just to the left is a brilliant wheatpaste of Jodie Foster by french artist Tian, and to the right (cut off) is a piece by Mr Klue and Akarat. I love this tank, so full of movement and smoking guns/spray cans, however I’m not too sure who the piece is about – it might well be a tribute piece to Buzz. This has been tucked away on my archive way too long.

835. Dean Lane skate park (58)

This is an unusual and surreal piece by an unusual artist. I don’t really know too much about him, but I know he has been spraying down at Dean Lane for a considerable number of years.

Haka, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017
Haka, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017

This piece is peculiar in many ways, but there is a big story going on somewhere here. Built around a tank there are mountains, aliens, buildings and a robot character…make something of that.

Haka, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017
Haka, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017

There is also a tribute to CK One, who passed away in December 2011, but is still remembered fondly in the Bristol graffiti art fraternity.