This is the second piece I have posted from the paint jam marking Andy Council’s 50th birthday, although I’m not sure how much he would thank me for repeating this milestone with every post. The piece is a lovely trio of dinosaurs on the rampage by T-Rex.
T-Rex, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2024
T-Rex has a way of brightening up even the worst of days. Her mischievous dinosaurs could and perhaps should adorn any children’s picture book, and the crossover between the actual animals and cartoon characters is handled brilliantly. She concludes the piece with a nice ‘RAWrrrr!’, which is a play on the Read and Weep crew name, and a shout-out to Mena, who we all hope is making a recovery.
Goldie, Fade, Acer One, Jody and Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
All year long, Dibz and Fade have been decorating this wall with alarming regularity, and they have been joined along the way in their endeavours by Andy Council, Jody and Acer One (amongst others) and this time are joined by Goldie, Acer One and Jody. A production tribute wall to honour the musician and DJ, Randall.
Goldie, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
The whole production is very nicely balanced which given the configuration, which starts with a Goldie piece that embroiders the words ‘The R’. This is a really nice dedication and beautifully painted. The colour selection is reflected in the rest of the collaboration. It is always great to see Goldie visiting Bristol for a bit of a paint.
Fade, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
Fade is next up and he has compressed his piece to accommodate Goldie next to him and support the balance I was talking about earlier. With the orange and turquoise letters, Fade has written the letters ‘DJ’ which are as immaculate as you might expect. Both sets of writing are adorned with flames, which extend for the entire collaboration.
Acer One and Jody, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
The centrepiece is a shared space with Acer One lettering across the top of an outstanding Jody portrait of DJ Randall. Acer One has written ‘Too hot to handle’ which I am guessing is part of a slogan rhyming with DJ Randall. Not being a music specialist myself, I am unable to shed too much light on the artist or his work.
Jody, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
The Portrait is a faithful and beautifully painted, and certainly a fitting tribute.
Dibz, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2024
The production rounds-off on the right with a wide piece of wildstyle graffiti writing from Dibz. The Turquoise and orange letters spell Randall, so the whole production spells out:
“The R, Too hot to handle, DJ Randall”.
Wonderful stuff from this quintet of talented artists.
There have been many tributes to Shimmer, since he passed away, indicating the loss felt by the street art community in Bristol. This is the second tribute piece by Acer One on this wall to Shimmer, who appears to have felt the loss particularly strongly.
Acer One, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2023
As always, Acer One’s execution is clean and precise, geometry being his modus operandi. As we might expect, the beautifully designed letter font, of hollow letters, has two shadows, one black and one purple, giving the writing depth. Some tight colour transitions in the letters themselves, completes this fine work, which I expect to occupy this wall for some time.
Dott Rotten, New Stadium Road, Bristol, February 2023
Shortly after I photographed this piece (within hours/days) a parked car was set on fire in this little underpass, and there was quite a lot of fire damage to the wall next to Dott Rotten’s work. You wonder what gets in to people sometimes. I would suggest that the council did something useful and bollarded-off this pedestrian tunnel, to stop cars parking here altogether.
Dott Rotten, New Stadium Road, Bristol, February 2023
As with so many pieces in Bristol at the moment, this one is a tribute piece to Ben Devine, who I am guessing was a friend of Dott Rotten’s. I think that this must have been painted on an anniversary, as there are several Ben Devine tributes in Dean Lane that have been around for about a year. Characteristically stylish, this is a touching stunner from Dott Rotten.
I just happened to be in Dean Lane skate park as Acer One was starting this piece. It was quite busy down there at the time, with Silver (thank you, Paul H for reminding me) painting opposite, DJ Perks who had just finished a piece on the pool wall (I think) and Peggy was on the sloping wall near the raised skate park, painting a floral piece. I do like it when there are lots of people to chat with.
Acer One, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2023
The wonderful piece, by Acer One, is a tribute to Shimmer, another artist taken away from us far too early in life. It is clear that Shimmer was a popular character, and there are tribute pieces all over the city dedicated to him. There is a lovely sense of order and geometry in this piece, but of course there is, it is by Acer One after all. Acer One uses a long ruler with a handle to achieve his straight lines, but you can see that he has also used the brick course to keep everything flush. A fine tribute.
It is extraordinary and quite unforgivable that this isn’t the only Hazard piece that hasn’t made it onto Natural Adventures over the last year, and I will have to go back and find the others, because no self-respecting chronicler of Bristol street art, would have allowed this to happen. I can’t explain myself. Perhaps this appalling situation arose because the first time I photographed the piece, there were railings up against it. Who knows?
Hazard, Upper York Street, Bristol, May 2022
The portrait piece is superbly painted, especially when you consider the heavily textured stonework on the wall, and is a tribute to the late Skibadee who died at the very young age of 47 last February. The portrait is a great one and hints back at some of her earlier works in which the two sides of the face are bathed in different colours. This is just one of so many outstanding pieces by Hazard.
As I mentioned last week in a post featuring Acer One’s tribute to Dring (a friend to many in the Bristol street art community) there would be other tribute pieces out there, and this one is of them, by 3Dom.
3Dom, M32 roundabout, Bristol, December 2022
It feels like an age since I last posted anything by 3Dom, so I am assuming that he must be busy with ‘real life’ at the moment, but he has managed to find time to paint this beautifully crafted tribute. The letters are stunningly presented, with an atmospheric fill, all topped off with a bright yellow star on the ‘i’. It feels like Dring will be sorely missed.
Happy New Year! I am in good shape this morning, as my boozing days are largely over and I had a quiet night in last night with just me and Mrs Scooj and the dog. We had been planning a small party, but Mrs Scooj was hit with a rather nasty bug, so that put an end to that.
It was a very cold day indeed when I met Acer One prepping this piece so I was able to stop for a chat and ask him about the piece, as he was using letters I was not familiar with. Acer One explained that it was a tribute piece for a recently deceased friend to many artists in the Bristol community, Dring.
Acer One, St Werburghs, Bristol, December 2022
The colours used in this piece are sober and the design gentle, without quite so many straight lines and angles that we are used to seeing from Acer One. A fitting tribute to a man who obviously had a profound impact on the artist. RIP Dring.
Dibz and Acer One, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022
Two of the greats of the contemporary street art scene in Bristol, Dibz and Acer One, have come together to create this magnificent collaborative wall in Deal Lane. You could hardly get two more contrasting styles of writing side-by-side – perhaps the inclusion of someone like Stivs or Mudra might just do it.
Dibz, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022
Set on a buffed duck-egg blue wall, Dibz has painted one of his outstanding wildstyle pieces, which would normally spell DIBZ, but in this case it says EVIE. Using the tried and tested pink and blue (lilac) combination for the letters, Dibz has contrasted it with little yellow/orange squares, which personally speaking, I don’t think work very well with the background wall colour, and leaves me feeling a little queezy.
Acer One, Dean Lane, Bristol, November 2022
To the right, Acer One, who I was fortunate enough to have a long chat with yesterday in the tunnel, has also written something different. The name TOBY is the focus of this piece, which was a birthday tribute piece for his son. What better present could a person wish for? Some great colours in the letters, and the customary double shadow together create an amazing 3D effect, with the letters really standing out from the wall. Happy belated birthday, Toby.
Natural adventures 