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Dear and special friends
With love and a heavy heart
I bid you farewell.
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by Scooj
For Rachel, Ellie, Dave, Tony and Jon.
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Dear and special friends
With love and a heavy heart
I bid you farewell.
.
by Scooj
For Rachel, Ellie, Dave, Tony and Jon.
I’m trying to work through some of the pictures I have been meaning to post for a while…there is just too much talent in Bristol.

This is a subtle little piece by 3Dom on a small side path off Wilder Street, which I photographed back in June, long before all the Upfest excitement. The unusual work has an emphasis on mushrooms – what kind we can only guess, but the whole piece has an hallucinogenic quality to it.

3Dom is utterly brilliant – there is little more to say really.

Every now and then I begin to think I know quite a lot about street art in Bristol. I write about it every day, and feature dozens of different artists in this blog. And then…I visit one of my favourite sites and see this, and realise I have so much more to learn.

It is always exciting coming across a new artist, but also a little threatening…how could I have missed them? Who are they? Are they local? Many doubts begin to challenge your knowledge and credibility. Then I have the light-bulb moment…I am doing this for fun, not to be judged. This is not work, it is a passion, and learning and discovery are my companions on this journey. I didn’t know anything about Mr Penfold (Tim Gresham), before I saw this, maybe I should have done but I have never seen his work before. This piece is so different and eye-catching, I had to find out more and write about it.

Mr Penfold (thirty-something) is originally from Cambridge, now based in Bristol, and works using various media and surfaces. Clearly a disciplined designer, he applies his talents to graphics, advertising, painting and street art. His work is very distinctive, and appears to draw on what I consider to be quite an ’80s and ’90s look. On reading his Facebook page I see that he has done another recent piece near where I work, so watch this space for more Mr Penfold.
Sorry about the water on the lens!
There can be only
one…defeat all the others…
Highlander remains.
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by Scooj
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Inspired by the brilliant film and soundtrack number.
One of the most striking pieces at Upfest this year was this incredible portrait by Title. There is something about this work that simply draws you in to take a closer look.

Title, emerged from the hip hop and graffiti writing culture in Birmingham in the eighties before moving onto canvass work in the ’90s and studying computer graphics and digital art.

Thankfully, he has returned to the streets with enthusiasm and appears to be enjoying himself returning to his first passion. It is difficult not to be intrigued by this piece. The face seems to be that of a young man…there was a #Alfie on the image on his website, maybe it was him.
An aside – a great many pictures by street artists seem to feature spray cans – the tools of the trade – note to self…write a special on spray cans.
I posted about this collaborating pair only a few days ago when I wasn’t sure who the artists were. Now I know who they are, I feel that I can write about them with a little more confidence. The work, which was one of the many in South Street Park, was a subtle collaboration between Serge KB and Simian Switch, surrounded by highly colourful and eye-catching pieces.

I loved the artwork in this, in particular Serge KB’s ‘deer’ which was extremely similar to the one he sprayed at the M32. Perhaps he was practicing for the festival? Simian Switches ‘octopus’ grappling with spray cans brings an element of humour to the piece too.

Both artists left ‘extras’ in the area which I will post about when I get through a little more of my ridiculous backlog of photographs. Street artists stop for nobody.
Encouragement works;
homework stalling, keep showing
enthusiasm.
by Scooj
During Upfest 2016 there was agreat deal of activity in Luckwell Road. The hoardings, which the seem to have been there forever, were getting a makeover with a series of portraits, the southern-most of which was this beautiful work by Philth.
I was lucky enough to see Philth at work on both the Saturday and the Sunday and to photograph the completed piece on the Monday.
Philth, Philip Blake, is a graphic designer and illustrator who favours painting ‘hot chicks’, using spray paints or paste ups. I recall a lovely work by him from last year’s Upfest that I will post about some time. That location now has a beautiful Caro Pepe work in its place.

I love these two tone works with splashes of colour – Karl Read produced the same effect although with completely different techniques. Really great work.
The lowering sun
renders the urban landscape
insignificant.
by Scooj
Well there’s a story to tell here. For such a long time I thought this Bristol-based street artist was called Fois, after all, most of his pieces contained the word, and many of the Bristol writers use their names, or corruptions of them and paint under those names…Deamze, Sled One, Epok, Soker, Inkie, and so on. Well not this artist.

The last time I featured him on this blog, I had established that he was actually called Kleiner Shames, Jimmy Kleiner Shames. Once again it was Instagram that came to my rescue. Then it gets a whole lot better. Kleiner Shames recently cleared out his studio because he is moving to London (booo!) and was offering some studio paintings for sale. I ended up buying two from him – he is an exceptional talent and I love his work. He is such a decent bloke, he even offered to deliver the pictures in person.

The piece he did for Upfest contains everything you would expect; architectural features, diagonal lines, hands, pastel colours and a wonderful retro feel. I wish him well with his move to London and hope he’ll be back in Bristol to brighten up our walls. We’ll miss him…Fois forever.