Month: December 2016

510. Upfest 2016 (67)

I first ‘discovered’ Stephen Quick in January this year, when I found one of his pieces in the Tobacco Factory car park. I was immediately drawn to it because of both its wonderful stencil technique and its subject matter – Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher kissing. Brilliant.

Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

I then found another of his pieces, again in the Tobacco Factory car park (a fine venue for street art), which features Alan Rickman as a ‘Severus Sane’ commemorating the sad passing of Rickman and David Bowie in one superb piece.

 

Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Imagine then my excitement then at not only finding another piece at Upfest 2016, but also at meeting Stephen and having a long chat about his work and compositions. He is a really, really nice guy.

 

Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

This is a remarkable piece, presenting the unlikely couple of the Iron Man and Judy Garland’s Dorothy in a close and intimate pose. There is tenderness and a passion from her and a cold, metallic heartlessness from him. It works so well. This is a magnificent stencil, and one of the best pieces from Upfest this year. I look forward to meeting Stephen again, and if I am lucky enough interviewing him. Great work.

Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Haiku 3

 

Deathly cold darkness

adorns Autumn’s fallen leaves

with Winter’s halo

 

by Scooj

 

(originally posted in March 2015)

509. Upfest 2016 (66)

Time to post a few more pieces from Upfest 2016. This wonderful fish, in the playground of Ashton Gate School, is by Angerami, an artist from Sao Paolo but who now travels the world for his art. He has a Wikipedia page, but sadly it is in Portuguese (I think), and I don’t know what it says.

Angerami, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Angerami, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

The biography for Angerami in the Upfest Programme is as follows:

‘Angerami uses travel as an immersive process in the nature, revealed through art in many different medias. Travelling is a passion, which allows connection with his perception of time, space, spiritual awareness and human presence on earth.’

Go figure that out…translated I guess from another source. He paints fish on walls, and that is good enough for me.

508. Wolseley Road

I have held back from writing about this piece for quite a while because I am not too sure who the artist is. I have a feeling it might be DNT, but it is not signed, and I am not getting a whole lot of insight from the Interweb.

DNT? Wolseley Road, Bristol, February 2016
DNT? Wolseley Road, Bristol, February 2016

It is a rather fun shutter piece on the Wolseley Road garage, and not something you’d necessarily expect to see this far up the Gloucester Road. Street and graffiti art in this part are pretty much on the extreme edge of the more frequented areas. Good to see though.

DNT? Wolseley Road, Bristol, February 2016
DNT? Wolseley Road, Bristol, February 2016

This is what I would consider to be classic shutter street art – a commission with some edge and relevance to the business. Unfortunately one sees quite a lot of dismal shutter art that is created by fine artists, who just don’t quite have the outdoor urban touch. This however is good.

If the artist is not DNT, I would love to know who it is.

Frozen

 

From the souls of my

shoes, deathly cold rises through

my tired old body.

 

by Scooj

507. M32 cycle path (2)

This is an old one by 3Dom that still remains rather majestic despite some weathering. It can be found on the cycle path that runs alongside the M32 between the two roundabouts and is fairly inconspicuous.

3Dom, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2016
3Dom, M32 cycle path, Bristol, May 2016

Although an old piece, it has many of the dream-like oddities that are common to 3Dom’s work. I am really rather fond of this one.