Malevolent chief
appointed by the fearful
keeps them in their place.
by Scooj
Month: November 2018
Autumn cut
Out come secateurs
as wisteria leaves drop;
autumnal milestone.
by Scooj
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.
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.
1846. Upfest 2018 (87)
When I write these posts, I like to think about an audience that probably doesn’t know too much about what they are looking at and maybe, just maybe, want to find out more. I started blogging about street art in Bristol because I found it almost impossible to find out anything about what I was seeing on the streets where I live, and as an inquisitive person I found this mind blowingly irritating. So I had to dig deep and spent many hours finding out what I could. The massive leaps in learning come from actually meeting the artists and getting a little under the skin of what they do. This is all a bit of an aside, but one that was prompted by a train of thought that arose because I had to do a fair bit of research before posting this piece.
This is by The Real Dill who is a co-founder of Gums and tongue crew/collective/magazine. Based in London, this collective have made the trip to Bristol for Upfest for at least the last two years, in fact I still have a whole ton of their work to post from Upfest 2017! Sticking to The Simpson’s brief, The Real Dill has turned out an absolute gem with this piece, and one that really sticks in my mind. Bright green and pink always a winning combination .
1845. Upfest 2018 (86)
Octofly Art is the creation of an Italian artist called Sylvia who likes to paint monsters and creatures, and let’s face it, who doesn’t love a cuddly monster? Reading the profile of the artist in the Upfest programme, it would seem that she has only recently started using spray cans for her street pieces when previously she used to use brushes.
There is a definite style here with strong clean lines and solid fills, and it is really interesting to see from the ‘in progress’ picture how she is building up the layers before adding in the outline and details.
I notice that she was painting next to Stelle Confuse (Stelleconfuse) another Italian artist whose Upfest 2018 piece I have already posted on Natural Adventures.
Tea or Spray? – not entirely sure I know what she means, but surely there is only one answer to that question at Upfest.
1844. Upfest 2018 (85)
About Ponny is an artist I had not come across before Upfest 2018 and what a wonderful set of wheatpastes he left for us to admire this year. This is the second one I have posted, and like the first it best described as poignant.
There is a sadness, but also a really touching humanity about this piece, and the tones used for the stencil work give the whole wheatpaste a sombre and yet very powerful presence. I can honestly say that About Ponny was probably my favourite discovery of Upfest 2018 – now I just need to travel around a bit to find more of his great work.
Early train
.
Skeletal trees line
the trackside and dark low cloud
turns all things to bronze.
.
by Scooj
1843. Upfest 2018 (84)
I think I might have said this last year, but somehow Upfest wouldn’t feel like Upfest without a presence from Cheo. One of Bristol’s most established graffiti writers and character street artists, his work is always of the highest quality. Judging from his Instagram account, I think he prepares these pictures on his computer and then recreates scaled up versions, which lends itself to his very clean style with solid fills.
I have seen these characters a few times before. I never quite know what they are, frogs? toothless crocs? monsters? your guess is as good as mine. The writing has a feel of Japanese script to it and from time to time Cheo uses this. I really don’t know what it says, but would guess at CHEO, although I can’t see it myself. He finishes the whole thing off, of course, with one of his signature bees. All good.
1842. Upfest 2018 (83)
I remember at Upfest 2017 really loving a piece by Lauren Maria Hill and she has come up trumps again in 2018. A fine artist, who is probably more at home in the studio, Lauren Maria Hill manages to use these smaller boards to showcase her stunning portrait work.
Unfortunately I never saw the finished piece, I think it must have been taken away and protected from the showery weather, but you can get the general idea from these pictures. This is another work from Upfest 2018 to feature a leaf from a Swiss cheese plant – Maybe they are fun to paint.
Love of my life
.
Ecstatically
happy with you by my side
Many years ago.
.
by Scooj
On listening to a Queen track of the same name
Natural adventures 