At Upfest 2018 there were a great many stencil artworks , which was great to see, including this cracker from S.A.S-Art. With a touch of menace and rebellion about it, this piece conjures up struggles with established authority, something of a common occurrence these days.
The stencil looks like a fairly straight forward 3 layers, but what lifts it from the crowd is the background setting which looks like the piece could be set in a war zone sort of thing. A brave and atmospheric piece.
This is the second great stencil I have seen from Random – the first was at Upfest 2017. There are a couple of features that are in common with these two pieces. The first is that they are multilayer greyscale stencils, presented on a black background and the second is that they have a political element to them.
This piece makes reference to the repeal of the 8th Irish amendment which was to remove the constitutional ban on abortion which was signed in to law on 18 September 2018. The piece itself I guess is in some way symbolic, but it is the execution of the technique that is very tidy indeed. A fine work from Random.
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Cast away your sticks
any old bush will suffice
you can walk again
.
by Scooj
I had a horrible panic that I hadn’t taken a picture of this magnificent abstract piece by Paris in its final form, but on thorough inspection of my Upfest archive I found this one. I know it isn’t perfect, but it is virtually impossible to get pictures of this wall without cars parked in front of it. This wall has since been overpainted by Kin Dose and his Summer Editions piece.
I did however manage to get plenty of shots of the work in progress and had a nice chat with Paris on the Friday before the crowds gathered. This work is so rich in depth and colour and has something of a cosmic feel to it. The style is quite unique and probably the only other artist I know who does similar cosmic-scapes is Cheba, but they tend to be much more dark space pieces.
Because Paris finished the piece quite early, it was one of the few scaffolded walls to be revealed actually during the festival (from recollection). Great to see this lovely and refreshingly different piece by Paris
More from Upfest 2018 with this fine trio of paste up balloons by D7606, each one with a face of Twiggy on them. D7606 pasted up 10 of these balloons (complete with string) to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Upfest.
I have a feeling that they are still intact after almost eighteen months, probably because they were secured high up and out of the reach. These three take my total posted up to six. Did I find them all? Actually I’m not sure, as I still have so many pictures in my Upfest folder yet to post. Keep watching this space. Always a pleasure to find D7606’s work.
As a child I’d watch
the dancing flames and listen
to the crackling pops.
by Scooj
This is the kind of fantastic work that we are missing ever since Aspire left Bristol for London. How lucky we are that he returned to us for Upfest 2018 and painted this new wall with these magnificent puffins.
Aspire specialises in painting birds and he seems to be improving with every new piece he creates, it is just a pity that I don’t get to see much of his work ‘in the flesh’ any more, and have to rely on Instagram for my fix.
This particular piece is quite unusual for two main reasons. Firstly I can’t recall seeing any sea birds from Aspire before and secondly there are lots of birds in the one scene, where more commonly he will paint only one. Love this piece.
Another nice piece from the archive, this time from the brilliant Hire. I managed to snap this piece just as it was being overwritten, so kind of got lucky. You can see the outline of the piece that went over it.
I think that Hire is probably one of the overlooked heroes of the Bristol street art scene and his work is always on point. His gothic style is his trademark, and we mustn’t forget his rabbits that were being painted in Bristol before the arrival of his compatriot Nevergiveup. These letters, skilfully filled with black and yellow spell out HIRE… I think. A great Deaner piece.
Curios visions
of toucans in Newcastle
life woven in dreams
by Scooj
Only a matter of a few days ago I posted a fine piece by Kedals at the Cheltenham Paint Festival, then on rifling through some old folders in my archive, I came across these two fabulous wheatpastes in March this year. Kedals has such a unique style that comes through in his larger murals as well as his wheatpastes.
The first of this pair of striking posters features a portrait of a rather portly man sporting what looks like a straw or canvas hat and smoking a rather large cigar. The whole thing is decorated with bright colours and shapes and is st for the eyes.
The second of these portraits looks like it might be called ‘booze cruise’ although with a Kedals piece who knows what the title or sub-text is? There is a lady smoking (smoking seems to be a bit of a theme) puff, puff, looking up at a vintage car with the words ‘gear 4 gas’. Curious and compelling stuff. I’ll keep looking out for the work of this unusual Bristol artist.
Natural adventures 