scooj

6233. Cumberland Basin

Karmone, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

Following on from the previous post, this piece by Karmone was painted during the same paint jam. Karmone is an occasional visitor to Bristol, from his home in Wales, and through his connections with Bristol artists, is invited to paint jams from time to time. As I always say on Natural Adventures, it is a constant pleasure to be able to welcome visiting artists to share their talent on our walls, adding to the mix.

Karmone has, like the others, followed the convention of colours for the collaborative wall, and added a sprinkling of orange and grey to liven up the base of the piece with some interesting yin-yang spherical designs. His letters are exceptional, spelling out KARM, with tidy fills and mid lines. The arrangement of the letters and the 3D shadows cast give them a great deal of depth and dynamism. Some great work from Karmone.

6232. Cumberland Basin

Rusk, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

Rusk is an established graffiti writer in Bristol who tends to paint in fits and starts these days. He is currently going through a rather productive phase at the moment, which is great news indeed. This piece in Cumberland Basin was created during a paint jam organised by Smak and the Art of Sok, a couple of weeks back.

The general colours of the collaborative wall were light blues and yellows, and Rusk certainly stuck to the task with this tight piece. Rusk is known for his dedication and diligence and his work is always beautifully turned out. The highlight of this piece for me is the purple thread that runs horizontally through all of the letters. A fine example of on-point graffiti writing.

6231. Brunel Way (281)

So, after a rush of high-end Upfest murals, I feel it is time for a switch back to some of the more grounded and authentic street pieces that are rolled out every day for those who choose to find them. This is a really nice piece of writing under Brunel Way, by Sorts.

Sorts presents some nice irregular letters, with a chrome base which are augmented with some really nice pink and purple fill sections decorated with red spots. The whole thing is nicely balanced and works really well. The letters are set on a creative green background with ‘cracks’ painted into it. Great honest stuff from Sorts.

6230. Upfest 2024 (45)

Epod, Upfest 2024, Pantiles, Bristol, May 2024

There are some pieces, especially during street art festivals, which simply have the ‘wow’ factor, where you stand before them in admiration, and in my view, this stunner by Epod3000 is one of those. Firstly, this wall is one of the most striking in Bedminster, and although not the easiest to photograph, it certainly has impact when it reveals itself to those walking along West Street.

The piece, called ‘Side.E’, a reference to the vinyl LP and deck at the top features a beautiful portrait of a woman (with lots of drips). The clever bit is that Epod has apinted the portrait in a way that makes it look like a poster that is peeling off from the wall – you know… the way advertising posters do after a while. It is a device used quite a lot in street art, and done well, like this, is wonderful.

Because of the wall opposite the piece, it is quite difficult to take a decent photograph from directly in front of it, without it looking a little distorted, but I have done my best here. I was lucky enough to see another of his pieces yesterday in Cheltenham, which I will post in due course. All great stuff from Epod.

6229. Upfest 2024 (44)

Sophie Long, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, May 2024

Sophie Long is an incredible wildlife artist, who blends accuracy of the subject creature with a soft artistic impression to create utterly outstanding murals and artworks that are uniquely hers. This Upfest piece, in a little annex (Ebeneezer Pocket Park) on North Street is a perfect example of what I am trying to describe.

Sophie has a penchant for painting bees, and manages to represent their character without anthropomorphising, which is a real skill. This is a special wall that has played host to numerous wonderful pieces over the years, and this one comfortably stands among them. A perfect Upfest piece from Sophie.

Home

Heathrow arrivals

new text message ‘just landed’

few minutes longer

by Scooj

6228. Upfest 2024 (43)

Ant Carver, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, July 2024

I am always touched when I say hello to artists, and they recognise me from brief snatches of conversations at previous festivals. This is the third year i a row that I have stopped to chat with Ant Carver, and in common with most artists I meet, he is a genuinely lovely bloke who will always make time to talk for a bit. At this year’s festival, he was running a little behind schedule, so I didn’t occupy his time too much.

Ant Carver, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, May 2024

Ant Carver has done a terrific job with an awkward spot, which is quite hard to see from street level, unless you stand some distance away. The flat roof, and restricted access to it, meant that, apart from inquisitive souls like me, Ant Carver was pretty much left alone to get on with his split piece.

I was wondering what was going on with this interesting juxtaposition and found this explanation on the artist’s Instagram feed: “Lately I’ve been looking at the way we consume news and media and the conflict between intense and light imagery”. Ant Carver has demonstrated this perfectly in this piece, with the treat of the snarling dog, and the stoic partial portrait. Great work from Ant Carver.

6227. Upfest 2024 (42)

Rob Lee, Upfest 2024, West Street, Bristol, July 2024

Some murals can only really work at scale, and this is one of them. The relatively simple design by Rob Lee becomes something utterly awesome when plastered on the side of an entire building. I don’t think that visitors to the occupiers of the building would have any difficulty in finding the address… “err, it’s the one with the big pink, yellow, green, blue and lilac stripes on it – you can’t miss it”.

Rob Lee, Upfest 2024, West Street, Bristol, May 2024

Although the design might be reasonably straightforward, there is a lot of technical subtlety in it, especially with the transition of shades of colour marking the bends in the stripes. The piece would be somewhat bland without the rippling of the stripes and the depth it gives the whole piece. Painting the colours on a black background is a master-stroke, and rounds things off perfectly.

I have come across a piece by Rob Lee once before, last autumn in Sheffield, and some of you might remember the post. I like the Sheffield piece, but this Upfest one definitely trumps it!

6226. Upfest 2024 (41)

Hazard, Upfest 2024, North Street, Bristol, May 2024

Just like many other communities, the Bristol artist community is in a constant state of flux, with many new artists moving to the city as others move out. One of the most significant recent departures has been that of Hazard, who I believe has moved to the North of England, possibly to Leeds. This is a huge loss for Bristol, but her connections with the city mean that she will return from time to time, I am sure, like she did to paint this beauty for Upfest 2024.

The portrait piece with its patchwork of coloured shapes slightly underplays her brilliance – perhaps it is the slightly awkward spot, or the dark tones she has used, but it doesn’t leap out at you like many of her pieces do. It is a piece that you need to stop and look at and admire, but all too often people simply stroll by, focussed on their phone screens. I definitely miss Hazard’s regular interventions, but that makes each of her appearances now even more precious.

6225. Dean Lane skate park (736)

Zake and Face 1st, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024

I’ll let you into a small and rather unimportant secret… I wrote this post yesterday because today I am going to visit Cheltenham tomorrow for the Cheltenham Paint Festival, which this year has an extraordinary line up, so expect some rather nice posts in about 2-3 weeks time. I am so pleased for Dice67, AKA Andy Davies, who has been running the festival since its inception, which is just becoming bigger and bigger with each year.

This is a rather nice collaboration from PWA duo Zake and Face 1st in the narrow bit between a building and a skate ramp, hence the rather odd angle in the top photograph. Zake has painted a character yelling, painted with as much relief and texture as it is possible to get.

Face 1st has painted his name in rather fetching reds and pinks with some interesting cross-hatching in the ‘c’ and in the hair of the laughing girl. I like the way that Face 1st has been experimenting with his writing a lot lately, although I miss his full body character pieces – I guess you can’t have it all!

	paulh121 on 7611. St Werburghs tunnel…
	cjsmissionaryministe… on Morning motivation
	hitandrun1964 on Sea Spurge (Euphorbia par…
	paulh121 on Sea Spurge (Euphorbia par…
	M. on 7606. M32 roundabout J2 (…

	paulh121 on 7611. St Werburghs tunnel…
	cjsmissionaryministe… on Morning motivation
	hitandrun1964 on Sea Spurge (Euphorbia par…
	paulh121 on Sea Spurge (Euphorbia par…
	M. on 7606. M32 roundabout J2 (…

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: