Author: scooj

I am Stephen. I live in Bristol, UK. I decided to shorten my profile...to this: Wildlife, haiku, travel, streetart, psychogeography and my family. Not necessarily in that order.

4542. Upfest 2022 (24)

This is a fine piece of graphic writing from Acer for Upfest on a permanent wall, although the permanence of the wall is no guarantee for the permanence of the piece and sadly this has already been dogged, which is a pity, because it is a classy piece that commands this spot overlooking Greville Smyth Park.

Acer, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Acer, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

It is something of a joy to watch Acer’s work and how it progresses from month to month and year to year. His theme these days seems to be based on a highly stylised font or series of fonts that incorporate black base-lettering with transitioning rainbow colour outlines, creating both high design and depth. The sentiment is a good one… PARTY, which is what Upfest 2022 turned out to be, and a great one at that.

Stranger Things

.

Opportunity

afforded me by illness

to binge-watch some shows

.

by Scooj

4541. Upfest 2022 (23)

The man who paints (draws, geddit?), faster than his shadow. What a stunning piece, and definitely one of my favourites from Upfest this year. Featuring comic book character Lucky Luke, a series I never read as a kid, but rather wish that I had now, (I was more of an Asterix and Tintin fan), the piece, by Alain Welter is beautifully proportioned and structured, with a strong sense of depth.

Alain Welter, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Alain Welter, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

The board is quite long, and Alain Welter has used the space cleverly by putting in the text on the left and reducing the width enough for the proportions of the piece to work. Alain Welter is an accomplished street artist from Luxembourg (a first for Upfest) whose website is definitely worth a visit. He even has a blog post about this piece, so he likes to keep things up to date.

Alain Welter, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Alain Welter, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

When producing graffiti writing, it seems that Alain Welter uses the the letters MOPE, hence Lucky Mope instead of Luke. There is so much to like about this piece, it is very easy on the eye, witty, and the artwork is superb, just take a look at the writing on a curtain. Clever stuff. I do hope that Alain Welter makes it back to Bristol for next year’s Upfest.

4540. Upfest 2022 (22)

It is always great to see street art that deviates from the norm that we are used to seeing, namely spray can art, and every year at Upfest, Angus, a local Bristol artist, treats us to a mosaic or two, although he is also an accomplished spray artist too, he seems to have preferred his mosaics in recent years.

Angus, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Angus, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

This rather fun piece on one of the walls of the Hen and Chicken, a key venue for Upfest art, features a dog enjoying a pint of beer. I took the picture on a bright day, with shadows cast across the piece, but being an inherently lazy person, I haven’t been back to get the ‘perfect’ picture, but then I suppose who is to say what a perfect picture actually is. Enough covid-induced philosophising. Great work from Angus, and more to come.

Covid positive

.

Finally got me

after years of holding out

a late adopter

.

by Scooj

4539. Upfest 2022 (21)

If only I felt a little better, I could do a fabulous write-up of this remarkable and innovative piece by Victoriano for this year’s Upfest. Painted on a wall that hosted my favourite Upfest 2021 75×75 piece, this had quite a lot to live up to.

Victoriano, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Victoriano, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

When I first saw the piece, it was a work in progress, but it was only when I checked out the artist on Instagram that I realised that there were several versions of the work in progress, each of which was photographed and then stitched together to make a time-lapse video of the dog running – You can see this innovation on Victoriano’s Facebook page, and on his Instagram feed, both well worth a look to see the creativity of the piece, and his first augmented wall.

Victoriano, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Victoriano, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

Right, that’s your lot for today, I am off to bed.

4538. Sparke Evans Park (49)

I am not well today and don’t feel particularly inclined to write any posts or do anything, frankly. Then I saw who was up next for today’s posts and felt a little better.

Andy Council, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2022
Andy Council, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2022

This piece by Andy Council Looks like a beautiful Chinese dragon, and has been painted in muted colours using his stitching style. A pink tongue cleverly joins this piece to the writing next to it, both of which were painted during a paint jam in Sparke Evans Park. The pictures were taken in the evening, and the colours haven’t ‘travelled’ very well.

4537. Nelson Street (16)

Some walls simply blow you away, and it can be difficult to do them justice with words alone, and perhaps less is more in such instances. This three-way collaborative wall in Nelson Street is by Kin Dose, s,w,a,l.t and Stiiv (or Swick) (not to be confused with our own calligraffiti writer Stivs), the latter two who were visiting Bristol as guests of Upfest. It is always a real pleasure to have these ‘spill-over’ extras from the festival.

Kin Dose, Nelson Street, Bristol, June 2022
Kin Dose, Nelson Street, Bristol, June 2022

The Tiger is by Kin Dose, and makes the most of his ‘airbrush’ approach to spraying, managing to create an extraordinary sense of depth in the fur and hairs of the creature. A stunning piece, which on its own would satisfy, but, wait for it… two more beauties sit alongside.

s.w.a.l.t, Nelson Street, Bristol, June 2022
s.w.a.l.t, Nelson Street, Bristol, June 2022

The middle piece is from s.w.a.l.t and is a miracle of portrait work in greyscale augmented with graffiti writing, in the style of Pichiavo. This portrait is probably my favourite piece of the year so far. Simply stunning.

Stiiv, Nelson Street, Bristol, June 2022
Stiiv, Nelson Street, Bristol, June 2022

Rounding off this beautiful wall is a robin perched on a fragmented branch, by Stiiv  (Swick). There is life and character in this little robin, and as with Kin Dose’s Tiger, the fluffy feathers give this piece real depth. A beauty.

Perhaps take a moment, not to read my words, but to enjoy this wall.

Kin Dose, s.w.a.l.t. and Stiiv, Nelson Street, Bristol, June 2022
Kin Dose, s.w.a.l.t. and Stiiv, Nelson Street, Bristol, June 2022

4536. Sparke Evans Park (48)

Visiting artists are always welcome in Bristol, and certainly the city does tend to draw a great many of them, probably due to its well known and mature graffiti sub-culture. Recently we have been graced by the presence of an extraordinary artist, Posea, who visited Bristol from his home in Sheffield.

Posea, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2022
Posea, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2022

This piece in Sparke Evans Park was part of a paint jam, I think, for Turoe’s birthday a couple of weeks ago. The character piece is so different from the hand and lighter piece he painted in Dean Lane around the same time, demonstrating the versatility of this amazing artist. Here we see a man in a bear mask, with a crazy duck on top, with a double-barrelled shot gun. All rather sinister, but exquisitely painted and finished. It would be great to see more of his work.

Posea, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2022
Posea, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2022