I love holidays,
time away from it all, but
there’s no place like home.
by Scooj
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.
1667. Upfest 2018 (18)
Cheo is a Bristol (and beyond) street art legend, and his involvement in Upfest is always eagerly anticipated. In the last few years Cheo has been quite dominant at the festival, so this year’s rather modest participation came as a bit of a surprise, his piece however reached all the high standards you expect to see from him.
Are we supposed to guess at who is hidden under the paper bag? My immediate assumption, given the Simpsons theme of the festival is that it is the mischievious Bart, but I may be wide of the mark and there may be another story going on here.
Somehow Upfest simply wouldn’t feel like Upfest without some contribution from Cheo, and it is great to see his work on a wall that he obviously enjoys, as he has had several pieces on this wall outside the Bristol Standard, in the past. Great stuff.
1666. Upfest 2018 (17)
One of the great difficulties of writing posts from Upfest is that so many of the artists are new to me and it is difficult to comment on anything other than first impressions and a little bit about the artist. Often, as in this case, the piece is so good that my short ramblings don’t really do it any justice at all.
Akse started as a graffiti artist back in 1992 in ther suburbs of Paris. He now lives in Manchester and is known for his photorealistic portraits. This incredible portrait of Frida Kahlo is one of the most memorable of this year’s festival and mirrors the great piece from Alexander Tadlock last year. As a subject, Frida Kahlo seems to hold interest for artists and I look forward to many more portraits of her in the future.
Morning airport drive
Barcode staccato
road, sunlight cuts through the trees;
it’s home via Rome.
by Scooj
1665. Upfest 2018 (16)
I think that Stewy owns this wall. The Bristol-based stencil artist has had one of his pieces on this little wall in North Street for at least three years now. The ram is a fine successor to the Bristol Pounds £5 that was there before.
I am and will continue to be a keen supporter of Stewy’s work, which is a cool mix of celebrity work and wildlife stencils. This was not his only stencil at this year’s Festival, and I’ll save one of his others for a future post. Let’s hear it for this extremely intricate single-layer stencil of a ram…
1664. Upfest 2018 (15)
There were a great many fabulous paintings of eyes at this year’s Upfest, but I think that this one was probably the finest. It is by an artist called Justinks who gives little away about himself in the programme notes other than to say this:
‘I’m into movemental detailed artwork, I always put the wind element into my pieces and cold colors to show the power of nature.’
I was lucky enough to photograph the artist in action, probably on the Saturday, before the cold colours he speaks of were added. This is a fine work executed brilliantly. I’ll certainly be looking out for Justinks in the future.
Insect bites
.
Beastly legacy
of an Italian trip
helps us remember.
.
by Scooj
1663. Upfest 2018 (14)
I think this is the one, my favourite piece of Upfest 2018. The reason this works so well for me is that I have long admired this wall for all its textures and character and have photographed it before when it had no graffiti at all (I have searched through my pictures, but can’t find the ones I have taken here in the past, which is really annoying).
The artist, Kowse One, is not even mentioned in the Upfest programme, and this certainly isn’t an official wall, but he did work on a fabulous collaboration with Braga Last One ( to come). I think he comes from Marseille, but beyond that I know little of him.
The piece itself is perfect in every way. The use of the rendered part of the wall and its juxtaposition with the bare brickwork, the colours used contrasting so well with the surrounding, the accomplished portrait work and the lettering on the face reflecting some of the tags nearby make this an enchanting and exciting piece. There is some real edge and brilliant improvisation. I love it, I love it.
1662. Upfest 2018 (13)
I really could kick myself sometimes. I never actually got a final picture of this piece by J. Sharples, because I think that I had assumed that I had already got one. The best I have is the feature image of the artist still at work but nearing completion.
The piece is very similar in style and subject to the fabulous work that he created for Upfest 2017. This time there are two gorillas in bold pink and blue colours in a highly stylised form, and splendid they are too. Always great to see work from this artist.
Montone
Cluster of houses
and a fortified town wall
medieval streets.
by Scooj
Natural adventures 