7.2. Upfest 2017 – Page 7 – Natural adventures

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Surely one of the most endearing and sympathetic partnerships is that between Copyright and Gemma Compton. At this year’s Upfest these two produced this beautiful collaboration in the very busy yard behind the Steam Crane.

Gemma Compton and Copyright, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

I met them on the Friday, when they were able to make a really good start before the festival started on the Saturday – I think it ws a wise choice as this pub gets incredibly busy.

In this piece, so typical of their collaborations, Copyright stencilled the female figures and Gemma Compton created the intricate butterfly wings in her favoured blue tones. The piece as a whole fills this slightly awkward space brilliantly and the eye is drawn along from left to right and back, scrutinising the symmetry of the piece.

The couple managed to dodge the showers and the crowds to pull off one of the best pieces of the festival and one that screams out Bristol from every inch. Both of these artists produce wonderful artworks for sale, marginally outside my affordability although I might just have to save up – how great it would be to have some of their originals hanging up at home.

Not only do I like their work, but I like both of the artists. They are always happy to have a chat and don’t appear to mind me bothering them when they are at work. Probably my next interview targets.

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I met Mr Sleven for the first time this week. He was spraying something outside the Matchbox Gallery in Stokes Croft. As I approached, I asked him his name. He said why, so I told him that I photograph and write about street art in Bristol. Then I told him not to tell me his name and I guessed. I looked at his work and said that it looked like the work of Mr Sleven, he was suitably impressed that I knew his style. In that moment I realised that I know quite a lot about this stuff, albeit in a rather chaotic and unacademic way.

Anyway that was a digression. This is his piece from upfest, which actually I don’t think I would have been able to identify were it not for the signature. It is a nicely balanced piece and the work of a real street artist…I know what I mean by that even if you don’t.

Stay wild moon child.

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This is the official and rather awesome piece by Helen Bur who also left Bristol a little extra gift at the M32 roundabout. HB appears to be equally at home on a sketch pad, on canvass or on a wall, and her website showcases her work magnificently – I recommend watching the video of her piece in Cardiff.

I think Helen Bur’s work is really special and her style lends itself so very well to large walls. It would be great if she came back next year and got one of the larger permanent walls so that we could enjoy it for a year, rather than a few days.

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One of the real pleasures of Upfest is the way in which it brings together artists from all different disciplines and from all over the world giving us the opportunity to witness the huge spectrum of talent. Side by side we have graffiti writers and fine artists and graphic designers and illustrators equally respected and admired.

This is a beautiful piece from Cai Burton who is an illustrator and designer and is based in Bristol. You can see more about him and his work on his excellent website. Owls seem to work very well in street art – I’m not sure why, but they crop up reasonably frequently. Note to self – do an Owl special. This was a popular piece at the festival.

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I have featured Skor85 a few times on my blog, and had some confusing information about her identity. I have decided to disregard everything I thought I knew and defer to her Upfest profile, which reads:

Skor85 is a Bristol based creative of Polish origin. She is a self taught artist experimenting with any media available at the time from sand grains to spray paint. She has started her graffiti adventure 4 years ago being influenced by the diversity and music scene of some of the most lively European cities like beloved Bristol Barcelona and Berlin. She is heavily involved in Bristol drawing scene organizing sketching events immortalizing city landscape and live music events as well as running the Sketch Factory (themed life drawing sessions). Creative freedom of expression with others is one of her biggest pleasures in life and paint jams are a big part of it. Characters she paints are pure fantasy and often represent current mood- happiness and worries of the day. Often dreamy or scary but always true to that moment.

Part of the confusion arises out of the fact that her online profile is utterly different from his (sic) printed profile. The one above is more aligned with my previous posts.

This is a terrific piece and has had a lot of care and attention poured into it. Many of her pieces feel quite raw, often because of the locations she chooses, but this has a finesse to it whilst maintaining her unusual style. There is some symbolism here which is tricky to decypher. Nice piece.

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It looks like Hoshiko had a pretty miserable time at Upfest this year. He wrote over his own piece saying what it should have looked like, but for the weather. It was abandoned and unfisnished, but it doesn’t detract from his participation and effort at the festival. He was not alone, some artists didn’t even show up.

Hoshiko is based in the UK and works mostly with stickers and mixed media paste ups. Heavily influenced by Japanese culture (no shit Sherlock) he has a passion for robots and candy.

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This is a wonderful piece by Stephen Quick, a brilliant Bristol stencil artist and, I understand, YouTuber. I have to say that I never got to see this piece in its finished state, which I am really annoyed about, but have seen it on Digital Social Media and it looks spectacular.

Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

Stephen has a style that mixes and merges ideas and iconic figures to produce blended stencils of the highest quality. Stephen quick has a lot to say about this piece on his website, and to save myself the time I have pinched his text and offer it below:

‘Pop Girl’ is my modern day mash up, pop culture heroine. My idea being if my recent generation get a call to arms we will arm ourselves with items from our pop upbringing, Inspired by Tank Girl, she wears a R2D2 helmet, armed with the Sword of Omen from Thundercats, with good luck charms from Harry Potter and The Legend of Zelda, she is ready to take on the world!

In my pictures, the Harry Postter charms are missing. and background not completed, but I didn’t want to leave it out of my Upfest updates. I do like his work very much.

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There were so many great pieces on the long wall at Ashton Gate, a new venue for Upfest this year, and I have barely started to cover them yet – several of them were whole crew collaborations and I’m not sure how to post them. However this is a wonderful piece from artist Leo Boyd.

Leo Boyd is a Belfast-based screen printer and artist who is branching out into screen printing on walls, which this fine piece demonstrates beautifully. His biography on his website is very funny, tells you little about the artist other than his sense of humour and what is important to him. Worth a read.

There is some really interesting stuff going on in this piece, but I am not sure what the story is. My take on it is an environmental one, but I don’t think that is necessarily the artist’s intention. I think it is more about the relationship between mankind and technology. Make of it what you will – it is in my view, a striking work.

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There can be few better ways to honour a fellow street artist than to paint an enormous portrait of them, and this is precisely what Ian Phenna did at Upfest 2017. The portrait is of the magnificent Nol, who was himself painting during the festival.

I do not know about Ian Phenna or his work, although his Upfest Biography says that he is a mixed media portrait and figurative artist originally from Liverpool. He has a dramatic approach to portraiture, often with hidden themes…

I really like this piece, and especially like the additional homage to Nol…the inclusion, albeit in greyscale, of one of his little monsters in the bottom right of the portrait. There are stencilled numbers all around the piece, something that Nick Walker likes to do too, but I don’t know the significance of them.

I think the whole thing is called ‘BrizNol’ which I rather like. This is a thoroughly enjoyable piece and one of my favourites from the festival.

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Another really high quality piece at this year’s Upfest, this one is by local artist Jody. I think that this piece eclipses his wonderful work from last year, and this wall is really a very special wall.

Fin Dac had the privilege of painting this wall last year and it is fitting that Jody should continue where Fin Dac left off. This was a labout of love for Jody, and long after all the other artists had packed up and left, Jody was still at it, for several more days…maybe even a week or two.

I went back a lot, hoping each time that the piece would be complete, but I think Jody was hit by the changeable weather, and possibly the sheer ambition of the wall. On the upside, I have quite a few ‘in progress’ pictures.

There is so much to love and marvel at in this captivating piece. The beautiful profile portrait, the cut out birds reminiscent of Henri Matisse and the extraordinary pink folds of material in the woman’s hair and neckline. This is a master work.

In looking at the ‘in progress’pictures, it is interesting to see how Jody appeard to work in strips and patches, where other artists might come at a piece in layers. I guess the scale and scaffolding constraints dictate to some degree how a piece will be painted.

Along with Nomad Clan’s piece and one or two others, this really shows off the ‘high end’ of what street artists are capable of doing, and in doing it, bringing so much pleasure to so many people. I love this.

	paulh121 on 7360. St Werburghs tunnel…
	paulh121 on 14 years
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	beth on 14 years
	hitandrun1964 on 14 years

	paulh121 on 7360. St Werburghs tunnel…
	paulh121 on 14 years
	hitandrun1964 on 7360. St Werburghs tunnel…
	beth on 14 years
	hitandrun1964 on 14 years

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