Always, always a firm favourite with me are the pop culture stencils by Stephen Quick, a brilliant Bristol artist and Upfest regular. This piece ‘Can stand up, will stand up’ is one of a series of similar pieces that he has created with this character.
Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
There are several cultural references in the piece, which include the obvious homage to Star Wars, but also there is the sword of He Man and the bracelet (not in this picture) of Wonder Woman. His style is unique and vibrant, and I always look forward to a quick annual catch up at Upfest.
One of the more obviously striking and describable pieces of Upfest 2018 was this interesting hand speaker by Agent Provocateur. It is weird but whenever I look at it I find it very hard not to see the Northern Ireland flag, which is rather distracting.
Agent Provocateur, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
This is a simple and quite challenging piece with an element of edge or threat combined with humour and general oddness. I’m not sure why there is so much damage to the right hand side board, but I think the artist could have tidied it up a little bit. Maybe I photographed it before completion. A memorable piece.
Nevla was late to the party at Upfest 2018 and as a result I didn’t manage to get a final picture of his rather cookie panda. On the upside though I did at last get to meet the elusive cartoon king of Bristol street art, and what a nice fellow he is too.
Nevla, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
I made a few notes on my iPhone about our conversation, but unfortunately I lost them when the motherboard gave up a few weeks ago. A quiet class act who seems to enjoy painting alone, Nevla adds something to the Bristol scene that is unerringly optimistic, which is a tonic when so much around us is in utter chaos.
Just opposite the Tobacco Factory in Raleigh Road Justinks painted this captivating tiger with an interesting twist. He describes his art as surrealism and biorealism, and although I think the latter might be a made up word, it certainly works when explaining this piece.
Justinks, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Justinks is based in Malta and works as a tattoo artist (the crossover between the two disciplines is remarkable), but since 2011 he made the decision to go big and create some large street art pieces – a great decision in my mind. It is difficult to know what to make of the subject of this piece due to its distortion of the familiar, there is no doubting the talent of the artist though. Great work.
This stunning shutter piece is by Sake One, a West Coast (USA) artist who has been spraying since the early eighties and was greatly involved with the hip hop culture in San Diego during his youth. There is a thorough biography of the artist on the Upfest website, which is worth a read.
Sake One, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
The piece itself is a highly accomplished work, as you’d expect from an artist of this calibre. The profile of the girl is sensitively painted and blends perfectly with the subtle writing to its right. The tragedy of shutter pieces is that they are rarely seen during daylight hours, even at weekends when so many shops seem to be open…not like in the old days!
One of the first pieces that I recall from Upfest 2018 is this magnificent hummingbird by L7M, a very well-known artist originally from São Paolo who first picked up a can at the tender age of 13. Obviously practice makes perfect.
L7M, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
The vibrancy and movement in ther piece is remarkable, and the hummingbird itself is absolutely stunning. L7M was one of the featured artists last year and we certainly got our money’s worth as he did another excellent piece a little further down North Street (to follow).
Many years ago I recorded a Supertramp concert from the the TV, using a cassette recorder and microphone pointed at the TV speaker…it was how we did things in those days. My brother was having a small party of teenage friends on the same evening, so my recording was polluted with the sounds of a party going on in the background. When I played the recording back, I heard one of my brother’s friends exclaim ‘wow wee!’ at the start of one of the songs (he obviously liked it), and to this day, I can still hear that boy’s voice in my head, and do so every time I say wow wee. This digression is relevant only in that when I saw this brilliant piece by Peter Sheridan at last year’s Upfest, the voice in my head said ‘wow wee!’.
Peter Sheridan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
This was absolutely one of my firm favourites from the festival. There is so much to like… the composition, the colours, the perspective and the brilliant execution. Even the observation of how the bark on this particular type of tree looks (similar to a silver birch or cherry bark). An absolute belter, and for comparison, I have included his unflattering but brilliant piece depicting Teresa May (boo) and Pokeman Go in 2016.
With this wheatpaste we enter the complicated world of large corporates ripping off the work of street artists to use as a backdrop for marketing their goods without acknowledgement or payment to the artists. This is a long-standing and difficult issue and one that is becoming more of a conflict zone as street art becomes more and more popular. This article on the BBC website explains it really well.
Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Face the Strange and many other artists ran a campaign highlighting a particularly high-profile marketing strategy by clothing company BooHoo after they had featured work by Bristol’s own SPZero76 and Kid Crayon amongst others on some London walls without bothering to identify or contact the artists. It is clear from this paste up that this kind of corporate behaviour is unpopular and that payments/acknowledgment should be made to the artists.
This is a minefield if you venture into it too far, so I tend to keep to the periphery of the discussion, for example it has the potential to bring legal protection of potentially illegal activity and how do we square that one? I just wish people would treat others with respect and decency, I think that is all most people are expecting.
I am really taken with this piece and could look at it all day, there is something I find most engaging about it…perhaps it sings to the biologist in me. The artist Decimart is from Jerez de la Frontera in Spain and appears to travel around for his work.
Decimart, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
I am most pleased that I managed to get pictures of the piece at different stages of its development, but am sorry that I missed out on meeting the artist himself. This was a particularly tricky spot to work in, especially on the Saturday, because of the high winds that funneled through this space. In fact some of the boards, including this one, had to be secured more firmly in place or they would have blown away.
Decimart, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
In spite of the wind and rain, Decimart has managed to produce one of my favourite pieces of the festival. I would dearly love to see him make a return in the future.
I have just taken a good long hard look at this piece by Harpoart prior to writing about it and the thing that screamed out at me was how much this looks like a stained-glass window study. It turns out on doing a little research on the Interweb that he is not only a street artist, but is also a stained glass maker.
HarpoArt, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Harpoart has created this stunning owl, at least I think it is an owl, on an approach, set on a wonderfully textured blue background. There is a lovely sense of movement about the piece.
HarpoArt, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
I’m not sure that I have seen any of this Brighton artist’s work before, I don’t think so, but perhaps I should make a mental note to make a trip to Brighton some day.
Natural adventures 