Completely burned out
and abandoned with no one
left to care for you.
by Scooj
651. Upfest 2016 (100)
This is my 100th post about the amazing Upfest 2016 which happened during July in Bedminster, Bristol. At a guess I would say that I am only about half way through reporting on the pieces I photographed. Some of the remaining images probably won’t make the cut and anyway I only have a few months left to go before Upfest 2017 will be upon us.
This is a really interesting stencil piece by Eins92 who specialises in micro stencils and who has already appeared in this blog for another piece he did at the festival. In this work he has created five micro stencils of the same subject but with different densities of paint and different layers. It is an interesting piece, but one that needed studying a little.
The fine detail in these tiny pictures is remarkable. I would hate to guess how long each of the stencils takes to cut. He must have the patience of angels.
650. Upfest 2016 (99)
It seems that everywhere I looked during Upfest, I was being stalked by this brilliant little creature, called Jake the dog, created by LostHills. In each of the paste ups, Jake the dog is striking a different pose with something different happening. I love this kind of themed approach to street art.
Although I don’t believe that Losthills was an official artist at Upfest, his wheatpastes brightened up every corner of Bedminster, and several still remain six months on.
Together with C3, 23 Magpies, Phoebe New York, Face the Strange, What have I done Now and D7606, paste up artists were very well represented at Upfest 2016, and I rather hope there will be more this year.
Gone
Trees and hedges clipped
nowhere for the birds to perch
miss the joy they bring.
by Scooj
649. Upfest 2016 (98)
One of the most charming pieces of Upfest 2016 must surely have been this cat and mouse mural by Boe and Irony.
Unfortunately during the festival, I don’t think this piece got as much notice as perhaps it should have done for two reasons. Firstly, the scaffolding remained up until after the festival, and secondly it was tucked away in an area that was slightly off the beaten track. In a way this makes it almost more attractive and exclusive for Bristol street art fans.
I don’t know too much about either of the artists, there wasn’t even a biography in the programme for Boe. I have seen some of Irony’s work on social media before, but this is the first of his works I have seen ‘in the flesh’.
Irony describes himself on his Facebook page as a ‘painter, street artist, vandal’. That’s the spirit. Looking at his other works, it is difficult to believe that this London-based artist is self-taught.
This piece is so beautifully sprayed, the fur on both the cat and the mouse is amazing, and the electric-blue outline really makes the piece stand out.
Who wouldn’t want something like this on the side of their house?
Eye bogies
Phrase from my daughter
‘eye bogies’ had me laughing
I called them ‘sand men’.
by Scooj
Ageing
My eyes are no good,
my ears are no good; at least
I know who I am.
by Scooj
648. Upfest 2016 (97)
In the car park of the Tobacco Factory, the far left area of wall space was taken up by the Spanish artist Rudiart. Reading from the Upfest notes, it seems that Rudiart began painting in the streets of Cacares in the early 90s, but the City simply wasn’t ready for this kind of art, so by the end of the decade he moved on to Madrid.
Since that time he has grown as an artist and travels around Europe to different festivals, exhibitions and events.
I managed to take pictures of his work on both days of the festival, and he was in full flow with spraying on the Saturday.
This piece comes in two halves. On the right is some wildstyle writing with a heavy 3D effect, something of a specialisation for Rudiart.
On the left hand side of the piece he paints a futuristic scene depicting a lady in a spacesuit, with a rather nice ‘R’ on her cap.
The two halves come together nicely, although I don’t have a very good picture of the whole. His Facebook page is worth a quick look, and he did post a decent picture of the whole piece in one shot. Nice to see him at the festival.
647. Upfest 2016 (96)
One of the pleasures of Upfest 2016 was the sheer volume of wheatpastes that appeared on billboards, lamp posts, letterboxes and other utility boxes. One of the busiest of these paste up artists was Face the Strange, who must have come to Bristol with a suitcase filled with his work.
This piece is really rather odd, odder than many of his other pieces and that is saying something. A raspberry lady in a business suit walking with crutches – what is going on here? It isn’t so much shocking as just weird. I rather like it though and you can see that a lot of thought and effort has gone into this small wheatpaste.
River still
.
Boathouse reflected
in the perfect stillness of
the Bristol Avon.
.
by Scooj
Natural adventures 