.
It’s been a long time
and the wait has bee so hard
happy days are here.
.
by Scooj
418. Upfest 2016 (45)
Krishna Malla is an illustrator from Cornwall. As a frequent visitor to Cornwall, I need to seek out some of his work, as street art is hard to come by down there. His wonderful work at Upfest, of a snail (what is it about snails…see 3Dom’s recent work in Stokes Croft) contains two of his alias’ ‘Hare’ and ‘Tech Moon’.
He has a nice website, in which his ‘About’ section reads as follows:
“Street artist and illustrator from Cornwall.
I like doing drawings.”
That’s pretty cool. Krishna Malla teaches at the Arts University Bournemouth, which is also pretty cool. Given that Bristol is somewhere between Cornwall and Bournemouth, it would be nice to think he might drop by and paint something new for us sometime.
417. Upfest 2016 (44)
I have been aware of The Addicted Doodler for some time, but never posted any of his work before (something that will change I assure you). What I didn’t know until I started to find out a little bit more, was just what a brilliant designer and illustrator the Bristol-based artist is as well as his more familiar street art.
This piece from Upfest is typical of his light-hearted style in which he gives human characteristics to inanimate objects in a cartoon style, sometimes quite reminiscent of Mr Potatohead. Personification? Whatever the style is called, I love the bright and cheerful look he brings to the streets of Bristol.
416. Upfest 2016 (43)
I like a bit of edge, and at This year’s upfest it was provided in small doses by the brilliant wheatpaster ‘What Have I Done Now’. I don’t know if he had a ‘feature piece’ or whether he had been invited to simply paste up his work wherever he felt like, but there was plenty of the latter on show.
This small Piece appeared on the corner of a large advertising hoarding, and as with so many of these things, many visitors to Upfest walked straight past it, probably focusing on finding the next art venue. A pity.
I liked What Have I Done Now’s biography in the Upfest programme, it reads:
‘When people ask me what kind of artist I am, I say political.As more often than not I’m responding to the machinery of control as it grinds us all up in its gears. I’m trying to remind folk we can simply refuse to stop applying the grease.‘
Good words, and great art work. More to come.
Indian Summer
.
Lingering Summer
stay a while longer and know
you are most welcome.
.
by Scooj
415. Upfest 2016 (42)
There were several highly memorable pieces at Upfest this year, and this photorealistic colour negative by Takerone was in my view one of the best. Takerone, who comes from Hungary, tries to make his art photo real, but makes an effort to retain a natural look.
If, like me, you are wondering what the positive image looks like, then definitely take a look at Takerone’s Facebook page which has a brilliant film clip with positive and negative versions of his work side by side. Just a great idea and incredible execution. I have tried to cut an image from his video below:
Book club
Sweet joy. They are here
and I am relegated
to this room…I write.
by Scooj
My daughter’s assessment of this haiku…”that’s boring Dad”.
414. Upfest 2016 (41)
23Magpies is an artist I have admired for sometime now. Although she has already featured in one Upfest 2016 post already, her ‘official’ work, I couldn’t resist including some of her ‘extras’.
These extras are often left behind by street artists during a festival and wheatpastes in particular seem to appear all over the place. 23Magpies leaves these treats for people like me to find. Often she pastes them onto utility boxes and lamp posts.
Generally to get a good look and photograph one needs to stoop somewhat drawing strange glances from passers-by. Of course if you don’t look, you won’t see. Some will never see beyond their next text message.
23Magpies is known for her wildlife and environmental themes in her work and with this cat and mouse pair she doesn’t sdisappoint. More 23Magpies extras in a future post…I promise.
Waiting it out
Inexorable
my time in time will come, but
will I welcome it?
by Scooj
413. Stokes Croft, the Carriageworks (17)
The arches at the Carriageworks in Stokes Croft probably have the highest footfall of any street art location in Bristol, so when you create a piece there it always makes an impression, especially when it is as bold and exciting as this one by 3Dom
I don’t know what happens in 3Dom’s mind, but he seems to have a fertile and creative imagination. A snail and a pagoda…what is that all about? Lots of symbolism or a story perhaps.
3Dom has an amazing ability, not only to create extraordinary scenes and characters, but also to spray all sorts of different textures. For example the amazing slime trail dangling from the snail. Another outstanding piece in the heart of graffitiland.
Natural adventures 