.
And in time your heart
will heal, life will carry on;
oh…and what great times.
.
by Scooj
1170. Upfest 2017 (109)
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.
1169. Upfest 2017 (108)
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 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.
1168. Upfest 2017 (107)
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.
1167. Upfest 2017 (106)
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.
Busker
Haunting sounds.
Accordion plays
minor tones,
singing soft
with melancholic stanzas;
I hold back the tears.
by Scooj
Not holding my breath
Parts of the country
prepare for a wintry storm;
not expected here.
by Scooj
1166. Chalk Farm (3)
When I saw this piece in the Chalk Farm housing estate I instantly recognised the artist as Jerry Rugg or Bird0. He painted a fabulous piece for Upfest 2016, which is still there and looks like it will remain permanently.
Bird0 has a great skill for fusing abstract shapes and designs with wildlife forms to create these otherworldly creatures. His pieces are characterised by the use of bright vibrant colours, lots of oranges and yellows.
This is a spectacular piece, but I had limited access to it, and took the pictures through some railings. I couldn’t work out how to get the other side and I was unsure about whether I was permitted to be there in the first place. I will go beck again and get some better shots.
1165. Chalk Farm (2)
This was the first piece I saw from the Global Street Art organised set of walls at the Chalk Farm housing estate. Looking like a giant billboard, it caught my eye from the end of the road, and even from a distance I thought it might be a piece by Pref ID. I must be getting quite good at this, because I was right.
Pref ID creates brilliant pieces incorporating clever word puzzles. The one in Bristol for Upfest 2017 was very tricky. This one is a little more straight forward…’Upwards and Onwards’.
It is a cleverly constructed and beautifully painted piece – if only the light hadn’t been fading and that blooming car wasn’t in the way. But as with so much street/graffiti art, it is located in a car park, and cars are an occupational hazard. I do like his work, and hope to find some more.
Thursday Doors
Door Nine
Hawley Mews in Camden Town is a famous spot for street art.
Artist: Void
by Scooj
Natural adventures 