.
Playing knock out whist
and rummy; these are the days
we will remember.
.
by Scooj
Tenerife
.
Island cast adrift
from Africa’s desert shore;
volcanic mountain.
.
by Scooj
800. Lower Approach Road (2)
I missed by a week the opportunity of seeing Voyder at work, when he sprayed this excellent paint brush stroke/neon light Bristol welcome just by the side of Temple Meads station.
As I have said in a recent post about Voyder’s work, I think he is really peaking at the moment. Everything he produces is of such a high quality it is difficult to know how he can turn up a gear. Will he plateau or start to move into something new? It matters not really, It is simply a privilege to be able to see his works regularly, and for free on the streets of this great city. Bristol.
799. Upfest 2016 (130)
Recently, I have posted quite a few pieces from the magnificent Georgie (artist), including a wonderful Michael Caine portrait in The Bearpit. However, when I took these pictures back in July 2016, I don’t think I really knew too much about her.
This is a fabulous stencil, impactful and eye-grabbing. The contrast of the grayscale stencil and the bright and colourful background work really effectively for the subject matter of the piece. I am too lazy to find out what it is called, but it seems many of her works have an obvious name. I like this very much.
Airport time
.
Tenerife awaits;
a mixture of excitement
and anxiety.
.
by Scooj
798. Upfest 2016 (129)
I met Annika Wilkinson, who paints under the name of Annika Pixie, for the first time a couple of weeks ago at a local festival in Bedminster. She is a lovely, chatty and talented artist who is from Sweden (although I have to confess I thought her accent Scottish) but is now based in Bristol.
She tends to paint portraits that have a mysticism or dreaminess about them, which I rather like. I have found several of her pieces around Bristol, so it was lovely to finally meet her. Great news is that she will be back at this year’s festival,. which is easy for her, as she lives very locally.
Running the gauntlet
The walk to my school
filled my heart with a deep dread;
cap and bag held tight
I was an easy target
for bullies on the estate.
by Scooj
797. Upfest 2016 (128)
This piece was one of the most mysterious and moving of the whole festival. It depicts, in a stained glass window style, a mother and child wrapped in a blanket. On first glance it looks like a Virgin Mary and Jesus depiction, and the mother has a halo effect around her head. Look closer and for a little longer and the horror of the image becomes clear. This is a contemporary study of the terrible refugee crisis of people from many of the world’s most troubled regions desperately crossing the Mediterranean Sea to get to mainland Europe.
The child is not dressed in swaddling clothes as one so young should be, but strapped into a life jacket and the pair of them are enveloped in a silver sheet to keep them warm. This is both distressing and compelling, and pretty much my favourite piece of the whole festival. One big hitch…The picture was not there on the second day, and I never got to find out who it was by. I scoured the Interweb but drew a blank. If anyone might know, I’d love to find out. I am still really moved by this piece. Brilliant. Bravo.
796. Upfest 2016 (127)
There is only one downside to Upfest, in my eyes, and that is that there is so much art on display, it can be difficult to take it all in. The senses are bombarded around every corner, and in every green space in Bedminster. Sometimes it takes a while…maybe months…for all the images to bed down. This is a case in point, where it is only now when sifting through all my photographs that I am reminded of it.
The artist Steve Pinchess was born in Leicester and brought up through the care system. He loved his art, and meagre resources led him to use the streets as a canvass (I paraphrase from his biography notes in the Upfest programme). He now lives in Bude in Cornwall (very nice too) and shares a gallery with his wife.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a clean picture of the whole piece, so am unable to commentate too much on it. Maybe I’ll do a better job this year.
Warm
Warm still greenhouse air
tinged with the delicious smell
of tomato leaves.
by Scooj
Natural adventures 