Tag: Bristol

976. The Bearpit (84)

I met Mr Draws at Upfest, and he seemed to be rather down in the dumps, and indicated that he was off spraying. This seemed to be a bit out of character for one of our most prolific street artists in Bristol. I guess it happens to everyone from time to time…getting fed up with the same old things. So it filled me with some joy to see that after a short break, he is ‘back at it’.

Mr Draws, The Bearpit, Bristol, August 2017
Mr Draws, The Bearpit, Bristol, August 2017

He even says as much on this quick piece in the Bearpit. I have noticed from his Instagram feed that he has been spending a lot of time recently on his drawings and is enjoying mountains all over again, which is a good thing. I think this story serves as a reminder that life is tough, inspiration comes and goes, but there is still so much to enjoy. Glad that he is back on the streets again – I’ll be looking out for more.

975. Upfest 2017 (35)

I spoke to many people after Upfest and this incredible macaw was considered to be one of the best pieces of the festival, and it is easy to se why. The composition is perfect, filling the awkward panels with consumate ease, the colours and flow of the feathers is magical, the piece is full of movement and spectacle. Taking a closer look, the work is composed of triangles that come together to create the whole. I love this kind of artistry, and the whole thing shows a creator at the top of their game.

Mehsos, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Mehsos, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

The artist, Mehsos, is from Belgium – something special seems to be going on in Belgium, with Bisser and Dzia also producing outstanding pieces – and generally works with portraiture. It is interesting to read from the UPfest programme notes that Mehsos ‘deconstructs emotions and highlights contrasts both in terms of colour and message level’ I’m not entirely certain what this means, but I like it. One for the top ten.

974. Upfest 2017 (34)

I know practically nothing about Jimzina other than that loads of her(?) pasteups appeared on virtually every piece of street furniture at Upfest this year. This is the first of many posts of her work, due to her prolific few days in Bristol.

Jimzina, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Jimzina, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
I can only think that Jimzina prepared dozens of wheatpastes prior to Upfest, and spent an evening or two having a lot of fun pasting them up.

Jimzina, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Jimzina, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Most of Jimzina’s work seems to be drawn onto menus and other similar posters and is instantly recognisable from other wheatpasters. As far as I can make out, all the subjects of the pieces are young women striking slightly naughty poses…eye catching certainly.

Jimzina, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Jimzina, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
There will be more to follow, amnd in the mean time I’ll try to find out more about this mysterious artist.

 

 

973. Upfest 2017 (33)

I have recently become well acquainted with the work of Guts, a Bristol artist, and am enjoying it more and more with each exposure. His style has something of a doodler’s look about it, with lots of little characters and shapes filled in with bright colours. There is a real skill here though, because this could just end up as a messy sprawl, but look carefully and there is a story in this piece.

Guts, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Guts, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
There is a skater in the central role with a skateboard showering flames from the black. The skater appears to have lost his head, with a bone sticking out from the neck…a bit weird. Some of this looks like it has been inspired by tyhe comic style (and I mean British comics, not the Marvel-type ones).

Guts, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Guts, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
This is a good colourful piece which adds to the overall breadth of styles meeting at Upfest. Nice one Guts.

Wood chip

.

Stripping the evil

paper down, hoping the wall

beneath stays intact. 

.

by Scooj

972. Upfest 2017 (32)

It is great to be able to post yet another incredible work by another Bristol Artist. This one is by Shab, and stands head and shoulders above many of then other abstract pieces at Upfest this year. His use of the brilliant white an black outlines on a slightly off-white background works a treat, and the match and flame are something to behold.

Shab, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Shab, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

This is a thoughtful piece which had some scratching their heads. An acquired taste maybe, but actually technically really good. As always with his pieces an eye is incorporated too.

Shab, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Shab, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

I do really like his work, but missed the opportunity to meet him. He had finished by the time I made it this far on the first day. This one makes it into my top 10 for the festival.

971. Upfest 2017 (31)

This is a wonderful compisite piece stitched together perfectly by Kid 30 on the hoardings in Raleigh Road. Kid 30 is an artist based in the midlands and member of the highly regarded Oxygen Thievez, of which Deamze is one too. His style is always clean and bold, and this piece is pretty awesome really.

Kid 30, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Kid 30, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

The dogs I can identify are Snoopy, Pluto, Scooby and Slinky…I think. This piece was favourite of many who attended the festival. You’ve got to love a dog, of four.

970. Upfest 2017 (30)

The artist who created this piece has an interesting and colourful background. I will quote the profile from the Upfest programme:

‘Lapiz started wheat pasting in the streets of New Zealand after moving there from South Africa where he had worked in HIV research. The immense cultural shock proved to be a source of inspiration but needed a vent which was and still is street art. While living in Buenos Aires the many murals inspired him to paint his thought provoking stencils on a large scale.’

H

This piece for Upfest is challenging, but also beautiful. Split into three colour sections the whole piece presents as slightly menacing…balaclavas are always menacing…but also witty and very skilfully composed. I like this one a lot, and it really stood out.

UPDATE (7 September 2017) – following an instagram exchange, Lapiz shared a description of the piece as follows:

Female #nipples still have to be covered in public or the internet. But when it is a painting they usually aren’t. But what happens if you paint one of the best known statue of a woman, the #venus of milo as she was a real person including the nipples. And how would the spectator react. That is what i did for #upfest2017 a #streetartfestival with thousands of visitors. The only way to do it, is to use a ridiculous amount of highly detailed stencils. The body has 9 layers, the toga 7. The pink beanie was done so she looks like a member of #pussyriot just to push the viewer into the right direction. What do you think?

969. Upfest 2017 (29)

In the middle of South Street park, this hoarding really stood out from the crowd. The amazing gorillas by Lélé stopped people in their tracks, and the colours used looked much better than these pictures portray. I only know what I read about Lélé in the Upfest programme notes, and that is that he was born in Brittany in 1987.


It would seem he was inspired to paint monkeys with his own graphic identity on his way back from a long trip to South America. Well, whatever his inspiration, I think this piece is really good, and I spent quite a lot of time looking at it during the spraying and afterwards. I’d like to see more of his work.

968. Upfest 2017 (27)

This is a wonderful and very large piece by Nol from this year’s Upfest, which was sprayed on the wall of a school next to South Street park. The thing about these walls in local schools is that they are only accessible during the festival. After that is only pupils, their parents and teachers that get to see them, which makes them rather exclusive.


Last year Nol worked with Edo Rath in the car park opposite the Tobacco Factory, but Edo couldn’t make it to Upfest this time so Nol had to work solo. Edo was there in spirit though, and just to make certain, Nol had attached a face mask of Edo to the lift platform…a nice touch.


This was a large undertaking, and it was something of an accomplishment by Nol to complete this wall over the three days, given the rain interruptions. I managed to catch up with him a couple of times and asked him how much pink paint this wall would take. He said that typically a can will cover about one square metre. He used seven cans of pink for this piece. That is a lot of paint.


The phrases ‘good things come to those who wait’ and ‘fortune favours the brave’ come to mind with this piece. During Upfest, I never got to see this piece completed, which actually happened with many of the pieces this year.  However I returned during the week after, and thought I’d see whether this piece was on view still to the public. It was not. But I just happened to be there at the exact time the contract firm were collecting the lift, and blagged my way into the school yard to take some pictures of the final piece. Such luck, and there were two other pieces I got to photograph as well.


This is a bold, fun and larger-than-life work, and ideal for a school playground. Nol is a gentleman who seemed happy to talk while he was working, and this is some wall.