6078. Upfest 2024 (15)

Fyonafinn, North Street, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024
Fyonafinn, North Street, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024

One of the interesting aspects of this year’s Upfest has been the large number of typographic writers/sign writers that have been invited, which is really quite unusual for a street art festival. Because of the format changes, and virtually no temporary hoardings being available, the other major change has been a massive reduction in the number of graffiti writers, so there is a very different ambience to the festival this time round.

This is a wonderful piece of stylised writing from Fyona Finn, a Bristol-based artist who has painted a few walls in the city in the past, but most of whose work is design. She describes herself as a lettering activist, which I think defines her style really well.

Fyonafinn, North Street, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024
Fyonafinn, North Street, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024

There are two elements to this piece, the design of the letters, and the message. The letters are carefully arranged, and created using masking tape to generate the straight lines, and the fills drift from one letter to another in a considered way. The message “Take care of each other” is a warm and compassionate sentiment delivered at a time when compassion from an outgoing Tory government is at an all time low. This is a nice piece from Fyona Finn, and I hope to see more of her work on Bristol walls.

5172. Elton Street (22)

Fishlock and Fyona Finn, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2022
Fishlock and Fyona Finn, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2022

Following on immediately from the previous post featuring Katie Fishlock, here is a piece that she painted, in collaboration with Fyona Finn back in April 2022, a year ago. Once again we see a bold statement accompanied by a carefully crafted illustration.

Fishlock and Fyona Finn, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2022
Fishlock and Fyona Finn, Elton Street, Bristol, April 2022

Fishlock’s style seems to be very much about the message and arresting imageryto help drive it home. Some clever wordplay is at work here and the phrase can be read as ‘Love is expansive’ or a rather more pessimistic version ‘Love is expensive’. I suspect both are true statements, and that is the point. I don’t know which artist did which bit of this piece, but as a collaboration it works perfectly. Maybe we’ll have another chapter in April 2024.