Graffiti – Page 354 – Natural adventures

4542. Upfest 2022 (24)

This is a fine piece of graphic writing from Acer for Upfest on a permanent wall, although the permanence of the wall is no guarantee for the permanence of the piece and sadly this has already been dogged, which is a pity, because it is a classy piece that commands this spot overlooking Greville Smyth Park.

It is something of a joy to watch Acer’s work and how it progresses from month to month and year to year. His theme these days seems to be based on a highly stylised font or series of fonts that incorporate black base-lettering with transitioning rainbow colour outlines, creating both high design and depth. The sentiment is a good one… PARTY, which is what Upfest 2022 turned out to be, and a great one at that.

4541. Upfest 2022 (23)

The man who paints (draws, geddit?), faster than his shadow. What a stunning piece, and definitely one of my favourites from Upfest this year. Featuring comic book character Lucky Luke, a series I never read as a kid, but rather wish that I had now, (I was more of an Asterix and Tintin fan), the piece, by Alain Welter is beautifully proportioned and structured, with a strong sense of depth.

Alain Welter, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

The board is quite long, and Alain Welter has used the space cleverly by putting in the text on the left and reducing the width enough for the proportions of the piece to work. Alain Welter is an accomplished street artist from Luxembourg (a first for Upfest) whose website is definitely worth a visit. He even has a blog post about this piece, so he likes to keep things up to date.

When producing graffiti writing, it seems that Alain Welter uses the the letters MOPE, hence Lucky Mope instead of Luke. There is so much to like about this piece, it is very easy on the eye, witty, and the artwork is superb, just take a look at the writing on a curtain. Clever stuff. I do hope that Alain Welter makes it back to Bristol for next year’s Upfest.

4540. Upfest 2022 (22)

It is always great to see street art that deviates from the norm that we are used to seeing, namely spray can art, and every year at Upfest, Angus, a local Bristol artist, treats us to a mosaic or two, although he is also an accomplished spray artist too, he seems to have preferred his mosaics in recent years.

This rather fun piece on one of the walls of the Hen and Chicken, a key venue for Upfest art, features a dog enjoying a pint of beer. I took the picture on a bright day, with shadows cast across the piece, but being an inherently lazy person, I haven’t been back to get the ‘perfect’ picture, but then I suppose who is to say what a perfect picture actually is. Enough covid-induced philosophising. Great work from Angus, and more to come.

4539. Upfest 2022 (21)

If only I felt a little better, I could do a fabulous write-up of this remarkable and innovative piece by Victoriano for this year’s Upfest. Painted on a wall that hosted my favourite Upfest 2021 75×75 piece, this had quite a lot to live up to.

Victoriano, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

When I first saw the piece, it was a work in progress, but it was only when I checked out the artist on Instagram that I realised that there were several versions of the work in progress, each of which was photographed and then stitched together to make a time-lapse video of the dog running – You can see this innovation on Victoriano’s Facebook page, and on his Instagram feed, both well worth a look to see the creativity of the piece, and his first augmented wall.

Right, that’s your lot for today, I am off to bed.

4538. Sparke Evans Park (49)

I am not well today and don’t feel particularly inclined to write any posts or do anything, frankly. Then I saw who was up next for today’s posts and felt a little better.

Andy Council, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2022

This piece by Andy Council Looks like a beautiful Chinese dragon, and has been painted in muted colours using his stitching style. A pink tongue cleverly joins this piece to the writing next to it, both of which were painted during a paint jam in Sparke Evans Park. The pictures were taken in the evening, and the colours haven’t ‘travelled’ very well.

4537. Nelson Street (16)

Some walls simply blow you away, and it can be difficult to do them justice with words alone, and perhaps less is more in such instances. This three-way collaborative wall in Nelson Street is by Kin Dose, s,w,a,l.t and Stiiv (or Swick) (not to be confused with our own calligraffiti writer Stivs), the latter two who were visiting Bristol as guests of Upfest. It is always a real pleasure to have these ‘spill-over’ extras from the festival.

Kin Dose, Nelson Street, Bristol, June 2022

The Tiger is by Kin Dose, and makes the most of his ‘airbrush’ approach to spraying, managing to create an extraordinary sense of depth in the fur and hairs of the creature. A stunning piece, which on its own would satisfy, but, wait for it… two more beauties sit alongside.

s.w.a.l.t, Nelson Street, Bristol, June 2022

The middle piece is from s.w.a.l.t and is a miracle of portrait work in greyscale augmented with graffiti writing, in the style of Pichiavo. This portrait is probably my favourite piece of the year so far. Simply stunning.

Stiiv, Nelson Street, Bristol, June 2022

Rounding off this beautiful wall is a robin perched on a fragmented branch, by Stiiv (Swick). There is life and character in this little robin, and as with Kin Dose’s Tiger, the fluffy feathers give this piece real depth. A beauty.

Perhaps take a moment, not to read my words, but to enjoy this wall.

Kin Dose, s.w.a.l.t. and Stiiv, Nelson Street, Bristol, June 2022

4536. Sparke Evans Park (48)

Visiting artists are always welcome in Bristol, and certainly the city does tend to draw a great many of them, probably due to its well known and mature graffiti sub-culture. Recently we have been graced by the presence of an extraordinary artist, Posea, who visited Bristol from his home in Sheffield.

Posea, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2022

This piece in Sparke Evans Park was part of a paint jam, I think, for Turoe’s birthday a couple of weeks ago. The character piece is so different from the hand and lighter piece he painted in Dean Lane around the same time, demonstrating the versatility of this amazing artist. Here we see a man in a bear mask, with a crazy duck on top, with a double-barrelled shot gun. All rather sinister, but exquisitely painted and finished. It would be great to see more of his work.

4535. Dean Lane skate park (503)

Once again, the famous curved wall in Dean Lane gets a makeover by Ceus, who seems to have really taken to Dean Lane for his artwork. It will be interesting to see if he will start to spread his wings (literally-metaphorically-artistically), further afield and starts spreading his talent along the M32 or in the tunnel etc.

You can be sure that when Ceus paints, he will be turning up the dial on his colour selections and creating a piece of beauty. His letters spell out Ceus and feature the pair of wings we see in much of his work. It would be quite interesting to introduce Ceus to Tom Miller and Paul Monsters… what an explosion of colour that would be.

4534. Cumberland Basin

When you are familiar with the street art scene in a place, it is amazing how quickly you notice something slightly out of the ordinary, a new artist for example, and how that piece immediately fires up one’s curiosity. This was one of those pieces. I knew the second I saw it that it was not by a Bristol artist, but rather annoyingly I had no clues who the artist might be – it turns out that one of my fellow street art photographers/chroniclers had a bit of luck and unintentionally discovered the pairing that collaborated to create this striking piece.

Ansley Randall and Britt, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, June 2022

The piece is one of those Upfest ‘spill over’ pieces that are a real bonus for Bristolians, where we get to see free art on our streets beyond the confines of Bedminster. Both Ansley Randall and Britt (paints a lot) were in Bristol for Upfest, and both had travelled from America, which gives you some indication of the draw of the festival.

The eyes are by Britt and the design and patterning by Ansley Randall. The overall effect is superb, and this really is a rather special piece. I don’t know if these two artists have collaborated before, or whether they hooked up at Upfest and gave it a go, but however the piece came about, I am pleased that they did it, and they chose a great wall to decorate too. Added benefits of Upfest keeping us all happy.

Logoe

A gallery of magnificent script writing from Logoe

All photographs by Scooj

	scooj on 7981. Dean Lane skate park…
	scooj on 7981. Dean Lane skate park…
	NeenR on 7981. Dean Lane skate park…
	Sheree on 8000. Cumberland Basin
	hitandrun1964 on 8000. Cumberland Basin

	hitandrun1964 on 8004. M32 roundabout J3 (…
	scooj on 7981. Dean Lane skate park…
	scooj on 7981. Dean Lane skate park…
	NeenR on 7981. Dean Lane skate park…
	Sheree on 8000. Cumberland Basin

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