Tag: Graffiti

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.

Annika Pixie, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Annika Pixie, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

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.

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.

Unknown artist, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Unknown artist, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

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.

Steve Pinchess, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Steve Pinchess, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

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.

Steve Pinchess, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Steve Pinchess, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

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.

795. Upfest 2016 (126)

In a car park just off Raleigh Road, a double decker bus was given ‘the treatment’ at last year’s Upfest. This side of the bus was given over to Snub23, and he made a beautiful job.

Snub23, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Snub23, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Snub23 Uses his geometric patterning and shading to great effect, and then looming down from the left is one of his characters that seem to be inspired by the comic genre. Powerful stuff.

Snub23, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Snub23, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Snub23, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Snub23, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

794. Dean Lane skate park (48)

Now that I know what I am looking for, and recognise the signature I will be featuring more of Hire’s work as and when I come across it. He is the artist who sprays the large buck toothed bunnies, which appear from time to time.

Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2017
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2017

This is a wildstyle piece which, if you look carefully spells out HIRE, although it takes some convincing to be sure. This is a nice quick piece which all forms part of the rich mix you can find down at Dean Lane.

 

793. Stokes Croft, I forget where

I believe this to be the very last set of my images from Tian’s tour of Britain in April 2016. It was an exciting week, discovering all the gifts and surprises he had pasted up all around the Stokes Croft area, and it was great to see his work at Upfest in July too.

Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2016
Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2016

My knowledge of screen actresses from the fifties onwards is rather poor, and I am not sure who this is, but I am sure she is famous. I’m sure Southampton Old Lady would know. It is a pity that the wheatpaste is tagged, but in a strange way it adds to its ‘street’ credibility (not street credibility) (does that make sense?).

Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2016
Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, April 2016

I dearly hope Tian will visit Bristol again soon.

792. Dean Lane skate park (47)

This is not the first time that I have seen a collaboration wall between these two. Some time ago I posted a piece by Laic217 from Moon Street, but left the Cort piece out, which was on reflection a bit unnecessary. This time I have kept Cort’s half. I know little about Cort apart from these two pieces mentioned.

Laic217 and Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017
Laic217 and Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017

Laic217 again seems to be experimenting with his grayscale work, with just a touch of accent colour in his signature. I have noticed too that in shared walls like this one, Laic217 always seems to occupy the left hand side – is this a thing for street artists? is it like having a preferred side of the bed?

Laic217 and Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017
Laic217 and Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, May 2017

I like this collaboration a lot, and am pleased to have got a clean photograph of it, something that is getting more and more difficult to do in Bristol.

The missing Cort photos from March 2016 are below…

Laic217 and Cort, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2016
Laic217 and Cort, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2016
Cort, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2016
Cort, Moon Street, Bristol, March 2016

791. Hepburn Road (4)

I have hung on to this picture for an absolute age. No particular reason. It is by DNT, and it resided in a little side lane off Stokes Croft. I just like it – it is a well crafted piece of writing, and it simply and joyfully says Bristolz.

DNT, Hepburn Road, Bristol, April 2016
DNT, Hepburn Road, Bristol, April 2016

I have nothing more to write – sometimes writing too much takes attention away from the graffiti. Enjoy.

790. The Bearpit (71)

There is a new artist in town (to me at least), and his works have entered my consciousness since March really. It is possible he has been here all the time, but if this is the case I can only apologise. The artist signs his work with the name J. Dior, and try as I might, I am unable to find out anything about him. I know he is a he, because I did spot him creating a piece around Easter time.

J. Dior, The Bearpit, Bristol, May 2017
J. Dior, The Bearpit, Bristol, May 2017

His artwork embraces a naive style and usually features people, colourfully represented often in unusual positions – a touch of Marc Chagall combined with children’s illustrations. This piece doesn’t perhaps portray what I’m saying as well as some of his others. I have a fondness for these works, not because of the quality of the paintwork, but more down to the human story telling that is going on. My father, my mother – what a fine tribute to his parents. I like it, so watch this space for more from J. Dior.

789. M32 roundabout j3 (37)

Yet another excellent Face F1st piece, in fine colours and exhibiting yet another beautiful and simple face.  The wildstyle outline of the word FACE is becoming more cryptic, and he is really going for the beaded decorations.

Face F1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2017
Face F1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2017

I have always loved his work, from the very first one I saw, It just does something for me. Face F1st has taken to spraying a lot recently, and it is difficult to keep up with his faces. There are a couple that I have not published from the subways at this roundabout, which are difficult to photograph on account of the poor lighting and narrow passages. Be assured however that there is more from this quiet artist in the pipeline.

Face F1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2017
Face F1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2017