On the 15th October 2016 The Bearpit played host to an international exhibition entitled ‘Resiste’. The exhibition featured the works of the Assembly of Revolutionary Artists of Oaxaco, Mexico. I will cover this exhibition in more detail in a forthcoming post, but today I will focus on the participation in the exhibition by Bristol’s magnificent Aspire.
This is a small piece by the wonderful Bristol street artist Face F1st whose works are always centered on a styalised face each one with a different decorative feature. In this one he has placed a small octopus on the face’s head. This is a political anti-Brexit piece which is articulated clearly, and the octopus represents the Brexit narrative ‘brainwashing’, which appears to be stifling any intellectual debate about what kind of Brexit British citizens might want (in particular the 48% who voted against).
At one end of Dighton Street there are two small walls which look like they had once been rather fancy gateways and which have since been filled in. They offer street artists an opportunity to spray a pair of related works should they wish to do so, as the spots come as a pair and are separated by a stone wall of about 20 feet.
A week or so before Haloween, this scary clown appeared in Stokes Croft. Now I am the first to say that I am not a big fan of the scary clown thing that seems to be sweeping the nation at the moment, but I really like this piece.
The artist is unknown to me, and I can’t find out anything about him anywhere. He signs himself ‘Dose’ or ‘Dase’ and was responsible for this fabulous ghost cat a few months ago, in exactly the same spot.
His works are so clean and beautifully executed…really fine work, but they also have some menace, some edge, which for me is one of the things I love about street art. I wish I could find out something about him (I know it is a he, because I have seen images of him painting the cat on the internet, but the photographer/blogger also didn’t know who he is).
If anyone reading this can put me out of my misery and knows who the artist is, please leave a comment at the end of this post. Scary clowns…they really are scary.
This is one of the most beautiful and sensitive pieces that I saw at Upfest this year. The artist, Sokar Uno has created something really touching and outstanding. This is without doubt one of my favourite pieces from this year’s festival.
Sokar Uno is a young German artist who has been painting and illustrating since he was twelve. Clearly he is very talented.
There is a wonderful explanation of the approach he takes to his art on his excellent website which is really worth a visit.
I am thoroughly taken with his ‘classical’ style and would really love to see more of his work. I fear I might have to travel to Berlin to see it though. It is a real privilege to see him at work in Bristol.
This is one of the slightly more bonkers pieces from Upfest this year. Surreal and vivid, it absolutely makes me smile every time I look at it. Unfortunately I never got to see the finished work, but I was pleased to get some pictures of the artist at work.
Mr Draws is a busy Bristol street artist who specialises in spraying colourful impressionist mountain ranges. His style is simple and at times appears to be naive, but it is far from that, and some of his pieces demonstrate his sophistication.
For years, I have been marveling at the incredible 3D pavement works created by street artists and shared through digital media. I used to enjoy these, even before I was interested in street art…they are absorbing and technically brilliant.
Until this year, I had never seen a 3D street piece in the flesh, so it was a genuine thrill to see Leon Keer’s work dominating the Tobacco Factory car park.
Leon Keer was born in Utrecht, the Netherlands in 1970, which makes him almost as old as me, which is cool. He is described as a pop-surrealist artist and is known for his canvasses and his 3D street art.
Leon Keer has a brilliant website, which I strongly recommend you take a look at. It features not only his 3D art, but also some of his paintings, which I find rather compelling.
The amazing thing about the 3D art is that it only works from a specific viewpoint. Observed from anywhere else and it looks quite bizarre, as you can see from some of these pictures. This was another highlight from the festival, and something quite different.
I knew nothing of the Thomas Brothers before Upfest where I saw this dazzling piece. The British brothers work together and bring in elements of 80s childhood experiences into their work, such as cartoons and Japanese toys, and create their contemporary works using these influences.
You just have to love a picture of a chimpanzee in a space suit, and if you don’t, then leave this post immediately. Interestingly this is not the first such simian astronaut I have written about, Zase and Dekor sprayed one some time ago near Eastville.
The artist of this chimp is Achim Szabo, a German artist who works out of Stuttgart. A look at his website shows you the incredible range of styles he adopts, and of course he isn’t restricted to walls, he can work in watercolours, design and digital as well. It seems that so many street artists have this broad set of skills. I wonder which branch of their work they enjoy the most.
In this piece, I particularly like the rough style that has been used to create it, almost a sketch, and it is topped off by the yellow banana. Lovely work.
Natural adventures 