When I saw this I thought of Klue…ok so I begin with a really cheesy pun, but starting off a post can be difficult you know, so any way in is a welcome way as far as I can see. This is a lovely little piece by Mr Klue, tucked away in the borderlands between St Pauls and St Werberghs.
There are many things I love about photographing street/graffiti art and one of them is that I am constantly discovering new (to me) artists. Although he is well established, I have only recently registered the utterly incredible Ments.
Well Feoflip really is the man of the moment. Before Upfest 2016 I hadn’t seen any of his work, or if I had, it had passed me by. Now it seems I can’t go anywhere in Bristol without stumbling upon one of his incredible pieces.
This is another intricate piece from Dibz dating back to June this year. Dibz lives locally and tends to save his spraying for the walls at Dean Lane skate park. I recently featured another of his works from an adjacent wall.
On a shop front in North Street, there is this tiny micro-stencil by John D’oh. It is really beautiful, and something of a departure from his more political art. Saucy, and I love it.
I can’t go too long without posting a piece by Sled One. If I only had to write about only a handful of graffiti/street artists in Bristol, Sled One would be right up there. His versatility is extraordinary, his colour pallets always superb and he seems to spray pretty much anywhere he can in Bristol.
This is a quick wildstyle piece which just shows off all his talents. I truly believe that Sled One will become a Bristol legend. He is already making such a mark. Just enjoy this artist. I do
My favourite piece of the 2015 Upfest was the incredible geisha by Dan Kitchener on the wall of the Salvation Army shop. It was fantastic then to have DanK return to Bristol this year. His spot was slightly off the beaten track, and I didn’t find him until the Sunday when it was all a bit drizzly.
Dan Kitchener had pretty much stopped spraying for a while and was leaning over the lift and chatting to a friend when I took a couple of the pictures. He really wasn’t too impressed with the weather.
The piece, once it was revealed, turned out to be something of a reflection of the weather in which it was produced. In fact much of Dan Kitchener’s work creates the effect of wet night time scenes viewed through a car windscreen…or that is how it feels to me.
Looking closely at the woman with the umbrella, allows you to see that part of the picture away from all the distraction around it, and it is just beautiful. Step back and add in all the bright lights and you have the most vibrant scene.
I am always so impressed with his work, and I could look at these scenes he creates for hours, studying all the details and effects. It is hard to believe that he paints these things with spray cans. Yet another artist at the very top of his game.
This brilliant swirling ‘Bristol’ by Voyder really felt like the signature piece for this year’s Upfest. Visitors to the festival were queuing up to take selfies and group pictures in front of this piece. I wonder how many of them knew it was Voyder’s work – it matters not, they saw it for what it is, a joyful celebration of Bristol art.
Voyder is a prolific graffiti artist and many of his pieces seem to be inaccessible, especially if you aren’t prepared to enter derelict sites, so it is especially nice to have one of his pieces in an area with high footfall. Around the time of upfest, Voyder was spraying quite a lot of these ribbon effect pieces, most memorably the Lichtenstein piece neat the Tobacco Factory, now long gone. This is just more stunning stuff from one of the best Bristol writers.
Well, here it is, the ‘official’ piece by What Have I Done Now. This Alice in Wonderland work seems to create a graffiti wall all on its own. An anarchic Alice (the piece is called ‘A is for Alice) stands looking at a colourful wall (with drips!) and casts a beautiful shadow. I can’t quite read the words on the left of the picture, but I think it says ‘curiouser and curiouser, (?) I am. Which way do I go?’ which is a slight corruption of the original quote.
I am very fond of the Alice in Wonderland story, having read it more than once, but also having listened to the most incredible double album musical version of the book starring Karen Dotrice, Bruce Forsyth, Dirk Bogard, Tommy Cooper and many other incredible actors. I listened to this hundreds of times with my sister when we were kids. This artwork has sent me on a hunt for the album and, goodness me, the Interweb has come up trumps. I cannot tell you how happy I am to be able to listen to the album again after some forty years or so – you can hear it on YouTube here. I thoroughly recommend it. Happy now.
You may recall that I posted paste ups of a mouse and a cat by 23 Magpies recently. Well here is another one of the treats that she left behind at Upfest. This time, always on a wildlife theme, we are presented with a charming wheatpaste of a newt drawn onto the cover of an Ian Maclaren title page.
Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush was Ian Maclaren’s first story about rural Scottish life. I have no idea if this is of any significance to the piece by 23 Magpies, or if it is a random bit of book used as a background context for the little newt. Whatever the intention, the execution is once again excellent. I think there may be more to come from 23 Magpies in these Upfest posts.
Natural adventures 