4000. Upfest 2021 75×75 (70)

This morning’s post is something of a landmark for me. It is my 4,000th street/graffiti art post on Natural Adventures, not something that I planned all those years ago with this first post.

Insane51, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
Insane51, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21

It is fitting, I think, that one of the most impactful street artists to hit the walls of Bristol is the subject of this milestone post – Insane51. This is probably ‘the’ feature wall for Upfest and gets an awful lot of footfall and exposure. You might recall the Greta Thunberg piece by Jody that preceded this one.

Insane51, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
Insane51, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21

Apart from being visually stunning as it is, Insane 51’s work is designed to be viewed through 3D colour filter glasses that allow you to see the two pictures that combine to make the one mural. You can see what I mean if you look at this article from the the Bristol Post.

Insane51, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
Insane51, Tobacco Factory, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21

The artwork itself is best described by the artist, taken from his Instagram feed:

🔴 ‘DREAM” 🔵

⚫ NYX holding SELENE 🌕

⚫ Nyx is the Greek goddess of the night. A shadowy figure, Nyx stood at or near the beginning of creation and mothered other personified deities such as Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death), with Erebus (Darkness). Her appearances are sparse in surviving mythology, but reveal her as a figure of such exceptional power and beauty that she is feared by Zeus himself.

🌕 Selene is the goddess of the Moon. She is the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, and sister of the sun god Helios and the dawn goddess Eos. She drives her moon chariot across the heavens.

An extraordinary piece by a world-class artist. On to the next 4,000 posts.

2239. Upfest 2018 (141)

So it has been a while, and since there isn’t an Upfest festival this year, I am going to have to post another series of pictures from Upfest 2018 (there are still so many more waiting) starting with this utterly awesome piece by Insane51.

Insane51, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Insane51, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

This extraordinary artist from Greece specialises in 3D street art and has created dozens of huge pieces which look fuzzy because they are double images, but when viewed through the red and blue specs stand out from the wall in good old-fashioned 3D.

Insane51, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Insane51, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

This particular piece went up over about three or four days and was impressive enough in its halfway stage when the female portrait was complete. Insane51 then added the blue skeleton layer to the piece. The magic really happens when you view the whole thing through 3D specs one eye at a time. Rather helpfully, Insane51 did the job for us on his Instagram feed.

Insane51, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Insane51, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Definitely one of the finest walls at last year’s festival and a real crowd-pleaser. I got rather lucky and managed to grab a few words with him and during the course of our conversation he gave me a little goody bag of some stickers and the essential cardboard specs. It would be great to see him return again and wow us with his extraordinary talents.

 

 

1465. Upfest 2017 (164)

It took me a lifetime to get round to finding this collaboration and at last posting it. It is just a little too far from my work to manage in a lunchtime, so I had to make a special trip. It is by the incredible Fanakapan and Insane51.

Insane51 and Fanakapan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Insane51 and Fanakapan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

There is so much to love about this piece (except its location) that I don’t know where to start. I could try to start with the cracked wall, which is cleverly done and lets us into the world of these two artists. It is interesting that the character is both behind the hole (see his head) and in front of it (see his left arm further down). I don’t know if this is intentional, but it adds to the wackiness of the piece.

Insane51 and Fanakapan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Insane51 and Fanakapan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

The flamingo and tin can are the work of Fanakapan and the double image of the baseball caped man is by Insane51. The whole piece is utterly bonkers and brilliant, so beautifully executed and incredible attention to detail.

Insane51 and Fanakapan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Insane51 and Fanakapan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

I love the reflections in the sunglasses and in the tin can – these are the things that highlight how talented these artists are. the wall itself is a bugger to photograph, because there is not much room between it and the wall behind, as you can see from the long shot. I’ve been saving some of the really good Upfest pieces until last.