1876. Upfest 2018 (95)

Krishna Malla was late to the party this year, which was a good thing for me, because I managed to catch up with him just as he was packing up. Even though he seemed to be in a bit of a rush, he still made time for a chat. I remember his brilliant snail and hare work from Upfest 2016, so it was good to meet the Cornwall-based artist this time round.

Krishna Malla, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Krishna Malla, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

This piece embraces fully the Simpsons theme for this year’s festival. The theme does seem to have divided opinion, but I sit firmly on the side of ‘love it’. I like the concept and execution of a mister Burns palm holding up the five fingers, each one a member of the Simpsons family. There is something rather od about it, but I rather like that. It would be great to see Krishna Malla return next year.

Krishna Malla, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Krishna Malla, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

418. Upfest 2016 (45)

Krishna Malla is an illustrator from Cornwall. As a frequent visitor to Cornwall, I need to seek out some of his work, as street art is hard to come by down there. His wonderful work at Upfest, of a snail (what is it about snails…see 3Dom’s recent work in Stokes Croft) contains two of his alias’ ‘Hare’ and ‘Tech Moon’.

Krishna Malla, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Krishna Malla, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

He has a nice website, in which his ‘About’ section reads as follows:

“Street artist and illustrator from Cornwall.

I like doing drawings.”

That’s pretty cool. Krishna Malla teaches at the Arts University Bournemouth, which is also pretty cool. Given that Bristol is somewhere between Cornwall and Bournemouth, it would be nice to think he might drop by and paint something new for us sometime.