Tag: North Street

457. Upfest 2016 (54)

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, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Voyder, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

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.

444. North Street, butchers

It has been quite some time since I posted anything by Angus and I have had this witty piece by him on the shutter of a butcher’s shop in my ‘to do’ folder for an age.

Angus, North Street, Bristol, June 2016
Angus, North Street, Bristol, June 2016

The ‘Shaun the Sheep’ character was all the rage a couple of years ago in Bristol, with a trail of painted statues across the city, and this humorous piece embraces and reflects that focus. I like it because it is just plain funny on a butcher’s shop. Eat more beef!

436. North Street, bus stop at Fairfield Road (2)

This wonderful piece appeared a few days after Upfest had ended, and I guess Feoflip decided to stick around and improve some bare walls. I really love this piece, the soft pastel colours give the piece the look of an illustration. The character looks like it has just walked off the pages of a children’s picture book. I would love to read that story.

Feoflip, North Street, Bristol, August 2016
Feoflip, North Street, Bristol, August 2016

Feoflip was unknown to me before Upfest, but I have now seen several of his pieces all over Bristol, and will be sharing them over the coming weeks. He is fast becoming one of my favourite artists. I love the combination of organic and mechanical, it works very well, as with his piece at Ashton Gate School.

Feoflip, North Street, Bristol, August 2016
Feoflip, North Street, Bristol, August 2016

The more observant reader may also notice the Gregos mask just to the left of this piece which I wrote about last year.

431. Upfest 2016 (47)

I know I have said it before and I will say it again. One of the real pleasures at Upfest 2016 was the huge number of wheatpastes that appeared overnight between the Saturday and the Sunday of the festival.

Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

This was my first introduction to the crazy world of Face the Strange, a wheatpaster who creates characters with heads substituted for any manner of everyday objects. His pieces are witty and rather stylish – I like them. This works on several levels and the reproduction of naff flying ducks is very funny.

Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Face the Strange has a Facebook page, which is well worth a look. Since this first discovey, I have since found more of his work in Bristol from Upfest, and loads in Shoreditch and Camden Town. More to come from this prolific artist.

422. North Street, No. 274

This amazing Tiger is no longer there; the wall has since been painted by Jody for Upfest 2016 (more on this to come). The tiger was painted for the Upfest 2015 festival and I never really got round to posting about it.

Osch, North Street, Bristol, September 2015
Osch, North Street, Bristol, September 2015

It is funny how things come about. I didn’t really know the artist, Osch (Otto Schade), until fairly recently and now I seem to be coming across his work all over the place in London. In fact I think I mentioned in a recent post that he hadn’t done much in Bristol. I was wrong, he did this.

Osch, North Street, Bristol, September 2015
Osch, North Street, Bristol, September 2015

The tiger is captivating and uses Osch’s unraveling bandage style of artwork. This work was something of a landmark on North Street and was part of a campaign to raise awareness for the Save Wild Tigers charity.

On the downside, this is one of the most difficult Upfest walls to photograph. It is very high and in a narrow lane and the best views are from a privately accessed roof. I’m afraid I didn’t have access, so my pictures are a little distorted.

419. North Street hoarding (5)

This little alcove, created by the side of a shop on one side and a hoarding on the other is a favourite haunt of John D’oh’s. Hardly a week goes by without a new stencil from this productive agent provocateur appearing in the immediate area.

John D'oh, North Street, Bristol, July 2016
John D’oh, North Street, Bristol, July 2016

His works are often political, and here we have a statement about homelessness which frankly is difficult to disagree with. The expression of this issue through graffiti art is surely representative of a general groundswell of opinion that things just aren’t great at the moment for those who drop under the radar of our bullish Government. Casualties…collateral damage of ‘Britain being open for business’. Shame.

416. Upfest 2016 (43)

I like a bit of edge, and at This year’s upfest it was provided in small doses by the brilliant wheatpaster ‘What Have I Done Now’. I don’t know if he had a ‘feature piece’ or whether he had been invited to simply paste up his work wherever he felt like, but there was plenty of the latter on show.

What Have I Done Now, North Street, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
What Have I Done Now, North Street, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

This small Piece appeared on the corner of a large advertising hoarding, and as with so many of these things, many visitors to Upfest walked straight past it, probably focusing on finding the next art venue. A pity.

What Have I Done Now, North Street, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
What Have I Done Now, North Street, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

I liked What Have I Done Now’s biography in the Upfest programme, it reads:

‘When people ask me what kind of artist I am, I say political.As more often than not I’m responding to the machinery of control as it grinds us all up in its gears. I’m trying to remind folk we can simply refuse to stop applying the grease.‘

Good words, and great art work. More to come.

414. Upfest 2016 (41)

23Magpies is an artist I have admired for sometime now. Although she has already featured in one Upfest 2016 post already, her ‘official’ work, I couldn’t resist including some of her ‘extras’.

23Magpies, North Street, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
23Magpies, North Street, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

These extras are often left behind by street artists during a festival and wheatpastes in particular seem to appear all over the place. 23Magpies leaves these treats for people like me to find. Often she pastes them onto utility boxes and lamp posts.

23Magpies, North Street, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
23Magpies, North Street, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Generally to get a good look and photograph one needs to stoop somewhat drawing strange glances from passers-by. Of course if you don’t look, you won’t see. Some will never see beyond their next text message.

23Magpies, North Street, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
23Magpies, North Street, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

23Magpies is known for her wildlife and environmental themes in her work and with this cat and mouse pair she doesn’t sdisappoint. More 23Magpies extras in a future post…I promise.

390. Upfest 2016 (34)

There are some artists who are quite unique, because of their style, subject matter or materials. Shok 1 is one such artist. I don’t know if anyone else does what he does, or at least with so much skill.

Shok 1, Upfest, North Street, Bristol, July 2016
Shok 1, Upfest, North Street, Bristol, July 2016

Shok 1 is a British artist who specialises in X-ray images. Watching him work was amazing. He uses a small image for reference, and then sprays out every detail on a large wall. His attention to detail is just exceptional. I watched him ‘mist’ an area on the bottom right of the piece, and over five minutes he must have sprayed the same spot twenty times, with different densities of spray.

Shok 1, Upfest, North Street, Bristol, July 2016
Shok 1, Upfest, North Street, Bristol, July 2016
Shok 1, Upfest, North Street, Bristol, July 2016
Shok 1, Upfest, North Street, Bristol, July 2016

I don’t know where he got the X-ray of the unicorn from, but it must be a pretty rare thing.

Shok 1, Upfest, North Street, Bristol, July 2016
Shok 1, Upfest, North Street, Bristol, July 2016

Shok 1 was a lead artist at Upfest and quite deservedly so. It is amazing to have one of his pieces in Bristol as I don’t recall seeing one here before. I hope he returns next year, or sooner. Almost pure perfection.

374. Upfest 2016 (25)

Anyone who reads this blog regularly will know that I am particularly fond of wheatpastes. First it was Kid Crayon that got me interested and then 23 Magpies. More recently I have discovered the magic of Phoebe New York. Always there though, has been the work of D7606 a recent convert to the world of street art. Take time to read this excellent interview with D7606 by London Graffiti Interviews, in which he explains his name and describes his transition into wheatpasting.

D7606, North Street, Upfest, Bristol, July2016
D7606, North Street, Upfest, Bristol, July2016

When D7606 first pasted up this “Twiggy” post box, there was nothing else there, just a clean red box and his Twiggys. By the time I came to photograph it a day later, it was accompanied by no end of stickers…it would seem that a great many sticker enthusiasts enjoy the freedom that Upfest affords. You will spot also that some horns and glasses have been added to the left hand Twiggy.

D7606, North Street, Upfest, Bristol, July2016
D7606, North Street, Upfest, Bristol, July2016

I really like D7606’s work, and have spotted it all over the place so look out for more posts about him coming soon.