Tag: RTC

4501. Upfest 2022 (13)

Alongside all the newcomers to Bristol’s Upfest festival, there is a cohort of ‘regulars’ who turn up and wow us with their talent, year after year. One of these regulars is RTC (Rich Turner) who has been present at several festivals and presented us with this magnificent British bulldog stencil piece this year.

RTC, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
RTC, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

RTC manages to produce these massively detailed and multi-layered stencil pieces that are photorealistic in their appearance. The backgrounds too are beautifully constructed with hexagons bubbles and stars all adding to the structure of the piece. What is most amazing is that it is all contained with; one of the small 1m squared board.

2575. Cheltenham 2019 (20)

I have come across RTC a couple of times at Upfest in Bristol and really like his stencil work. This piece featuring Stephen Hawking reinforces my admiration. Many regular readers will know that I consider multi-layered stencils to be a highly skilled art form, and one that is probably misunderstood in terms of the hard work that goes into a piece like this one.

RTC, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019
RTC, Paint Festival 2019, Cheltenham, September 2019

I believe RTC is a local Cheltenham artist, so it must be especially pleasing for him to be able to do a piece at the festival. I am guessing that RTC is referencing one of several books by Stephen Hawking in this piece, and most likely ‘a Brief History of Time. This is a truly excellent stencil piece.

1787. Upfest 2018 (63)

My oh my this is a very fancy stencil indeed by the incredible RTC from Cheltenham. You would have been hiding under a rock not to know that the subject of this piece is film director Tim Burton surrounded by some of his creations – besides which, just in case we didn’t know, attributes a quote to Burton at the bottom of the piece. “One person’s craziness is another person’s reality“.

RTC, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
RTC, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

I cannot imagine just how long it must take to prepare this multi-layered stencil, which has such amazing fine detail, but it is all utterly worth it. I can only gaze on in disbelief. Bravo! champion of the art of stencilling.

I had a go at spotting all the films in the piece…

Batman – Mars Attacks – Edward Scissorhands – The Nightmare Before Christmas – Sleepy Hollow – Alice in Wonderland – Beetlejuice.

1049. Upfest 2017 (67)

RTC is a stencil artist who is based in Cheltenham, so not a million miles away from Bristol…in street art terms, he is pretty much a local. This is a fine multi-layered stencil featuring Guardians of the Galaxy characters Groot and Rocket Raccoon. It is a clever technical piece from this self-taught artist…there is hope for uas all.

RTC, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
RTC, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

This piece has a photorealistic appearance which is amll the more remarkable for being a stencil. I have not seen any of RTC’s wortk before, but will be looking out for him in the future.