I met Karl Read at the Cheltenham Paint Festival last year, and what a very nice bloke he is too. He is an artist who appears to enjoy painting at festivals, and he has certainly been to several Upfest events in the past, this is his 75 walls in 75 days contribution.
Karl Read, North Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
This is a superb bright and vibrant piece that makes great use of this slightly awkward wall. The message, in large colourful letters, is clear for all to see and will resonate with all but the most miserable people. Karl Read has chosen to paint his characters, a boy and a girl at each end of the letters, in black and white, probably using a stencil. The characters contrast beautifully with the letters and somehow bring out the colour even more. An upbeat and positive piece from the Upfest veteran.
One of the genuine delights of having an interest in street and graffiti art is watching newcomers develop. And so meeting Oma while she was painting this fabulous Bristol fox, one of only a handful of street pieces she has painted, was an immense pleasure. The fox was painted as part of the birthday paint jam for Eman at the back end of July.
Oma, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2021
The work in progress shot is particularly interesting in that you can see that Oma has drawn several outlines before settling on one and building the piece from there. I love the colour combinations she uses, they are quite unusual and make her work stand out.
Oma, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2021
Foxes appear so much in Bristol street art, and I am minded to do a gallery of them… perhaps when I have some time. I love this piece a lot, and although there is much to learn (I speak as one who has even more to learn), she has incorporated some wonderful elements and technique (shading, colour combinations, textures) into the subject. I am so looking forward to seeing more from Oma. I have one or two pieces in archive that I will try to dig out.
There are times when you get lucky, right? And I got so lucky with this early evening ‘dog walk’ in Bedminster and Dean Lane in particular, as SkyHigh was just finishing off this remarkable block graffiti writing piece, that he is so well known for.
SkyHigh, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2021
I don’t know what we in Bristol have done to deserve this, but this is the second visit by SkyHigh in as many months. We chatted for a while, as he tidied up the piece and it became blindingly obvious that I was in the presence of a perfectionist. Every small blemish was addressed and made good.
SkyHigh, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2021
The block letters have become second nature for the artist and he makes what looks terribly complicated, simple… he paints with the confidence and ease of someone at the top of their game. I love the inclusion of the ‘Hello my name is’ sticker in the letter ‘I’, a common icon in street art. Another stunner from the London artist.
Well, I figured it has been quite a while since I last posted a Hemper piece, so here is a reasonably new one for good measure. Of course, it is a beautifully crafted piece of graffiti writing, with great letter shapes and a cool colour palette.
Hemper, M32 Spot, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
I don’t know where these writers get their inspiration from, but their unwavering high quality is just something else. In this piece Hemper spells out the letters HEMS, each letter with a different colour combination. A couple of arrows and stars finish off the piece nicely. I always look forward to finding these, there is something just a bit special about them.
I am generally pretty well tapped into the appearance of new pieces in Bristol through Instagram and Twitter, especially anything to do with Upfest, which made finding this piece accidentally/incidentally, by Sophie Long, extra special. Sophie Long is a Bristol artist who creates stunning colourful canvasses and murals of wild animals (and usually lots of lovely drips too), and who is an Upfest favourite.
Sophie Long, North Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
These beautiful whale pieces, on the door shutter and wall of People Solutions on North Street, replace a pair of octopi from a previous Upfest event. Sophie Long has managed to use the vertical space brilliantly, who’d have thought you could paint blue whales in a diving pose?
Sophie Long, North Street, Bristol, August 2021, Upfest 21
There is always an emotional connection with our largest mammal cousins and Sophie Long has done a brilliant job at representing that connection. Skilfully painted in ghostly colours, these two leviathans remind us of the fragility of biodiversity on Earth. Beautiful.
On environmental grounds I am not totally on-board with the trend of spray painting onto cling film suspended between two posts. The effect is a good one and it does create ‘walls’ where none exist, but the plastic waste and disposability doesn’t work for me. I have to be careful though, because spray paint isn’t particularly environmentally friendly and I could end up tying myself in knots.
Ryder and T-Rex, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2021
All of that said, I do like the creativity of these mega-tag pieces by Ryder and T-Rex. These tags can be found all over Bristol, but these ones are temporary and ephemeral, and not in any danger of being over-painted. The ‘R’ character is by Ryder and the dinosaur head by T-Rex and the two fuse in the form of a true collaboration.
Ryder, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2021
The second piece is by Ryder and typical of his ‘R’ tags. I don’t know if it is more difficult to paint onto cling film, but I expect it is not as forgiving of mistakes, but then again these artists don’t make many of those. An interesting addition to the array of street art possibilities.
Rather embarrassingly, and I had the slightest concern about this, this piece is not by Pl8o after all, although I don’t know who it is by. Everything I have written about Pl8o still stands. I will change the captions to reflect this.
An artist I used to write about quite a lot was Ysae, but he seemed to disappear off the scene for a while. Maybe this is by him, there is a signature, or is that a shout out. The dangers of thinking I know more than I actually do. It happens.
I am rather looking forward to producing a gallery of work by Pl8o and when I have collected a few more pieces by him I will do so. The reason I say this is that he has been playing with all sorts of ideas around his letters and is going through something of a script writing phase, but it is the development of these ideas that is fun to witness.
Unknown, Ysae?, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2021
In this piece Pl8o has gone with a much more curvy and flowing script style and incorporated some drips and floating ovals to embellish the letters. The colours are perhaps not my favourite, but work well together and certainly stand out in the orange gloom of St Werburghs tunnel. A nice piece.
It is always a real pleasure to welcome Dan Kitchener back to Bristol, and his work is absolutely astonishing, but for Upfest to allocate this wall to him is unfortunate to say the least. At best, perhaps the narrow space where the wall is located reflects the backstreets of a ‘Tokyoesque’ scene, but the detail and interest in this wonderful mural just can’t be fully appreciated from the street, and it is near impossible to photograph. Rant over.
Dan Kitchener, North Street, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 2021
These busy scenes that Dan Kitchener creates have a strong feel of ‘Bladerunner’ about them, if you know what I mean. Dark, wet, oriental streets with neon advertising and car headlights providing an intoxicating atmosphere and people with opened umbrellas busily scurrying across the traffic. Dan Kitchener gives us a complete urban nighttime landscape.
Dan Kitchener, North Street, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 2021
When you look closer at the work, you can see how effective the spray paint is for creating the reflections in the wet tarmac, but also in offering great detail in the neon lighting. There is a simplicity about Dan Kitchener’s style that allows your brain to work hard and fully create the scene. It is like an illusion, yes, an illusion that tricks your brain into thinking this is a real scene, a photograph or a memory. Clever stuff. Really evocative.
Dan Kitchener, North Street, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 2021
It is possible to photograph the wall from the roof of the bank, but I have not yet been in the right place at the right time to achieve this, and for most passers by this is similarly an impossibility. Another outstandingly brilliant piece from Dan Kitchener for Upfest.
Daz Cat has been a rather busy boy lately as you will probably notice over the coming week or two with several posts of his work in the pipeline. This particular piece on the roundabout features two cats and some writing, which is not something Daz Cat does a lot of.
Daz Cat, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2021
As always, the cats are beautifully painted, but I think this is the first time I have seen a boy and girl cat in the same piece. I know that Daz Cat has been keen to do more female cats and there has been some recent evidence of this. The writing is quite elaborate and clean and tidy, but on balance I think I prefer his characters. Some superb pieces to follow soon…
Another fabulous Upfest 75×75 mural, and another beast to photograph… well, I suppose it is in a car park so parked cars are something of an expected irritation. The fun mural is by Georgie Webster, a Bristol-based artist who likes painting animals, the male nude, butts and more (according to her website).
Georgie Webster, Myrtle Road, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
In this piece Georgie Webster has painted a festival of roller skating and dance, from the waist down. The legs are full of variety – is that a pair of grraffe legs? – and vibrant colours, something of a speciality of the artist.
Georgie Webster, Myrtle Road, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
It was a pity that I haven’t yet been able to get a good photograph of the whole wall, but I think you can get the idea from the pictures posted.
Georgie Webster, Myrtle Road, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
I particularly like the little the little guinea pig, which was hidden behind a car and took me several attempts to photograph it because the car was so close to the wall and I had to hold the camera out to one side between the wall and car. The whole mural is a splash of colour and a statement of joy, and a little view of the world from the bottom half, which makes a refreshing change.
Georgie Webster, Myrtle Road, Bristol, July 2021, Upfest 21
Natural adventures 