I have already posted a very striking Upfest piece by Brighton-based Mazcan but this one slipped a little under my radar until I recently started sorting through another batch of pieces from last year’s festival.
This is a superb work that looks like it has just dropped off the page of a rather dark comic strip book. There is drama and movement in the way the hair sweeps across the portrait… what is going on here? Her eyes give nothing away. Lovely piece.
It is curious, but in my mind’s eye I thought that I had already posted this piece by Guts, but my foolproof system tells me that I haven’t. So here we have a bright psychadelic piece which would seem to be about consumption. I am definitely a fan of Guts’ work and I think that he comes from the same school of colour use as Loch Ness.
There are plenty of his characteristic motifs, such as the little skulls littering the piece, but a feature I really love, and I know it is not the point of the piece, is the little ‘My Name Is’ sign where he has put his signature. This emblem was adopted by other artists on this set of hoardings at Upfest. Nice one Guts.
Deuz is another artist who was at Upfest 2018 who didn’t appear in the Upfest official programme, which is always a bit troublesome for me because I have to do my own research rather than rely on others. Deuz is a French artist who cut his teeth by writing graffiti on the streets of Marseille in the 1990s. He went on to study art and now his work is largely portraits of Africans, his ‘faces’ that were inspired by hip hop culture.
I don’t know who Nina Gabriel is but then again I can’t know everything. I would hazard a guess that she is probably a musician. The nicely worked greyscale piece was in the back yard of the Steam Crane, which since Upfest 2018 looks like it might have changed hands, and these hoardings have since come down, which is a pity.
I do like pieces that are black and white with one additional colour, there is something about them that helps to focus the eye and grab the attention. Such a piece can be fussy without being confusing. This Upfest 2018 piece by Wietse is a great example of this colour genre.
The globe-trotting artist was born in Bruges, Belgium is inspired by History, nature and travelling. Here he has painted (with brushes) a unicorn being attached, I think, by what looks like a pair of panthers. It is the kind of scene that would lend itself very nicely to illustrate the politics of the UK right now. It is in your face, beautiful, savage and feels like quite an outspoken piece. Whatever the narrative, I do rather like it.
Before this piece, I had never seen any by Hoakser before and although he is a well-known artist in his own right, I don’t think he has had much of a presence in Bristol. He comes from Birmingham, has been spray painting since 1998 and he is entirely self-taught, which gives me great hope. Hoakser has a very nicely presented website which is well worth a visit.
I am pleased to see that this fine character piece has a tangible reference to the Simpsons which was a central theme for Upfest 2018. I am guessing the scene is a bit of a self-portrait or possibly a portrait of King Robbo to whom this is a tribute piece. Nicely done.
One of the first pieces I saw from Upfest 2018 was this lovely mosaic by local artist, Angus. Over the last couple of years, Angus has concentrated on his part mosaic/part spray painted pieces, but he remains a highly versatile artist who appears to enjoy working with different materials and concepts. His ideas are key to his work.
This piece I guess must be called something like ‘fishing for likes’, or at least that would seem to be the literal translation. Angus was very busy throughout the festival and this was one of at least three mosaic pieces in addition to other work by the artist. Always good to see his ideas coming to life in this way.
I think that this is the fifth stencil/wheatpaste by About Ponny that I have posted from Upfest 2018 and in my mind every single one of them is a belter. In each it is both the skill of the work and positioning and the extraordinary content that makes these outstanding wheatpastes.
About Ponny has a knack of portraying human pain and suffering without sentiment or compassion. These are raw pieces which strike at your heart and made even more effective by their low-key sitings. I had not been aware of About Ponny’s work before Upfest 2018, but on the back of these have become a big fan.
I felt it was probably time to pick up on a few more Upfest 2018 pieces starting with this beautiful Whale and Gannet work with a very strong environmental message from Adelle Gough. The text says “You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop”.
I like the style Adelle has used for this piece very much, and it has quite an illustrative feel to it, like it could be the cover of a children’s book on plastic waste or something like that. There is a narrative in the piece that is clear to see, with tin can plastic binding caught around the gannet’s neck.
Adelle likes to call Stroud her home, but appers to do quite a lot of travelling around the country. She has a fine website Green Bow Tie Works that houses a gallery of her works and there is an interesting profile/biography of the artist which outlines her love for nature and the natural world. Whale pieces always go down well with me.
In the dim foot tunnels of the M32 it is very easy to miss pieces as the walls tend to be very congested with tagging and bombing. It is the job of a hunter to keep eyes wide open and try to see everything. I had actually walked past these two faces by an artist new to me, Rinsulin, before doing a comedy about turn and taking another look.
The pair of colourful 3 eyed-skulls look rather better in photographs than they do in the tunnel and although naive in appearance are nicely thought out. I would guess that Rinsulin is reasonably new to street art, but I mugight be wrong about that.
It is unfortunate that both pieces have been tagged by Apeks, a nobody whose contribution is negligible, but i have to say that overall I rather like the colourful and anarchic faces that have a style all of their own.
Just when you thought the Rezwonk/Decay partnership couldn’t possibly get any better, they pull this one out of the hat (see what I did there?). This is a remarkable and thoroughly enjoyable collaboration painted brilliantly in the style of Dr Seuss’ Cat in the Hat.
The left hand side of the collaboration is by Rezwonk where the writing almost takes second place to The Cat, Thing 1, the kite and flower pot and the general setting of the piece. I believe this piece to be utterly outstanding and is right up there with my favourite pieces of the year.
The Cat in particular is so well painted, like he has stepped straight off the page of a book, Thing 1 also is incredibly faithful to the book. Surely this can’t have been painted with spray cans alone?
The right hand side of the collaboration is by Decay who has introduced the character Sam I am from the book Green Eggs and Ham. He also included the goldfish in his bowl from Cat in the Hat.
Decay has gone for a simple piece of writing in his usual (2019) style which acts as a fabulous backdrop to everything else that is going on with the piece. Fortunately the colour schemes used are not polluted by the horrible light conditions in the tunnel, and the photographs of the piece have come out OK.
Thoroughly brilliant by this pairing – Bravo! Bravo!
Natural adventures 