Tag: Street art

1735. Upfest 2018 (46)

Tim Marsh is not an artist I know, but I feel I almost know him by proxy as he is a friend of Lewis Duncan, he of the brilliant No Grey Walls website featuring street art in Barcelona – and there’s the link, Tim Marsh who was born in Paris now lives in Barcelona. You can read a great interview between the two here.

Tim Marsh, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Tim Marsh, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

This piece is a cool take on The Simpsons theme for this year’s festival and shows a rather furtive Bart in a hoodie smoking a cigarette. This is the Bart that he might become if ever he gets any older. The title of the piece perhaps gives us more of a clue, and introduces other famous people…Salvador Banksy.

Tim Marsh, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Tim Marsh, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

The piece has been nicely painted and the bits of tape in one of the pictures give you a clue to how he achieves his straight lines. This is a lovely piece on a new wall for Upfest and one that is well worth searching out…It is in Ruby Street, Bedminster.

 

 

1734. Upfest 2018 (45)

This magnificent piece by Danny Rumbl is in a retro style that I really love, and it reminds me of the fine character works of Deamze and Sepr. The subtle blue-grey shades are extremely effective, and a great example of how sometimes ‘less is more’.

Danny Rumbl, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Danny Rumbl, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Danny Rumbl is an illustrator from the Netherlands who grew up with and was inspired by American cartoons of the 1960s, children’s books and nature all of which I think are reflected in this piece. What I like most about it though is the simple form, the crisp, clean lines and the solid fills. A highlight of the festival.

1733. Upfest 2018 (44)

I don’t get to see very much of Guts’ work, but when I do see it I pretty much always like it. His style seems to bridge that gap between graffiti and street art and always feels a bit old-school, a good thing in my view.

Guts, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Guts, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

This shutter piece features ghosts, skulls and monsters but all framed in a gentle and humorous style. The fez on the red ghost to the right of the piece really tickles me – I don’t know why. Lovely piece.

1732. Upfest 2018 (43)

The quality of Stencil work at this year’s Upfest was once again really high, and this beautiful piece from Neverender Design is just one of many examples of this. The portrait is a six layer stencil piece which looks rather tribal to me and is full of atmosphere and mystery and well as being technically excellent.

Neverender Design, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Neverender Design, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Neverender Design is a huge inspiration to any wannabe artists because he was inspired to start his own work at Upfest 2013 and he decided he would like to return to the festival as an artist rather than as a spectator. Well, here he is, and in my view he has absolutely smashed it. There’s hope for me yet.

1731. Upfest 2018 (42)

I approached Upfest on the Saturday morning from East Street and as I was at that end of Bedminster, dived into Dean Lane skate park because it is always busy with ‘fringe’ festival art, and by that I mean it is not all entirely official. This is one such stencil work by About Ponny, an artist not known to me before…I have immediately become a fan.

About Ponny, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
About Ponny, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

About Ponny is a highly skilled stencil artist from Bologna in Italy and I found a short biography on his Facebook page which I have translated from the Italian using Google translate. It reads as follows:

Ponny was born in Bologna one evening after dinner.

Single, but only in the name, because always accompanied; for this reason it has no gender.

Son of a game between friends and of the passion for art, in all its forms, as long as expression and creativity, incessant source of emotion.

In continuous search for balance on the edge of legality, the road torments him, the only place to express himself!

This work, in  my mind, is stencil work of the highest calibre. The subject is touching and soulful, the execution brilliant, the colour scheme has an earthy and innocent quality and the location is brilliant. One of the best ‘unofficial’ Upfest 2018 pieces.

1730. Upfest 2018 (41)

Off we go again on another batch of fabulous street/graffiti art from Upfest 2018, starting with this stunner from Lokey. Lokey, a Bristol artist is a specialist at 3D writing, and this piece is close to perfection in my view. With subtle shading and clever ‘hourglass’ highlights the letters LOKEY are lifted out from the black background.

Lokey, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Lokey, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Everything about this piece is good – the colours, the design and proportions and the lovely clean sharp lines. This is definitely one of my favourite graffiti pieces from the festival this year. It took me a couple of days to get a good picture of it though, because every time I went to take a look at it, there were bunches of people standing in front of it. There should be a law against that.

1729. Jamaica Street (16)

Well this came as a bit of a surprise and something of a treat too. On my walk in to work a couple of weeks back, I thought I’d take a small detour down Jamaica Street, and there, big as you like, was this wonderful collaboration between Bristol’s Cheba and Lebanese calligraphy artist Ghaleb Hawila.

Cheba and Ghaleb Hawila, Jamaica Street, Bristol, August 2018
Cheba and Ghaleb Hawila, Jamaica Street, Bristol, August 2018

This kind of collaboration is quite unusual in Bristol, and I am not certain I have seen any calligraphy here before, although I have seen plenty in London. Additionally, this wall is an absolute bugger to photograph because it sits in a gated courtyard and the angles are all wrong…this is the best I could do.

Cheba has painted a silhouette clutching some bright object that is sending out shards of light. The silhouetted figure is filled decorated with Cheba’s trademark cosmic space scenery, which gives it some depth.

Ghaleb Hawila said this on his Instagram feed about the collaboration:

“You gotta believe in yourself; in the lights buried within you. Give yourself the permission to glow and grow.” A collaboration with my brother @cheba_bristol his magnificent work and personality. That’s exactly one year after meeting this crazy guy in Alay, Lebanon during the @ahlafawda and @risegallery cultural exchange.
I spent four days at his beautiful house, with his hyper dog and lovely wife. We explored a lot in his studio and i just can’t sum the experience with words. It was an intensive restless art residency were you get to explore yourself more and more.

It is great to get a bit of insight into how these things are achieved. A wonderwall.

 

 

1728. M32 roundabout J3 (94)

There is one circumstance in which is is absolutely ok to buff over someone’s work, and that is when it is your own.Here is an example of just that where Soker has painted over one of his own pieces, and if you look closely, you can see the similar shape of the letter ‘R’ in both.

Soker, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2018
Soker, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2018

Wildstyle writing (graffiti writing) is an incredible artform in its own right, and I am a big fan of it. That has not always been the case. In the early days of photographing street art, I simply didn’t get it and considered it inferior and messy. Having studied it for close on four years now, I am able to enjoy it just as much as conventional street art. Soker of course is the master of this form.

1727. M32 roundabout J3 (93)

Face 1st (F1st) is the master of getting his work squeezed into just about every corner of Bristol. At any one time, the M32 roundabout must play host to four or five of his pieces, which is pretty impressive really. I would hate to see his monthly spend on spray cans.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2018
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2018

This is a return to his more ‘traditional’ style of a pretty face incorporated into some beautifully decorated letters which usually spell out FACE, but in this instance I’m not sure about that. It is always great to see work by one of my absolute favourite Bristol artists.

1726. Upper York Street (13)

Whenever qWeRT comes to town there is always an exciting trail of wheatpastes hidden in the back streets of Bristol. I am constantly on a quest to find them, but know there are some I will never find.

qWeRT, Upper York Street, Bristol, August 2018
qWeRT, Upper York Street, Bristol, August 2018

This one is on the pillar of a car park, which adjoins a former church and so is entirely appropriate to its environs. Jesus is rarely depicted in street art, which is peculiar in a way, because in years gone by he has been the subject of countless murals, inside and outside. This is a wonderful piece…a googly eyed Jesus – not something you see every day.