What a lovely piece this is by Gage (Oliver Gillard), and actually what a hugely gifted artist he is. Gage is based in Bristol and runs his own business Gage Graphics, offering large mural commissions.
Gage Graphics, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
In this piece he has some floating 3D writing and a spray can (the tool of his trade) bursting with wildlife and colour. I can’t believe it has taken me so long to really appreciate this piece. I think it is because the images were stored in my archive upside down, and it is hard to appreciate and pick out upside down thumbnails. Lovely work.
It is strange how things come together sometimes. I have only a few days ago posted Hoshiko’s drowned out effort from Upfest 2017, and here I am posting his piece from the previous year. In both cases my photographs don’t really do his work justice – here I have him working but no final picture of the completed board and from 2017, he never actually finished the piece off. Perhaps it’ll be third time lucky if he comes to Upfest 2018.
Hoshiko, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
This piece is rather cheerful and light-hearted, with a little monster (utterly unscary) roaring. I think the stencil text at the bottom says ‘I’m a dinosaur’. Some similarities with the work of Miss Wah.
Rewinding a little bit back to Upfest 2016 and a series of five more pieces that never quite made it into the blog…because Upfest 2017 happened! This is a lovely piece that was on the hoardings in North Street. It took me a long time to find out who the artist is, but it turns out that it is Pronk-Stukken who also produced this piece at the same event.
Pronk Stukken, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
This piece has a strong connection with Mother Earth or nature in my view, and there is a calm serenity in the face. Curiously, this was one of my favourite pieces from the 2106 festival and remains embedded in my memory.
A little trip down memory lane, this is a nice colourful quick one from Mr Draws down in The Bearpit. Always playing with the order and orientation of his letters, Mr Draws brings a bit of life and vibrancy to the spots he chooses.
Mr Draws, The Bearpit, Bristol, April 2017
I took this back in April and am posting it now, because it just feels like I haven’t done anything by him for ages. Mr Draws is definitely an artist who produces street work in pulses, and once he gets going he becomes extremely prolific.
Zase and Dekor are the masters of large high-impact walls in Bristol, and most of the pieces that they do, go up and stay up. In this particular case they have replaced a piece that they sprayed here a few years ago, because the wall needed to be re-rendered.
Zase and Dekor, Cottrell Road, Bristol, September 2017
The wall is a local landmark which has a vast audience because it is just off the M32 and outside a large retail park and the Eastville Tesco. Thousands of people will drive past it every day and I’m sure will be captivated by the unfolding story.
Zase and Dekor, Cottrell Road, Bristol, September 2017
The central theme of the piece revolves around some local wildlife, a squirrel, a robin, a fox, a hedgehog and a badger, set in a rather stark woodland. Hovering above is a fabulous 3D wildstyle ZASE, a feature common to all their collaborations.
Zase and Dekor, Cottrell Road, Bristol, September 2017
There is a wonderful touch in this work, a reference to the piece that existed here before – a lady riding on the back of a turtle with a colander on her head – she is in the bottle. On reflection, I wonder if it is not a lady, but a gentleman…I can’t be sure now.
Zase and Dekor, Cottrell Road, Bristol, September 2017
This is a mighty and detailed piece that sits so comfortably in this location – I am certain that it will remain here for many years cheering up shoppers and commuters and bringing a smile to their faces. Xase and Dekor doing Bristol proud.
Zase and Dekor, Cottrell Street, Bristol, August 2015
This is the first of two tribute pieces in this exact location by Face F1st honouring Minty. My research about Minty has yeilded nothing, but his name has cropped up on a few pieces in recent times.
FaceF1st, Ashley Road, Bristol, August 2017
So this is a departure for Face F1st who normally writes FACE and incorporates the face into the lettering. The letters M I N T Y are more aggular and do not lend themselves to the incorporation of a face so well. Instead the face is added on to the end of the piece. I don’t think I have ever been disappointed by Face F1st’s work and this is another lovely piece.
It can be very difficult to identify wildstyle writing sometimes, especially when the artist isn’t local or doesn’t spray too often. Having said this, my job is made so much easier when the artist plasters his or her name all over the piece.
Aona, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2017
This stylish piece is by Aona. That gets me so far, but no further. I can’t find much about Aona on the Interweb, so this entry is brief. To the writing itself; it is beautifully clean and crisp and technically excellent and the colour selections really work well. It is uncommon to see wildstyle writing complemented by stencils, but it works rather well. Great to see different artists in town.
I have featured Skor85 a few times on my blog, and had some confusing information about her identity. I have decided to disregard everything I thought I knew and defer to her Upfest profile, which reads:
Skor85 is a Bristol based creative of Polish origin. She is a self taught artist experimenting with any media available at the time from sand grains to spray paint. She has started her graffiti adventure 4 years ago being influenced by the diversity and music scene of some of the most lively European cities like beloved Bristol Barcelona and Berlin. She is heavily involved in Bristol drawing scene organizing sketching events immortalizing city landscape and live music events as well as running the Sketch Factory (themed life drawing sessions). Creative freedom of expression with others is one of her biggest pleasures in life and paint jams are a big part of it. Characters she paints are pure fantasy and often represent current mood- happiness and worries of the day. Often dreamy or scary but always true to that moment.
Part of the confusion arises out of the fact that her online profile is utterly different from his (sic) printed profile. The one above is more aligned with my previous posts.
Skor85, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
This is a terrific piece and has had a lot of care and attention poured into it. Many of her pieces feel quite raw, often because of the locations she chooses, but this has a finesse to it whilst maintaining her unusual style. There is some symbolism here which is tricky to decypher. Nice piece.
It looks like Hoshiko had a pretty miserable time at Upfest this year. He wrote over his own piece saying what it should have looked like, but for the weather. It was abandoned and unfisnished, but it doesn’t detract from his participation and effort at the festival. He was not alone, some artists didn’t even show up.
Hoshiko, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Hoshiko is based in the UK and works mostly with stickers and mixed media paste ups. Heavily influenced by Japanese culture (no shit Sherlock) he has a passion for robots and candy.
This is a wonderful piece by Stephen Quick, a brilliant Bristol stencil artist and, I understand, YouTuber. I have to say that I never got to see this piece in its finished state, which I am really annoyed about, but have seen it on Digital Social Media and it looks spectacular.
Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Stephen has a style that mixes and merges ideas and iconic figures to produce blended stencils of the highest quality. Stephen quick has a lot to say about this piece on his website, and to save myself the time I have pinched his text and offer it below:
‘Pop Girl’ is my modern day mash up, pop culture heroine. My idea being if my recent generation get a call to arms we will arm ourselves with items from our pop upbringing, Inspired by Tank Girl, she wears a R2D2 helmet, armed with the Sword of Omen from Thundercats, with good luck charms from Harry Potter and The Legend of Zelda, she is ready to take on the world!
Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
In my pictures, the Harry Postter charms are missing. and background not completed, but I didn’t want to leave it out of my Upfest updates. I do like his work very much.
Natural adventures 