.
Today I was told
about Bart Simpson’s Haiku
not seen it before…
.
.
I didn’t do it
nobody saw me do it
can’t prove anything
.
by Scooj Simpson
Tag: The Simpsons
2432. Upfest 2018 (154)
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.
2240. Upfest 2018 (142)
One of my biggest regrets of Upfest 2018 is that there were a few outstanding pieces that I never saw in their finished state, including this perfect collaboration between Braga Last1 and Kowse.
I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with work in progress shots as that is all I have (first world problems huh?), but I think you get the idea of just how great this piece is even from these pictures. Braga Last1 has been a regular at Upfest and always turns out brilliant work, quite often containing a self-portrait. Kowse’s other piece at Upfest 2018 I think was probably my favourite of the whole festival, so having these two together is a dreamy collaboration.
There are several oblique references to The Simpsons in this piece, the Homer skull, Krusty haircut and clown’s nose and a Simpsons fish… there may be more. All in all a wonderful collaboration from two extremely talented artists.
1951. Upfest 2018 (115)
There was a great contribution to Upfest 2018 from the Gums n Tongue crew and this section by Lazy Obit continued The Simpsons theme with an interesting depiction of Millhouse masquerading as a super hero, but which one I am not sure.
As with all the pieces from this crew, Lazy Obit has produced a high quality, fun piece that enters into the whole spirit of Upfest. On reflection, it might have been better for me to post the whole wall in one go, but my original decision to post them separately was to allow each one to be enjoyed individually. This was a great piece on a great wall from a great crew.
1876. Upfest 2018 (95)
Krishna Malla was late to the party this year, which was a good thing for me, because I managed to catch up with him just as he was packing up. Even though he seemed to be in a bit of a rush, he still made time for a chat. I remember his brilliant snail and hare work from Upfest 2016, so it was good to meet the Cornwall-based artist this time round.
This piece embraces fully the Simpsons theme for this year’s festival. The theme does seem to have divided opinion, but I sit firmly on the side of ‘love it’. I like the concept and execution of a mister Burns palm holding up the five fingers, each one a member of the Simpsons family. There is something rather od about it, but I rather like that. It would be great to see Krishna Malla return next year.
1846. Upfest 2018 (87)
When I write these posts, I like to think about an audience that probably doesn’t know too much about what they are looking at and maybe, just maybe, want to find out more. I started blogging about street art in Bristol because I found it almost impossible to find out anything about what I was seeing on the streets where I live, and as an inquisitive person I found this mind blowingly irritating. So I had to dig deep and spent many hours finding out what I could. The massive leaps in learning come from actually meeting the artists and getting a little under the skin of what they do. This is all a bit of an aside, but one that was prompted by a train of thought that arose because I had to do a fair bit of research before posting this piece.
This is by The Real Dill who is a co-founder of Gums and tongue crew/collective/magazine. Based in London, this collective have made the trip to Bristol for Upfest for at least the last two years, in fact I still have a whole ton of their work to post from Upfest 2017! Sticking to The Simpson’s brief, The Real Dill has turned out an absolute gem with this piece, and one that really sticks in my mind. Bright green and pink always a winning combination .
1709. Upfest 2018 (34)
Ahhh, this is what you get when the Simpsons meet mosaic meets Banksy all orchestrated by the brilliant Bristol artist Angus. This young artist is usually one of the busiest people during Upfest, producing his creations all over the place, some official and one or two slightly less so.
I love this take on the famous Baloon Girl by Banksy, and I understand that ‘the people’ from The Simpsons rather liked it even though it was not strictly approved, as these things tend to be when dealing with enormous corporates or franchises.
I have been an admirer of Angus’s art over the last few years, and he is always so welcoming and accomodating when I bump in to him. Always adapting and seeking new ways to strecth his art, his great strength is in his ideas linking contemporary themes with wit. I like the man and I like his art.
1686. Upfest 2018 (26)
It comes as absolutely no surprise at all to see Nol entering into the spirit of the theme for this year’s Upfest with a wonderful Simpsons piece depicting Sideshow Bob with a touch of Nol monsterising. Brilliant.
Nol managed to keep himself busy at the festival, with this being one of three pieces I know about. His work is always bright and colourful and so full of humour and joy. In a troubled world it is great to be able to walk past something like this and cheer…it is not all bad.
1660. Upfest 2018 (11)
Sticking very well to the Simpsons theme of this year’s Upfest was this vibrant piece by Bao, a featured artist for the festival, on one of two prominent walls. I believe this is the first time this particular wall has been used at Upfest, and although a good wall, it is a devil to photograph, being a parking spot for shoppers on North Street.
Bao is from Hong Kong, and she has travelled the world plying her trade. Her pieces are filled from top to bottom in a cartoon style with a ton of detail and little scenes to look at. Here Bart is having some kind of dream maybe, with multiple images of him and of his environment. I love the Simpsons sofa and cat in the centre of the piece. A wonderful work.
1640. Upfest 2018 (2)
Daa da da da da da da da daa daa dada dada. Getting right to the heart of the matter is this brilliant Simpsons piece from Soker. He really is quite one of the best writers around and this sofa scene totally proves it.
His use of the Simpson characters on the sofa, a scene so familiar to anyone who watches the show, to create his name is inspired, and taking a closer look, there is almost a Picassoesque look to Lisa and Homer in particular.
The whole scene is well observed, with the lampshade and the picture of a sailing boat on the wall, and is indeed a special homage to the genius of Matt Groenig.
I managed to catch up with Soker, which I have never managed to do before, and had a quick chat on the Friday, again on the Saturday morning and later on in the Spotted Cow. I think he had slightly overdone his merrymaking on Friday night and had to abandon painting on the Saturday, nursing a bit of a sore head.
I asked him why sometimes he wrote Soker and at other times Sokem. His answer seemed sensible to me…he started off with Soker (pronounced Soccer), but found the R difficult to write, so changed it to Sokem, before reverting once he found the R easier.
This has to be one of my favourites from Upfest 2018, and is really an outstanding piece.
Natural adventures 