Fine decorations
adorn a tough carapace;
king of camouflage.
by Scooj
Tag: UK
1042. Upfest 2017 (65)
Pahnl were the selected festival artists for Upfest 2017, which meant that they had to work twice as hard as any of the other artists. They provided the visuals for the programme, map and other publicity material and they produced two stencils to advertise the upcoming event, previously covered in this blog.
Their work consists of beautifully designed stylized figures, looking a bit like they have marched off a corporate logo portfolio, set in various, often witty scenes. The work is very time consuming, as each element is stencilled onto the overall scene.
The effect is a world of colourful small designs interacting with each other and the viewer. Something about the figures reminds me a bit of Play Mobil figures.
This wall, alongside the ‘Hen and Chicken’ was the first of two ambitious pieces by Pahnl which at various times saw them valiantly spraying under plastic sheeting cowering from the rain. There are loads of individual pirate stories going on here involving these little people.
1041. Upfest 2017 (64)
Just occasionally at Upfest, it is impossible to write about one piece without writing about a piece adjacent to it. This happens particularly with the portrait boards, most of which were in North Street Green this year.
The piece on the left is by Stelle Confuse, an artist from Florence, who is one of the most active protagonists of sticker and stencil art in Italy. Here his message is clear and simple – Plant a tree, plant peace. It is a fine stencil piece, with extraordinarily beautiful patterning and shading of the leaves.
The piece on the right is by Max ‘Syther’ Oughton, and artist based in East Anglia. This is another beautiful work which has an added three dimensional element in the shape of bird boxes attached to the tree.
I don’t know if it was deliberate or coincidental, but it is great to see two interpretations of trees in two very different styles. Both beautiful.
1040. Upfest 2017 (63)
Anyone who was at Upfest 2016 would have been utterly charmed by the incredible tree frogs by JXC. It was one of my favourite pieces from last year, and I wrote about it here.
This year he was afforded a larger wall, one that Voyder wrote ‘Bristol’ on last time round. Instead of tree frogs, JXC treated us to an extraordinary seascape with a rather intimidating octopus in the foreground and some naval mines in the background.
This was another of the pieces that probably took longer to create than might have been expected, due to the constant rain interruptions over the three days of the festival.
The mouth on the side of the octopus isn’t the octopuss’s beak, rather is it a shark mouth inked onto its side. JXC’s work is heavily inkled with words and drawings that resemble tattoos, creating an interesting effect o the surface texture of the subject.
There is a story going on in this piece which is a little tricky to decypher. The words ‘Just Lie’ appear under the shark but I’m not sure what that refers to. Nice to see a smiley on the bomb – some ironic commentary there?
Passive
Rod on the rod-rest
baited hooks on the bottom;
waiting for a bite.
by Scooj
- Fishing in Cornwall for a couple of days.
1039. Upfest 2017 (62)
Upfest always has a knack of introducing you to something just that little bit different, and for me this year, the most interesting finds were several sculptures dotted around the place by Will Coles.
Will Coles is a sculptor born in Warwickshire but who has spent time in Suffolk, as a child and in London and Glasgow, before moving to Sydney, Australia. He has now returned and is living somewhere in Europe (his own words).
His street work, judging by his website, is eyecatching to say the least. He has a subversive streak and takes a long look at modern culture upon which his works offer an interesting commentry. This particular piece may make the viewer uneasy on several levels. Add together the images and messages with the tarnished brass plaque appearance of the piece and you have a classy piece, which will shock. Because of its location and ‘part of the street funrnitue’ appearance, many who came to Upfest will have totally missed the piece.
Luckily he did another one in Blue, just in case you missed the first one.
Serendipitously, I found another of his pieces in Bristol this afternoon, and didn’t know it was by him until I started a little research to write this post. Funny how things like that happen.
I definitely like his work, and will keep my eyes peeled to see what else he left behind in Bristol after Upfest.
1038. Upfest 2017 (61)
This bright piece is by Cheltenham-based K8TB or Katy Barnfield. K8TB specialises in working with carbon fibre to produce her artworks. Together with Terry Barnfield, she works on carbon fibre commissions from their website.
1037. The Bearpit (92)
Long, long before I knew who sprayed this rabbit, I knew that I liked it and hoped to meet the artist some day. Well I still like the rabbit and all the other ones I have found since, and the artist is of course Hire, who I have encountered several times now, mostly at Dean Lane skate park.
This is a particularly nice rendition of his favourite theme, which includes some decorative wildstyle writing. I can make out an ‘H’, but am not sure what the other letter(s) is…maybe an I. Anyhow, this is a lovely piece from eighteen months ago.
I remember
.
Not a day goes by
when I don’t spend a moment
thinking about you.
.
by Scooj
1036. M32 roundabout J3 (48)
Another quite old one from the archive, this time from Soker. You can see that this was sprayed on an outing with Deamze, on the left and Voyder on the right, all using the same colour palette.
This is nice crisp writing from Soker, and really didn’t deserve to be in my archive for so long. Well it is out there now.
Natural adventures 