Sleep overwhelms and
in parallel burdens me;
jobs I have not done.
by Scooj
Tag: UK
921. Upfest 2017 (3)
I have only been familiar with the work of Losthills since last Upfest, and his wheatpastes are a joy – each one found is a treasure. It seems he stole a march on all the others this year by arriving in Bristol a day or two before Upfest.
Not only content with pasting in Bedminster, he also left a few treats in the Stokes Croft area too. This is a really great piece by Losthills, with Jake the dog posing as (I’m guessing here) Ed Sheeran. There is a lot of detail here, right down to the tattoos. Brilliant.
By the end of the second day of the festival, ‘Ed’ the dog was joined by some groupies.
A word about placement – I have said this before, but for wheatpasters, the location and orientation of your piece is almost as important as the piece itself. This is a perfect place, as good as any I have seen in Bristol.
920. Upfest 2017 (2)
At the very farthest end of East Street above the Barclays Bank is the first piece of Upfest 2017 that will be seen by visitors approaching from that direction. It is a stunning portrait by two of Bristol’s best street artists 3Dom and Voyder.
They have collaborated before to spray a similar piece a few years back and this is easily its equal. It is a busy piece full of meanings – there is the contextualising of Bristol with the Clifton suspension bridge and hot air balloons – and the headdress is full of hidden and overt meaning, including a third eye.
The face, by Voyder is absolutely captivating. The whole bold piece is a fabulous taster for those arriving in Bedminster to discover some sensational street/graffiti art.
919. Upfest 2017 (1)
The spirit of Upfest is alive and well.
I took a quick walk to Bedminster the day before the festival began, and I came across these two artists in Dean Lane. They said that they hadn’t managed to get a space at this year’s festival, but were hoping to find a wall somewhere, and they had started with this one.
They come from Thessaloniki in Greece, and their names are Apset and Ionas. They were so friendly and happy for me to chat with them for a while. I warned them that at last year’s festival this wall was sprayed several times over and that I hoped their piece would remain.
Without question, the piece is very different from the things we usually see in Dean Lane. It has a real Mediterranean feel to it, which was most welcome, given the showery nature of the weather this year. I managed to find Apset’s Facebook page, but failed to find out much about Ionas.
They did eventually find some boards to spray in the South Street park venue and I’ll cover these another time. Equally uplifting was that this piece remained in place and untagged for at least three days.
Two great artists, a great first piece at Upfest and a great place to start my posts for Upfest 2017.
Caught in a rainstorm
A map of London
printed on the underside
of my umbrella;
incongruous reminder
of my original home.
by Scooj
918. The Bearpit (80)
Another Bearpit piece from the effervescent J. Dior. His child-like style is one of the most recognisable in Bristol, and his work usually seems to tell a story, although the story is often somewhat difficult to unravel.
I understand the J. Dior is an Italian artist, or so I am told, and that he is rather absorbed in his own space. I have not yet met him, but given the frequency that both of us are in The Bearpit, it is just a matter of time.
I think that J. Dior divides opinion. Some see him as a rather poor artist taking up decent wall space, others see his work as innovative and fresh. For me, the jury is out for a while, but I am drawn to his story telling.
917. Moon Street (33)
Still nothing from Upfest 2017 yet…be patient.
It is always great to see new work in Moon Street, it seems to have slowed a little in recent months. There seems to be a general tendency by some artists to move away from the Stokes Croft area because of the density (in all senses of the word) of bombers and taggers. A pity really.
This is a fine quick piece by Boogie, and the second of three street pieces that he left as gifts during his short visit to the city recently.
This really is one of my favourite walls in Bristol, and even though somebody tried to sabotage the artists by screwing two doors to the wall it hasn’t made the blindest bit of difference. Rather it has become part of the texture of the wall. Boogie has obvious talent and class, and I really like the way he makes a feature out of the two Os in his name. A fine piece.
916. Dean Lane skate park (68)
I was very excited when I saw this paste up by Lemak, and exceptionally talented Bristol stencil artist. Excited because I had seen a short video of him creating it on his Instagram feed only the day before. So this really was hot off the press.
I passed by the wall last Friday and it has been badly tagged, so it was fairly short lived, which is a pity. Whenever I see great pieces that are dogged or ruined I am reminded of the fantastic line in Bladerunner – ‘the light that burns twice as bright burns half as long‘ and so it often is with great street art.
I love the crisp collage effect with the graff all around – some similarities with the work of PichiAvo?
915. M32 Spot (8)
I am fully aware that today is the second day of Upfest, and that you might be expecting a post from the wonderful Bristol street art festival. I’m afraid It’s not going to happen for a while. I will have an enormous amount of work to do with photographs and getting to grips with artists before I can start to publish. If you want instant gratification, then follow #upfest2017 in instagram, it’ll be smoking!
For now I will post this characterful piece on one of the pillars under the M32 by Deamze. The faces on this work are quite unusual, and not something that I would ordinarily associate with Deamze.
There is a figure on each of the four sides of the pillar, each striking a different pose. I have only posted three of them, because the fourth is impossible to photograph due to the light conditions.
If you want to see the fourth side, you’ll just have to get down to the M32 Spot and check it out. I rather like this piece, and love the jeans and pink shirt, and the burger looks almost good enough to eat.
Inclement weather
Raining in Bemmie
and the crowds may diminish
but not the spirit.
by Scooj
Natural adventures 