Some artists got lucky (deservedly so) at Upfest 2018, receiving more than one wall to paint, and L7M was one of them. This is the second wall that I have written about, and both of them are absolute beauties.
In both of his Upfest works he featured delicate hummingbirds so full of movement. It is interesting to see how this piece looked during the painting process and how it developed into the finished article. A truly magnificent piece on one of my favourite Upfest locations.
Over the course of the three day Upfest street art festival, visitors are treated to a huge display of artistic talent, which includes a some exceptional stencils, most of which are allocated these meter square boards at the St Francis church location. This extraordinary four or five layer stencil is by midlands self-taught artist RJ77 (there is hope for me yet).
This mysterious image is rather compelling and looking at it I want to know more. What’s the story? Is it simply a pose or is there more going on? I am a bit of a sucker for these monochromatic stencils, and I’ll have to look out for more from RJ77.
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.
So it has been a while, and since there isn’t an Upfest festival this year, I am going to have to post another series of pictures from Upfest 2018 (there are still so many more waiting) starting with this utterly awesome piece by Insane51.
This extraordinary artist from Greece specialises in 3D street art and has created dozens of huge pieces which look fuzzy because they are double images, but when viewed through the red and blue specs stand out from the wall in good old-fashioned 3D.
This particular piece went up over about three or four days and was impressive enough in its halfway stage when the female portrait was complete. Insane51 then added the blue skeleton layer to the piece. The magic really happens when you view the whole thing through 3D specs one eye at a time. Rather helpfully, Insane51 did the job for us on his Instagram feed.
Definitely one of the finest walls at last year’s festival and a real crowd-pleaser. I got rather lucky and managed to grab a few words with him and during the course of our conversation he gave me a little goody bag of some stickers and the essential cardboard specs. It would be great to see him return again and wow us with his extraordinary talents.
Another stunning piece for Upfest Summer Editions (in lieu of no festival this year) is this beautiful tiger by Bex Glover. Located on Raleigh Road on the wall of the Souk Kitchen and opposite the Tobacco Factory, this spot is highly sought after and one of the highlight walls for Upfest, so it is great to see Bex Glover having a presence here.
You may recall a recent piece she did near the Arches on Cheltenham Road, and if so you will recognise her distinctive style. Everything I have seen by her has a wildlife theme, and this one is no different, with a spectacular tiger set on a turquoise background with trees, foliage and birds. I particularly like the yin yang motif on the rear quarter of the tiger, if fact, I pretty much particularly like everything about this mural. There is a sense of peace and dignity in the work. Beautiful.
This is a really interesting small piece by Bristol/Bath artist Harry Grech who I understand from his Bio has a passion for using spray paint. I don’t think he does much street work, or if he does I haven’t seen any which is more the pity because this is magnificent.
A wonderful blend of a classical subject and modern a modern style combine to create something quite special and fairly unique. I didn’t see the artist at work so am not sure what technique was used, but it looks like a stencil which might have been oversprayed with the angular sections… so difficult to tell. It would be great to see more of his work.
This was my favourite wall from Upfest 2018 and it was the first time it had been painted by street artists. I love it that every year, the organisers of the festival find new places for artists to paint, especially as these pieces on permanent walls live long after the festival ends.
This is a gorgeous collaboration between Michel Velt and Elafil. The stunning portrait is bt Michel Velt, an artist from the Netherlands. I cannot tell you how much I admire this piece, it has such life and emotion in it – I feel like I could speak to the woman portrayed. Beautiful without being over-photorealistic if you know what I mean.
Elafil painted probably my favourite piece of the 2018 festival and here he gives us a little extra piece of 3D writing just for good measure. It is clear he had some paint left over from his piece in South Street Park to use in this fine collaboration. I love, love , love this wall.
I have always had a soft spot for Loch Ness’ work, but even more so since he gave me my first spray painting lesson last May. This rather trippy piece the pub garden of the Steam Crane is bright, colourful and slightly peculiar.
I must have taken the picture after Upfest itself as during the festival this garden is absolutely heaving and taking clean shots of this wall is near impossible. The piece features a kind of skeleton on its side, although I actually think that the wall is on its side, because the drips go from left to right. In order to see the piece as it really is, I have turned the photograph 90 degrees and hey presto! you can see it much more clearly.
Always great to see work from Loch Ness.
This distinctive mural is by Danish artist No Title. From his biography in the Upfest programme we are told that he is influenced by organic natural structures and the systems of the body. Well this piece certainly runs true to form then.
The simple two-tone scheme lends itself to picking out the details of the piece and works as a kind of reverse silhouette. Interesting work, full of symbolism.
When I first saw this piece by Marvin or Marlon it was partially covered by a canopy to protect it from the rain/sun and as a result all I could see was the frog. It wasn’t until I returned the following day that I could see the frog in the context of the whole picture.
This is a very clever stencil, with a black and white section showing a shopping trolley abandoned in a wetland and to the right a contrasting full colour stencil of a tree frog. The picture tells a story of environmental degradation and the beauty of nature that is compromised.
The star of the piece though must be the frog, although my photograph doesn’t even begin to do it justice. Another cracker from Marvin or Marlon at Upfest.
Natural adventures 