Tag: Upfest

1872. Upfest 2018 (91)

Whoops! a slightly wonkey picture of a beautiful shutter piece by Vanesa Longchamp on North Street. This was one of two Upfest pieces by the artist that I had not come across before the festival. Looking at digital social media, you can see how popular her work is and it is easy to understand why.

Vanesa Longchamp, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Vanesa Longchamp, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

I love it when artists do more than one piece at the festival, especially when one of them is likely to have some permanence. Like her other piece, this is a beauty which oozes class. While the lines and concept are straightforward, the execution and USP are stamped all over it. We wwere lucky to see two of her works this year.

Vanesa Longchamp, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Vanesa Longchamp, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

1849. Upfest 2018 (90)

Kin Dose is a Bristol artist who doesn’t hit the streets too often, but at Upfest 2018 he really excelled himself, spraying several wildlife stencils along the North Street area. This is the second one I have featured in Natural Adventures.

Kin Dose, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Kin Dose, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

This piece, a bat of some description, is perfectly fitted to the utility box on which it appears, and kind of blends in a little so as almost to be invisible to the passer-by. You can tell, at Upfest, the difference between general visitors and street art ‘hunters’ as the latter are always looking at every wall, every door, every side street, every lamp-post, every utility box, in fact pretty much everything, whereas the former tend to stroll along chatting and seeing art almost passively.

Lost my thread a bit there…anyhow, this piece, along with its partners is something really special, which is what Kin Dose does so well. Special.

 

 

1848. Upfest 2018 (89)

Bart says “reach for the stars” and Lemak has done just that with this fabulous space stencil. Some of you might remember that I have already posted this stencil, in a slightly different format from Park Street a few weeks back.

Lemak, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Lemak, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

There is little more for me to say than I have already said about Lemak and his superb artwork. His stencils are always precisely presented and always have some original thinking behind them. Checking out his Instagram account also gives you some real insight into the kind of works he is producing. Always good, never sub-standard.

Lemak, Park Street, Bristol, October 2018
Lemak, Park Street, Bristol, October 2018

1847. Upfest 2018 (88)

Shade One is a Bristol artist who has been spraying since 1985, so can probably be considered as one of the godfathers of street art in the city. Having said that, I am relatively new to the street art scene here and anything older than about five years is a bit of a murky area and I need to do extra research.

Shade One, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Shade One, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

This is a striking cartoonesque portrait that for me has Disney written all over it. Something about it reminds me a little of Cruella de Vil. Fabulous crisp lines and solid fills, this is the work of an expert.

 

 

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.

The Real Dill, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
The Real Dill, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

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 .

1845. Upfest 2018 (86)

Octofly Art is the creation of an Italian artist called Sylvia who likes to paint monsters and creatures, and let’s face it, who doesn’t love a cuddly monster? Reading the profile of the artist in the Upfest programme, it would seem that she has only recently started using spray cans for her street pieces when previously she used to use brushes.

Octofly Art, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Octofly Art, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

There is a definite style here with strong clean lines and solid fills, and it is really interesting to see from the ‘in progress’ picture how she is building up the layers before adding in the outline and details.

Octofly Art, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Octofly Art, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

I notice that she was painting next to Stelle Confuse (Stelleconfuse) another Italian artist whose Upfest 2018 piece I have already posted on Natural Adventures.

Tea or Spray? – not entirely sure I know what she means, but surely there is only one answer to that question at Upfest.

1844. Upfest 2018 (85)

About Ponny is an artist I had not come across before Upfest 2018 and what a wonderful set of wheatpastes he left for us to admire this year. This is the second one I have posted, and like the first it best described as poignant.

About Ponny, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
About Ponny, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

There is a sadness, but also a really touching humanity about this piece, and the tones used for the stencil work give the whole wheatpaste a sombre and yet very powerful presence. I can honestly say that About Ponny was probably my favourite discovery of Upfest 2018 – now I just need to travel around a bit to find more of his great work.

1843. Upfest 2018 (84)

I think I might have said this last year, but somehow Upfest wouldn’t feel like Upfest without a presence from Cheo. One of Bristol’s most established graffiti writers and character street artists, his work is always of the highest quality. Judging from his Instagram account, I think he prepares these pictures on his computer and then recreates scaled up versions, which lends itself to his very clean style with solid fills.

Cheo, Upfest, Bristol, October 2018
Cheo, Upfest, Bristol, October 2018

I have seen these characters a few times before. I never quite know what they are, frogs? toothless crocs? monsters? your guess is as good as mine. The writing has a feel of Japanese script to it and from time to time Cheo uses this. I really don’t know what it says, but would guess at CHEO, although I can’t see it myself. He finishes the whole thing off, of course, with one of his signature bees. All good.

1842. Upfest 2018 (83)

I remember at Upfest 2017 really loving a piece by Lauren Maria Hill and she has come up trumps again in 2018. A fine artist, who is probably more at home in the studio, Lauren Maria Hill manages to use these smaller boards to showcase her stunning portrait work.

Lauren Maria Hill, Upfest, Bristol, October 2018
Lauren Maria Hill, Upfest, Bristol, October 2018

Unfortunately I never saw the finished piece, I think it must have been taken away and protected from the showery weather, but you can get the general idea from these pictures. This is another work from Upfest 2018 to feature a leaf from a Swiss cheese plant – Maybe they are fun to paint.

Lauren Maria Hill, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Lauren Maria Hill, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

1841. Upfest 2018 (82)

Anyone reading this will know that I am a big fan of Kid Crayon. His bright and unusual pieces always contain an element of wit, charm or mischief and this pink crocodile demonstrates this sense of fun with a commmentary on the rain that fell throughout the Upfest festival.

Kid Crayon, Upfest, Bristol, October 2018
Kid Crayon, Upfest, Bristol, October 2018

This shutter piece was the second that he did at the festival, both using this colour scheme, so I am guessing that he got a job lot of these colours especially for the weekend. There is something really endearing about this crocodile and there is a gentleness to the way he is holding the little umbrella. A lovely piece.

Kid Crayon, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Kid Crayon, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018