Upfest – Page 42 – Natural adventures

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.

1648. Upfest 2018 (10)

I round off the first 10 Upfest 2018 posts with this rather nice little shutter piece by Silk Crystal, which was one of at least two ‘extras’ that accompanied his official Upfest piece. This happens a lot on North Street, and I would think that probably upwards of 40% of shutters there have been enhanced by Upfest artists over the years.

Silk Crystal street art, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Silk Crystal is a silk screen and street art company that operates around the North Devon coast and works a lot to commissions. This particular piece chimes for me with its marine theme (a lot of these this year) and certainly improves the shutter – now to get to work on the rest of the shop’s appearance!

1647. Upfest 2018 (9)

I have seen a few pieces by Bristol artist J. West around the place and posted two or three of them on this blog in the past. He is an animator turned artist and much of his inspiration has come from a spell working at Bristol Zoo Gardens and from David Attenborough TV shows.

I haven’t seen too much of his work, but that which I have seen appears to be bilaterally symmetrical and this Upfest piece is no different. I am sorry that I didn’t stop to talk to him because I think we probably share inspirations, but he looked pretty busy, and it is never easy chatting to people with a mask on.

I will keep looking out for his distinct style of work, but for me, this piece I think is my favourite that I have seen so far.

1646. Upfest 2018 (8)

Jimmer Wilmott is one of the warmest and most welcoming artists I have met. On the two occasions I have been fortunate enough to cross paths with him he has exuded enthusiasm from every pore, and his rather quirky and fun-loving personality is reflected in his pop surrealist art.

Jimmer Willmott, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

It was great to see him at work at Upfest and to witness one of his ‘canvasses’ come to life – I have seen many of them on Instagram, but none ‘in the flesh’. Seeing the layers and the brush work during its genesis and then the final painting was a privilege. The last time I saw him he had created an eyeball using spray cans at Dean Lane skate park.

I think he got a bit carried away during our conversation and was inviting me to go with him to the Cheltenham street art Festival and paint with him. I had to remind him that I have no artistic talent and a total of 2 hours spraying experience. I am however tempted.

It was great to see him at work

1645. Upfest 2018 (7)

I don’t know very much about GretL, other than that she is a French artist and designer who likes to work with bold colours and ideas of camouflage. I saw this shutter piece on the first day of Upfest and could see that it was a new Upfest work, thanks to the label. Often it is difficult to date shutter pieces, because I rarely see them, due to the times I visit places where they might be.

This is a simple and rather charming piece entitled ‘humming flower’ and here the artist has conflated the humming bird and the flower, both in the title and in the work. I think she may have done another piece during the festival and will have to look out for it. some nice work.

1644. Upfest 2018 (6)

One of the great wheatpasters at Upfest this year was C3 with her distinctive red haired characters hand painted onto written paper. I must have paused to chat with her and D7606 several times over the course of the two days. I think she told me that she had only pasted a couple of pieces this year. I could only find these two, and both are winners in my book.

The art of wheatpasting at Upfest is a delicate balance between finding the right time to go out – the festival organisers are not too keen, because they are responsible for keeping the street furniture clear during the three days – and finding the right place that isn’t over-crowded. Some pasters simply slap their work on any available space. Others like C3 and D7606 are rather more discerning. Love these two paste ups.

1643. Upfest 2018 (5)

Kid crayon is a favourite Bristol artist of mine and his contribution to Upfest this year was straight forward and fun. I’m not too sure what the crocodile, triangle and cake are all about, but I’m sure they have some kind of meaning. The piece also carries birthday wishes for Meg.

I think Kid Crayon had seen the forecast for Sunday and had managed to complete his piece by early Saturday afternoon. I managed to swing by when he was painting and chatted for a short while. It is one of the great things about Upfest that you get to see works in progress and figure out how these artists go about their work.

1642. Upfest 2018 (4)

Each year at Upfest, there is a feature artist, and this year it was Jody. This small golden apple piece is one of a few works that Jody created at this year’s festival. In this piece, Jody has taken a simple idea and made it spectacular. The shading and light blended with the gold grey and white colours gives us an exceptional and compelling image, which contrasts so well with the black background.

Jody must have completed this, and one or two other small pieces before the festival began, which is probably just as well, because he was still painting his main piece a few days after the end of Upfest. I am including a picture from last year, to remind you of the considerable talents of this Bristol artist.

1641. Upfest 2018 (3)

This stunning piece from Piet Rodriguez was one of the first I saw at this year’s Upfest and it set the bar very high indeed. Some readers might recognise this site from a recent ‘Thursday doors‘ post on this blog…what a vast improvement this make-over has made.

Piet Rodriguez, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Piet Rodriguez is a French artist who was raised in Brussels, and a quick look at his website gives you an idea of what an accomplished artist he is. I gather from his biography in the Upfest porgramme that he only took up the spray can in 2015, which surely is a good thing for all of us.

This was not the only piece that Piet Rodriguez did at Upfest, and I will post his smaller board from South Street park at a later date. I think I am a fan.

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.

	scooj on 7435. River Avon (107)
	scooj on 7165. Dean Lane skate park…
	scooj on 7458. Greenbank (181)
	scooj on 7458. Greenbank (181)
	scooj on 7458. Greenbank (181)

	scooj on 7435. River Avon (107)
	scooj on 7165. Dean Lane skate park…
	scooj on 7458. Greenbank (181)
	scooj on 7458. Greenbank (181)
	scooj on 7458. Greenbank (181)

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