649. Upfest 2016 (98)

One of the most charming pieces of Upfest 2016 must surely have been this cat and mouse mural by Boe and Irony.

Boe and Irony, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Boe and Irony, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Unfortunately during the festival, I don’t think this piece got as much notice as perhaps it should have done for two reasons. Firstly, the scaffolding remained up until after the festival, and secondly it was tucked away in an area that was slightly off the beaten track. In a way this makes it almost more attractive and exclusive for Bristol street art fans.

Boe and Irony, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Boe and Irony, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

I don’t know too much about either of the artists, there wasn’t even a biography in the programme for Boe. I have seen some of Irony’s work on social media before, but this is the first of his works I have seen ‘in the flesh’.

Boe and Irony, Upfest, Bristol, January 2017
Boe and Irony, Upfest, Bristol, January 2017

Irony describes himself on his Facebook page as a ‘painter, street artist, vandal’. That’s the spirit. Looking at his other works, it is difficult to believe that this London-based artist is self-taught.

Boe and Irony, Upfest, Bristol, January 2017
Boe and Irony, Upfest, Bristol, January 2017

This piece is so beautifully sprayed, the fur on both the cat and the mouse is amazing, and the electric-blue outline really makes the piece stand out.

Boe and Irony, Upfest, Bristol, January 2017
Boe and Irony, Upfest, Bristol, January 2017

Who wouldn’t want something like this on the side of their house?

 

 

 

 

648. Upfest 2016 (97)

In the car park of the Tobacco Factory, the far left area of wall space was taken up by the Spanish artist Rudiart. Reading from the Upfest notes, it seems that Rudiart began painting in the streets of Cacares in the early 90s, but the City simply wasn’t ready for this kind of art, so by the end of the decade he moved on to Madrid.

Rudiart, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Rudiart, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Since that time he has grown as an artist and travels around Europe to different festivals, exhibitions and events.

Rudiart, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Rudiart, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

I managed to take pictures of his work on both days of the festival, and he was in full flow with spraying on the Saturday.

Rudiart, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Rudiart, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

This piece comes in two halves. On the right is some wildstyle writing with a heavy 3D effect, something of a specialisation for Rudiart.

Rudiart, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Rudiart, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

On the left hand side of the piece he paints a futuristic scene depicting a lady in a spacesuit, with a rather nice ‘R’ on her cap.

Rudiart, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Rudiart, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

The two halves come together nicely, although I don’t have a very good picture of the whole. His Facebook page is worth a quick look, and he did post a decent picture of the whole piece in one shot. Nice to see him at the festival.

 

647. Upfest 2016 (96)

One of the pleasures of Upfest 2016 was the sheer volume of wheatpastes that appeared on billboards, lamp posts, letterboxes and other utility boxes. One of the busiest of these paste up artists was Face the Strange, who must have come to Bristol with a suitcase filled with his work.

Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

This piece is really rather odd, odder than many of his other pieces and that is saying something. A raspberry lady in a business suit walking with crutches – what is going on here? It isn’t so much shocking as just weird. I rather like it though and you can see that a lot of thought and effort has gone into this small wheatpaste.

625. Upfest 2016 (95)

This piece is a really interesting collaboration between Ulysses Nevmer and Alexandr Hade both from Minsk in Belarus. Searching the Interweb to try and find out more about them, it would appear that they have worked together before.

Ulysses Nevmer and Alexandr Hade, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Ulysses Nevmer and Alexandr Hade, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

The piece features two female portraits, looking towards one another. It is difficult to know if they are the same person or different people, but there is clearly a story going on. There is a confidence about Nevmer’s figure and on the left and Hade’s figure to the right is seeming to look on, longingly with some uncertainty.

Ulysses Nevmer, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Ulysses Nevmer, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Ulysses Nevmer tends to paint people, so she says in the Upfest programme biography, “because they are beautiful , also not only outside!” You can see more of her work on her Facebook page.

Alexandr Hade, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Alexandr Hade, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Aleksandr Hade has an interesting statement in his biography and it relates to the story in his pieces mentioned above:

“The front layer of Aleksandr’s works may seem pretty obvious and straightforward at first sight, though almost always it has its hidden meaning or a story to tell. The whole essence of his art concludes in prompting the audience to speculate on the real storyline and the idea beneath the seem-to-be-evident form. Aleksandr mostly touches on the themes of diverging time, people’s attitude to nature and mythology.”

624. Upfest 2016 (94)

Peter Sheridan is an artist from Glasgow who is now based in Dorset having been raised in Manchester. He has been painting since 1982 when he returned from an inspirational trip to New York at the tender age of 12.

Peter Sheridan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Peter Sheridan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

This piece was one of the first satirical pieces that I had seen, coming so soon after Theresa May had been appointed as leader of the Conservative Party in Early June 2016, and by default landed the job of Prime Minister.

Peter Sheridan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Peter Sheridan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Sheridan managed to combine May’s rise to the top with the Pokémon-go craze that was sweeping the nation at the same time.

Peter Sheridan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Peter Sheridan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

This is a great commentary piece and presents us with a rather sinister view of the Prime Minister, something that I think chimes with a great many people who are not wedded to the right/far right of British politics.

Peter Sheridan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Peter Sheridan, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

623. Upfest 2016 (93)

There were an enormous number of works to look at and absorb at Upfest 2016, and inevitably some didn’t register at the time, but were snapped in the moment and retained. This piece, by Christian Boehmer, was one of those that I don’t recall, but that I am so pleased I captured so that I have been able to study it and enjoy it in preparing to write this post.

Christian Boehmer, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Christian Boehmer, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Boehmer, from Germany, is an artist who creates urban street art and drawings which have a common thread, all the figures have a paper bag over their head. I rather like this, in part because it satisfies my love of surreal art, but also because there is something very powerful in obscuring people’s faces and expressions. You need to study more their clothes, bodies, gestures, movements and so on without being distracted by the face. And then you are left being curious about the face and the personality. I like this piece a lot.

622. Upfest 2016 (92)

Gemma Compton was selected as the featured artist for Upfest 2016, and her work appeared on all the promotional material for the festival, including the maps, programmes, digital social media and even the painting a mural on the Upfest shop.

Gemma Compton, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Gemma Compton, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Having put in all the hard work she was rewarded with a nice white wall to work on, and she produced this fine piece in collaboration with Copyright.

Gemma Compton, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Gemma Compton, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

I saw her busy at work on the piece, which took longer than the two days to complete, but I didn’t stop to chat, as I guessed she might have had enough interruptions over the two days. I regret that now, but I’m sure she’ll be back this year.

Gemma Compton and Copyright, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Gemma Compton and Copyright, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

The other half of this collaboration, Copyright,  is also no stranger to street art in Bristol and I have featured his work several times on this blog before. Gemma painted the left hand side of the heart, and Copyright the right. They are partners and this heart is a lovely way to mark their relationship.

Gemma Compton, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Gemma Compton, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Their styles are different, but complement each other well. One thing in common is that the subjects of both artists are pretty much always female. A nice piece…pity about the car parked in front.

Copyright, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Copyright, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

621. Upfest 2016 (91)

A vibrant and attractive addition to North Street is this magnificent piece is by the Toronto-based Canadian muralist Bird0 (Jerry Rugg). This kind of mural is just one of the many brilliant things about Upfest and how the artworks created breathe new life into urban areas.

Bird0, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Bird0, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

This is the first work I have consciously registered by Bird0 and it has grown on me since I first saw it. I didn’t really ‘get it’ at first, but having researched his work a little since last July, I am definitely fast becoming a fan, and would love to see more of his work.

Bird0, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Bird0, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

The scaffolding was up for the entirety of the festival, and so most visitors to Upfest wouldn’t have seen the final ‘reveal’ when the scaffolding came down, which is a pity.

Bird0, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Bird0, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

The surreal nature of his art and the geometric approach he adopts both appeal to me and it was interesting to see the piece develop. There is a nice short bio of Bird0 on Streetartbio.com.

Bird0, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Bird0, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

596. Upfest 2016 (90)

I really like this beautifully designed piece of work from Mike Powis. The colours work well and there is something really pleasing about the subject – to me at least. It doesn’t come as a surprise that Powis is an illustrator and graphic designer, and this comes across loud and clear in this work.

Mike Powis, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Mike Powis, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

I couldn’t find out much about him, but his Upfest biography (autobiography) reads: ‘Illustrator, graphic designer, hunter gatherer, gas mask vandal, excessive coffee drinker, mural creator, brush pen ninja, workshop director, marker mass murderer, terrible short story writer…’  That probably sums it up.

595. Upfest 2016 (89)

This is an unusual piece by the artist Codefc. When I first saw the piece from a distance I thought it was something to do with Start Wars, when it is in fact a stencil of film/video cameras stacked together. The black and white stencil is set off beautifully by the gold background, which I think is a technique he uses a bit.

Codefc, Upfest, Bristol, July2016
Codefc, Upfest, Bristol, July2016

Codefc did some really interesting works in Rio for the Olympics, and you can see some of this on his website. Other than that, there is little biographical information out there about him, so I don’t have much more to add.