Tag: Upfest

928. Upfest 2017 (6)

This year, because of the showery conditions at Upfest, it paid to get work started early. Copyright had completed this wonderful shutter piece on North Street before the festival officially started on Saturday and was spared the difficulty of working in the rain (on this piece at least).

Copyright, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Copyright, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

The piece really stands out in what is a rather drab shop front, and the pink strip lifts the portrait out and smacks you in the face (figuratively speaking of course).

Copyright, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Copyright, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

Upfest is one of the only times that you can get to see a majority of the shutter pieces on North Street, especially on the Sunday, because most of the non-food retailers shut for the weekend. I really like this one from Copyright – it would make a great album cover.

923. Upfest 2017 (4)

Cheo, who is one of the  most established Bristol street artists at the heart of the Bristol scene, is also very active in promoting and collaborating with Upfest. This year he brought the Aardman character ‘Morph’ to life as Graff Morph, and sprayed this loveable character in several locations around the Upfest area.

Cheo, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Cheo, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

Morph first appeared in the Television programme Take Hart, presented by Tony Hart. The programme itself was a spin-off from Vision On, which a few will recall as being the only art programme for children for many years. It is fitting that the character from an art programme is the subject of focus for Cheo at Upfest. There were seven Graff Morphs at Upfest. This was the first one I saw. All good fun, especially for the children at the event.

If you look carefully at the Featured Image, you will be able to spot one of Chinagirl Tile’s grenade bunnies from last year.

922. Upfest 2017 (5)

I remember well the lovely piece by Fats in the Tobacco Factory at last year’s Upfest. This year she produced another fine work in South Street park, where I was able to catch up with her for a few minutes.

Fats, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Fats, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

Fats talked a lot about her background and heritage, which is truly international and mixed, and how her work receives many influences, from Arabic calligraphy to the styles of indigenous Inuit people. Our discussion ventured further into the perils of perceived appropriation and how this can create some tensions. This is a tricky path really. At what point does ‘being influenced by’ transition into copying?

Fats, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Fats, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

I am clear that Fats’ work is stunning, and carries many influences that she skilfully executes in her own lyrical way. I see more of the North American influence others may see more Arabic. One thing is clear, she loves her dark drawing lines. I actually really like this piece, and was grateful for her time.

Fats, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Fats, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

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.

Losthills, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Losthills, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

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.

Losthills, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Losthills, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

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.

3Dom and Voyder, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
3Dom and Voyder, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

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.

3Dom and Voyder, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
3Dom and Voyder, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

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.

Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

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.

Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

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.

Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Apset and Ionas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

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.

Inclement weather

 

Raining in Bemmie

and the crowds may diminish

but not the spirit.

 

by Scooj

902. North Street Green (8)

So here it is, time to get excited about Upfest 2017 with this year’s festival artist Pahnl. There are two of these pieces, one at the North Street Green, and the other at the North Street Standard. Both I expect will be over written at the festival, the latter I believe by Inkie.

Pahnl, North Street Green, Bristol, July 2017
Pahnl, North Street Green, Bristol, July 2017

I don’t really know anything about Pahnl, so it is lucky that the nice people at Upfest have produced a free festival map and a short biography of Pahnl which reads:

‘Living at a lower level of existence, Pahnl’s miniature people, dogs, cats and birds can often be found outside in the street. Taking influence from comics and street signage, whilst adding their own subversive and funny twist, Birmingham-based duo Panhl use stencils, stickers, posters, animation, screen printing, film and photography to bring their own small world to life.’

Pahnl, North Street Standard, Bristol, July 2017
Pahnl, North Street Standard, Bristol, July 2017

So now you know as much as me. Certainly their work has a very strong brand feel to it, and perhaps that is a good thing for the Festival, but it is quite unlike most of the street art you find in Bristol, and maybe not representative. Having said that this is strong and characterful and demonstrates the broad church of street/graffiti art that Upfest espouses. Only a few days now.

Pahnl, North Street Standard, Bristol, July 2017
Pahnl, North Street Standard, Bristol, July 2017

888. Upfest 2016 (155)

So I decided to round off this batch of last year’s Upfest posts with a very Bristol piece. This wonderful side of a bus was sprayed by the ASK crew, which comprises a great many of the Bristol graffiti/street artists I have covered in Natural Adventures passim. It would be fitting to end the 2016 posts with this, but I still have plenty more. I have decided to intersperse them with future posts, but obviously I’ll be concentrating on Upfest 2017 over the coming weeks.

ASK crew, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
ASK crew, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Please don’t ask me to identify all the members of ASK, it could take me a while. The ASK (After School Klub) crew tend to dominate the street art scene in Bristol, but there is always plenty of space for others, and I don’t think they are too precious. Great colourful bus, but pretty dismal pictures. Nice eye – probably by Voyder.

 

886. Upfest 2016 (153)

I have said it in a previous post, but the children at Ashton Gate Primary School are the luckiest in Bristol. so many pieces decking the walls of their playground. I believe that it was a one-off though, and they’ll not be using the school again for Upfest. The reason for this is that it is a bit off the beaten track, and the artists reported that not many people came to see them working, and they felt a little isolated.

3rdeye, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
3rdeye, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

This is a wonderful piece by 3rdeye, an established artist who has been involved in the graffiti scene since the 1980s.

3rdeye, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
3rdeye, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

His characters are simple and bold but have some emotional depth and feeling. I really like this work. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to photograph it properly, so the composition is slightly out of context. A great colourful piece.