Upfest – Page 71 – Natural adventures

488. Upfest 2016 (62)

For years, I have been marveling at the incredible 3D pavement works created by street artists and shared through digital media. I used to enjoy these, even before I was interested in street art…they are absorbing and technically brilliant.

Until this year, I had never seen a 3D street piece in the flesh, so it was a genuine thrill to see Leon Keer’s work dominating the Tobacco Factory car park.

Leon Keer was born in Utrecht, the Netherlands in 1970, which makes him almost as old as me, which is cool. He is described as a pop-surrealist artist and is known for his canvasses and his 3D street art.

Leon Keer has a brilliant website, which I strongly recommend you take a look at. It features not only his 3D art, but also some of his paintings, which I find rather compelling.

The amazing thing about the 3D art is that it only works from a specific viewpoint. Observed from anywhere else and it looks quite bizarre, as you can see from some of these pictures. This was another highlight from the festival, and something quite different.

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I knew nothing of the Thomas Brothers before Upfest where I saw this dazzling piece. The British brothers work together and bring in elements of 80s childhood experiences into their work, such as cartoons and Japanese toys, and create their contemporary works using these influences.

The Thomas Brothers, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Looking at this piece, I can really feel the 80s screaming out at me. The style they use, they call collaborative layering, and there is more explanation of this on their website. I would describe the whole effect as 80s pop art for the 10s. Hmmmm.

I will be keeping a sharp eye out for these two in future, as I like their work and it ticks a lot of my own ‘looking back’ boxes.

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You just have to love a picture of a chimpanzee in a space suit, and if you don’t, then leave this post immediately. Interestingly this is not the first such simian astronaut I have written about, Zase and Dekor sprayed one some time ago near Eastville.

The artist of this chimp is Achim Szabo, a German artist who works out of Stuttgart. A look at his website shows you the incredible range of styles he adopts, and of course he isn’t restricted to walls, he can work in watercolours, design and digital as well. It seems that so many street artists have this broad set of skills. I wonder which branch of their work they enjoy the most.

In this piece, I particularly like the rough style that has been used to create it, almost a sketch, and it is topped off by the yellow banana. Lovely work.

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Somehow this seems to be the perfect wheatpaste pairing. The fabulous D7606 bottles that can be found in so many places and the enchanting one-off pieces that 23 Magpies leaves for explorers to find.

23 Magpies and D7606, Upfest, Bristol, July2016

I have seen D7606’s bottles in a number of places in Bristol and in London, and I guess they are in other cities too. He is a busy wheatpaster, and one I admire.

The gorgeous bearded emperor tamarin (I think) is beautifully framed in a designed contemporary context, and the whole piece is very small indeed.. I really do love 23 Magpies’ work, and get a real thrill every time I find one of her pieces. I hope she returns to Bristol before next year’s Upfest.

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It was impossible not to notice this bright and arresting piece by Kier (Chiara Frei) at Upfest this year. The three panels spelled out the phrase ‘Be the one you want to be‘ showing three green and purple portraits with interchangeable face parts.

From her website, Chiara describes herself as a graphic designer who loves her job and is happy to learn new things. Beyond that she prefers not to say too much about herself.

Her choice of colours and subject for Upfest meant that her piece really caught the eye. I went back to it two or three times, just to take another look. There was something about it.

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I have featured Dale Grimshaw a few weeks ago with one of his Shoreditch pieces. Well, we were lucky enough in Bristol to have him pay us a visit for Upfest 2016.

Dale Grimshaw, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

His works are instantly recognisable, usually being portraits of people from around the world, many of whom face political struggles. The faces are usually adorned with face paint, and the works are usually accompanied by a little piece of wildstyle writing.

I managed to get a couple of pictures of Dale Grimshaw finishing off the piece on the Saturday, and I returned on the Sunday, and made subsequent visits to capture the finished article.

This work simply has to be admired, as do all of his works. Let’s hope for a quick return to Bristol.

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As a naturalist by training, I find it difficult not to be enthralled by these magnificent frogs painted by JXC at Upfest this year. I was lucky enough to see this piece half way through its creation and again on completion.

I met the artist briefly late on the Sunday afternoon while he he was chatting with one of his friends who had been creating a piece nearby.

JXC is a London artist who takes inspiration from popular culture, or so the programme notes say. I’m not too bothered about that, I simply love these frogs and am intrigued with the way he approaches his work. It would appear that he painted this piece using a zonal approach rather than painting one frog, then the other, then the background etc. I’m not sure if that makes sense, but look at the half-finished pieces, and you might get the gist.

JXC has a rather lovely website, and you can read more about the artist here.

458. Upfest 2016 (55)

My favourite piece of the 2015 Upfest was the incredible geisha by Dan Kitchener on the wall of the Salvation Army shop. It was fantastic then to have DanK return to Bristol this year. His spot was slightly off the beaten track, and I didn’t find him until the Sunday when it was all a bit drizzly.

Dan Kitchener, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

Dan Kitchener had pretty much stopped spraying for a while and was leaning over the lift and chatting to a friend when I took a couple of the pictures. He really wasn’t too impressed with the weather.

The piece, once it was revealed, turned out to be something of a reflection of the weather in which it was produced. In fact much of Dan Kitchener’s work creates the effect of wet night time scenes viewed through a car windscreen…or that is how it feels to me.

Looking closely at the woman with the umbrella, allows you to see that part of the picture away from all the distraction around it, and it is just beautiful. Step back and add in all the bright lights and you have the most vibrant scene.

I am always so impressed with his work, and I could look at these scenes he creates for hours, studying all the details and effects. It is hard to believe that he paints these things with spray cans. Yet another artist at the very top of his game.

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This brilliant swirling ‘Bristol’ by Voyder really felt like the signature piece for this year’s Upfest. Visitors to the festival were queuing up to take selfies and group pictures in front of this piece. I wonder how many of them knew it was Voyder’s work – it matters not, they saw it for what it is, a joyful celebration of Bristol art.

Voyder is a prolific graffiti artist and many of his pieces seem to be inaccessible, especially if you aren’t prepared to enter derelict sites, so it is especially nice to have one of his pieces in an area with high footfall. Around the time of upfest, Voyder was spraying quite a lot of these ribbon effect pieces, most memorably the Lichtenstein piece neat the Tobacco Factory, now long gone. This is just more stunning stuff from one of the best Bristol writers.

456. Upfest 2016 (53)

Well, here it is, the ‘official’ piece by What Have I Done Now. This Alice in Wonderland work seems to create a graffiti wall all on its own. An anarchic Alice (the piece is called ‘A is for Alice) stands looking at a colourful wall (with drips!) and casts a beautiful shadow. I can’t quite read the words on the left of the picture, but I think it says ‘curiouser and curiouser, (?) I am. Which way do I go?’ which is a slight corruption of the original quote.

What Have I Done Now, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

I am very fond of the Alice in Wonderland story, having read it more than once, but also having listened to the most incredible double album musical version of the book starring Karen Dotrice, Bruce Forsyth, Dirk Bogard, Tommy Cooper and many other incredible actors. I listened to this hundreds of times with my sister when we were kids. This artwork has sent me on a hunt for the album and, goodness me, the Interweb has come up trumps. I cannot tell you how happy I am to be able to listen to the album again after some forty years or so – you can hear it on YouTube here. I thoroughly recommend it. Happy now.

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	Loveswing on Winter afternoon
	scooj on 7400. St Werburghs tunnel…
	scooj on Winter afternoon
	scooj on 7400. St Werburghs tunnel…

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	paulh121 on 7402. Stapleton Road
	Loveswing on Winter afternoon
	scooj on 7400. St Werburghs tunnel…
	scooj on Winter afternoon

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