Upfest – Page 8 – Natural adventures

5319. Upfest 2022 (77)

Upfest is an opportunity for artists to showcase their work to a huge number of visitors, local and from further afield, and with so many pieces on view, it is difficult to make an impression, but Bristol artist Zubieta seems to have hit the spot with this vibrant piece.

A young woman lies in a flowery meadow, looking at her melting cell phone. The flowers seem to be pleased to see that the phone is wasting away, and the woman can turn her attention to nature. Live in the moment and take in your surroundings is the subliminal message that I get from this bright and colourful piece.

5318. Upfest 2022 (76)

This was one of a couple of pieces that Eyesaw painted for Upfest in 2022. His distinctive style plays on the concept of 3D art that should be viewed through blue and red cardboard glasses so that the character pops out from the ‘canvas’. I have to say that I don’t know whether his art actually works as I don’t have any specs, but it looks like it might do.

The character, painted on a plain background (it looks like the pre-buffed board) resembles Taz, the Tasmanian devil, a cartoon character devised by Looney Tunes. Other aspects of Eyesaw’s work include the introduction of video glitches and flying pixels, to create busy and animated artwork. This is a fun piece Eyesaw.

5317. Upfest 2022 (75)

Giulio Rosk, Upfest 22, Bristol, Upfest 2022

As with any street art festival, there will always be a ‘wow factor’ and one of the artists who brought this to Upfest was Giulio Rosk with this magnificent writing and portrait combination piece just off North Street.

What is great about festivals is that there is a good chance that you will get to meet and chat with thee artists, when they have a little downtime. I managed to grab a few minutes with the artist and his agent/friend, and discovered that as soon as Giulio Rosk finished this piece they were jetting off to Italy for another festival, so we were lucky to have them here in Bristol.

The piece is a clever one where the subject – I think it is a self-portrait – is penning the name ROSK as if on a pane of glass. The photorealistic artwork is exceptional and the whole thing, one of the highlights of Upfest. Unlike the temporary boards, this piece is still there for all to see, and is likely to remain until Upfest 2024 next year.

5316. Upfest 2022 (74)

Wee Nuls, Upfest 22, Bristol, Upfest 2022

Another visiting artist to Upfest 22 was Wee Nuls from Belfast, although she has visited Bristol at least once before, and left a rather nice piece underneath the M32, if my memory serves me correctly. I’ll try to dig it out and add it to the end of this post.

This is a rather delightful, demonic piece from Wee Nuls, that comes across as a highly designed and polished work. It is the kind of thing you might expect to see in a gallery or as a framed contemporary picture, but here it is as a piece of street art, wonderful.

The piece is really nicely finished and sharp, using up the space on the square board really well, giving a polished and professional appearance. Great work from Wee Nuls.

Wee Nuls, Frome side, Bristol, June 2021

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Jack Lack is an artist who is based in Stuttgart, and was one of the international artists who made the trip over to Bristol to paint at Upfest 22. This portrait piece is a beauty and requires a little bit of time to pause and take it all in.

The blurred background is a great technique that helps to bring focus to certain aspects of the piece, which also gives the viewer a bit of a challenge in ‘filling in the gaps’ that are not crystal clear. The bird on the subject’s shoulder looks like a bee eater of some kind to me, and once again the blurring, in a curious way, draws attention to the bird. Does the baseball cap belong to the bird, or is it blowing about in the distance?

This is a fine piece from Jack Lack, who I don’t recall seeing at Upfest before. I would be more than happy to see him return some time in the future though.

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Gage Graphics. Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

Last Year’s Upfest had a fabulously inclusive blend of local, national and international artists painting at Europe’s largest street art festival. Gage Graphics is one of Bristol’s better known muralists, whose commissions can be found dotted all around the city.

This fun piece features a rather curious bulldog wearing sunglasses and an umbrella hat, and why not? The dog is painted in greyscale, and is surrounded by a colourful background to create contrast. It is a nicely crafted piece with plenty of drips to admire. (Note to self – gallery time?)

5313. Upfest 2022 (71)

As part of my commitment to posting pieces from Upfest 2022, I am interrupting my normal flow of Bristol street pieces with a sequence of ten artworks from last year’s Upfest, starting with this beautiful design piece from Zoe Power, an artist and muralist from the host city.

I would normally expect Zoe Power to be painting a wall rather than a board, because her work is rather sought after locally, but she did a wonderful job with this square space. Her design is beautiful and really easy on the eye, and she has used blues and pinks that are a tried and tested combination that work well at scale. I believe that Zoe Power is a new mum, and I haven’t seen much of her work on the streets lately, so digging this one out of the archive is a pleasurable experience.

5260. Upfest 2022 (70)

One of the admirable things that Upfest manages to do is combine the national and international interest from artists around the globe with local artists who paint the streets of Bristol week in and week out. The artists are treated equally (although some get allocated ‘premium’ walls), and there is a fabulous sense of community.

This piece by local artist Maybe (Maybepaints), who only started painting on the streets about 3 or 4 years ago, doesn’t look out of place shoulder to shoulder with established international artists. The piece is, as much contemporary street art tends to be, a commentary on the state of our environment, with supermarket plastic bags drifting in the ocean.

Maybe is a lovely man – much taller than I had expected – who has developed his own techniques, combining freestyle painting with stencils, to create these remarkable ‘other worldly’ places and scenes. You can see his progress over the last few years in this updated gallery of his work.

5259. Upfest 2022 (69)

Foxes have a special place in Bristol. Although urban foxes are found throughout the UK, it was in Bristol where they first were recognised as a ‘thing’ through a research programme conducted by Bristol University. In fact, their research showed that Bristol played host to the most densely populated community of foxes ever recorded, centred around my old allotment. The funny thing is that even though they are so common, there is something quite special about seeing a wild mammal living amongst us.

Justinks, who has painted at Upfest a few times, has absolutely nailed it with this outstanding greyscale rendition of a sleeping fox. It is a truly beautiful painting and captures not only the form of the fox perfectly, but also its peaceful sleeping state. A wonderful piece.

5258. Upfest 2022 (68)

The quality and variety of pieces at last year’s Upfest was as good as it has ever been, if not a little better. My only regret is that I didn’t manage to capture completed pieces by many artists, because there was an abrupt end to the two-day festival, after which the boards in Greville Smyth Park were dismantled, and that was that. Fortunately, just as I was leaving, Ale Poire (from Guadalajara, Mexico) was signing her beautiful hands piece, and the signature usually indicates the piece is complete.

There is something very special and expressive about hands, and Ale Poire has captured a tenderness in this emotional painting. The simplicity of the composition combined with the technical craft of the artist left me with one of the most memorable images of the festival. A very special piece, which would last for only a few hours after I took this picture.

	scooj on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	scooj on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	scooj on 7449. Greenbank (180)
	skat on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Dan Antion on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…

	scooj on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	scooj on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	scooj on 7449. Greenbank (180)
	skat on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…
	Dan Antion on Thursday doors – 5 Febru…

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