Tag: Urban

1760. Upfest 2018 (54)

Wowzer, a staggering work in blue from Ketones6000 in South Street park at this year’s Upfest. A piece as striking as this is hard to overlook…it simply draws you in to get a better look. The artist, AKA Jerome Davenport is an Australian who has been working out of London during 2017 and 2018, and Upfest was just one of several festivals he painted at this year.

Ketones6000, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Ketones6000, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

This photorealistic vision in blue is rather haunting and clearly has a maritime theme going on. The face is the first and most obvious component that you see in this piece, but when you get up close, some other interesting details emerge.

Ketones6000, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Ketones6000, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

On the right hand side of the portrait you can see a tall ship emerging from the fog, so I am guessing the hero is probably a sailor of some kind. I love this piece and the atmosphere it creates – it would be great to get Ketones6000 back for next year.

1759. Upfest 2018 (53)

In the chaotic and utterly unpredictable world of street art and graffiti, order has been created in the form of festivals. Upfest, the largest of its kind in Europe, brings artists from all over Britain, Europe and beyond to showcase their skills. The order I refer to is that rather than accidentally finding stuff, you can be certain to find artists that you like and actively seek them out.

Stelle Confuse, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Stelle Confuse, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Stelle Confuse is an artist whose work stands out for me from last year, and I was thrilled to see another piece this year. Again we have a tree and a message, and the message ‘plant a tree, plant emotions’ is brilliantly conceived with emoticons being borne by the branches. A nice, clear and well executed stencil from this Florentine artist.

Stelle Confuse, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Stelle Confuse, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017

1758. Upfest 2018 (52)

Alex Lucas is no stranger to these pages and is responsible for bringing street art closer to the citizens of Bristol in a charming and accessible way. Any visitor to the city is likely to have seen a piece of her work, because she has had a lot of commissions and her illustrations lend themselves very well to shops, cafés and other high street businesses.

Alex Lucas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Alex Lucas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Her piece for Upfest was on yet another new wall space, but rather inconveniently interrupted by a gate. Alex has used this to her advantage and incorporated the gate as a way of joining her two hares in conversation.

Alex Lucas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Alex Lucas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Although on the surface her work looks quite simple, it takes a long time to produce, and this piece was a real labour of love, given the number of weather-related interruptions. Each of the hairs on her characters are individually hand drawn, and as we ought to know, hares are hairy.

Alex Lucas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
Alex Lucas, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

Most Upfest walls are re-used each year, with only the occasional one remaining as a more permanent piece. I suspect that this one will have a new artwork on it next year, which is rather odd in the case of Alex Lucas, because one is accustomed to the permanence of her work. It’s pink, it has animals…what’s not to like?

1757. Upfest 2018 (51)

Another fabulous new wall for Upfest 2018 – they have done very well this year with opening up these new walls – by Bristol artist 3rdeye. This is an impressive wall but may not have had the foot-fall of other Upfest venues as it was a little off the beaten track.

3rdeye, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
3rdeye, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

3rdeye is an artist who cut his teeth on the streets as a graffiti artist in the eighties, but has since developed this further into studio work of paintings and illustrations as well as offering workshops. His rather nice website shows the full range of his work and activities.

3rdeye, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
3rdeye, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

This wall plays host to a hoard of friendly monsters set on a vibrant orange background. It is a colourful and child-like piece, and all the better for it, and I am particularly drawn to the little monster launching itself off a column which is actually a real feature of the wall of the house.

3rdeye, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
3rdeye, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018

This piece amply demonstrates that street art does not have to be edgy or threatening to be great and that bright child-like ideas have great appeal. Great piece, great wall.

1756. Dean Lane skate park (172)

I just love it when these two get together, which fortunately they seem to manage rather regularly. These Laic217 bookended Cort pieces do tend to follow a formula in terms of presentation, but the characters and writing always offer something visually stimulating.

Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018
Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018

Cort’s writing style seems to be quite versatile and he has produces a real gem here, incorporating soft curves and angular shapes all into the same piece. It is an unusual and slightly unconventional style, but that is what makes it stand apart from other writing.

Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018

Then on to the Laic217 characters. His skeletons have become such a prominent feature of walls around Bristol that they must have entered the sub-conscious of a great many Bristolians on exposure alone.

Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018
Laic217, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018

Rarely disappointing these figures include many of the things we expect from Laic217 – great clothing, skulls, smiley’s brick walls, bucket hats. I love the bit of fun too with the left hand side character using a roller to spell out the two artist’s names at the top of the piece. Another classic wall.

Laic 217 and Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018
Laic 217 and Cort, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018

 

 

1755. City Road (8)

It feels like if I keep my eyes open long enough and scour each inch of Bristol I will keep finding paste ups by qWeRT. This right royal googly-eyed character is in City Road only a few metres away from another paste up by the same artist from last year.

qWeRT, City Road, Bristol, September 2018
qWeRT, City Road, Bristol, September 2018

As well as admiring the original ideas and artwork that qWeRT puts into these wheatpastes I get a great amount of pleasure each time I find one. I think that the artist only visits Bristol about once a year, but it takes me that long to find many of these little characters, and some I never find no matter how hard I look. Come back soon.

1754. Armada Place (13)

Things in the Stokes Croft area have been a bit slow compared with some of the other spots in town, so it was nice to spot this quick collaboration between Ryder and T-Rex. These two nearly always paint together, and their comfortable friendship comes across in all their pieces.

Ryder and T-Rex, Armada Place, Bristol, September 2018
Ryder and T-Rex, Armada Place, Bristol, September 2018

I can’t quite work out where the white lines came from and the writing – I think it says ‘Spray summit innit’, and although it looks slightly incongruous I think it is part of the piece and not a tag. Fun stuff from these two.

1753. Dean Lane skate park (171)

This collaboration is a real treat and raises the bar by quite some margin. It is by Subtle and Rezwonk and is quite the best collaboration I have seen on this wall this year, in fact possible anywhere in Bristol.

Rezwonk and Subtle, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018
Rezwonk and Subtle, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018

Rezwonk has provided an incredible background of little white symbols – actually I think they are made up of the letters R E Z W O N K, and in amongst them are some bright green ones randomly spaced. Each of the symbols has been dabbed, probably with a cloth, to give them some texture. This really does provide a perfect backdrop.

Rezwonk and Subtle, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018
Rezwonk and Subtle, Dean Lane, Bristol, September 2018

The writing from Subtle is nothing short of sublime, every single part of it touching on perfect, right down to the hex shading on the S and the T providing texture and interest, but it is the 3D effect that really sets this piece apart. It is hard to look at it and not be fooled into thinking it has been written on a board that stands proud of the wall by a couple of inches. Also some of the accents have picked up the same bright green used by Rezwonk, to provide some read-across between the two.

An utterly outstanding collaboration that takes collaborations to a new level.

1751. Tower Hill (1)

A colleague alerted me to this hoarding, which is within lunchtime walking distance from my work, so I felt obliged to go and take a look. Sometimes such tip-offs can be a bit of a disappointment, because not all ‘street art’ is worth the trip. This wonderful piece by Smak however was absolutely worth it.

Smak, Tower Hill, Bristol, August 2018
Smak, Tower Hill, Bristol, August 2018

I had kind of been aware of these hoardings but didn’t know that there was anything decent there. In fact there were three notable pieces of which this is the first. Smak is an interesting artist in that he has two personas. This is his ‘graff’ persona, but he also does high-end pieces and commissions under another name – he even painted a large wall at Upfest this year (to follow).

Smak, Tower Hill, Bristol, August 2018
Smak, Tower Hill, Bristol, August 2018

This wildstyle writing is really skilfully done and spells out SMAK. In the middle of the work he had woven in the head of a bird, and there are some feathers in there too. A classy piece.

1752. Newfoundland Road

I found this by complete accident. I was driving around town and decided to make a quick trip over to the M32 roundabout to see if there was anything new to photograph there, but on the way I passed this building and caught sight of the bright colours in my peripheral vision. Thank heavens for peripheral vision…eh?

Zase, Newfoundland Road, Bristol, September 2018
Zase, Newfoundland Road, Bristol, September 2018

The piece, on a newly redeveloped site is by Zase and has really made a statement for this otherwise utterly unremarkable building. I often wonder to myself whether great murals add to the value of a property or detract from it. I know my own personal view, but would love to know the view of buyers and sellers of property.

Zase, Newfoundland Road, Bristol, September 2018
Zase, Newfoundland Road, Bristol, September 2018

I’m not sure what the brief was for this mural, but he has incorporated portraits of ordinary people, perhaps reflecting the diversity of the surrounding area. As always he has incorporated his 3D ZASE, which is something of a hallmark on his murals.

Zase, Newfoundland Road, Bristol, September 2018
Zase, Newfoundland Road, Bristol, September 2018

If you can be bothered, it is well worth going onto Google maps and streetview to see what a fantastic improvement has been made to this building by the refurb and the mural togather. This is almost like gentrification but maintaining the spirit of the community, and I am all for it (provided the resulting apartments/offices are truly affordable).