Another one from back in July last year, this time from Hire, who seems very much at home in Dean Lane. With a contrasting yellow background, this fabulous piece of gothic wildstyle writing stands out brilliantly.
Hire is a highly talented graffiti writer, who I can’t help feeling is slightly overlooked in the Bristol scene, so I am certainly playing my part in ‘bigging him up’. I cannot be sure, but I think this piece says HIRE. I think it is classy.
You might have noticed that I am posting quite a few old pieces at the moment. I tend to do this from time to time when I look through my files and see some wonderful stuff that I never got round to sharing. Sometimes I have been holding onto pictures where I didn’t know who the artist was, but that was not the case here. Somehow this wonderful Laic217 piece just got through the net.
A spider with a skull and an Adidas logo (disguising the word Laic) – it is all here and a bit weird, but brilliant and such a striking combination of colours. The biologist in me feels I should point out that spiders have eight legs, but that is probably splitting hairs. A Fine piece from July 2017.
Biers is a really friendly artist who I have met on several occasions now. This was a piece from back in July 2017 which has been in my archive because Upfest posts tend to dominate my July/August time, and other street art snapped up around Upfest tend to get a little overlooked. But enough is enough, I am liberating a few images taken during last July since they are too good to ignore.
Biers, I think, is connected with the No Frills crew, although my understanding of crews is patchy at best. He often writes No Frills on his pieces or NFS. I managed to find him working on this piece, and was lucky enough to return a few days later and see it in its finished state. Sometimes work on these walls can last only a day or two, especially in the summer.
This is a nice clean piece that spells out Biers which once you get your graff goggles on you can easily read. I still find it interesting the way the layers go on in these pieces, with the fill going up first and the borders and finer lines last. Great skill required.
I haven’t posted anything by J.Dior for quite a while now, mainly due to the fact that he appears to have left town almost as suddenly as he arrived. I still have several of his works in my archive, of which this was one, and will post them in good time. I get a feeling that he was not very much liked in the graffiti community because he appeared to disregard any of the ‘rules’. This is tricky territory, because the rules are so complicated that nobody I’ve spoken to can clearly explain them. Anyhow, obviously he upset a few people, and this piece has a note saying ‘how about respect Diore’ on it.
As with all his work, this mural in The Bearpit tells a story and is executed in his typically naive style. I have to say that as part of the full spectrum of graffiti/street art in Bristol I am quite fond of J.Dior’s work. It all seems like a bit of a flash in the pan now, but his influence during the summer of 2017 was definitely felt in The Bearpit.
Funnily enough, this is another piece that I don’t recall very well from the festival itself – there were so many works at Ashton Gate that it has been impossible to recollect them all. However, looking at the images on my computer, this one really stands out as a beautiful and colourful piece.
To my shame, Onga hasn’t really crossed my radar before, despite having lived in Bristol for a few years, and contributing regularly to Upfest in the past. Maybe it is because he doesn’t spray on the walls I visit, I don’t know. I know from a biography I read that he enjoys festivals, and since I have only been to Upfest for the last two years and no other festivals at all, it might explain why our paths haven’t crossed before.
This is a fine piece that probably needs a little bit of scrutiny and unpicking as there is a story there somewhere.
I don’t know an awful lot about Gee street art and the Interweb and his Instagram profile are not particularly enlightening, although I do believe he has been about for some time. One thing is clear from his social media presence is that Gee street art is available for commissions and willing to travel.
This upfest piece itself is probably an expression that many of us can identify with. The character is nicely conveyed in a moment of fed-upness or maybe discombobulation or something not quite reaching despair. Interestingly I don’t really remember this piece very well from my walks around the festival, and only really picked it out from the thumbnails on my computer.
I first came across these two artists, Caro Pepe and Age Age at Upfest 2016 when they had adjacent pieces on North Street. Since then (and possibly before, I don’t know) they have collaborated quite a lot at festivals around Europe.
It was so good to see them at Upfest 2017 collaborating not only on their ‘official’ wall, but also on this shutter and another wall (yet to be posted). This particular shutter has been home to some amazing artwork previously, and Caro Pepe and Age Age have continued that tradition.
The pair have once again used muted shades for their Upfest experience which gives this piece a subtle feel. It is amazing that their work blends so well because their styles and subject matter are quite different – maybe their success comes from blending these. Anyhow, this was a real treat and many visitors would have missed it, as I think it was sprayed in the days following the main festival. Thank you both.
I think that this was probably the most photographed wall at Upfest 2017. It is certainly one of the best, if not the best, spot at the festival and this time it was given a magnificent makeover by Kobra.
It is a fascinating rendition of John Lennon in the style so typical of Kobra, using geometric shapes and contrasting colours as an overlay to the portrait. As a strong statement in street art, this piece is exceptional, and pretty much stole the show amongst the visiting public. I have only one slight uncertainty about the piece and that is the relevance of John Lennon to Bristol – but perhaps I am being a little parochial about this.
Many of the visitors who came to the festival would not have seen this piece without the cherry-picker parked in front of it, which wasn’t removed until the Monday or Tuesday after the event, which is a real pity.
Since seeing this piece, tmy first by Kobra, I was lucky enough to come across a couple more in Williamsburg, New York, which I hope to post here if I ever get through my growing backlogs.
Make no mistake though the scale and nature of this piece make it a real winner, a stunner and a must-see wall if you happen to visit Bristol, before it goes this July.
Door 16.
Door, Moon Street, Bristol.
The artist who has tagged this door is called Ryder, and this is his shorthand that he sprays quickly as something of an elaborate tag. His writing work though is exceptional, see some examples below. The door itself is a little-used side door which accesses the Lakota club.
See more doors at Thursday Doors – Norm 2.0
It has been a little while since I last posted anything from Upfest 2017. I would guess I am about half way through my archive of photographs but am unlikely to write up every piece from the festival before this year’s festival begins. C’est la vie.
This piece is a hugely entertaining and bold work from Boe and Irony, who worked so well together at Upfest 2016 with their cat and mouse work on the side of a residential building just off North Street.
Gulls are a very common sight in Bristol, and this huge portrait of a gull peering around the corner so perfectly captures the cheeky nature of these birds, and is in keeping with the City.
The artists took a while to complete the piece and it wasn’t actually until a few days after the festival that it was completed. It was so utterly worth the waiting though, this was one of the highlights of Upfest 2017, a real triumph. I hope the artists will be back this year to give us yet another mouth watering morsel.
Natural adventures 