It can be very difficult to identify wildstyle writing sometimes, especially when the artist isn’t local or doesn’t spray too often. Having said this, my job is made so much easier when the artist plasters his or her name all over the piece.
Aona, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2017
This stylish piece is by Aona. That gets me so far, but no further. I can’t find much about Aona on the Interweb, so this entry is brief. To the writing itself; it is beautifully clean and crisp and technically excellent and the colour selections really work well. It is uncommon to see wildstyle writing complemented by stencils, but it works rather well. Great to see different artists in town.
I have featured Skor85 a few times on my blog, and had some confusing information about her identity. I have decided to disregard everything I thought I knew and defer to her Upfest profile, which reads:
Skor85 is a Bristol based creative of Polish origin. She is a self taught artist experimenting with any media available at the time from sand grains to spray paint. She has started her graffiti adventure 4 years ago being influenced by the diversity and music scene of some of the most lively European cities like beloved Bristol Barcelona and Berlin. She is heavily involved in Bristol drawing scene organizing sketching events immortalizing city landscape and live music events as well as running the Sketch Factory (themed life drawing sessions). Creative freedom of expression with others is one of her biggest pleasures in life and paint jams are a big part of it. Characters she paints are pure fantasy and often represent current mood- happiness and worries of the day. Often dreamy or scary but always true to that moment.
Part of the confusion arises out of the fact that her online profile is utterly different from his (sic) printed profile. The one above is more aligned with my previous posts.
Skor85, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
This is a terrific piece and has had a lot of care and attention poured into it. Many of her pieces feel quite raw, often because of the locations she chooses, but this has a finesse to it whilst maintaining her unusual style. There is some symbolism here which is tricky to decypher. Nice piece.
It looks like Hoshiko had a pretty miserable time at Upfest this year. He wrote over his own piece saying what it should have looked like, but for the weather. It was abandoned and unfisnished, but it doesn’t detract from his participation and effort at the festival. He was not alone, some artists didn’t even show up.
Hoshiko, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Hoshiko is based in the UK and works mostly with stickers and mixed media paste ups. Heavily influenced by Japanese culture (no shit Sherlock) he has a passion for robots and candy.
This is a wonderful piece by Stephen Quick, a brilliant Bristol stencil artist and, I understand, YouTuber. I have to say that I never got to see this piece in its finished state, which I am really annoyed about, but have seen it on Digital Social Media and it looks spectacular.
Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Stephen has a style that mixes and merges ideas and iconic figures to produce blended stencils of the highest quality. Stephen quick has a lot to say about this piece on his website, and to save myself the time I have pinched his text and offer it below:
‘Pop Girl’ is my modern day mash up, pop culture heroine. My idea being if my recent generation get a call to arms we will arm ourselves with items from our pop upbringing, Inspired by Tank Girl, she wears a R2D2 helmet, armed with the Sword of Omen from Thundercats, with good luck charms from Harry Potter and The Legend of Zelda, she is ready to take on the world!
Stephen Quick, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
In my pictures, the Harry Postter charms are missing. and background not completed, but I didn’t want to leave it out of my Upfest updates. I do like his work very much.
There were so many great pieces on the long wall at Ashton Gate, a new venue for Upfest this year, and I have barely started to cover them yet – several of them were whole crew collaborations and I’m not sure how to post them. However this is a wonderful piece from artist Leo Boyd.
Leo Boyd, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Leo Boyd is a Belfast-based screen printer and artist who is branching out into screen printing on walls, which this fine piece demonstrates beautifully. His biography on his website is very funny, tells you little about the artist other than his sense of humour and what is important to him. Worth a read.
Leo Boyd, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
There is some really interesting stuff going on in this piece, but I am not sure what the story is. My take on it is an environmental one, but I don’t think that is necessarily the artist’s intention. I think it is more about the relationship between mankind and technology. Make of it what you will – it is in my view, a striking work.
There can be few better ways to honour a fellow street artist than to paint an enormous portrait of them, and this is precisely what Ian Phenna did at Upfest 2017. The portrait is of the magnificent Nol, who was himself painting during the festival.
Ian Phenna, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
I do not know about Ian Phenna or his work, although his Upfest Biography says that he is a mixed media portrait and figurative artist originally from Liverpool. He has a dramatic approach to portraiture, often with hidden themes…
Ian Phenna, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
I really like this piece, and especially like the additional homage to Nol…the inclusion, albeit in greyscale, of one of his little monsters in the bottom right of the portrait. There are stencilled numbers all around the piece, something that Nick Walker likes to do too, but I don’t know the significance of them.
Ian Phenna, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
I think the whole thing is called ‘BrizNol’ which I rather like. This is a thoroughly enjoyable piece and one of my favourites from the festival.
When I saw this piece in the Chalk Farm housing estate I instantly recognised the artist as Jerry Rugg or Bird0. He painted a fabulous piece for Upfest 2016, which is still there and looks like it will remain permanently.
Jerry Rugg, Chalk Farm, London, November 2017
Bird0 has a great skill for fusing abstract shapes and designs with wildlife forms to create these otherworldly creatures. His pieces are characterised by the use of bright vibrant colours, lots of oranges and yellows.
Jerry Rugg, Chalk Farm, London, November 2017
This is a spectacular piece, but I had limited access to it, and took the pictures through some railings. I couldn’t work out how to get the other side and I was unsure about whether I was permitted to be there in the first place. I will go beck again and get some better shots.
This was the first piece I saw from the Global Street Art organised set of walls at the Chalk Farm housing estate. Looking like a giant billboard, it caught my eye from the end of the road, and even from a distance I thought it might be a piece by Pref ID. I must be getting quite good at this, because I was right.
Pref ID, Chalk Farm, London, November 2017
Pref ID creates brilliant pieces incorporating clever word puzzles. The one in Bristol for Upfest 2017 was very tricky. This one is a little more straight forward…’Upwards and Onwards’.
Pref ID, Chalk Farm, London, November 2017
It is a cleverly constructed and beautifully painted piece – if only the light hadn’t been fading and that blooming car wasn’t in the way. But as with so much street/graffiti art, it is located in a car park, and cars are an occupational hazard. I do like his work, and hope to find some more.
Sometimes wandering around, taking a look around just one more corner or walking another 100 yards further up a road can bring huge rewards, and so it was with my discovery of the Chalk Farm housing estate makeover organised by Global Street Art.
Sokar Uno, Chalk Farm, London, November 2017
I had been aware of the gathering of artists in a North London estate and had seen some images on digital social media, but on the day I was walking round Camden Town I was not seeking out this treasure trove, I just kind of came upon it, after glimpsing a distant piece by Pref ID.
Sokar Uno, Chalk Farm, London, November 2017
This is a remarkable piece by Sokar Uno, who wowed the crowds at Upfest 2016 in Bristol with his stunning piece there. Both of these works have an extraordinary quality about them, and the subjects appear to be made of stone or asleep.
Sokar Uno, Chalk Farm, London, November 2017
His pieces contain a lot of symbolism, often featuring chairs, and in this work an hour glass. Time seems to be passing and some grass and flowers have grown through the checkerboard floor – how long has this giant been lying there and why?
Sokar Uno, Chalk Farm, London, November 2017
Sokar Uno creates interesting movement in this work, as shown by the left hand of this figure which can be seen in three positions and the right hand with a white outline around it. And then there are the drips! An exquisite piece.
This is a supremely beautiful work by Epok from a recent paint jam down at the M32 roundabout. I like everything about this piece, the proportions of the letters, the angles and curves, but most of all I think the colour selection is sublime, and I love the tinges of red in the middle of the piece.
Epok, M32 roundabout, Bristol, November 2017
I have never met Epok, nor seen him spraying, but would surely like to see him at work. There is something different about his wildstyle pieces that really catches the eye. I think that one of the main things is that his writing doesn’t adhere to our writing conventions of letters having an equal height and proportion. His letters fit into his design, which often tapers at one end or the other.
Natural adventures 