A great thing about Upfest is that it gives us all the chance to see emerging local artists and it gives those young artists some great exposure. Lisa Allen is a Bristol artist who started to create urban art only last year, and here we have a stencil piece with a pop art feel to it and the surrounding decorations give it something of a 1980s touch.
Lisa Allen, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
A bright and witty piece which makes good use of the metre square format. I very much look forward to seeing more of her work on the streets of Bristol – perhaps as more ‘legal’ walls are created.
I had been waiting for a long time to at last meet up with Mr Klue, and the one place you can be more confident that such a meeting will take place is at Upfest. I found him just as he was finishing off this beautiful abstract piece in a corner of the South Street Park site.
Mr Klue, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
Mr Klue is a disarmingly modest man whose style of abstract work is unparalleled in Bristol. I’m not entirely sure he knows how gifted he is, and his works convey great skill and thoughtfulness. I particularly like this one with its wispy smoke and swirly shapes shifting to a vanishing point.
Mr Klue, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
I don’t know how we got onto the subject, but Mr Klue told me that he does all his drawings in biro…an implement I can’t stand, but one that allows his work to flow, he likes the feel of it. Now there’s something you didn’t know.
A great piece from a great young man who I was so very pleased to catch up with. I hope our paths cross again soon.
This is the third piece from the PRSC outdoor gallery that featured Boogie and Voyder, and is by the organiser of the ‘Boogie Down Bristol’ event and all round godfather of Bristol graffiti, Inkie.
Inkie, Jamaica Street, Bristol, July 2017
This is a really wonderful piece from Inkie, and I think he was pulling out all the stops on this one to show Boogie what he was made of. The colour selections are great, and match those used by Boogie on the far left of the three. Voyder was clearly on his own agenda.
Boogie, Jamaica Street Bristol, July 2017Voyder, Jamaica Street, Bristol, July 2017Inkie, Jamaica Street, Bristol, July 2017
This is a fabulous Rowdy piece which is not only bright and vibrant but is also a tribute/protest piece for the survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire disaster. The crocodiles are festooned with flowers and there is a heart in the middle of the piece.
Rowdy, Bedminster, Bristol, July 2017
This piece demonstrates the reach of the tragedy in London, and I guess the whole wretched thing highlights a world we live in where profit and margins trump regulation and safety. Pitiful really. It is the same with environmental regulation – there are some that say it gets in the way of business and prosperity – try being prosperous when you have buggered up the environment, the place that provides our food, our water, our very life. Red tape is there for a reason, to keep us safe, and if it suppresses profit, then so be it. Right I’ll stop there before I go off on one.
Rowdy, Bedminster, Bristol, July 2017
I don’t generally get to see too much street work from Rowdy, so it is always nice when one crops up.
I think that NEVERGIVEUP is taking on the mantle of most prolific graffiti artist in Bristol at the moment. Hardly a day goes by without a new piece by him, and he is starting to branch out a little from his buck toothed bunnies, although there is some incorporation of them in this piece.
NEVERGIVEUP, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2017
I’m not sure what is happening in this piece, a pyramid, an all seeing eye and I have no idea what the swirly things are. The piece as a whole has presence though and is really well executed. His work is getting better and more diverse with each outing.
NEVERGIVEUP, The Bearpit, Bristol, July 2017
Interestingly he would seem to be gaining respect in an area that gets very heavily tagged…this piece has survived intact for a couple of weeks.
In a little pedestrian tunnel, under the M32 motorway are a couple of really great walls. Great for spraying that is…less great for photographing. This is yet another wonderful collaboration piece from Deamze and Voyder, who always seem to work with Deamze on the left and Voyder on the right. I don’t know if this is a deliberate or subconscious thing, but it is pretty much always the case.
Deamze, New Stadium Road, Bristol, July 2017
What is particularly captivating about these pieces is the white subject on a pillarbox red background. Deamze has worked a particularly nice bit of wildstyle writing with an interesting cartoon character who looks a little like Captain Klutz from MAD magazine, but isn’t.
Deamze, New Stadium Road, Bristol, July 2017
Someone out there probably knows who it is. I love the angular style of this piece and the limited colour range. It is a fine piece.
Voyder, New Stadium Road, Bristol, July 2017
It is becoming very difficult to describe Voyder’s work these days, as I feel he has hit such a high level, and that veach work pushes boundaries and demonstrates his command of his craft.
Voyder, New Stadium Road, Bristol, July 2017
This is such a beautifully constructed piece and resembles a paper cut out. It is such a pity the photograph just doesn’t do it justice. That red just sets the piece off perfectly.
This is a wonderful and photogenic piece by Karl Read, a stencil artist from the south coast who produced another lovely piece at Upfest 2016. A boy dressed as superman wearing converses and flying on a swing is a winning idea, and this piece has movement, tenderness and nostalgia combined in equal measure.
Karl Read, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
I don’t know how he put up with the tiny space he had to work in and the crowds stepping over his kit to get photographs of his work and the adjacent work of Lemak.
Karl Read, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
This was another really striking piece from the festival and has been shared a lot on Instagram over the last week or two. I really rather like it and feel that perhaps it deserved a permanent wall rather than a board, but then I could say that about pretty much everything at the festival. Note for next year…more permanent walls please.
Many will instantly recognise the wonderful abstract work of Decay instantly. A Bristol-based graffiti artist who has appeared in numerous posts on this blog, with his characteristic concentric shapes of black, white, grey and red. He was very smart this year – he is a quick worker, and he sprayed his piece early on the Saturday morning before the rain came, and was then free to enjoy the festival with the rest of us punters.
Decay, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017
I met up with him in one of the venues, I think it was the Rising Sun, by chance which was lucky, because I had told him via Instagram that I wanted to buy one of his lovely new T-shirts and would do so if I met him. The shirt is great, and a nice souvenir of the day. I also had another little souvenir in the shape of one of the spray cans Decay used to spray this piece (the one on the left of the feature image).
Mrs Scooj was not impressed and said that I was behaving like a groupie and should grow up a bit. I prefer to think of myself working alongside these artists, and whilst I admire them I don’t think I idolise them. Without archivists and rapporteurs, our world would be transient and ‘in the moment’ but there would be little in the way of context.
Regular viewers of this blog will be familiar with the talents of Georgie, a Bristol artist who uses many different techniques for her street art work. This time she has selected a collage and spray piece with a nice big smiley face. She has incorporated other pieces of her work in the surrounding collage, including the ‘Citizen of Nowhere’ stencil.
Georgie, Upfest, Bristol, July 2017It was all pretty busy in North Street Green where she was working when I passed through, so I decided not to bother her, especially with the showery weather which made things tricky for artists and visitors alike. This was a wonderfully cheerful piece which really embodied the spirit of Upfest. Keep on Smiling.
Natural adventures 