Tag: Used Pencil

5898. Elton Street (28)

Used Pencil, Elton Street, Bristol, February 2024
UsedPencil, Elton Street, Bristol, February 2024

The ‘gallery’ in Elton Street, on the side of the Lost Horizons Arts Centre, is always worth a look. There are five or six framed boards raised above the street (ladders required for the artists), curated by the Arts Centre, and which are rarely, if ever, tagged or overpainted. This board, on the end of the building has been painted by Used Pencil, a Bristol artist whose work I have only once seen before at Upfest 2022.

Used Pencil, Elton Street, Bristol, February 2024
UsedPencil, Elton Street, Bristol, February 2024

This piece is painted with a combination of spray paint and brushes, which helps to give it that texture and detail, and you can find a video of its creation on Used Pencil’s Instagram feed. It is a piece that is easy on the eye and has a kind of mystical feel to it. Although the style is recognisable from his Upfest piece, the subject matter is quite different.

Usedpencil, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Usedpencil, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

4593. Upfest 2022 (33)

I think I was being rather thick when I looked at this piece, and it took me quite a while to unpick what was going on. It is funny how you can look at something but not really see it, which is something I pride myself on being able to do ordinarily, but in this instance I failed.

Usedpencil, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022
Used Pencil, Upfest 22, Bristol, May 2022

The clever piece is by Used Pencil and is of course a portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth, although not an entirely flattering one. Upfest was held this year just before the extended bank holiday during which the nation celebrated the Queen’s platinum jubilee – I didn’t celebrate, because I was in Porto with my daughter.

This portrait is a bit like a fully painted doodle and it is very nicely executed too. Used Pencil is another artist I have never come across before and his Upfest biography reads:

I am Used Pencil, the ‘Secret Walls’ winning, mural making, illicit illustrator with walls covered and exhibitions curated in HK, Lisbon, LDN, Manchester and Iceland, to name just a few. Always starting with a pencil and paper, I like to make marks on all surfaces using fine line creative wizardry.

Nice contemporary work.