Glass beads suspended
above a palm canopy
Jurassic woodland.
by Scooj
Glass beads suspended
above a palm canopy
Jurassic woodland.
by Scooj
Well this one was a little off the beaten track, only by a hundred meters or so, but enough for many visitors to Upfest to have missed it. In fact, I missed it until a friend told me about it, and I went to investigate for myself.

Mr June, who had a premium wall at Upfest 2016, came back this year to create this architectural masterpiece, turning a fairly ordinary flat into something out of the ordinary…exceptional even.

Smyth Lane has rarely been such a desirable location, demonstrating what a bit of unbelieveably cool spraying can do for a place. The clever straight line 3D effect created on the front of the building is perfectly offset by the more organic shapes that are on the walls of the tunnel. A watery theme disrupts the hard edges and ripples appear to disperse across the piece. While on the other side, water droplets bound by surface tension, sit on designed planes that have an Escher feel to them. And the greens…just beautiful.

Mr June is a highly accomplished artist and this piece really has to go straight into the top ten for this year’s festival…and to think I nearly missed it. I wonder if other local residents will be offering up their properties for a makeover next year.

Water beadlets lie
long after the rain has passed
suspended in time.
by Scooj
I am absolutely loving this EAT crew partnership of Kid Crayon and SPZero76. As street artists go, their styles are quite different, KC tending to have softer lines and whose characters have a kind of lumpy quality to them…I’m not sure I have used the right term there, but I know what I mean. SPZero76 tends to use sharper lines and his characters are altogether more angular and prickly (another dodgy art term).

I mention their styles, because, of all the works they have done together that I have seen, this is the one where their art is starting to merge or rub-off on one another. The left hand side id by Kid Crayon and the right hand side by SPZero76.

I have absolutely no idea what is going on in this piece, but love the sort of Summer watery feel to it all. A purple giant, some little ‘ginger bread man’ type figures and a pretty lady bathing with a rubber duck. KC is clearly bonkers.

On the other side of things, SPZero76 gives us a couple of snorkelers a flamingo rubber ring and a pirate ship. The couple are in love. SPZero too is completely bonkers.

I absolutely love this collaboration and even more enjoy the way that these two just seem to love to paint all the time, about anything. This is one of my favourite pieces so far this year. Bravo.
This is a beautiful piece of art that I think had been painted for Upfest 2015, although I am not certain. I took the photographs a little while ago, and the wall has since been painted over.


There’s always room for
two, when one of them is you
and the other’s me.
by Scooj
When I first arrived in Bristol, some 26 years ago, I was a young man with energy and an appetite for clubs and boozing. The Thekla was one of my favourite haunts and I regularly drank more than was good for me on this fine vessel. Many ships and boats on Bristol’s floating harbour have been converted into clubs, cafes and restaurants, and they add to the maritime tradition here.

This beautiful Inkie piece is not the first to be sprayed on the side of the Thekla. Some years ago, Banksy sprayed the Grim Reaper in roughly the same place. This piece by Inkie is perfect for the location, and one of my favourite works in Bristol.

There is a little bonus piece near the bowse of the Thekla of Homer Simpson. I am not sure who the artist is, but it brings with it additional colour to the flank of the ship. All a bit of fun.
The stillness reaches
into my soul; once again
I can breathe easy.
by Scooj
Hear the tide ebbing,
seaweed pops and crackles and
bright water gurgles.
by Scooj
At its highest point
the sea deposits its gifts
in long rows to dry
by Scooj