Upfest 2018 the best of the street art boards

Upfest is a festival which is all about street art and we’ve already shared our Top 25 best murals from the event. The truth is though there were so many artists and art to choose from that it was a difficult list to compile.

Difficult because by it’s very nature street art is best seen on a wall and so our list was really always going to be bias towards those. The bigger the better as the saying goes. Indeed, it is often the large scale murals which get all the attention particularly as those are the walls that will be there for a while.

Majilina Upfest — The Italian artist Majilina painting inside the Ashton Gate Football Stadium

PAINTING AROUND UPFEST

But the fact is that the real action at these sorts of events tends to happen in the painting areas away from the main walls. The South Street Park, the Ashton Gate Football Stadium, the courtyard of the Spotted Cow pub and St. Francis’s churchyard all hosted artists who were painting boards.

Smaller in scale and often crammed together, the artists are easier to access and to talk to. For a festival like this, which relies on the public enjoying the work and interacting, this is crucial. The average art fan can wander round, soak up the atmosphere and get to know the artists on a much more intimate level.

Airborne Mark, part way through painting his origami snake in the South Street Park

THE NEXT GENERATION

One thing that really stands out about this years festival was the amount of kids enjoying the art. Often seen moving from artist to artist with their black books. They would wait patiently, books at the ready for the artists to notice them. They would delight over a tag or a little sketch, a memento of the day and quite possibly the seed for a greater interest in art and urban art being planted. You can’t really get that when your three story’s high on a scaffold.

But enough lyrical waxing! This post is about celebrating the best of the boards, or at least the ones that caught our eye and the art of Upfest. We’ve selected a few of our favourites so have a look and see what you think.

Upfest 2018 Gallery

Akse Upfest — A portrait of Frida Kahlo from Akse

Anna Jaxe Upfest — Multi-layered stencil from Anna Jaxe.

Annika Wilkinson upfest — A face peering through the haze from Annika Wilkinson

Green Bow Tie Works Upfest — ‘You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop” – Green Bow Tie Works

Bronik Upfest — Bronik from Barcelona with one of her women inspired by her Peruvian heritage

Daub Upfest — Some brilliant random creatures made from lines by Daub

Dedd Ringa Upfest — Great piece from Dedd Ringa

Dice SixtySeven Upfest Alyssa Carson — Dice SixtySeven was inspired by the words of Alyssa Carson who is aimed to be the first person on Mars

Dima Kashtalyan Upfest — Incredible detail in this piece from Belarussian illustrator Dima Kashtalyan.

Elalfil Upfest — Cool graphic piece from Elalfil

Georgie Upfest — We normally know Bristol based artist Georgie because of her paste ups. Here however she created an impactful freehand portrait

Goya Torres Upfest — Mexican artist Goya Torres painted one of her identifiable portraits

Gums and Tongues Upfest — The Gums & Tongues crew got together and once more painted an epic mural. The Simpsons theme taking inspiration from the wider festival which had sponsorship from the show

GretL Upfest — GretL from Angers in France with a Tiger hidden in the forest

Jane Mutiny Upfest — Jane Mutiny’s art raises awareness of animals at risk of extinction such as the tiger

Kaldea Upfest — Very cool piece from Kaldea

Matt Tieu Upfest — A nice piece from Matt Tieu ‘We are still friends’ referencing the UK’s relationship with the EU

Mazcan Upfest — Brighton based Mazcan did a couple of pieces including this

Peachzz Upfest — Peachzz from Sheffield has a bright vibrant style

Pikto Art Upfest — A child with a cherry from Pikto Art

Sophie Long Upfest — Lovely piece from Sophie Long who drew attention to the ever dwindling number of the bees

Splintered Studios Upfest — ‘Every Girl who could have the power will have the power’ – Another great piece from Stephen Quick aka Splintered Studios

Sr. X Upfest — Stalin and Mickey Mouse, a typically ironic piece from Sr. X

Vanessa Longchamp Upfest — Vanessa Longchamp is back and produced two pieces in Bristol

zasedesign upfest — Zase Design was painting a main wall last year but didn’t disappoint despite moving down in scale this time

For more pictures from Upfest 2018 take a look at our top 25 best murals here. For photos and commentary on the 2017 festival click here. To learn more about the street art in North Street Bristol and in the wider area, click on the links. For more pictures from Upfest 2018 also check out Blocal Blog here.