We kicked off our 75 Walls project in style with Will Barras, painting his incredible mural ‘Sherlock’ on The Pony North Street.
While we couldn’t hold the whole festival together, this project was designed to bring painting to the streets of Bedminster for the whole summer.
This year we had a 50/50 gender split in the artists that painted for Upfest with some unbelievable murals being created. Sophie Rae gave us the huge botanical piece on Flip Deli, Sian Storey painted the stunning piece in Ebenezer Pocket Park and Farrah created a free hand mural about Forest Fires which was unreal.
Insane51 was the only international artist to paint this year and he took on the iconic Tobacco Factory wall mural which has become a staple to Bristol’s street art scene. The result was out of this world and Insane51 has completely amazed the people of Bristol with his 3D mural of Greek Goddess, NYX.
This piece appears different when looked at through either a red or blue lens, so when you’re next heading down to check it out, you can either use a pair of 3D glasses or Insane’s Instagram filter to have a proper look at the different layers.
Caryn Koh was recently featured on Sky Arts ‘Portrait Artist of the Year’ for her amazing talent, both on canvas and concrete. Caryn joined us this year for the 75 walls and created an amazing mural on Exeter Road near Tincan Coffee called ‘Sister & I’.
You can find a free-hand piece hidden just behind the Hen and Chicken, painted by contemporary artist Farrah. Her work is awe-inspiring with each stroke telling a story of our oceans and rainforests, and how we need to protect them.
With the completion of the 75 walls project, we’ve created a new Street Art Map where you can find and follow the exact locations of all the new artworks, as well as the many street art pieces in Southville.
With a big thank you to the DCMS recovery fund through Arts Council England who helped fund this project and with massive support from POSCA and Kobra Spray Paint who supplied the artists with materials. These past three months have been incredible and Bristol has never looked better.