Inspired by my wall at Upfest 2012 this is my army of worms waiting patiently. Set to Zombie by Jamie T courtesy of Flipagram. |
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Never miss an update from Korp HQ and get exclusive content including special discounts on artwork and free give-aways. Usually I like to get to a paint jam not knowing what I'm going to paint. I have a list of default characters and techniques that I use depending on how I feel on the day. The reason I do this is because a couple of years ago I turned up at Upfest with a giant stencil that had taken 90 hours to cut but because of the wind and rain I never had a chance to put it up. This was highly demotivating and I struggled for the rest of the day with what to paint. In the end I went with a simple character that I'd drawn years ago (that was exhibited and sold at Canary Wharf), you can check the photos here but as days out painting go it was a bit of a let down. Anyway I figured I need to get some ideas down on paper for City of Colours so I can hit the ground running (rather than turning up and staring at a big white board for an hour). Here is what I've come up with so far...let me know if I've over done it.
My legs have only just stopped aching after Upfest 2013, there is so much to see you just never stop walking. Its difficult to summarise Upfest in a few paragraphs, it’s as if someone has loaded a cannon with all the best street artists and fired it at Southville. The main target is the Tobacco Factory but spread out further there is some great art to be found on the fringes. This year we were late getting into Bristol after a journey littered with closed junctions, bomb scares, traffic accidents and road works. Our 3 hour journey took us 5 hours to complete so unusually we decided to be sensible and go for a meal (Thai Edge, very nice) and get an early night. Bad idea, Saturday morning we wake up at 9:30 which is normally OK when you’re on holiday but Upfest artist registration is between 9:30 and 10:30 so the pressure is on already. We can’t afford to miss out on the free breakfast so we go downstairs and fuel up on bacon and eggs. We roll into the Tobacco Factory at 10:20 and queue for registration, behind us two artists who had only ever met over the internet recognise each other with a series of OMG’s and man-hugs. Great stuff. We collect our goody bags which contain cans of Montana paint, Posca pens and caps (thankyou Upfest) and make our way to our venue…The Luckwell Club. The Luckwell Club is an abandoned building, scheduled to be knocked down last year but still standing and home to the most artists out of all the venues. When we arrived the Upfest volunteers were still putting up the last remaining boards and told us that we would probably be round the corner at the back of the car park. Luckily Sisquatch used her charm and managed to negotiate us a board right at the entrance between Kef and Andy Council. How cool is that? While getting ready for Upfest I couldn’t decide what to paint. It was either going to be a giant 3 layer stencil of a wrinkly man or a new forsaken worm. With help from Sisquatch both went up. While painting it’s always good to meet up with those people who you regularly talk to on social media but never actually get to meet so thanks to everyone that stopped by to say hello. After a long day painting it was time for a drink so we took a short walk over to the Hen & Chicken to catch up with My Dog Sighs, Los Dave and Miss Wah. Also there was Wally and his wife who owned the van that My Dog Sighs and Funns painted. Apart from someone stealing my pizza this was a great night catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. For me Upfest on a Saturday is all about getting your head down and painting whereas Sunday is about walking the streets and taking in all the great art that is being put up. Sundays highlights included the C215 cat. An amazing freehand piece by the French artist that was painted over a magnificent Smug piece from last year. It was a brave decision to paint over Smug but I agree with it because it says no matter how good your art is its getting painted over next year which fits with the very temporary nature of street art. I got a Facebook message that I was in the Upfest gallery on North Street which surprised me because I sent my work to be exhibited a day late. Over the moon with this. Further down the road we caught up with My Dog Sighs again and this was the first time I’d seen the eyes he paints in the flesh. Pretty special moment, the reflection in the eyes is fantastic. Would have liked to have seen the van all finished. Process Smith managed to make it over on Sunday and was in Bar BS3 so we took a look in there. This was a really chilled out area and absolutely full of the most amazing stencils. Round the corner from Bar BS3 was Cretin Collective. I’ve painted with Dom W at a couple of events and I like his laid back attitude. He’s bloody good without trying too hard and pretty modest too which is a great combination. As far as I’m concerned Dom and the other guys from Cretin Collective painted the wall of the weekend. Really tight work that fused together several different artists styles seamlessly. Later that night Cretin member Loch Ness won illustrator of the year. There was plenty more to see at North Street Green, Vector Seating, the Tobacco Factory and all the other venues. Sunday night was a drink at the Tobacco Factory with the Duckmantons and Process Smith. Later Miss Wah and My Dog Sighs dropped in to collect an award for artist of the year before moving onto the Tunnels for the official after party. All in all Upfest 2013 was a classic, we loved it and can’t wait for 2014.
Here's a few photo's of what me and Sisquatch painted at Upfest this year. We had a great time catching up with old friends. Already I can't wait for next year.
Upfest is Europe's largest urban paint festival and this was it's 4th year. I've been to Upfest for the last 3 years so I've seen it grow every year and this year was no different. From a personal point of view it wasn't a great start because it was too windy to use the stencil I'd spent 50 hours cutting so I instead I did a large version of Pappy (a painting I did 5 years ago that got me to the final of the Liberte D'expression competition). Still it was enjoyable and I got to finish early and soak up the atmosphere. Check out the pics of me painting here. There were several highlights from this years event, right from the Friday night where all the shutters on the high street were being painted to the life size painted gorillas and the amazing Herakut piece on the side of the Tobacco Factory. There was good representation from Peterborough with Process Smith, SeOne and Kone74 on form. On the Sunday me and the family took in our first Secret Wars. 6 artists, just black pens and 3 hours. It was great to watch a massive piece of art come to life in front of you. Meanwhile upstairs in the Tobacco Factory there was more black on white with Collaboration Nation and My Dog Sighs. Upfest 2011 was epic...cant wait for next year...
Upfest 11 is over for another year and I've taken a few days off work to recover and get back to family life which is why you've not seen any photos of the event from me. It wasn't a great success for me personally because the stencil I'd spent over 50 hours cutting couldnt be used because it was too windy...it only takes a small gust of wind to take my stencil out of my hands (my own fault for using cartridge paper and not stencil card I guess). Still I had a great time working freestyle and painting an old favourite on a big wall.
I still havent sorted out my photo's yet so in the meantime here is a few links to other peoples photos of my work... My finished piece by Tony Trowbridge Not Dead Yet Me at work by My Dog Sighs I’m Korp, a multi layer stencil artist from Peterborough UK. Today I’m at Upfest 2011 painting a 3 layer stencil portrait of a Flickr friend called Tootdood. Although 3 layers don’t sound much each one is 9 sheets of A1 paper. With every sheet taking between 1 and 4 hours to hand cut so it’s been well over 50 hours of cutting time to get to this point. Luckily the painting part is a lot quicker.
My next big gig is the Overground Live Arts Jam in Peterborough on the 16th July but you can check my Facebook page for much more of what I'm up to. Thanks for stopping by... Korp. By the way if you get a few minutes free check out Tootdood the owner of the face on the wall. Upfest 2011 is just around the corner and I'm furiously cutting stencils which is why there has again been a lack of updates on the site. I was planning a big 5ft x 8ft 4 layer stencil but it's looking like it's just gonna be 3 layers because time is so short and the stencil is large and complex. Upfest, is now in its fourth year and is preparing to take over its cultural home Bristol by welcoming over 250 artists and 40 DJs, Groups & Human Beatboxers to the event this summer between 4th and 5th June 2011. It's a great day out, if you make it there I'll be painting on the North Street Green on the Saturday. Fingers crossed the wind and rain will stay away otherwise I'm screwed.
In preperation for Upfest 2011 I did a Google image search of Upfets 2010 to see if there were any shots of My Dog Sighs and me collaborating that I hadnt seen before...there were a few, here they are. I cant remember who's shots they are so if they are yours sorry for not linking back. Picked these up from the Banksy Forum site. |
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