Upfest: spray paint and music

Fantastic! the music has at last stopped!

Upfest has been happening in venues and car-parks and streets all around here, all weekend.   One of the main sites is in a yard immediately behind my house, so I can see all the painting going on from the back windows.  And hear the music!   

This was the view from my little back bedroom.

This is how the website describes it all:

Welcome to our new festival website for Upfest Bristol 2012, by using the buttons above your be able to find all the information of this years festival, from where to find toilets too the location of your favourite artists. Upfest Europe’s largest urban art festival has announced the impressive international line up for its fifth year and has unveiled plans to take over the cultural home of UK graffiti, Bristol.

This year Upfest has attracted over 250 of the most groundbreaking graffiti artists the world has to offer. Descending onto Southville, Bristol they will consume over two miles of the city to paint live for three days and create over 20,000 square foot of artwork. Along side all of your favourite artists, DJ's, Beatboxers and Bands your find a great selection of genuinely affordable artwork.

It is a brilliant festival of urban street art, and I am amazed and impressed at the range and quality of the work on show - all done with spray cans and very quickly.  There have been loads and loads of people about, even today when the rain has hardly stopped.   Quite a lot of the shops on adjacent North Street have had their shutters painted, which will no doubt help cheer the place up, especially the far end which is still a bit neglected.  

But the music has been loud and relentless with a heavy and repetitive bass beat all day long since 11.00 am.  So it is bliss indeed that, on the stroke of 9 pm, the music has stopped - or at least, it has retreated indoors to the Tobacco Factory and several of the other pubs and bars along North Street.   

Here are just a couple of images taken from the work in the yard immediately behind my house....

Tomorrow there will be more - and the weather forecast is OK for Monday, so the painters and spectators should have a much nicer day.   But what a turn-out, even today in the pouring rain: the organisers and local traders must all be very pleased.