Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th June 2010 @ Tobacco Factory, Bristol

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Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th June 2010 @ View Art Gallery, Tobacco Factory, Bristol

Europe’s biggest urban festival is back – two days of live art by over 200 artists and illustrators, some of whom have travelled across continents to be there, sound-tracked by DJs, beat-boxers, hip-hop groups and MCs. The artists will be mixing it up with this year’s MashUP theme, with some very special collaborations due to take place. There will also be badge making, clothing, and art material stalls and a kid’s painting area.

www.upfest.co.uk

As 2010 swings into action, Bristol’s independent art scene starts the new decade in rude health. Away from establishments like the Arnolfini and Spike Island, there has been a marked growth in the kind of community work previously only found at places like the Trinity Centre. Although it’s merely the tip of the iceberg where the entire city is concerned, these days a walk down Stokes Croft is a sensory blur of colour and texture. Between the great waves of Hillgrove Street and the murals that skirt the derelict front of Westmoreland House, you find Turbo Island’s bold font, a tiny medieval Apothecary and countless tiny oddities that reveal themselves only with careful inspection.

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9.30am until 5.30pm, Saturday 29th May 2010 @ The Mall, Bristol

www.bfop.org

Thursday 20th May until Wednesday 9th June 2010 @ Various Venues, Bristol

Bristol’s first ever festival of photography is here! Three weeks of exhibitions, workshops, talks, activates and other events celebrating all the artistic and practical aspects of photography.

Visit the website to check out the full list of exhibiting photographers and contributing venues.

www.bfop.org

Saturday 24th April until Sunday 4th July 2010 @ Arnolfini, Bristol

Anyone can write a good exhibition guide. Where art is concerned it means a lengthy explanation of the meaning, significance and intention of what gallery visitors actually see. The Arnolfini provides a page and a half of such information about Otto Zitko and Louise Bourgeois’ Me, Myself And I show. Sadly, the first floor gallery of Zitko’s work is so disappointing in comparison to the verbal fireworks of its description.

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You may not be familiar with the name Simon Mills, but if you live in Bristol and engage in any way with its artistic subculture - and if you’re reading this, you probably do - you’ll have almost certainly seen his work. Simon is a prolific artist who has displayed work in exhibitions and galleries from Bristol to New York; not bad for an unassuming young man who grew up in Nailsea.

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Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th May 2010 @ Bristol Old Vic, Bristol
Showing as part of Mayfest 2010, Bristol’s festival of contemporary theatre

I’m genuinely unsure where to start in describing the Forest Fringe Microfestival…The whole shebang took place in various areas of the Bristol Old Vic theatre and ranged from the vaguely confusing to the utterly bizarre. Part art exhibition, part interactive theatrical production, part gig, part magical mystery tour, there was plenty to see and plenty to involve yourself with (depending on how willing you were to let yourself get swept up in the madness).
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Friday 9th April until Friday 21st May 2010 @ The Nails Gallery, Bristol

Artist Abigail McDougall has reinvented her trademark watercolour paintings of Bristol with an exhibition that’s all about leaving the city behind and soaking up the vibrancy of the countryside. Adventures In Light will be on show at the Nails Gallery, beneath St Nick’s Market in central Bristol, until May 21st. The white-washed underground gallery showcases forty of Abigail’s recent watercolours and acrylic paintings produced along the beautiful Bristol-Bath and Bradford-On-Avon cycle paths, as well as views from recent visits to Italy and Morocco.

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Friday 9th until Thursday 29th April 2010 @ The Grant Bradley Art Gallery, Bristol

The raw shock ink blot test goes dotty spotty and potty: Adam Closs returns with an exhibition by Rorschach’s ink blot tests, done entirely in black and white whilst experimenting with taking the pressure out of the canvas, creating deep 3D reliefs. Most artists paint or sculpt in order to get a particular message or meaning across, but not so for Adam Closs. He’s dedicated his life to creating conceptual works that aim to do the exact opposite to this, leaving it up to the viewer to decide for themselves what they’re looking at.

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