Urban View

For the second year running, we're joining with UPFEST to put on a show of the best urban art being 'sprayed' this year. 'Urban View' 2010 is being extended to accommodate two shows. The first will focus on the latest creations from seven of the top spray painters around. The second will open up to a larger number of artists and feature the best of the work created in the live weekend festival of spray painting.

The festival kicks off on the Friday with the opening night at View and the live painting starts from there. We have some exciting ideas for where and when the spraying starts but as ever, these things are flexible due to the spontaneous nature of the people concerned and the challenges they set themselves; some of the objects targeted for spraying this year are pretty inventive!

There's always a buzz around Bristol for this festival and this year is no exception. As the big names get confirmed, the PR builds momentum and the energy (and stress levels) rise, we know UPFEST will be bigger and better than ever. Urban View goes international with spray stars from France and Germany exhibiting alongside some of the best of Britain.

We are also confident that the quality of art improves year on year. Urban Art is no longer just about graffiti in the back streets of Bristol. For better or worse, the cross over between fine art becomes more and more blurred. At View we consider this a positive trend as it allows us to provide broader access to this exciting genre of art and give everyone the opportunity to take home a bit of art history.

For a reminder of what happened at View last year, take a look at these photos. And to get a taste of one of the main featured artists have a look at this short video. Finally, to see the full UPFEST 10 press release click here.

Enjoy the show.