Look Up Street Art Festival Portsmouth
Held over the weekend of the 9th and 10th September 2023, the Look Up Street Art Festival was held in Portsmouth. Organised by Portsmouth's own My Dog Sighs, the festival brought together Street Artists from around the UK and internationally to create works of art across multiple sites around the city.
The festival was supported by the Arts Council England, Portsmouth Creates, Portsmouth City Council, Southern Co-Op and various other organisations. Street Artists involved included Phlegm, My Dog Sighs, The London Police, Hera, Inkie, Kashink, Liam Bononi and local artists such as Fark, Roo Abrook, Pompey Banana Club, Midge, Mook and Soak.
Shown below are our photos of the various paintings along with artist credit and location details, we hope you enjoy the works as much as we did. Thank you My Dog Sighs for organising such a creative festival, hopefully 2023 was just the first of many.
Look Up Portsmouth 2023
ASTORIA NIGHTCLUB, GUILDHALL WALK - MY DOG SIGHS
This large painting on the side wall of the Astoria nightclub in Guildhall Walk is of course by Portsmouth based artist My Dog Sighs.
BROAD STREET and TOWER STREET, OLD PORTSMOUTH - POGO and M.ONE
French stencil artist Pogo is a regular in the Portsmouth and Southsea area and never disappoints. This painting in Broad Street is classic Pogo framed by the distinctive Old Portsmouth landmark latitude and longitude archway at Capstan House. The painting in Tower Street, Love Is My Reason, is by Southsea based stencil artist M.One.
CANBERRA HOUSE, ARUNDEL STREET - SPRITE
Painted by Sprite a Brighton based artist who specialises in animals and abstract designs. This colourful painting is on a wall just outside of Canberra House in Arundel Street in the city centre. The painting by Sprite features a Goldfinch and Ladybird design.
CENTRAL STREET, PORTSMOUTH - VARIOUS
At Central Street in Portsmouth city centre there is a collection of works painted by a variety of artists during Look Up 2023. These include Soak, Mimic/Sbbuts, Andrew Foster, Mark Kellett, Lewis Bannister, Curtis Creationz, Jeru Nomi, Vane MG, Hutch, James Mankiewicz and K9 Stencils. Shown here is a selection of work by Jonks Art, Andrew Foster, Vane MG and Curtis Creationz.
COLLINS ROAD, SOUTHSEA - HAYLEY WELSH
Hayley Welsh is a highly regarded street artist with studios in both the UK and Australia. This painting is in Collins Road, Southsea. Hayley has created street art works in the UK, Australia, the US and Europe, and regularly takes part in Street Art Festivals around the world.
DEBENHAMS BUIDING, SOUTHSEA - ABRAHAM.O and DHARMA77
Two brilliant paintings here, both located at the old Debenhams building in Palmerston Road, Southsea.
The first, in monochrome, is by Salvadoran artist Abraham O.
This portrait is painted in the grey-scale realistic style that Abraham.O is known for. It is a stunning piece of street art.
The second painting is by Dharma77 (Luke Storkey). Dharma77 with his distinctive style of painting, is a regular in Portsmouth and Southsea, with his biggest collection of works being the Orchard Road basketball court, which you can see opposite Fratton station.
EASTNEY COMMUNITY CENTRE - MISTER SAMO
Mister Samo @mister.samo has painted the entire side of the Eastney Community Centre building in Bransbury Park. Mister Samo is a local artist and trans rights activist, you can see his work in various locations around the city, notably the large hoarding near the Queens Hotel in Southsea painted for Portsmouth Pride 2023.
FORDINGBRIDGE ROAD, EASTNEY - PAUL MONSTERS
This geometric design by Paul Monsters is on the corner of Fordingbridge Road and Bransbury Road in Eastney, just opposite Bransbury Park. The work covers the entire side of this house.
Based in Bristol paul is known for his geometric abstract designs, which like this one, often have more than one obvious layers to view.
FRANCIS AVENUE/NORTHCOTE ROAD - HERA OF HERAKUT
This surreal painting by Hera is on the corner of Francis Avenue and Nortcote Road, opposite the Northcote Pub. Hera is a german born street artist who uses a variety of different mediums, a graffiti artist, illustrator, poet and storyteller. "Sometimes you just really need a rainy day"
GOLDSMITH AVENUE, PORTSMOUTH - THE LONDON POLICE
On the wall of the Seadog Studios, opposite Tesco on Goldsmith Avenue, this huge painting is by The London Police. TLP were formed in 1998 and although from the UK started there Street Art works in Amsterdam. Chaz Barrisson and Bob Gibson are the artistic core of TLP and draw evrything by hand. Previously this wall was painted by My Dog Sighs.
GRAYSHOTT ROAD, PORTSMOUTH - CARYN KOH
This painting on the side of a house in Grayshott Road is by Caryn Koh. Based in Swindon Caryn is originally from Malaysia where there is a long tradition of street art. She graduated from Dasein Art Academy and was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award in Fine Arts.
HAVELOCK COMMUNITY CENTRE, SOUTHSEA - SI MITCHELL
This large colourful mural by Si Mitchell is on the rear wall of the Havelock Community Centre, in the car park. Si is an illustrator and street artist based in Cambridgeshire.
LEOPOLD STREET, SOUTHSEA - ROO
At the Corner Collective studio on the corner of Leopold Street and Albert Road, this fun painting by Roo features some of her trade mark crew of animal characters.
MEON ROAD, MILTON - POMPEY BANANA CLUB
This collection by Pompey Banana Club, is on the side of the Milton Perk coffee shop, on Meon Road, Milton. Pompey Banana Club are a group of graphic design artists who use local language and terms from the Portsmouth area and incorporate it into their artworks. Phrases such as the classic "getting off at Fratton" and "squinny" being prime examples.
MILTON CO-OP, MIDDLESEX ROAD - OOBERLA, MIDGE AND MISHFIT
A trio of paintings by different female artists here, all painted on the side of the Co-Op at Milton Market, Middlesex Road.
The portrait of two young ladies is by Brighton based artist Mishfit. From her base in Brighton Mishfit creates Street Art as well as fine art works and has painted internationally from the streets of Melbourne to Europe's biggest street art festival, Upfest.
The central work is by local artist This Is Midge. Midge is a regular on the local Street Art scene, you can see her work at locations such as Hilsea Lido and Palmerston Road.
The third work at this location is by local artist Ooberla. Ooberla is from Southsea and is well known for creating strange little creatures as sown in this piece.
OSBOURNE ROAD, SOUTHSEA - PHLEGM
This huge painting by Phlegm is on the front of the old casino building on Osbourne Road in Southsea. Phlegm is a world renowned street artist and cartoonist from Wales and based in Sheffield. He is one of the most admired street artists around the world. Phlegm's first solo exhibition The Bestiary took place at the Howard Griffin Gallery in London in 2014. In April 2019 his show 'Mausoleum of the Giants' in Sheffield, attracted more than 12,000 visitors.
PRIORY SCHOOL, VICTORIA ROAD NORTH - HERA OF HERAKUT
Located on the side of the sports hall at Priory School, just south of Fratton Bridge, this piece is by Hera of Herakut who also created the painting in Francis Avenue by the Northcote pub. The text reads "Some look at the world and see beyond it's given rules. They are the game changers who inspire others along their way."
The sculpture sitting on the wall is called Madonna of the Gulls and is by Bristol based artist Getting Up To Stuff. Getting up to stuff has a reputation for making sculptures that observe social topics, such as suicide and the lack of representation of certain groups, and installing them in secret for people to discover. This piece however was commissioned as part of the Look Up Festival and features a lady eating fish and chips out of a cardboard tray surrounded by a group of seemingly well behaved gulls.
St ANN'S ROAD/HASLEMERE ROAD, SOUTHSEA - BRAVE ARTS
Wow! This huge painting is by Brave Arts, a major street artist for 20 years, is located on the side of a house on the corner of St Ann's Road and Haslemere Road in Southsea. Brave Arts (Scotty Brave) is a spray can artist from Essex who specialises in large scale murals and also runs workshops and community activities educating and inspiring young people.
THE HARD, PORTSMOUTH - CBLOXX
This very large mural by Cbloxx is painted on the side of the Lady Hamilton pub at The Hard in Portsmouth. Cbloxx (Jay Gilleard) is a mutidisciplinary artist from Huddersfield. He co-founded the Nomad Clan who were responsible for painting the tallest mural in the UK, 'Athena Rising' in Leeds. This ship in a bottle design reflects Cbloxx ethos of honouring local community and environments, sitting as it does so close to Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard.
WELLINGTON STREET, PORTSMOUTH - SPRAY SAINT, JIMMER WILLMOTT
A couple of crackers here, Mary Rose by Spray Saint and Dinlo by Jimmer Willmott.
Spray Saint (Jordan Lauder) is an Urban Artist from the UK who specialises in creating murals large and small. Jimmer Willmott describes himself as a Pop Surrealist, his piece here spelling out Dinlo in alphabetti spaghetti letters.
WILTSHIRE STREET, PORTSMOUTH - VARIOUS
At St Pauls Road / Wiltshire Street in the city centre, just south of St Pauls Sports Centre, there are approximately 20 separate panels that have been painted each by different artists. Shown below is a sample of those panels featuring Violent Artist, Michaela Alysee, Jenniefarmerart and Walnut_Streetart.