Tag: Paste up

773. St Augustine’s Parade (1)

Something fresh and new in Bristol. As you will know by now, I am a big fan of wheatpastes, so when I saw this I had a small pang of excitement. In fact it turned out to be the first of four I found on my home. It is by qWeRT, a wheatpaster based in London, who must have had a mini-break in Bristol and left a few ‘presents’.

Qwert, St Augustine's Parade, Bristol, April 2017
Qwert, St Augustine’s Parade, Bristol, April 2017

This colourful happy piece appeared to have been here a little while as one bit was starting to peel off – I can’t believe I have not seen it before though. Since Kid Crayon moved onto spraying, I have missed my fix of paste ups. Discovering the work of qWeRT has quenched my thirst a little.

762. Upfest 2016 (119)

A pair of great wheatpasters occupuying the same space at Upfest, which is often the case when there are only a limited number of ‘public’ utility boxes of one sort or another to choose from.

Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

The first of these excellent paste ups is by Losthills featuring his wonderful Jake the Dog, the second is a weird and wonderful pigeon headed gentleman by Face the Strange (I guess his name gives away his artistic direction).

Face the Strange and Losthills, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Face the Strange and Losthills, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

These two artists really brought some colour and fun to North Street, along with all the other wheatpasters. I fear it is an underrated form of street art, but I am a big fan.

704. Upfest 2016 (108)

Another wonderful paste up from Losthills of Jake the dog. In this one we see Jake sporting an interesting/spooky charm necklace.

Losthills, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Losthills, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

There is something pleasing about the way Losthills sprays his pieces before he pastes them up, the dots of white paint in this instance add to the overall texture of the piece. I am rather fond of Jake the dog.

647. Upfest 2016 (96)

One of the pleasures of Upfest 2016 was the sheer volume of wheatpastes that appeared on billboards, lamp posts, letterboxes and other utility boxes. One of the busiest of these paste up artists was Face the Strange, who must have come to Bristol with a suitcase filled with his work.

Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

This piece is really rather odd, odder than many of his other pieces and that is saying something. A raspberry lady in a business suit walking with crutches – what is going on here? It isn’t so much shocking as just weird. I rather like it though and you can see that a lot of thought and effort has gone into this small wheatpaste.

644. Grimsby Street, Shoreditch (2)

Today a look back at last Summer and a walk I took I Shoreditch. This is a great wheatpaste by D7606, and a fine tribute to the late David Bowie. D7606’s work often combines iconic figures with 20th century electronic appliances such as telephone boxes, telephones or televisions.

D7606, Grimsby Street, Shoreditch, August 2016
D7606, Grimsby Street, Shoreditch, August 2016

Always good and always quirky and fun.

589. Upfest 2016 (83)

I like 23 Magpie’s work so much that I recently bought a small piece that she was selling through Instagram. It is waiting for a frame, along with several other things that need frames…I really do need to earn a little more money.

23 Magpies, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
23 Magpies, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

As well as her official work, 23 Magpies left a treasure trail of paste ups all around North Street, some of which I have posted on this blog, and others that I have yet to post. I think I may have got them all, but I can’t be sure. This is a fox painted with a design onto sheet music, something that she does quite a lot. It is always a pleasure finding one of these.

 

 

588. Upfest 2016 (82)

OK, I know, I just posted a piece by Face the Strange, and here we have another one. I have done this deliberately because I think that each of them deserves a post to themself. Occasionally I will combine pieces by the same artist, but mostly I like to concentrate on each work. It just so happens that there are two by FTS in a row.

Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July2016
Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July2016

I love this small paste up. It could have been easily missed, lurking on a doorway behind a tub of recycling. But take a closer look at this TV set and you will see that there is a still from ‘a Clockwork Orange’ and in the spirit of things, FTS has replaced the heads of the characters with oranges wearing bowler hats. Any artistic reference to this great film has to be a good thing. This wheatpaste is witty and fun, and the style of FTS’s work is always slightly unsettling and anarchic. Great work.

587. Upfest 2016 (81)

Face the Strange seemed to have a great time at Upfest 2016, spreading the love all over North Street with a fine selection of his wheatpastes, each one of them curiouas and humorous.

Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Face the Strange, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

This one seems to show four red-shirted gentlemen with projector or television tubes for heads. Nobody said that peculiar wasn’t allowed at Upfest, so Face the Strange has provided it in bucket-loads. A commentary on techno-geek-physics-heads? Reminds me a little of Kraftwerk, remember them?

 

532. Upfest 2016 (71)

This was a lively piece created for Upfest by the curiously named Francois GotBuffed, who is based in Belfast. He works mostly with stickers and paste ups, creating playful cartoon characters.

Francois GotBuffed, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016
Francois GotBuffed, Upfest, Bristol, July 2016

I don’t have much more information on this artist/sticker maker, but you can see his Facebook page here.

518. Moon Street (15)

Off the beaten track, DinDin left this little treat behind in Moon Street while she was over for Upfest this year. Unfortunately, even though I found the piece quite soon after it was completed, it was already slightly damaged.

DinDin, Moon Street, Bristol, August 2016
DinDin, Moon Street, Bristol, August 2016

I love it nonetheless. It is a swanky, stylish wheatpaste that somehow blends in really well with the brick wall it is pasted to. It is very close to another of her pieces I posted about a little while back. DinDin is my favourite discovery from Upfest this year, and I dearly hope she returns next year. Always welcome.