A gallery of wheatpastes from the brilliant and quirky London-based? artist qWeRT
All photographs by Scooj
qWeRT
Tag: Wheatpaste
2986. M32 roundabout J3 (214)
I love making discoveries. Finding things that were meant to be found, but only by those who are looking. This drawing is one such discovery, in one of the tunnels of the M32 roundabout. There are a trio of other pieces by the same artist not far away. Regular readers will know that I am particularly fond of paste ups, and when they are by an artist unknown to me, they are that little bit more special.
I think the artist is called Jarvis, but that is as much as I know about them. The crown on the top of the signature indicates to me that this artist understands street art culture and is deliberately being a part of it. The piece itself, roughly A4 size, is vibrant and striking. The colours and elements are simple and bold. A red figure in profile, the sea, the sun, the moon and a possible reference to Bristol, a hot air balloon. The wheatpaste is set on a jaunty angle and seems to have been torn from a pad at the top edge. I like this paste up very much and it feels like we might be seeing the emergence of another Bristol street artist. I’ll post the other three pieces soon, and will be on the lookout for more.
2953. Jamaica Street (19)
On Jamaica Street, opposite the PRSC outdoor gallery is this curious paste up by qWeRT. This is quite different from the googly-eyed character that we are used to seeing, and something of a rarity (unless I have mistaken the artist, which is always possible).
Looking a little bit more like something from Face the Strange, another wheatpaster, the piece is of a suited man with robotic extensions for a head and arms. I passed by that way yesterday and even though the piece is two years old it is still there. not too tatty either. An interesting paste up in a great spot.
2947. Moon Street (82)
I am not entirely certain when this lovely Egyptian-style wheatpaste by qWeRT first appeared, and by the time I photographed it it was already looking a little weathered, but I think it was from a visit to Bristol in around November/December last year.
Our googly-eyed Friend has really gone to town in this one wearing a full Tutankhamen death mask and looking most splendid. As much as the artwork itself, I like the placing, in a disused window space so that it is framed really nicely. To be fair, it is a popular space for wheatpasters, but that is because it is exactly the right kind of spot. I think a qWeRT gallery might be in the wings.
Tian
Tian, a gallery.
Tian is a stencil artist and wheatpaster from Paris whose sepia-tinted paste ups add mystery and wonder to the streets of Bristol on his occasional ‘tour’ visits.
All photographs by Scooj
2942. Dean Lane skate park (311)
Last year, Georgie had a few paste up sessions concentrated around the Dean Lane and Stokes Croft areas. This is a really nice Brexit piece and so simply sums up the divided nation along the lines of I’m ok with this and I’m not ok with this.
I’m alright Jack plays on the disgusting appropriation of the Union Jack by the Brexiteers whose portrayal of remainers as unpatriotic was quite disgusting, but a very powerful narative that underpinned the whole debate. Only the future will tell us whether the experiment is a mistake or not and in any case, many of the problems will be masked by the imppacts of coronavirus, giving this Brexit government the perfect excuse to waffle their way out of uselessness.
Feeling a bit political this morning.
2917. The Bearpit (188)
I miss The Bearpit street art so very much, particularly when I find pictures like this one of a Tian wheatpaste in my archive. Using his favoured sepia tones, Tian presents us with another glamorous lady… possibly famous, possibly not. All of his work is designed to get us thinking about the central character, even if we can’t help ourselves.
I am a very big fan of paste ups, and finding them in Bristol is a bit of a treat, because unlike other parts of the country/other countries, the scene is pretty small here, and most wheatpastes are from visitors like Tian or qWerT or Upfest artists. It was Kid Crayon’s wheatpastes that drew me in to being more curious about street art some five or six years ago, and I haven’t looked back.
2912. The Bearpit (187)
Looking back to May last year when The Bearpit was nearing its end as a street art spot, (shame on Bristol City Council) and the visiting French wheatpaster Tian, left us several fabulous pieces in Stokes Croft and the roundabout.
This fabulous piece, printed from a stencil, is of a boxer, I have no idea who, and is one of his larger paste ups at about three-quarters life size. The yellow tones work really well on the red background and the piece is full of life and movement. If and when Tian returns to Bristol he may struggle to find as many spots to paste his work as he has been used to on previous visits as the pace of gentrification accelerates.
Thursday doors – 30 April 2020
Doors 104 – New York City paste up and sticker doors
Lock down continues and the weather has become a little unsettled, which adds up to a failure to find some new fresh doors for you this week, so it is a return to my archives and some doors from a family trip we took to New York in October 2017.
Each morning I would rise early and wander around the East Village area where out holiday appartment was and snap up some street art before the rest of the family got up – I combined shopping for breakfast with getting my street art fix, a win-win situation.
Many of the doors in the area were peppered from top to toe with wheatpastes and stickers. Here are a few of them to give you a flavour of the district:
You can spot a paste up by Phoebe New York to the right of the door buzzer.
There are two more Phoebe New York paste ups here, one above the boxer on the left and one at the bottom right of the door.
I hope you enjoyed this little tour, brief I know and I am sorry about that.
If you have made it this far, you probably like doors and you ought to take a look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the originator of Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
by Scooj
2864. Stokes Croft
I thought I had posted all my pictures of French artist Tian’s wheatpastes in Bristol from a visit he made in May last year, but I was mistaken, and the opportunity that Covid-19 has given me to ‘look back’ has unearthed a whole bunch more of which this is one.
I love Tian’s work and that he has twice visited Brisol in recent years and left us these wonderful pasteups is a real privilege. I’m not sure who the sepia-tinted woman featured is, it might be Jane Fonda? Or possibly it isn’t anyone famous. No matter, it is beautiful in my eyes. More to come, and possibly a gallery soon.
Natural adventures 