This is the second of several recent wheatpastes from Copyright scattered around Bristol that I have found. Obviously it has been here long enough for the elements to damage it a little, but it still holds that extraordinary charm he seems to create with ease and grace.
Copyright, Leonard Lane, Bristol, July 2019
Copyright often presents his work in this symmetrical way, and symmetry seems to play a large part in many of his pieces. The beautiful model is created using a stencil, and the symmetry comes from reversing the stencil or the print. Whatever the technique, the outcome is stunning. Now to find the other wheatpastes… if they still exist.
I shared a great walk with fellow street art photographer, Paul, around St Paul’s a couple of weeks back, and this stunning wheatpaste/stencil had us both stumped. Obviously it is a picture of Haile Salassie, but the untitled piece left us with a bit of a mystery.
Alphahol, Ludlow Close, Bristol, July 2019
After a bit of a social media hunt, I tracked down the artist as Alphahol, who I believe is based in Blackburn, so he must have come down to Bristol for the St Paul’s Carnival. I know nothing more about the artist. The piece has some similarities with the work of Stephen Quick and even more so About Ponny. To turn a fabulous stencil piece into a wheatpaste is a technique used by several artists and an effective way of gaining reach for the art. I have to say I think this is an absolute cracker and a perfect location/time for the piece. Come back and visit soon.
I think that the first piece of street art by Copyright that I became conscious of was a wheatpaste somewhere in the Stokes Croft area a few years ago, I have since seen so much more of his work, and like it very much. It was nice to find this paste up, in Dean Lane skatepark recently, still pretty much in mint condition.
Copyright, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2019
Things have slowed a little on the street art scene in Bristol over the past ten days or so because of the dismal weather we have been having, but it has allowed me to catch up (the tiniest amount) on my posts.
There is something a little sinister in this piece, and I think it might be the lack of pupils in the eyes, and this edgy nature cuts slightly across the grain with the title ‘Love’. The spots read-across really well from the dress and onto the background providing a continuity to the whole. Fabulous to see another Copyright wheatpaste (or anything for that matter… it has been a while).
A few more striking wheatpastes from Frenchman Tian on the streets of Stokes Croft. Unfortunately with all the rain we’ve been having, several of these have started to peel off and disapppear, but I guess that is the ephemeral nature of street art.
Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, May 2019
There appear to be two colour variants of this stencil piece of an oriental woman looking so beautiful with flowers in her hair, this blue one, and a slightly less colourful sepia one.
Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, May 2019
I am so full of admiration for the way Tian works his art – first sourcing a great photograph, then creating a stencil from it, then printing off and cutting out paste ups and finally finding the precise and thought-out locations for each of them. He is a true master of his craft and I am an enormous fan.
I love wheatpastes (in case you hadn’t noticed) and at Upfest 2018 we were blessed with a series of poignant and thought provoking stencil paste ups by About Ponny. I was particularly moved by these small scenes, each one depicting the marginalised or forgotten, the vulnerable or neglected.
About Ponny, Upfest, Bristol, July 2018
This one, produced in sepia tones, shows two small children sheltering under a small basket, and has overtones of iconic images from the Vietnam or Cambodian conflicts. There is so much emotion and sadness and pity captured in this image. Really, truly this is an outstanding piece of art.
Well you have seen a couple of these now in recent posts, so you should be able to tell me the artist’s name. It is of course yet another sensational wheatpaste by French artist Tian who visited Bristol in early May, I think. Once again I am left uncertain who is featured in this stencil paste up, but the detail on the tattoo is incredible.
Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, May 2019
I absolutely love this one, not only for its technical brilliance, but also for the interesting pose and picture selected and more so the exact spot where the piece was pasted. A window that was already fairly heavily fly-posted and stickered is no dominated by this beautiful woman. One of my favourites of his great portfolio of work. Still many more to come.
Doors 72 – Doors from Camden Town from November 2017
I am now scraping the residues from a very deep and rather empty door barrel. I had a choice… not to post any doors today, or get something old out of the door quickly and efficiently…I went with the latter.
Here are three doors from a street art hunting trip to Camden Town, London back in November 2017:
Thursday Door, Camden Town, November 2017Wheatpasted door, Face the Strange (top) and CodeFC (bottom), Camden Town, November 2017A rather plain and neglected door, Camden Town, November 2017
So there you are. I’ll leave you to decide whether this post was worth it. I am (in case you hadn’t noticed) a bit of a creature of habit, so to do this was more comfortable than missing a week.
Maybe I’ll have time to do something a little more imaginative next week.
For more doors take a good look at the Norm 2.0 blog – the brains behind Thursday Doors where there are links to yet more doors in the comments section at the end.
Wow, just wow, another wonderful paste up from Tian down in Stokes Croft. This one features a boxer, but I fear I don’t know which one. I have Googled Muhammad Ali, it might be him; Apollo Creed, it’s not him; Joe Foreman, it might be him when he had hair; Joe Frazier, I don’t think it’s him. And there my knowledge of boxers dries up… any ideas?
Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, May 2019
The wheatpaste itself is a beautiful stencil using his preferred yellow/sepia tones, I just don’t think I can get enough of his work and rather joyfully I have a whole load more to post over the coming weeks.
I can’t express how excited I was to see this last week, but it appears that Tian has been on another tour of Bristol and has left dozens of paste ups in the Stokes Croft area. Although He came for Upfest 2016, his last wheatpasting drop was in April 2016 so it has been some time, but how utterly worth the wait.
Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, May 2019
Over the next few weeks I will post more of his pieces. Once again he presents us with stencil work that has been printed and pasted up and this first design appears to be a Japanese scene with a geisha. If any of his past work is a guide, the piece is probably taken from a famous film, but I don’t know for sure.
Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, May 2019
Unusually for the work of Tian that I have seen, this piece diverges from his normal sepia-toned pieces and in fact if you look carefully there are two different tones of orange used in the versions of this wheatpaste.
Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, May 2019
These four paste ups were from various spots on my way to work… what a walk that was. I seem to remember it was raining quite hard but it simply didn’t matter I was in street art appreciation mode.
Tian, Stokes Croft, Bristol, May 2019
Loads more to come from this fabulous French artist.
My visit to Shoreditch, London, back in November last year reminded me of a significant difference between the London and Bristol street art scenes. In London, there is a strong wheatpaste movement, and in some places there is barely a square inch of a wall that isn’t covered with a paste up. In Bristol on the other hand, wheatpastes are a rarity, and are normally provided by visitors to the city such as Face the Strange, D7606, Tian, Losthills and of course qWeRT. The last frequent Bristol-based wheatpaster was Kid Crayon, but he has moved on to spray-painting now. I think Kedals might be the only one doing it at the moment – room for some new entrants?
qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
This is a little collection of wonderful googly-eyed paste ups by qWeRT which are dotted all over the place in Shoreditch.
qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
qWeRT’s pieces are always rather cute (a word I rarely use) and endearing, like this one holding up a banner saying simply ‘need more love’.
qWeRT, Shoreditch, London, November 2018
I have always liked this form of street art and qWeRT’s work in particular.