wheatpaste

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Wheatpaste, or potato paste (also known as flour paste, rice paste or simply paste), is a liquid adhesive used since ancient times for various arts and crafts such as book binding, decoupage, collage, and papier-mâché. It is also made for the purpose of adhering paper posters to walls. Closely resembling wallpaper paste, it is made by mixing roughly equal portions of flour and water (some argue using more water or more flour), and heating it until it thickens.

A similar flour and water formula is taught in elementary school (minus the low heat simmer) as an easy to make substitute for ready made adhesive. A typical application is in constructing streamers of paper rings made from colored construction paper. It can also be used to create papier-mâché.

Activists and various subculture proponents (such as hip-hop, punk, communist, and anarchist) often use it to hang-up propaganda and artwork in urban areas — usually during the dead of night due to the illegality of postering other people's property, or near traffic zones in certain cities — although it is just as commonly used by commercial bill posters, and has been since at least the nineteenth century. In particular, it was widely used by nineteenth and twentieth century circus bill posters, who developed a substantial culture around paste manufacture and postering campaigns.^[1] In the field of alcohol and nightclub advertising, in the 1890s, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's posters were so popular that instructions were published on how to peel down the pasted posters without damage.^[2] Until the 1970s, commercial poster hangers always "cooked" their own paste, but since then many have bought pre-cooked instant pastes.^[3] It is applied to the backside of paper then placed on flat surfaces, particularly concrete and metal as it doesn't adhere well to wood or plastic. Cheap rough paper, such as newsprint, works well, as it can be briefly dipped in the mixture to saturate the fibres. Due to danger of being apprehended, wheatpasters frequently work in teams or affinity groups. This process is typically called wheat pasting or poster bombing.

Wheatpaste is also known as Marxist glue, probably because of the left organizations which use it; and because its ingredients are staples which can be combined by the individual, bypassing capital and industry — a true example of non-alienated labor.

It is also used in fine arts preparation and presentation due to its low acidity and reversibility.

Prominent wheatpaste artists

• Posterchild
• Shepard Fairey of Obey Giant campaign
• Esm-artificial
• Swoon
• Faile
• Beautiful Angle

Etymology

The words paste, pasta, and pastry have a common heritage, deriving from the Late Latin pasta (dough or pastry cake), itself deriving from ancient Greek pasta, meaning "barley porridge". In English, paste appears with the sense "dough" in the 12th century, and with the meaning "glue" from 1440.^[4]

See also

• Culture jamming
• Flyposting
• Graffiti
• Guerilla art
• Papier-mâché
• Sticker art
• Street art
• Street poster art

References

1. ^ The Circus Boys on The Plains, Project Gutenberg e-text, originally published 1911.
2. ^ Posters Weren't the Half of Him, New York Times Book Review, 16 January 2000, accessed July 2006.
3. ^ Ethical Considerations for the Conservation of Circus Posters, WAAC Newsletter, 17(2), May 1995, accessed July 2006
4. ^ Paste, Online Etymology Dictionary

External links

• A wheatpaste recipe

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