The Return of the Hug Me Tree
After a brief hiatus, the Hug Me tree on Queen St. W. is back again.
For as long as I can remember, an abandoned tree stump on the north side of Queen and Peter was decorated as the Hug Me Tree.
One day, almost as mysteriously as it appeared, it vanished. As of last week, it's back again.
It looks like the city put one of those metal stumps in its place at first, but then it got covered up with paper maché, spray-foam and paint.
The woman at the hotdog stand right behind the Hug Me Tree had no idea of its existence. Yet she said she's there every day and has been for a very long time.
I find it odd that so many people pay no attention to this obviously different tree along the wide sidewalk on the north side of Queen St. W.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed someone scrawled graffiti on the Hug Me Tree in several places, posing the question, "I wonder if my bark went into making paperbacks?"
What purpose does this tree serve in our community?
Is this just another signpost to be plastered with flyers over and over? Or will it remain as an important piece of urban street art and be celebrated (or ignored) by the masses as such?
On the side facing west, "Return of the Jedi" was spray-painted on one of the "branches."
Have you noticed the Hug Me Tree when passing by this corner? If not, have a look next time and see how it's evolved. It's not just for tree huggers.
Photos by Roger Cullman.
Comments (12)
Do we know who created the 'paper mache tree stump stand in'? I think I like it, maybe even a little better than the old 'real' tree stump.
Having spent a lunch hour at King and Bay handing out local organic apples with my bicycle covered in flowers, only to be ignored by most people passing by- I would say the 'Hug Me' Tree is necessary and there should be more. We need a little more humour, a little more lightness and a lot more love in our city. First we find ourselves taking a free apple, then perhaps hugging a tree and who knows... we might even smile and make eye contact with each other. Anything is possible.
Meghan
www.meghantelpner.com
HUG is actually a graffiti crew incl. Elicser, the artist who did the original artwork, as well as the new tree on Nuit Blanche.
dope art in my opinion, I always saw it as a fixture on Queen West
If you interested and want to know more about what happen to the original Hug Me Tree and where it is now, here's the link.
http://spacing.ca/wire/2008/08/12/queen-west-hug-me-tree-finds-a-new-home/
Cheers.
I was lucky enough to grab a shot in one of its previous incarnations:
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v98/55/116/501654530/n501654530_69115_8939.jpg
I don't know what it is about walking along a good part of Queen St that is almost always guaranteed to put me in a crappy/uncomfortable mood. No better than the financial district. As a great woman once told me, Toronto is the kind of place you have to be very self-entertaining. Hey Meghan, I guess I must've been chained to my desk that day but I wouldn't have ignored you! One of the most shocking days of my life was walking through the financial district the day after spending a month in the South Mediterranean--after a month straight of seeing healthy, tanned complexioned, friendly, familiar, smiling faces everywhere, EVERY single Toronto face looked either discontented or very constipated.
Spacing also noted the installation of the papier mache tree for Nuit Blanche:
http://spacing.ca/wire/2008/10/05/nuit-blanche-2008-impressions-part-ii/
good see, but kinda old news since Spacing wrote about this 3 weeks ago (link above). But glad to see all the love for this tree.
I agree with Elliott, the HUG tree is an integral part of the Queen W. landscape and Elicser is a very important member of the Toronto street art scene.
If you are interested in seeing more of his work, we are currently showing original art by Elicser in our gallery.
You can view it online at www.showandtellgallery.com or email us and set up an appointment to come and check out the art in person.
we gave the hug me tree a hug everytime we passed it on the way home when we stayed in toronto last summer.
http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=806775456#/photo.php?pid=842925&id=806775456
i wish there was a hug me tree where i live, tho it would probably be too gross to actually hug :(
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