King Of Kowloon : A Cultural Icon Of Hong Kong

I have discovered the Graffiti writer Royal Dog real name; Chris Chanyang Shim came from Korea, which I find he produces meaningful projects. While he was growing up, since 2nd grade he liked drawing. Around 4th grade he learn Hip-Hop through a copy of ‘Hip Hop’, a manga that introduced him to b-boys and graffiti. He had an admiration for the culture. He was attending an art school and focused on drawing and animation at school until one day, he just started doing graffiti. At the time, graffiti was on the cultural radar and he wanted to represent a part of Hip Hop culture. Years latter Shim decided to travel across the US to search for new free space and atmosphere to paint. At his first stop in Bronx, New York, he painted his three favorite rappers, Jay-Z, T.I., and Big Pun. People reacted to the mural with enthusiasm, and Shim was soon invited to California to display his artwork further.

His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humor with graffiti done in a distinctive stenciling technique. Such artistic works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world.

Graffiti portrays contemporary sub-cultured art through its versatility and bold attractiveness on the communal grounds. In the 1970s, graffiti was blatantly acknowledged as territorial graffiti where

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has one of the finest Asian art collections that has enlightened and strengthened my understanding in my personal art experience. The Museum itself is an artistic architectural structure that graces the entire block on 82nd Street in Manhattan. Entering inside, I sensed myself going back into an era, into a past where people traded ideas and learned from each other. It is a past, where I still find their works of yesteryears vividly within my grasp, to be remembered and shared as if their reflections of works were cast for the modern devoted learner.

“Places where art really flourishes are those where there are urgent issues that art needs to deal with. ” (Ho, 2005). In this statement, we immediately gather that art isn’t only utilised for the purpose of leisure or entertainment, however inspiration comes from minor things in our surroundings which become greater things in retrospect. Art holds a much deeper and meaningful message, and is often used to reach out to the masses. Common examples are propaganda and protest. In the midst of this identity crisis, Tsou Choi Tsang, a street graffiti artist’s work is of great significance today. The sudden surge of interes in Tsang’s work can be explained by its connection to Hong Kong’s society; the process of creating culture, rather than preserving it. Due to the political and social factors in Hong Kong’s society today, Tsang’s work is perpetually relevant. His work highlights the themes of property ownership, post-colonialism, power, and territoriality. Even 17 years after the handover back to China, and 7 years after Tsou Choi Tsang’s death, his work is still powerful and influential as it covers topics which several locals can relate to.

The roots of graffiti started about 1971 by a Greek American who tagged “TAKI-183” in all New York subway system, he declared that he “used graffiti to create an identity in which he is certain about” (Fortuna 3), then it emerged all around America and the world. (David 72)

what does the history of mural making in public spaces tell us?where can we trace

In reference to Lu Chao’s cultural background and experiences, the two artworks Column and where! are both influenced by the idea of crowds, disappearance, and the emptiness of such. This is a strong connection to Lu Chao’s cultural context of growing up in China, where an abundance of population and crowds of people influenced his ideas of vanishing into a crowd and the blurring of meanings and faces. This is similar to

A tour through Taliesin West would start at his office. But right before you enter, your attention is interrupted by the vibrant, yet complex Asian sculpture that stood in front of the entryway. The idea of him incorporating Asian art within his structure did not surprise me however. Ever since his visit to the Columbian exhibition in Chicago, Wright was closely influenced by Asian architecture and art, and had symbolized his appreciation for the arts by incorporating them throughout his buildings. The sculpture that lies by the front entrance of Taliesin West is one of many sculptures that’s scattered around the building, and it symbolizes a transition into the following area.

Martin Wong is an Asian-American modern artist that is known for his innovative painting through expressive paintings that explore the subject of sexuality, ethnic, and racial identities. He became famous in his contributions in the urban art expressionism. There is a sense of poetic depictions in his images that paved way for the widening of the development of twentieth century modern art. He is considered to be one of the pioneering artists that explore expressionism representing the urban life with controversial motifs and concepts such as gay homosexuality and queer perspectives. Martin Wong was one of the strong drivers for graffiti art. He incorporated graffiti with urban neo-expressionist art in the 1980’s, despite the intensive resistance

Street art in Cambodia today is mostly propagated by visiting artists or returning Cambodian youth who, during the reign of pol pot, were fortunate enough to grow up in relative comfort overseas. The mix of western cultural values and an eagerness to reconnect with their culture in these youths proved a potent recipe for the development of the art².

Finish reading over 50 Apexart exhibition proposals, in my opinion, the most compelling one is the project about the past and future of the Vancouver’s Chinatown. The program is inspired by the underground bunker which was built by Chinese, who used those bunkers, like a safe heaven, to hid and took refugee from mobs and harassments of non-Chinese Vancouverities encouraged by the government’s discriminatory actions aimed at burning down Chinatown. It is very similar compared to current situation that today’s real estate developers impersonate these mobs, infiltrating with commerce instead of violence, which raises the rent and push out the remaining generations of Chinatown community. However, the bunker is still there, unchanged and untouched, also a potential space. One of the programs is that Artists will be invited to create works, boxes containing art pieces, which descent below the suface in the space of Chinatown, including an unnamed park, where

Many Chinese viewers who first see this installation piece are normally confused and somewhat frustrated, because it is a room full of text (scroll, book, newspaper display) that looks familiar, but is ultimately unreadable. According to Xu Bing, “The artwork itself is a contradiction because it makes a parody of culture while also placing culture in a temple to be taken very seriously”. Princeton University has collected parts of Xu Bing’s work to complement their collection of other important calligraphic works, which includes a letter written by the ‘Sage of Calligraphy,’ Wang

In the next room I came across a very unique and interesting collection of pieces. If you especially like or have any interest in calligraphy, then you are going to love what Hongmo Ren has done. Calling it REN-script, Ren has created what he calls a calligraphy and linguistic “experimentale.” Consisting of seven English and six French pieces, he has combined the art and beauty of calligraphy with writing of equal stature. In ten of his pieces he elaborates on the beauty of nature during various seasons and includes a complete verse from the Book of Genesis. The rest of the pieces are large single word depictions again in calligraphy with intricate detail.

Jean-Michel Basquiat emerged from the punk scene in New York as a street-smart graffiti artist. He successfully crossed over his downtown origins to the international art gallery circuit. Basquiat’s work is one of the few examples of how an early 1980’s American graffiti-based could become a fully recognized artist. Despite his work’s unstudied appearance, Basquiat very skillfully and purposefully brought together in his art a host of disparate traditions, practices and styles to create a unique kind of visual collage. His work is an example of how American artists of the 1980’s could reintroduce the human figure in their work after the wide success of minimalism and conceptualism.