Discovering Hong Kong's Street Art

There has been no shortage of graffiti in Hong Kong during this period, where regular protests have been going on for the last six months. The discontent with the government and the police has been widely expressed with ideograms and writings in English on a variety of walls, footbridges and zebra crossings. Some are still visible, others have been badly erased, often leaving an aesthetically unattractive mark behind.

In the city, however, there are also artistic graffiti, as well as expressions of what we will call 'Street Art'. If graffiti is made by a name, of which the letters are deformed and stylized, Street Art is visual art created in public places – usually unauthorized artworks made outside the context of traditional art places – and it also involves artists with a more classical background.

In Hong Kong, thanks to the dense urban landscape, there are plenty of places where the artists can express themselves through graffiti or Street Art. Recently, with a group of friends, I spent an intense morning with Alexandra Unrein, an expert in the field, starting from the Central area and discovering this colourful and even transgressive side of the city, where ‘dirtying’ the walls is considered a crime punishable with penalties ranging from HKD 300 to a year in prison. In many cases, luckily, the police have turned a blind eye, allowing the fans of this form of art to follow the evolutions and additions to the urban landscape. Some 'murals' have been commissioned either by the owners of the premises, who wish to see the outer wall of their bars, restaurants or shops embellished, or even by real estate developers, to brighten the external fences of the construction sites. These are a frequent sight in a place where skyscrapers, as long and thin as chopsticks, are being continuously built. These fences, which hide a tiny piece of land transformed into a construction site, become thus white metal 'canvases' made available to street artists.

As we climbed along the open-air escalator, we found the first signs of art commissioned for a construction site along a narrow corridor. The artwork was done by Uncle, a local artist who moved from graffiti to street art, and in this case enjoyed painting, in two weeks, as many as eighty cartoon-style characters also portraying local and international celebrities.

Elsa Jean de Dieu, instead, is the French artist who painted, with spray and acrylic, the face of a handsome smiling man (her best friend), surrounded by soap bubbles, on the wall of the shop right beside, Lush, which sells handmade soaps. Elsa, a French artist, comes from a family of artists and we will find another of her creations, 'Uma Nota', a little further on: it is the profile of a laughing woman with colourful flowers in her hair, a large gold earring, and peacock feathers (and a toucan) to complete this peculiar Brazilian tropical 'note'.

Given the density of the buildings, many areas are perpetually in the shade of the skyscrapers, and these expressions of colour and joy undoubtedly enliven the city. But personally, I was also fascinated by the black and white artworks.

Berlin collective 'WENU', in collaboration with local artists

Inside the 'Parade Ground', the square of Tai Kwun, the former central police station, there is a wall created by the Berlin collective 'WENU', in collaboration with local artists, representing a different vision of the Berlin Wall: from a massive and austere barrier, to a place of stratification of advertising posters and imaginative paintings. Black on white, this beautiful poster of the city of Berlin takes shape in all its details and political and social references that the attentive eye finds and tries to interpret.

After leaving Tai Kwun, we headed for one of the oldest and most fascinating neighbourhoods, as it still retains its 'old Hong Kong' charm, Sheung Wan. The street that connects Central to this area, Hollywood Road, leads to one of the most ancient Chinese temples (Man Mo Temple) along small coffee shops, antique shops, and beautiful Banyan trees with branches extended like the arms of a giant from which long aerial roots hang—lianas in the city jungle. The name Hollywood should not mislead us though: it has nothing to do with Los Angeles, but rather refers to the many holly trees that once characterized this area.

Going down a staircase from Hollywood Road, we found a work that represents six snow leopard heads, at first glance indistinguishable due to the optical illusion deliberately created by Christopher H, who modulated the shape of the animal through waves of thin black lines made with the marker. Through these lines – paying enough attention – the six faces of the animals can finally be spotted. Christopher H is a local artist who studied at the prestigious Central St. Martins in London and decided to change career from graphic designer to street artist.

While from Hollywood Road we explored the little side streets, we came across various kinds of artworks: red taxis in the city night, completed in only a day and a half (Don Kitchener); sketches of Hollywood movie stars (Rob Sketcherman – who draws his urban sketches on the iPad); red goldfish popping up in the strangest corners of the wall (Szabotage) besides white and red Chinese koi fish drawn freehand in blocks of colour (Christian Storm); mosaics of ceramic tiles modelled on the pixel art of video games of the 70s and 80s (Invader).

Finally, we were very impressed by the work of Vhils, aka Alexandre Farto, a Portuguese artist who carves faces into the walls, so that they take shape once part of the plaster has been removed. In this case, creation comes to life from destruction. His faces are those of ordinary people. As he himself said in an interview: “Instead of creating icons out of those who have changed history, like what Warhol was doing with Mao and others, I take an ordinary person and try and make people think about the commoners who struggle every day to make a living in contemporary society.”

This message of humility seems to perfectly summarize the mission of those who devote themselves to art while being on the street and ‘giving voice’ to the walls. Non only do they beautify the city, but they make this beauty available to all, and stimulate the viewers’ mind.

To those interested in discovering more about Hong Kong Street Art, we recommend HKwalls https://hkwalls.org/, an NGO that aims to create opportunities for local and international artists by showcasing their talent, in Hong Kong and internationally, through street art and culture. HKwalls organizes an annual street art festival 'Street Art and Mural Festival' in Hong Kong during the month dedicated to art, March, as well as an annual program that takes care of the development of the artists' careers and public awareness through the arts.

Link to the article in Italian, published in ‘Ciao Magazine’ here