That viral Hong Kong miniatures artist, Joshua Smith, is coming at last to see city for real, and show new stuff in street art exhibition

The exhibition of Hong Kong street art will feature works on canvas by contemporary artists as well as photos of seminal urban art pieces, both new and old. One highlight for many will be the miniature buildings conceived by Australia’s Joshua Smith, who went viral in 2017 with his extraordinary 1:16 scale model of a Temple Street walk-up, which he created without ever visiting Hong Kong.

The exhibition, at co-working space Campfire in Causeway Bay from March 28 to 31 – coinciding with Art Basel – charts the evolution of Hong Kong street art through a combination of commissioned pieces and, given that street art is usually ephemeral, photographs, as well as ceramics, posters and calligraphy.

It’s “a history of Hong Kong street art past, present and future”, says Louisa Haining, general manager of SWL, the organisation behind the show.

Naturally, Tsang Tsou-choi, the graffiti writer better known as the King of Kowloon, will be represented in archive form, as well as in a portrait by Indonesian artist Yopey.

But the exhibition will also feature a range of other artists such as Wais, with his bold, geometric, multicoloured abstract patterns; Dilk, with endless differently coloured and styled variations on his abstract tag; and Saut, with his next-level modern calligraphy.

WATCH: Street artists transform one of Hong Kong’s oldest neighbourhoods, Sham Shui Po

Other artists include Sinic, with his colourful abstractions; the pixelated, vintage video-game tag of Xeme; and Wong Ting-fung, with intensely detailed, photorealistic black-and-white collages.