The Writing On the Wall

Graffiti tends to be one of the least embraced art forms in any city. But it’s perhaps especially underappreciated in Hong Kong. For starters, you don’t find much of it on our walls in the first place. As for the little that you do find, much of it can come across as little more than crass vandalism. And finally, when something actually does crop up that at least attempts to present itself as art, the reaction to it tends to be either loud condemnation (as in the case of French street artist Zevs’ liquidated logo on the wall of Giorgio Armani’s store) or the stealthy painting over of such art when nobody’s looking (as in the recent case of calligraphy by Hong Kong’s own Emperor of Kowloon).

But the organizer of a new project in Wong Chuk Hang called “Spray Your Rainbow” hopes to change much of that. David Fong Man-hung, deputy managing director of Hip Shing Hong Group of Companies and the grandson of the late philanthropist Fong Shu-chuen, has decided to devote 5,000 square feet of industrial space to displaying graffiti art created by local teenagers. The intention is to open people’s minds to the idea that such art can be a positive outlet for creativity among today’s youths, and to pave the way for the eventual acceptance of it in more public places.

That graffiti receives little respect in Hong Kong—regardless of any artistic or cultural value it may have—is clear from the recent treatment of some of the Emperor of Kowloon’s works. Last month, fans of the late icon accused the Highways Department of covering one of his few remaining works with concrete in Kwun Tong. While the department denied the claim, the paint used over the work appeared to be the same as that over other areas of the surrounding wall where the department admitted to applying paint.

Meanwhile, a more explicit rejection of the value of graffiti art could be seen earlier in July this year. French street artist Zevs was arrested in Hong Kong prior to the opening of an exhibition of his work at Art Statements Gallery, after he sprayed a water-soluable Chanel logo—in his trademark “liquidated” logo style—on the wall of Giorgio Armani’s flagship store in Central. Zevs received a two weeks’ suspended jail term, and a case is still pending in which Hong Kong Land is attempting to sue him for two million dollars.

Dominique Perregaux, owner of Art Statements Gallery, points out that during the entire controversy, no mention was made of the message Zevs was trying to convey—namely that public space is being taken over by commercialism. “None of the media tried to understand why he did it,” he says. “They just immediately condemned it. It’s a shame because Hong Kong is lacking in art and this was a missed opportunity to have a debate about it.” He adds that cities such as Sao Paolo have invited Zevs to collaborate on projects that promote public dialogue about the use of open space.

At the same time, Perregaux maintains that there’s an important distinction between street art and mere tagging. “For me it’s not art unless there’s an intellectual statement involved, unless the person behind it understands contemporary art,” he says. Similarly, *COM, a local graffiti artist and founder of street art collective ST/ART, feels street art and senseless graffiti shouldn’t be confused. “There’s vandalism and there’s graffiti art. To me there is a distinct difference, but certainly both exist,” he says.