“Art should make us feel more clearly and more intelligently……Instead of being the common property of humankind the way a book is, art becomes the particular property of somebody who can afford it. Suppose that every worthwhile book in the world cost $1 million – imagine what a catastrophic effect on culture that would have.” —— Robert Hughes
When the British graffiti artist Banksy’s “Devolved Parliament” set a new auction record, he referenced the words of poet Hughes, lamenting that he did not own the piece himself. Banksy’s emergence has led the public to reflect on the nature and significance of street art. Street art exists in public spaces; but who owns these works? And what is the significance of them for the artist, the public spaces they occupy, and the general public who encounter them.
Upon closer inspection, street art is ubiquitous in our urban environment, providing an alternative lens through which to experience a city. The local arts collective HKwalls organizes an annual street art festival, inviting both local and international artists to create large-scale murals across different neighborhoods in Hong Kong, often in the densely populated areas of Central, Western, and Wan Chai districts. This initiative encourages people to slow down, venture into the city’s back alleys, and embark on artistic adventures alongside the characters and scenes depicted by the participating artists, allowing them to discover Hong Kong’s unique and beautiful scenery.
In the eyes of the artists, what are the landscapes of Hong Kong like? We specially interviewed three artists, Jaune, Victoriano Txapartegi, and Seth Globepainter, who participated in this year’s HKwalls street art festival, to share their perspectives on street art.
「我想創作一道描繪香港街道的牆，為路人重現一個熟悉的環境，讓我的角色可以經歷一些有趣的冒險。」 —— Jaune （作品於中環蘭桂坊酒店、Wyndham Social、上環 Square Street Gallery）
“I wanted to paint a wall depicting the streets of HK, recreate a familiar environment for the viewers in which my characters can have funny adventures.” —— Jaune （Work at Lan Kwai Fong Hotel and Wyndham Social in Central, and Square Street Gallery in Sheung Wan)
The protagonists in the artwork of Belgian artist Jaune are all workers wearing hard hats and reflective vests, each engaged in different tasks. The interaction between these figures and their environment creates an absurdist and intriguing visual narrative.”When I was a student, I was sharing an apartment with friends from school, and they were doing graffiti at night. I thought it was amazing but I could also see that a lot of people just see it as vandalism. At the same time my summer job was to clean the streets of brussels, dressed like one of my characters, so at one point I decided to create stencils of mini workers cleaning the graffiti of others, in my mind the fact of having a funny little guy cleaning graffiti would help people who doesn’t like graffiti to enjoy it because suddenly there is a figurative element that help them to understand those letters, that’s how it started.”
Jaune often depicts workers and people in fluorescent clothing, who seem ever-present and highly conspicuous;yet, are ultimately often forgotten and disappear into the city. “Paradoxically, they are the people that make our society work so they are absolutely necessary. I love to take them and paint them in positions and actions they are not supposed to do, I love to take ordinary things to make extraordinary stories.” In Jaune’s artwork, we see these workers wielding mops to clean the air conditioning units on building exteriors, climbing up construction scaffolding, or sitting together in groups on the bamboo structures, chatting casually. They appear to be enjoying themselves, as if these individuals, who are meant to maintain the cleanliness of the environment, have instead become the instigators of disorder.
“One of my favorite points is to take an element so common that nobody sees it anymore, so it’s a kind of observation game for me. Before starting to paint I like to watch the city and find what makes this place different from the others. The architecture was impactful for me in HK, as the number of air conditioning devices and the bamboo scaffoldings, those were the elements for me that make HK recognisable.”
When seeing Jaune, wearing headphones and appearing utterly content, creating his artwork while perched on a narrow ladder on the busy, pedestrian-filled slopes of Sheung Wan, his composed demeanor stands in stark juxtaposition to the frenetic energy of the crowded streetscape. “It was amazing and complicated at the same time: full of life and energy, a lot of people passing by constantly. What I really loved is that I could directly see the reaction of the people discovering my artwork being created. Some were coming back everyday to discover new details and see how it goes.” Jaune smiled and said, “I really enjoy what I’m doing because if I love what I do I will put passion in it, energy and dedication. That’s the only way for me to have a good job in the end, if not it will be a robot work, without a soul.”
他這次的作品在灣仔利東街，名叫「Coco Walks in HK」，Victoriano畫了九幅噴漆畫，描繪他女兒在香港步行的情景，透過擴充實境的應用程式「Artivive」，可看到 Coco 步行的動態。「 我最初構思是畫我的女兒 Coco 在香港散步的畫面，這是她第一次來香港，這裡和她成長的丹麥郊區是如此不同。看著她，我想像這一切在她眼裡是非常奇妙的事情。在這次創作之前，我在香港已畫了我另外的兩個女兒，這次該輪到她了！」Victoriano笑說，「最有趣的是，農曆新年時，我在利東街為女兒拍攝其中一條散步的參考影片，數個星期後，我便被告知在這條街道上創作我的作品。」
“Motion Graffics is a term I use for these paintings, in which I spray paint an animation frame by frame with a certain amount of detail.” —— Victoriano Txapartegi (Work at Lee Tung Avenue in Wan Chai)
Street art has evolved well beyond just flat, two-dimensional artworks. In the hands of skilled artists, it can now even “come alive”. Spanish artist Victoriano Txapartegi, who has studied animation, is particularly adept at creating dynamic, animated graffiti art. “I used to study animation and did a fair bit of it in my 20s and always wanted to tell stories somehow. One of the reasons why I love to do these is because I like to paint fast and normally struggle to spend more than a day working on the same character/piece, so doing these animations helps me to be able to continue the same piece over a longer period.I also love the fact that something as rudimentary as stop motion animation can be seen with Augmented Reality, and that somehow the animation will last forever in the digital realm, regardless of what happens to the wall over the years. At the moment, I am mostly doing walk/run cycles, but I am planning to be able to tell more complex stories in the future.”
Victoriano’s work for the art festival, titled “Coco Walks in HK,” can be found on Lee Tung Street in Wan Chai. In these vibrant graffiti artworks, Txapartegi has depicted his daughter Coco strolling through the streets of Hong Kong. By utilizing the augmented reality app “Artivive,” viewers are able to bring these static murals to life, watching as Coco’s animated figure seamlessly navigates the urban landscape. “The idea was to paint my daughter Coco walking around Hong Kong. It was her first time here, and such a different surroundings compared to what she is used to in the countryside of Denmark. Watching her, I was thinking about how amazing it must be in the eyes of a 5-year-old. I had previously painted my other two daughters in Hong Kong, so she was due now.” Victoriano said, “A funny coincidence is that one of the walkthrough video references I took of her for this was at Lee Tung Avenue during Chinese New Year, many weeks before I was told I could paint in that street.”
“Street painting is a way to communicate with people passing through public spaces. A way to make a place my own while encouraging people to look at the world differently.” —— Seth Globepainter(Work at The Soho and Lan Kwai Fong Hotel in Central, Shu Coffee and Shing Kai Mansion in Sheung Wan)
The French artist Seth Globepainter (Julien Malland Seth) has traveled extensively across the globe, leaving behind his vibrant murals in his wake. He often chooses children as the subject of his depictions, weaving in elements of local tradition, culture, and modernity to create compositions that are both visually striking and whimsical, yet with a touch of solitude amidst the vibrant colors and patterns. This intriguing contrast serves to invite viewers to ponder the deeper significance and sentiment behind each piece. “I was inspired by the surroundings where I painted, drawing on the architecture and environment; trees, walkways, alleyways, children’s playgrounds. My creations are multi-faceted. It’s up to each person to discover what they want.”
One of Seth’s works commissioned for the festival is located in the Mid-Levels neighborhood of Central. It depicts a young girl chasing after a colorful umbrella, eventually venturing into the path of passersby. The scene evokes a sense of wonder and enchantment reminiscent of the fantastical scenarios in the classic, Alice in Wonderland. “I want people who discover my paintings to question their meaning and invent their own story. I seek a dialogue with the public and encourage people to use their imagination.”
