Graffiti in Beijing
Updated: 2007-06-15 08:56
Li Qiuqiu is one of the first graffiti artists in Beijing. He started doing graffiti ten years ago, and now runs a skateboard store. The same as in New York, graffiti in Beijing is a part of youth subculture and most graffiti artists are fans of cartoons and skateboarding. These youth usually meet in rock clubs or skateboard stores, and party at night.
Li first started doing graffiti in his neighborhood, but then made his way over to nearby cloverleaf junctions, train stations and deserted houses. He often plays hide-and-seek with the members of the local residents committee. "That's why graffiti is so interesting," Li said. "Sometimes we did graffiti at night but then the wall was painted over the next day, and our graffiti had disappeared."
Because there are not many chances for them to do graffiti, artists do everything in their power to exhibit their works in public places and get attention. Yi Bing, a twenty-seven-year old sports product designer and four-year graffiti artist thinks that excellent graffiti work contains some elements of China, like the Buddha, the Chinese character, Arhat, the Chinese Knot or the Auspicious Cloud.
Graffiti arrived in Beijing in the 1990s, when a person's profile began
appearing on the walls of deserted houses in Beijing. This was the work of the
well-known graffiti artist Zhang Dali. The series was called 'Dialogue'.
| 1 | 2 | 3 |  |
