All posts tagged: Beijing

0907 Plays in Xi’an Grass / Dispatch From Isolation # 52

May 13, 2020 Artists

In Xi’an, a modern metropolis of 7 million and home to the massive installations of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang (the first Emperor of China), the weight of history often meets with the shallow vanities of today. Street Artist 0907 continues to examine the riddles of development and the implied values of a consumer culture here by looking at the banal lawn.

0907. *“The Goalkeeper”* Beijing, China. (photo © GOKO)

Consider the green grass lawn, that earthen symbol of suburban wealth and mastery of the elements as it is beamed across the decades and cultures. A lush and tightly trimmed lawn contains ironies of development and progress; defined geometries of fulsome mono-plantings, it status symbol measured by the centimeter or meter, sprayed with chemicals, cut and trimmed into patterns and reliefs. In cities on printed on fences it is also a visual metaphor to block the disruptive chaos of a lot that is under construction.

“With the acceleration of gentrification, people print out such a symbol of happy life on the construction fence,” says 0907, “which serves as a fig leaf of the on-going city construction – presented in a rather stark and crude manner.”

As is his style, in a subtle act of culture jamming, he here converts the lawn into a sport field –with a subtle addition of an athlete – hoping to further disturb the cognitive dissonance.

“The imagery of neatly mowed lawns is always a symbol for highly organized urban civilization,” he tells us.

“With my painting I present the picture of a goalkeeper in a soccer game on the imagery of the fake lawn, creating a dual visual misplacement. Thus a brand new absurd urban spectacle emerges. … the message that this image sends is more than firm: to catch the ball that the city kicks at us.”

0907 Feels Like “The Radiant Child” in Beijing

August 21, 2019 Artists

The resonance of Brooklyn/New York Street Arist Jean Michel Basquiat continues to amaze us, in his reach, in his relevance to people who he may have never imagined that he would inspire. Today we bring you 0907 in Beijing, who is telling us that he went on many spots throughout the city with his new cardboard composite work – a stencil that captures his feeling about an artist on the other side of the world who lived and died, perhaps before he was born. As an additional cultural mashup, he employs the vocabulary of a secondary Street Art, Shepard Fairey.

And Mickey Mouse for good measure.

0907. Radiant Child. Beijing, China. (photo © 0907)

“One day I watched a movie called “Basquiat,” he tells us, “and another called is ‘Ridiculous Years’ I had some insight into the age of his life. So I made a poster which borrowed Obey’s style.and I posted these on my city. At that moment I felt I am the radiant child in my city.”

Artist 0907 Pays Tribute to Hongshen Jia in Beijing, China.

July 31, 2018 Artists

Wandering along a footpath under the elevated street in Beijing these days you are likely to find the same sort of graffiti tags, wildstyle burners and stenciled celebrities that you discover in so-called Western city graffiti/Street Art scenes.

Of course the language and tags are likely in Chinese and the honored pop culture figures are more likely to be Chinese film stars, like this new digitized stencil by Street Artist 0907 of Hongshen Jia (贾宏声).

0907. Hongshen Jia. Beijing, China. (photo © 0907)

“He is my favorite Chinese film actor and he is a legendary actor in China,” the artist tells us. On the Wikipedia page about the actor it says, “His performances were praised by critics and he developed a rebellious image that made him popular among artistic youth and the “Sixth Generation” of Chinese directors.^[1][2]” Struggling with addiction many times, he took his own life in 2010 and he is also slowly transforming into a kind of folk hero for some.

0907. Hongshen Jia. Beijing, China. (photo © 0907)

Robbbb and Spidey Question Idealized Heroes in Beijing

November 2, 2017 Artists

A few new painted wheat-pastes in the urban rubble from Street Artist ROBBBB in Beijing, China today, including this thoughtful, reflective and paunchy Spiderman who may not be able to scale walls quite as readily as he has in the past.

Robbbb. Beijing, China. October 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

It almost looks like these superheroes are having various existential dillemas, ready to fly into a rage of frustration or simply break into hot firey tears. The whole infallibility thing is overrated anyway Spidey, we get what you are saying.

I’m trying to discuss the contradiction between the ideal and the reality from the point of view of human nature,” says ROBBBB, and that is a worthwhile pursuit. It may make you wonder why we need heroes in the first place and examine what need they are filling.

Robbbb. Beijing, China. October 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

New ROBBBB Nude Figures Playing on Beijing Walls : Virtual & Candid

March 4, 2017 Artists

Beijing based Street Artist ROBBBB continues to bring people to the streets in his city by way of self portraits and art models. The immediacy of the selfie and photo apps has rather eclipsed the traditional methods of figurative presentation and the inclusion of cartoon characters tells you that ROBBBB is fully immersed in youth pop culture where it digital and virtual are easily intertwined with real life.

Oh Snap!

Robbbb Narrow Selfie 1 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

“I try to show the pain, conflict, struggle, loneliness and anxiety of Chinese young people in a absurd way,” he tells us, but many of these new images look like they depict a Millennial generation that is confident, bold, humorous, adventurous, unreserved. But that’s just on this side of the screen.

Here are three recent wheat-paste campaigns he made for abandoned Beijing buildings called “Narrow Selfie,” “Three Sisters”, and “Mr. Lee”. He gets extra points for placement, often in direct relationship to the man-made elements that are adjacent to his figures and by doing so, incorporating them into the overall composition.

Robbbb Narrow Selfie 2 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Narrow Selfie 3 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Three Sisters 1. Detail. Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Three Sisters 1 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Three Sisters 2 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Three Sisters 3 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Mr. Lee 1 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Mr. Lee 2 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

ROBBBB Displays His Body with “Selfie Forward” in Beijing

June 9, 2016 Artists

Filial piety (Xiao Jing) is one of the virtues of Confucian thought (孝): a love and respect for one’s parents and ancestors. In the West we talk of filial piety in the context of fraternal love, indeed all benevolent actions.

Street Artist ROBBBB in Beijing is contemplating, as most of us do in our 20s, what his connection is to his society and his family and ancestors especially as a representative of the future as well as the past. One aspect that stays more or less the same in every culture is what our bodies look like, even if our clothing and hairstyles are in a continuous evolution. Today our bodies are changing as well thanks to plastic surgery and additive technology.

ROBBB “Selfie Forward” Beijing, China. May 2016. (photo © ROBBBB)

With this essential self examination ROBBB brings it up to date with his own Street Art campaign called “Selfie foreward”, a series of painted portions of his own body wheat-pasted on the streets. He segments the view of his corpus, giving a closer examination of physical details down to the follicle texture, augmented by an abstractly patterned wrapping across the surface that looks like projected light waves or an ultra-thin metal-alloy plating of decorative skin. Perhaps ROBBBB is seeing himself as a cyborg of organic and biomechatronic body parts.

“This series is about my body,” ROBBBB says, “There is an old saying China that goes “Our bodies-to every hair and bit of skin – are received from our parents.” In any case, he says, with this very original take on the relatively modern selfie, “I’ve been thinking deeply about contradictions and conflicts between youth as a social group and my place in society.”

ROBBB “Selfie Forward” Beijing, China. May 2016. (photo © ROBBBB)

Street Art From Beijing and Robbbb

February 21, 2013 Artists

Street Artist Robbbb has some new neighbors posted in his city of Beijing, the three thousand year old Chinese capital metropolis of 20.6 million people. By wheat-pasting these still frame figures of unromanticized men, women, and children back onto the street where they travel, Robbbb calls attention to the every day person, and by doing so, somehow exults them. It’s an ephemeral art, but it lasts a little longer than the momentary flash of a person passing by and it give Robbbb an opportunity to look at and contemplate the lives of people in his city and perhaps to give them the equivalent of a visual “shout out”.

“No matter what nationality, what identity, what gender or what age, I like depicting figures from the city,” says the artist of his work.

Robbbb (photo © Robbbb)

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“NUART 2012” International Street Art Catalysts in Norway

October 10, 2012 Artists

“By far the best exhibition we’ve yet created,” says Martyn Reed, organizer of the Nuart 2012 street art festival as it draws to a close in Stavanger, Norway. What’s left after two weeks of painting, panel discussions, and parties stands on it own; The Art.

On old factory buildings, bricked stairways, in labyrinthine tunnels, and hanging on gallery walls, the city itself has welcomed international Street Artists to do these installations over the last decade and the funding for the events, artists, and materials are largely contributed to from public grants.

It’s a stunning model of arts funding that we’d like to see more of; one that is sophisticated enough to make behavioral and aesthetic distinctions and that is appreciative of the positive contributions of Street Art to the contemporary art canon. Here is one model that recognizes the importance of art in the streets as something necessary, valued. And the city of Stavanger keeps inviting a varied mix of well-known names and newcomers who show promise year after year.

Ben Eine (photo © Ian Cox)

At some point during the panel discussions at Nuart Plus this year there was talk about the dulling effect that the growing popularity of Street Art festivals specifically and sanctioned public art generally can sometimes have on the finished pieces. Certainly we are all familiar with those brain-deadening community murals of yesteryear that include lots of diversity, droning morality lectures and cute ducks. But we think the right balance of currency, community, and unchecked creativity can often catalyze great results, and smart people will know how to help keep it fresh.

Another topic discussed this year, at least in part based on our 2011 essay “Freed from the Wall, Street Art Travels the World”, which we wrote for Nuart’s “Eloquent Vandals” book, is the game-changing influence that the Internet continues to have on the Street Art movement itself. Considering that in the last year alone we have shown you art in the streets instantly from Paris, Iceland, Istanbul, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Trinidad, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Copenhagen, London, Sweden, Atlanta, Bristol, Baltimore, Boston, Berlin, Beijing, Brooklyn and about 25 other cities on five continents, we think it’s worth quoting the intro from that essay; “The Internet and the increasing mobility of digital media are playing an integral role in the evolution of Street Art, a revolution in communication effectively transforming it into the first global people’s art movement.”

Aakash Nihalani (photo © Ian Cox)

Solidly, Stavanger took a lead in the Street Art festival arena early and is still setting standards for high quality as an integrated cultural event without compromising integrity with so-called ‘lifestyle’ branding. These images from 2012 show just a sampler of the many directions that Street Art is taking us, with traditional graffiti and letter-based influences and new overlays of 20th century fine art modernism keeping the scene unpredictable and vibrantly alive. Nuart artists this year included Aakash Nihalani (US), Dolk (Norway), Eine (UK), Ron English (US), Saber (US), Sickboy (UK), Mobster (UK), HowNosm (US), Niels Shoe Meulman (NL), Joran Seiler (US), and The Wa (France).

Thanks to Ian Cox for sharing these images, some exclusive and some previously published.

Aakash Nihalani installing a piece on the street. (photo © Ian Cox)

Sickboy takes in his indoor installation. (photo © Ian Cox)

Saber at work. (photo © Ian Cox)

Saber (photo © Ian Cox)

How & Nosm (photo © Ian Cox)

Jordan Seiler (photo © Ian Cox)

Mobstr takes in the wall. (photo © Ian Cox)

Mobstr makes MOM proud. (photo © Ian Cox)

Mobstr indoor installation. Detail. (photo © Ian Cox)

Mobstr makes friends with the notoriously wet climate in Stavanger. (photo © Ian Cox)

Ron English at work on his indoor installation. (photo © Ian Cox)

Niels Shoe Muelman working on his indoor installation. (photo © Ian Cox)

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Street Art from ROBBBB in Dubai and Turkey

August 18, 2012 Artists, Beijing, China, Dubai, Istanbul, Izmir, Turkey

Workers around the world look amazingly similar, no matter the city.

Street Artist Robbbb, who we last saw in Beijing, is introducing some of the people from that city to be a part of Dubai and two of Turkeys largest cities, Istanbul and Izmir.

“This series of works from China are images of the most common people. I took them to foreign countries with an attempt to explore differences of political and social background, and to highlight their mode of existence,” he observes as he speaks about the enlarged wheat pastes he hand colored.

With this project Robbbb brings a Chinese man on a rickshaw to the a waste disposal back alley of Istanbul, a lady with a pushcart to a side lot in Izmir, and a man loaded down with bags to a small busy street in Dubai. These are all cities with workers going about their every day life and among them Robbbb wants to introduce their counterparts; images frozen and in mid-action while performing their daily chores and routines on foreign soil.

The concept is well executed as you often will see a local performing the same action while passing the wheatpast, so similar are our daily routines: Pushing a grocery cart, riding a bike to work, toiling, walking a child to school or to a friends home. With this project Robbbb shows our similarities despite differences in physical appearance, clothing, and cultural differences.

Click here to read and see images of Robbbb’s works in Beijing.

ROBBBB : Street Art in Beijing

June 18, 2012 Artists, Beijing, China, On the Street

From time to time we like to spotlight an artist’s blog. In addition to having a page dedicated solely to Artists Links (hint hint look up) we also like to feature their blogs (if you are a Street Artist and don’t see yourself there, let us know and we’ll add you). Just wanted to let you know because we just added this Chinese Street Artist named ROBBB getting up in Beijing. There is not much Street Art coming out of China so it’s still pretty unusual and we’re glad to share it here.

“Street art is a kind of space art, with its special way of occupying space and even reform the space” ~ ROBBBB

To learn more about ROBBBB and to see more images of his work click on the link below.

http://www.robbbb.com/

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Kid Acne Stabby Ladies in Beijing for “Cloak and Dagger”

February 18, 2012 Artists, Beijing, China, On the Street

Street Artist Kid Acne just ran in deeply wooded areas outside Beijing with “stabby ladies” in hot shorts and capes. The staged role play was a dream state reinactment to ready himself for his solo show “Cloak & Dagger” at Other Gallery, and thankfully we’ve got video documentation here.

Touring the back rails and tracks in search of graff, he found that the urban vocabulary in Beijing can be strikingly similar to industrialized cities in the West and that people took great interest in his work. His new video casts a true grit psychedelia to his creative fantasies and appetite for play now planted in the mainland.

A real stabby lady among the wilds of the rails in Beijing – a still from the video by Kid Acne.

Kid Acne “Cloak and Dagger”. Image still from the video.

Blanco Visits Beijing and Shanghai

January 31, 2012 Artists, Beijing, China, On the Street, Shanghai

China has it’s own graffiti and Street Art scene, but you don’t hear too much about it. You can get a tour of local Street Art and graffiti in Beijing, check out sites like FatCap and of course the pool on Flickr. New York graff legend Daze even had a show at a gallery here a couple of years ago. According to some state media reports, portions of the Great Wall were the focus of a 2004 archaeological study showing graffiti was popular a long time ago, as crafted by wives of soldiers, who “decorated parts of the wall with images of clouds, lotus blossoms and ‘fluffy balls’ (xiuqiu), ‘symbols of peace and love’. Right now it appears to be a common practice of tourists to carve their names into the bricks, which seems a bit more damaging than a Krinks marker, to tell the truth.

New York Street Artist Blanco did a little touring around Beijing and Shanghai last week and took a few pictures to send back home during the tour. He liked finding some familiar names in an unfamiliar country, and he was even surprised. Along with a few quick pictures he caught on the way, he wrote to tell us about what he saw. Here’s what he says:

“I went to the Great Wall like all tourists do and I discovered Neckface tags on almost every garbage can I walked past.

In comparison to Beijing, which seems bureaucratic like Washington DC, Shanghai seems to be a lot like NYC, with more going on culturally, massive apartment buildings sprouting up all over, and a lot of money running through it.

In Shanghai I went to the French Concession neighborhood and I found a door with several tags from Utah and Ether, which made my day. It was kind of cool because I also found a Utah tag when I was in Rome three years ago and I don’t know Utah but just knowing that she is from NYC and has been in the same exact places as me is kind of comforting.

The next day I went to this art neighborhood that has a graff wall where it’s legal to paint and there were some pretty good pieces but I get a little bored with legal pieces.

After some more walking I turned a corner and found an amazing piece by Vhils and a little while later, in a more secluded spot, I found a second Vhils piece. Unfortunately it is kind of blurry – I couldn’t get a great picture of it because it was getting dark and it was in a dimly lit hallway with only one exit. I was alone and I could hear someone moving on the second floor of the abandoned building so I took a couple shots before I got scared and left but both pieces were pretty cool.” ~ Blanco

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0907. Hongshen Jia. Beijing, China. (photo © 0907)

0907. Hongshen Jia. Beijing, China. (photo © 0907)

0907. Hongshen Jia. Beijing, China. (photo © 0907)

0907. Hongshen Jia. Beijing, China. (photo © 0907)

Robbbb. Beijing, China. October 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb. Beijing, China. October 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb. Beijing, China. October 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb. Beijing, China. October 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb. Beijing, China. October 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb. Beijing, China. October 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Narrow Selfie 1 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Narrow Selfie 2 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Narrow Selfie 3 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Three Sisters 1. Detail. Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Three Sisters 1 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Three Sisters 2 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Three Sisters 3 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Mr. Lee 1 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb Mr. Lee 2 Beijing, China. March 2017. (photo © Robbbb)

ROBBB “Selfie Forward” Beijing, China. May 2016. (photo © ROBBBB)

ROBBB “Selfie Forward” Beijing, China. May 2016. (photo © ROBBBB)

ROBBB “Selfie Forward” Beijing, China. May 2016. (photo © ROBBBB)

ROBBB “Selfie Forward” Beijing, China. May 2016. (photo © ROBBBB)

ROBBB “Selfie Forward” Beijing, China. May 2016. (photo © ROBBBB)

ROBBB “Selfie Forward” Beijing, China. May 2016. (photo © ROBBBB)

ROBBB “Selfie Forward” Beijing, China. May 2016. (photo © ROBBBB)

ROBBB “Selfie Forward” Beijing, China. May 2016. (photo © ROBBBB)

ROBBB “Selfie Forward” Beijing, China. May 2016. (photo © ROBBBB)

ROBBB “Selfie Forward” Beijing, China. May 2016. (photo © ROBBBB)

Robbbb (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb (photo © Robbbb)

Robbbb (photo © Robbbb)

Ben Eine (photo © Ian Cox)

Aakash Nihalani (photo © Ian Cox)

Aakash Nihalani installing a piece on the street. (photo © Ian Cox)

Sickboy takes in his indoor installation. (photo © Ian Cox)

Saber at work. (photo © Ian Cox)

Saber (photo © Ian Cox)

How & Nosm (photo © Ian Cox)

How & Nosm (photo © Ian Cox)

How & Nosm (photo © Ian Cox)

Jordan Seiler (photo © Ian Cox)

Mobstr takes in the wall. (photo © Ian Cox)

Mobstr makes MOM proud. (photo © Ian Cox)

Mobstr indoor installation. Detail. (photo © Ian Cox)

Mobstr makes friends with the notoriously wet climate in Stavanger. (photo © Ian Cox)

Ron English at work on his indoor installation. (photo © Ian Cox)

Niels Shoe Muelman working on his indoor installation. (photo © Ian Cox)

Niels Show Muelman (photo © Ian Cox)

Workers around the world look amazingly similar, no matter the city.

ROBBBB. Izmir, Turkey. (photo © Robbbb)

ROBBBB. Istanbul, Turkey. (photo © Robbbb)

ROBBBB. Istanbul, Turkey. (photo © Robbbb)

ROBBBB. Istanbul, Turkey. (photo © Robbbb)

ROBBBB. Istanbul, Turkey. (photo © Robbbb)

ROBBBB. Dubai. (photo © Robbbb)

ROBBBB. Dubai. (photo © Robbbb)

ROBBBB. Dubai. (photo © Robbbb)

ROBBBB (photo © ROBBBB)

ROBBBB (photo © ROBBBB)

ROBBBB (photo © ROBBBB)

Kid Acne “Cloak and Dagger” (image © courtesy of Kid Acne)

A real stabby lady among the wilds of the rails in Beijing – a still from the video by Kid Acne.

Kid Acne “Cloak and Dagger”. Image still from the video.

Kid Acne “Cloak and Dagger”. Image still from the video.

Kid Acne “Cloak and Dagger”. Image still from the video.

Nasty Neckface in Beijing one the Great Wall (photo © Blanco)

A door with several tags by Utah and Ether in Shanghai (photo © Blanco)

Blanco in Shanghai (photo © Blanco)

Vhils in Shanghai (photo © Blanco)

Vhils in Shanghai (photo © Blanco)

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