Graffiti exhibition in Suzhou
There are not many graffiti in China. I have only seen them in the 798 art zone in Beijing and around Moganshan street, which is also an art space, in Shanghai. In Europe it is fairly common to see colourful walls more or less well done, or shitty tags painted by wannabe kids, but in China the closest thing you can get is the old political slogans painted in big characters on the street or the advertisements painted on walls in the countryside.
Old political slogans. The only readable one says “death to capitalism”. Pic from here. This village is in Zhejiang and now I want to go!
So I was quite surprised when I heard there was going to be a graffiti exhibition in Suzhou. The opening ceremony was on Saturday and there we went to have a look! It was a parallel exhibition of the Jinji Lake Biennale, which I had never heard about either! Do I live in a bubble or what? Coincidentally, three of the graffiti artists were from Spain! The exhibition was done in some sort of “creative park”, which is a place with shops, exhibition halls and what looked like factories. The graffiti artists painted several big pieces on the building walls and I was amused to see a group of old ladies examining the paintings very carefully. In Spain, middle aged and old people normally hate graffiti as they basically think it’s just vandalism and making the streets dirtier.
This was the one the grannies were examining. “It’s a huge popsicle!”, they realized.
There were also a few artworks from the three Spanish artists in a small exhibition hall. It somehow feels more serious when they are hanging from the walls like classic art in a museum! There was also a projection of one of the graffiti artists painting a wall in the old town in Suzhou. Suddenly, an old lady who must have been living in the area appeared and got closer. “She’s going to scold the guy”, guessed C. But no, she just kept staring at him, probably thinking “What on Earth is this foreigner doing?”. I guess Chinese older people don’t have the concept of graffiti=making the streets dirty, simply because they are not used to seeing them. And when they do, it’s mostly government-sanctioned slogans!
Painting in the exhibition.
There was also a brief introduction of the organisers and the artists, a DJ and a band. There was quite a lot of people and many children who enjoyed the free snacks and soft drinks .
Yes, I have a HUGE belly. I think I’m expecting an elephant, not a baby.
What a wonderful exhibition! I know you said that you rarely find art in China, but I definitely think it’s becoming more prevalent now. Heck, so many Hong Kongers here make day trips up to Shenzhen just for the art there! 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
What’s there to see in Shenzhen? I’ll check it out next time I go there :D And yes, art is definitely becoming more popular in big Chinese cities, I’d say especially contemporary art.
Thank you, so enjoyed this!
First, you’re not huge. That’s a rhinoceros at best. ;)
Second, it seems more like an exhibition of murals than actual graffiti. At least, the graffiti in L.A. is barely legible, often misspelled and pretty boring. There’s one slogan that had been on a I walk by for decades: “F*&^ Hugh!”
I wonder what Hugh did every time I walk by.
Haha, maybe I’m not using the correct word? In Spanish I would call anything done with spray paint “graffiti”, be it a masterwork or a shitty slogan.
But, to be honest, the mural in the second picture (the woman) was done with normal liquid paint I think, and not with spray. At least I saw the paint buckets still there xD And now that I think of it, the one with the ice cream, I saw the guy retouching it with spray, but can the whole of it be done with spray? It was huge so maybe the big single-color parts are done with liquid paint?
Had no idea there was a graffiti exhibition in Suzhou! It looks impressive, all the art on such tall walls. Was it a free exhibit? Here in Australia street art is everywhere.
Yes, it was free, with even free drinks and snacks! I’ve often seen street art in your pics, in Spain it’s also everywhere.
You look great!
Yeah, thanks for pointing out that graffiti is not common in China. We have a tendency to assume that because we have something then another country must have it too. I suppose it’s not in the culture and I wonder if it would even be tolerated.
I wonder if it will get more popular, but if it does I think it would be regulated, with specific walls where you can paint, definitely not like in Spain, haha.
Alba dice que tu barriga no es para tanto…..sagerá! Solo que la tienes muy pa’arriba.
El cuñao….muy español y mucho español!
Comparada con la de las chinas que están del mismo tiempo es grande, jajaja. Hasta una extranjera me dijo el otro día que ella tenía esta barriga a los 8 meses…
How cool to have that exhibition in Suzhou and with the Spanish connection. And by the way you look lovely…
Thank you, Sue!
That graffiti-ed on girl looks like Liu Yi Fei…China has talent, they should give them a dedicated space to express and showcase their gifts!
Not sure if she was used as the model, haha!
I really like the wall you posed in front of. Your tall enough that your belly looks just right.
The different attitude in China toward graffiti is interesting. The graffiti I see most often is huge sloppy words scrawled on the sides of freight cars on trains.
Ah yes, there were basically no trains in my hometown or the city I attended university in, so all the graffiti were on walls. Some of them were lovely! Others were just garbage, haha.
I think my belly is too high! But that shouldn’t be a problem for the moment.
Cool exhibition. You make a good point- the older Chinese probably found it fascinating not just because it’s interesting but because graffiti in China is usually government slogans or warnings, like those one-word “cai” notices on buildings to be destroyed.
Yes! I think all the spray paint in China is used just for those “to be knocked down” marks. And ads for weird things haha.
Cool exhibition! I always say graffiti is street art, free for all to see. Tags, depends on where they managed to get too and style. Some tags are just sh*t.
Agreed haha. Some look like they were made just to piss people off.
I love graffiti and this exhibition seems like a one which I’d love to attend, Marta! You took so exceptional shots. What else shouldn’t I miss when in Suzhou?
Oh, I’m afraid there are not many graffiti in Suzhou! The things to see here are mostly old… traditional streets, temples, pagodas, gardens, that kind of thing. There is also a ridiculous amount of malls, if you are interested in that xD