Graffiti Art Gets the Gallery Treatment Page 10
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TOFF BREAK Matthew Goode on being typecast P8 SUNDAY MORNING POST NOVEMBER 23, 2008 Graffiti art gets the gallery treatment Page 10 Different strokes BIRD ON THE WING Ladyhawke’s career takes flight Sight&Sound P4 DOLLARS AND SENSE The bankable, breezy novels of Jill Mansell Books P13 10 Arts NOVEMBER 23, 2008 SUNDAY MORNING POST Edited by Kevin Kwong [email protected] An exhibition by urban artists is giving graffiti a voice, writes Kristina Perez Tag and release ong Kong has been D*Face began “bombing” his “bombed” by a group of The overall theme hometown 10 years ago when there Britain’s foremost urban was no such thing as street art. “It artists. It’s 3am, the of my work is that wasn’t something I thought of as a shops are closed and it’s about satirising movement or genre. I was creating HCauseway Bay is still – except for the posters and stickers just for my own rats. And the street artists. Working imagery, taking it amusement. I was sticking them up meticulously with spray paint and as an idle form of release.” stencils brought from London, over, becoming By 2002 people were beginning Hong Kong’s first Diesel-sponsored to take notice, he says. “The past art wall begins to take shape and a part of it three years have been monumental riff on the classic Coca-Cola bottle ...................................................... in terms of where it’s come from and D*Face, urban artist appears with the slogan, “Only the where it’s going.” brave … riot.” Like the court jester, D*Face sees If you’ve been riding the bought me the books Subway Art his role as subverting the images and Mid-Levels escalator this week you and Spraycan Art and they’re pretty icons of the body politic. “The may have noticed an invasion of the much the seminal graffiti books from overall theme of my work is that it’s Whereas Banksy has remained his style is entirely different. Hailing enforcem D-Dog, a slightly vicious-looking the 80s,” says D*Face. “The styles about satirising imagery, taking it anonymous, D*Face has put a face from Hastings on the southeast Hong Ko Pac-Man with wings. D-Dog is the and the colours, the look and feel – over, becoming part of it,” he says. to his tag as Dean Stockton, and coast of England, Tom grew up by card and signature character and alter ego of that was completely fresh to this little The most emblematic example is even founded the Stolenspace the sea, a recurring motif in his it’s clear D*Face, a prolific London street kid growing up in London.” his depiction of Queen Elizabeth as a gallery in London’s East End to work. He especially likes to paint are no lo artist who most recently populated Although graffiti art and later D-Dog, sticking out her tongue. nurture other urban artists. on driftwood. Urba his capital with massive, 1-tonne skateboarding culture had a big “It was questioning the monarchy,” “I’m not going to hide behind “The wood for me says so many itself equ sculptures of spray cans. His name is impact on D*Face, he doesn’t call says D*Face. “How important is it to this person who works in the night things. It’s about recycling, it’s about as on the now being mentioned in the same himself a graffiti artist. “I’ve never us as a nation? How important to me and lurks around,” says D*Face. being aware of your surroundings … London breath as the elusive Banksy, and he really created my work in that way. as an individual?” “I think the work needs justification, I really like that it’s had a previous internat counts pop star Christina Aguilera I’ve never painted trains, I’ve never Whether his work is on the street I think it’s important that it can history, a life somewhere else.” the entir among his collectors. painted letter styles.” or in a gallery, D*Face wants his be represented.” Urban art has come a long way and even D*Face grew up in London “What it did teach me was to look viewers to question their Several of these artists have from the days of tagging to include of US pr during the 1980s when graffiti art, or at the city differently. So when I was relationship to images with which come to Hong Kong with D*Face illustrators such as David Bray Obama, tagging, was exploding onto the travelling around, what might be a we are bombarded every day. “My this week to launch their new among their ranks. His work shows the cand scene for the first time. “As a kid I was regular wall would essentially work is to get people to question exhibition, Attention Spam, an academic obsession with nudity artist Sh really interested in graffiti. My Mum become a blank canvas.” their relationship to them.” at the Schoeni Art Gallery. and its relationship with violence. The d As you walk up Old Bailey Street Bray says he tries to make the nudes D*Face, towards the gallery you will see a as elegiac as possible and that he is of becom tongue-in-cheek Spider-Man mural the object of their gaze. D*Face, and a D-Dog looming on the skyline. “In making them goddesses, it’s the Oba Gallery director Nicole Schoeni says kind of like worship. Women are in the anti- their collaboration with Adapta charge. I’m just a dumb man. I think the estab Gallery in London to mount the women are pretty much in control.” “And exhibition does not indicate they are Vesna is the only female artist undergr moving away from Chinese included in Attention Spam, a he says. contemporary art. “One of my reflection of the “boys being boys” biggest s gallery’s main guiding principles attitude associated with the graffiti punk, is includes broadening the experience art scene. and und of our audience in terms of what “I think it was a guy’s thing,” says once sho they perceive art to be. And as an Vesna. “And, of course, for girls to shockin urban child, born in the 1980s, the get into this it used to be a lot more requests street and graffiti art have played a difficult. But I think now it’s getting a Prada an big part in my life.” lot more open … people are he won’ Word To Mother, aka Tom, is the experimenting a lot.” evolutio youngest artist in the exhibition – While D*Face and his crew did graffiti a D*Face’s protégé of sorts – although become acquainted with local law acceptan SUNDAY MORNING POST NOVEMBER 23, 2008 Arts 11 Singer for all seasons ...................................................... together because … it was a timing Preston Jones issue. I finally got to the point where This year has proved to be I said, ‘I don’t care anymore – I’ve exceptionally busy for Sarah got to make a Christmas album.’ Brightman: the release of two What I didn’t expect was how I albums, Symphony and the holiday- would feel trying to make a themed A Winter Symphony; a Christmas album during the cameo in the Beijing Olympics summer months in Europe.” opening ceremonies; a role in Brightman’s summer wasn’t director Darren Lynn Bousman’s exclusively devoted to sonically peculiar rock musical Repo! The evoking the dead of winter – she also Genetic Opera and a world tour took time out to travel to Beijing in promoting Symphony. August and perform You and Me (in “I do have a real passion for what both Putonghua and English) with I do, and I love to make it as Chinese vocalist Liu Huan. It complete as possible,” the 48-year- marked the second time the singer old British vocalist says. “It’s hard at has appeared at the Olympics: in times because my career is often a 1992, she and Jose Carreras whirlwind. But I actually do feel performed the soaring Amigos Para extremely privileged with what I do Siempre at the closing ceremonies in because, in a way, it’s my hobby.” Barcelona, Spain. You’d be forgiven if you picked Despite more than 30 years in the up a copy of Symphony, Brightman’s music business and her versatility first album of new material in five and stunning vocal prowess, she is years, and thought you’d grabbed an one of the very few singing stars who Evanescence album by mistake. The isn’t on a first-name basis with the artwork, much like the music, public. Yet her fervent fan base, reflects a darker, more Gothic tone. considerable artistic clout and an For that matter, A Winter Symphony estimated 26 million records sold may be one of the chilliest Christmas provide some measure of comfort, a albums in recent memory. safety net that has allowed her to But art does not always reflect make unconventional choices and life. Brightman says the more push the boundaries of blending austere tone stems from having the pop music and steadfastly luxury of time; about four years were traditional opera. dedicated, off and on, to Symphony. “I think that has come from just “It was interesting to see my having a very long career,” tastes and what I wanted to do for Brightman says. the album change completely “Obviously, I’ve moved during during that time,” Brightman says. that time into many styles of music – “Taking time is a good experience.