Out of the shadows

Members of the graffiti group ABS crew apply paint to a wall in Beijing. Photos by Wei Xiaohao / China Daily

Graffiti artists are increasingly finding their work accepted by the mainstream

In loose jeans, armed with a gas mask and a black backpack, Ye Shu walks into the woods next to Jingmi Lu, a road beside the airport expressway in Beijing. He glances around making sure no one is watching before taking out spray cans from his bag. For graffiti artists like Ye, the woods, stretching across 2 kilometers, are a perfect playground.

He will spend hours or even a whole day there, spraying colors on the wall, admiring his work for a few seconds and taking photos of it.

Ye, 30, has been doing this for nearly 10 years.

As urban youths seek new ways to express themselves graffiti has emerged from the underground. Graffiti artists such as Ye are eager to attract a wider audience to their art.

A tag featuring two Chinese characters rumored to have been created by a foreigner named Zato can be seen throughout the city, from roller doors of shops to hutong walls.

In May, a large graffiti appeared overnight under the Anzhenqiao Bridge in northern Beijing and received wide attention.

"I love painting there because the walls are hidden behind the woods and unnoticed by police," Ye says. "It's really frustrating to see an unfinished work whitewashed by police."

But Ye no longer has to paint on hidden walls. In fact, he is making a living as a graffiti artist.

In 2010, along with the other members of ABS Crew, a graffiti group that Ye founded in 2007, he opened a studio in 798 Art Zone in Beijing, a popular area showcasing contemporary Chinese art.

Two years later, he opened a store next to the studio, selling products such as spray paint and T-shirts featuring his art.

This summer, Ye will launch a hip-hop summer camp in collaboration with the French embassy in Beijing, presenting various street culture events such as break dancing and graffiti.

"Graffiti has been recognized today, but has a niche market," he says. "Even today some people still cannot understand what we are doing."

In 2004, when Ye was a student of art design at a university in Tianjin, he watched Jackie Chan's Rumble in the Bronx.

He was fascinated by a graffiti scene and bought a can of spray paint from a hardware store and painted his name on a wall at the university.

"I felt so excited to see my name on the wall because the visual impact was so strong," he recalls.

However, his teachers and classmates were less impressed, accusing him of vandalism.

The first public graffiti that Ye's ABS Crew undertook was to spray paint a six-story building in Tianjin.

The work was commissioned by the local government for a music themed street outside the Conservatory of Music.

Since then, Ye has worked with companies such as Nike and Audi. He now plans to work in the CBD of Beijing to create graffiti amid office buildings.

He is excited by the news that a section of the Great Wall in the popular tourist destination of Mutianyu has been earmarked to become a dedicated graffiti zone.

Zhang Tongcai, an official from the management office of Mutianyu Great Wall, says the intention is to protect the ancient bricks rather than encouraging graffiti, but Ye says he and his team intend to create some art work specifically for the area.

Zhang says 2.8 million tourists visit the Mutianyu Great Wall every year, and 40 percent are foreigners.

"Graffiti has been controversial because the line between art and vandalism is blurred," says Liu Zheng, a graffiti artist of Kwan Yin Clan, a group founded by Liu in 2006 along with several other young people in Beijing.

"There is no law on graffiti in China so people feel free to paint whereever they want," Liu says.

Liu, 29, who studied visual design, was a rapper at university. He created his first graffiti on the walls outside Sihui subway station in Beijing in 2006, which he described as "dropping a bomb".

"I used to paint at night and quickly or I would be stopped by the police," Liu recalls.

At first he painted to express himself and to relieve pressure. Now, he says, he combines the techniques of traditional Chinese ink painting with graffiti.

Along with members of Kwan Yin Clan, Liu has painted the walls outside Beijing Institute of Technology and Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology as part of a project commissioned by the government during the Olympic Games in 2008.

"To me, the attraction of graffiti is the beautiful color and lines," Liu says, "the more I paint, the more I realize that it's about culture and society."

"People's attitude toward graffiti has started to change because they can appreciate it in advertising and on TV. It's not something secretive any more."

chennan@chinadaily.com.cn

Graffiti artist Ye Shu stands in front of graffiti under the Anzhenqiao Bridge in northern Beijing.