Tsang Tsou-Choi曾灶財was colonial Hong Kong's very own self-appointed King. Despite its statue as British Crown Colony, this local monarch proclaimed his rule over the city for over 50 years. Attempts were made to shove him unceremoniously off his throne, yet Tsang continued to declare his royal title until well past the 1997 handover.
The King snubbed over a century's worth of treaties between the British and late Qing governments, instead laying his claim to the whole peninsula of Kowloon. He used brushes and black ink to issue his royal patents and decrees on lampposts and walls. Some called it graffiti, others called it trash, but no matter public opinion, the King roamed the streets of Hong Kong, determined to make his mark across the city.
Throughout his entire life, Tsang would surely have had his head lopped off for defacing public property, but luckily, HongKongers humoured this cantankerous king, and aside from handful of public arrests and fines, he was, for the most part, left free to paint his royal proclamations on the walls of Hong Kong.
The death of King Tsang Tsou-choi in July 2007 sparked an outpouring of public sentiment and nostalgia in Hong Kong. People rushed to take photos of his work, with many expressing concern about the fate Old Uncle Choi's calligraphy. It seemed that the graffiti king and his art had become an indelible part of the city's consciousness.
As a resuly of Tsang's relentless work throughout the decades, the city has emerged as a spectacular museum to his calligraphy. Daring to the different, the King has added his own idiosyncratic brushstrokes to the polished modernity of 21st century Hong Kong.
Venue: ArtistTree, 1F Cornwall House Taikoo Place, Island East
Exhibition Ends: 31st May 2011
FREE ADMISSION
No comments:
Post a Comment