Wait a second! Street Art in Hong Kong?
Hong Kong is associated with its stunning skyline, mouthwatering culinary treats and, of course, with its finance and trade activities. It is even considered as an important art trading hub with the annual Art Basel Hong Kong and branches of renowned auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s. But Hong Kong and Street Art? Street art rarely comes to mind. And that simply is a pity!
You betcha!
In the shadows of the glitzy skyscrapers lies a colourful world just waiting to be discovered.
Start From Zero, Hong Kong’s street art pioneers, started in the year 2000. But it took about another ten years until Hong Kong’s street art scene started buzzing. Ever since, it has steadily developed and also attracted some fabulous international artists.
10 fabulous international street artists in Hong Kong
Lots of fabulous international artists have passed through Hong Kong and it is difficult to pick just 10. But we got to start somewhere, don’t we?!
So here you go, my personal and totally random selection (okay, I did take the artists’ IG followers into account as a benchmark… I know, it’s not always quantity equals quality but I bet you agree that the following artists have their followers for good reasons).
Shepard Fairey (Obey)
Shepard Fairey visited Hong Kong for the first time in 2000 leaving a couple of his famed paste-ups around town which proved to be the spark of inspiration to Start From Zero founder Dom.
In 2016, Shepard Fairey returned to Hong Kong for his solo exhibition Visual Disobedience, organised by HOCA, and also left 4 marvellous murals in the streets.
Vhils
Portuguese artist Vhils produced an impressive amount of work in Hong Kong and nearby Macau mainly between 2015 -2018. He had two solo exhibitions (Debris), opened a studio, participated in HKwalls, created a few indoor and outdoor commission works around town and transformed one of Hong Kong’s iconic doppeldecker trams into a piece of moving art.
D*Face
D*Face came to Hong Kong in 2014 and created a cool version of his famed D*Dog as part of the first edition of the HKwalls festival, had a solo exhibition titled Honestly Dishonest at gallery Above Second and left a large mural at cultural hub PMQ in 2014 (which is still around but slowly gets overtaken by the surrounding vines…)
Swoon
Swoon visited Hong Kong early in 2017 to give a talk at Hong Kong’s SCAD campus. Luckily, she also left a few of her artworks in the streets and also transformed one of Hong Kong’s trams into a moving piece of art.
Pixel Pancho
Italian artist Pixel Pancho left a massive wall in the middle of Yau Ma Tai district as part of the HKwalls festival in 2017 and the wall still looks as brilliant as ever.
Okuda
Okuda San Miguel’s colourful rainbow thief takes up the entire length of an aged high-rise in Hong Kong’s blue-collar neighbourhood Sham Shui Po. He painted it in 2016 as part of the HKwalls festival and it quickly became known for its Instagram qualities, presenting certain challenges to the neighbours in the tenement building across the street.
Okuda returned in 2019, holding a solo show titled Digital Zoo at La Galerie Paris 1839 and painting for HKwalls festival again. That time around, he created a moving canvas, painting one of Hong Kong’s public buses.
Dan Kitchener
British artist Dan Kitchener has visited Hong Kong numerous times and left a couple of his striking neon-lit cityscapes around town. One of his largest walls, a marvellous caption of a wet market scene, can be still be seen in the heart of Wan Chai.
Invader
Invader and Hong Kong have a somewhat special relationship. Hong Kong was sadly the first city in the world that systematically took down many of his pieces. As a response, HOCA organised Invader’s Wipe Out exhibition at PMQ in 2015, also encouraging a new wave of works around town. His most recent invasion dates back to 2017, when he left another 32 pieces around town. One very prominent wall can be seen on the facade of Star House, located right night to the Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Cinta Vidal
Catalonian artist Cinta Vidal brought her signature style in the shape of floating, twisted and turned buildings to the streets of Hong Kong during the fifth edition of HKwalls in 2018, while holding her first Asian solo show On White at Art Projects Gallery.
Hopare
French artist Hopare stopped by Hong Kong a couple of times early in his career. Amongst others, he did a live painting session at nightclub Boujis in 2014, painted murals for HKwalls in 2015 and for the Love is Wild: Walls of Change project in 2016.
StreetArtOrama 
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