Graffiti with Chinese characteristics
Chen Yingjie says he is the first person to combine Chinese wash-and-ink paintings with graffiti.
The 22-year-old now finds himself invited by international luxury brands to paint as a performance with clients including auto giants Subaru and Volvo, sportswear Adidas Originals, and French design house Louis Vuitton.
In a recent collaborative project with Adidas Originals, Chen created a piece of graffiti on a giant white wall of 8 by 4 meters. He held the paints in his hands, squeezed, and splashed them into the sky. The marks left on the wall became a breathtaking picture of water and mountains, in typical Chinese wash-and-ink style.
The campaign, named United All Originals, pinpoints some of the most creative street artists in the country, and Chen is the type of artist the company is looking for.
“I was a rebellious child when I was young. I skateboarded, did graffiti and street dance,” Chen says.
In high school, Chen painted graffiti under Dongping Bridge in his hometown Foshan city, Guangzhou province. The work, which took him four days, was a colorful Chinese dragon nearly 1 kilometer long. When visitors walked on the bridge or along the river, they would see a giant delicate dragon. No one knew its creator was a 19-year-old.
Chen continued his graffiti after being admitted to Raffles Design Institute in Singapore. One day he went to an exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore on the late Chinese wash-and-ink master Zhang Daqian.
“It suddenly occurred to me — why can’t I combine graffiti and a Chinese way of drawing?” he says.
Chen says he was inspired by Zhang’s skills of “splashing inks”. There was one painting he remembers very clearly. It was Zhang’s scenery painting, constructed by various dots, curving lines and large scales of black ink in different shades.
“Later, I became very fascinated with wash-and-ink paintings by masters like Zhang Daqian and Wu Guanzhong. I tried to study their skills,” he says.
His second artwork was created in 2011. It was painted on the walls of the dormitory in Singapore. The young artist created a peony — a typical image in wash-and-ink painting. Chen made its branches and leaves twisted in a very soft way, giving it a special Chinese touch.
“It is not a piece of supersized Chinese ink-and-wash paintings on the wall. When I create, I use the best skills from graffiti — freestyle,” Chen explains.
By freestyle, Chen is referring to the way he paints. He never has a prepared image in his mind before creating. He just paints what he feels at that moment.
After publishing his work online, Chen quickly attracted a large number of fans. Known as “Hua Tu Nan”, which literally translates to “Painting Man”, he quickly gained a reputation. Fashion brands, real estate companies, and galleries began to seek him out, asking about collaborations.
Now, the graduate has opened a studio in Foshan. His main business includes performing graffiti at special events, and creating special paintings for clients.
When asked how much he earns for a project, Chen grins, saying it is a business secret — he is so business savvy that it is hard to believe he is only 21.
He is, indeed, promising. He is currently in talks with a Brazilian gallery that wants to collect one of his paintings. They want to project the painting on a giant wall during the coming Brazil World Cup.
“The painting is a wash-and-ink eagle, very Chinese. I am very obsessed with the image of an eagle. It is strong, and always soars to the sky,” he says.