a cultural icon - part of Hong Kong history

I wanted to post this story after a wonderfully thoughtful blogger Fernenland , from across the Tasman Sea,(NZ) shared this New York Times article with me this week. Thank you F!

Tsang Tsou-choi, also known as the
King of Kowloon, in a photo taken in 1997.

May 4, 2011

King of Kowloon Finally Gets Respect

By JOYCE HOR-CHUNG LAU

HONG KONG — A toothless garbageman who once wandered Hong Kong’s streets with dingy bags of ink and brushes tied to his crutches is now the subject of a major retrospective. About 300 calligraphic works by the late Tsang Tsou-choi — who is best known by his self-dubbed title, the King of Kowloon — are showing at the ArtisTree art space in a high glass tower.

The show, “Memories of King Kowloon” (until May 31), in a spacious corporate-sponsored dimly lighted gallery, quiet as a library, would have been foreign territory for Mr. Tsang. He was most at home under the tropical sun and neon lights. An outsider artist, he spent half a century dodging security guards and police officers as he obsessively covered lampposts and mailboxes, slums and ferry piers, with his distinctive Chinese text.

Mr. Tsang, who died in 2007 at the age of 85, created an estimated 55,000 outdoor pieces, almost all of which have been washed away, painted over or torn down by the authorities and real estate developers. He was a rebel graffiti artist decades before it was fashionable, creating art brut in a city that has no time for outsiders.

Mr. Tsang arrived in Hong Kong as a teenage refugee from Guangdong, a southern province bordering Hong Kong, in the 1930s, and began his urban painting in the 1950s.

He toiled under the delusion that he was the rightful heir and ruler of the Kowloon Peninsula, dismissing all political factions that had controlled the area: the Qing Dynasty until 1898, the British until 1997 and China today. In his thick scrawl, he marked his territory with “royal decrees” and a “family tree,” using the names of his ancestors and eight children to build an imaginary web of princes and princesses. Read more. 

Here are some great pics of this artist from a blog I discovered called IN THE SKY:

I liked this text which accompanied images from on the Sky Blog:

Monday, May 02, 2011

九龍皇帝曾灶財: 鰂魚涌太古坊 ArtisTree Showcase "King of Kowloon" at Taikoo Place HK

他的堅持，他的信念，盡在他的文字裡。展覽至五月三十一日，場館：ArtisTree, 康和樓一樓（靠港島東），鰂魚涌太古坊.
Mr. Tsang Tsou-Choi (King of Kowloon) Showcase at ArtisTree, 1/F., Cornwall House, Taikoo Place, Quarry Bay, until 31st May, 2011.
＊在展館內，一篇一篇他的文字樂，一筆一揮他對著自己身世不修篩的堅持，再看他歲月遺痕的身外物，不奇然令人心神震撼，拿起相機的當時，手與眼睛不禁有點激動。 一生不斷地寫，在每一街角流下自己思潮的引記，就是那麼有血有肉的漫長訴說。
*Mr. Tsang spent all of his life time on writing on his claiming as the King of Kowloon as in his royal family trace from the past Chinese dynasty. He kept on writing and writing at every corner of the streets. His writing is so simply straight out of his mind and heart. Personally I don't agree to what SCMP's claim on his writing as graffiti. It should be Mr. Tsang's own calligraphy - his own world in his own heart.

Perhaps this is a poignant reminder to all of us who are compelled to make art... we can approach art-making with such an acute self-consciousness that its almost impossible to take pleasure in what we do.


This 'outsider' artist and others like him offer a precious gift in reminding us of another way, another kind of impulse. One where self and "career" and agendas are not getting in the way of some very important qualities.


My NZ friend also shared the Maori saying "Kia Kaha" with its approximate meaning... to "stand strong" ... in regard to the artist's challenge to stay true to themselves... a harder thing to do at times than we sometimes assume.


I'm wondering what you might think about this...?


Now back to the painting...
enjoy your weekend,
S