Advertising, Vandalism or Art?

Graffiti made up of 24 Chinese characters stamped in red paint against a white background on walls across London divided street art lovers and online communities over the weekend. Some said it was political propaganda from China and disrespectful to the street art community; others said it was a great work of art, with Ai Weiwei tweeting “like” and giving a heart-eyes emoji to what appears to be an artist statement.

The graffiti first appeared in East London street art haven Brick Lane on August 5. It was created by a group of young people from mainland China, including several art students from the Royal College of Art in London. The group painted graffiti and murals on both sides of the walls with white paint and painted over simplified Chinese characters with red paint.

The 24 characters referred to the 12 “socialist core values,” a set of “moral principles” that were first propagated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at the 18th Party Congress in 2012 and were defined as “the soul of power soft culture” according to Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014. They include “freedom”, “democracy”, civility”, “justice”, “rule of law”, “harmony”, “prosperity”, “equality”, “patriotism”, “dedication”, “integrity” and “friendliness”.

Wang Hangzheng, a Royal College of Art student who goes by the artist name Yi Que and leader of this graffiti operation, dubbed the piece “East London’s Core Socialist Values.” Yi stated in an Instagram post that the work “does not have much political significance”, but argued that freedom under the Western construction in the name of democracy is a tool of colonization, and freedom under the socialist construction is a way to combat false freedom under Western colonization.

But soon after, images of the graffiti spread across the internet like wildfire, sparking outraged criticism from the street art community and the Chinese-speaking world, including those in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Many accused Wang and his team of destroying the many works of street art, including those by the late street artist known as Marty and a tribute to him by Israeli street artist Benzi Brofman. Others said the students were “promoting political propaganda of a totalitarian government without having the courage to mention the political implications and satire behind “core socialist values,” wrote one Instagram user.

Street artist Susi Foxy, who has been following the incident closely, said Wang and his team were being disrespectful and violated the unwritten rules among street artists. Street work, whether letters or murals, can be painted over when it is “marked” by “picadores,” who operate anonymously to destroy street art, she said. “If a work is still beautiful and untouched, you avoid touching it,” Foxy told Artnet News over the phone.

“The issue is their greed over the amount of space they occupied. There was a wall that was already marked and that was fine. But they repainted the other side, which includes tributes to Marty and works by deceased artists. What they did was completely rude and disturbing,” Foxy added. “If they were fighting for freedom of speech, they should be doing so in China, not taking advantage of the UK. We are not arresting people for [having] different political views.”

Writing in a comment on Foxy's Instagram post, Brofman said he was in fact approached by one of the students in the group, who wrote to him to mention that she loved his work. “I'd be lying if I said it didn't break my ear to see Marty's missing tribute (especially since part of it was one of his last pieces),” he wrote.

When approached by Artnet News for comment, the artist said he did not want to waste his time and energy on this matter and wanted to focus on his future projects. “In regards to what happened at Brick Lane, my only thought is what I can do in the future to empower the incredible community that lives there and the tourists that come from all over the world,” he told Artnet News in a direct message on Instagram .

Intentionally or not, graffiti has become an open canvas for anti-CCP comments. Many went to Brick Lane to tag the work, adding their own creations and new characters transform its meanings into the opposite, such as “freedom” into “no freedom”. Some added other protest slogans on politically sensitive topics such as the Uighur genocide, the crackdown on Hong Kong's freedoms, the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, and the ongoing persecution of dissidents in China and the flood that recently destroyed the homes of tens of thousands. . As of August 8, many of the characters and graffiti have been painted over.

At the same time, netizens also launched a personal attack against Wang on his social media accounts. Some even disclosed their personal information online.

On August 7, Wang issued a statement on Instagram, insisting that he had “no political stance” but declared that “I love my country very much.” But he said he needed help as he was severely bullied online and doxxed. He also alleged that he was receiving death threats, including a reward from an unidentified Hong Kong organization. Hundreds left comments criticizing him for not apologizing and correcting his mistake.

Some, however, saw the work as an accidental success. The Twitter account @whyyoutouzhele, operated by a Chinese art professor nicknamed Li Laoshi, noted that the work was executed in a “very Chinese” manner, “that is, when 'China' arrives, it erases all the splendid colorful cultures ruthlessly without any respect or consideration for others, leaving 24-character principles that they themselves cannot practice.”

But for Badiucao, a Chinese dissident artist based in Australia, the incident was more like “a street artist space-stealing stunt” carried out by “a group of rich and privileged Chinese nationalist students from an elite art school like the Royal College of Art”. in the name of “defending the high art concept of Marxism and decolonization,” the artist told Artnet News.

Badiucao noted that the students “will be hailed as nationalist heroes” if they return to China. “The Chinese people’s desire to speak already exists. The feat does not generate these impulses or voices. We need an open screen in China, not in London,” he said.

It is understood that Wang is about to graduate from the Royal College of Art. “We are aware of media reports regarding a current student. The College maintains high standards of integrity and we are currently carrying out further investigations,” an RCA spokesperson said in response to Artnet News.

Source: Artnet News