Tsang Tsou-Choi was born in Guangdong, China in the year 1921 and was the most famous graffiti artist to come from Hong Kong. His style was a mix of calligraphy and graffiti.
Moved to Hong Kong after fleeing China in the 1930s. Started to do his signature graffiti in 1950s.
He seemed preoccupied with covering the public spaces with his calligraphy, claiming his grandfather owned the land. This caused his family to disown him and his wife to leave him.
Tsou-Choi spent a great deal of his life living in the streets. Much of artwork has been covered, but that which comes up at auction might include acrylic and ink on paper or even calligraphy on a public utility box.
He would spent countless hours walking the streets with brushes and ink moving very slowly on crutches.
A clever move was securing a contract with Swipe Away. In the television commercial he used the product to remove his calligraphy ink.
If the authorities removed his ink, he would soon replenish the work. Over the years he created between 50,000 and 60,000 works on lamps, utility boxes, and walls.
Over his career he never earned more than pocket money for art, but Sotheby’s held an auction for the artist and one work on board sold for slightly more than $7,000.
Seen as a public art star, the government sprayed some works with a clear protective finish to preserve them for future generations.
In this clip the public argues to preserve his calligraphy.
In this clip a short career retrospective of Tsang Tsou-Choi.
Tsang Tsou-Choi passed away in 2007 at the age of 85 years old.
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