TSANG TSOU CHOI

Better known as the “King of Kowloon,” Tsang Tsou Choi passed away in 2007 after a lifetime of outsider aesthetic production. Believing that he was the rightful ruler of a portion of Hong Kong, he spent decades in conflict with the police and courts, insisting on writing out his genealogy and understanding of the world as calligraphic graffiti across the city in order to claim this urban space for himself and his family. At the height of his graffiti career, his obsessive marking of territory made his graffiti an ever-present aspect of the streets of Hong Kong. The graffiti has been spotted at many places on the streets of Hong Kong, ranging from lampposts, utility boxes, pillars, pavements, street furniture, and building walls, to an occasional car. A Hong Kong magazine named him one of the city's ten least influential people. However, this supposed lack of influence does not extend to the art world. His typography has inspired many fashion designers, art directors, interior decorators, and CD cover artists. His style has also informed the work of traditional artists, such as Oscar Ho. He appeared in a commercial for Swipe cleaner, in which he cleans away his permanent ink graffiti, proclaiming the product's effectiveness to Hong Kong consumers. He received international recognition for his work and in 2003 he was included in the Venice Biennale.