Graffiti, an imported product, was introduced to the mainland in the 20th century with exaggerated fashionable and personalized elements such as rap and street dance. In the eyes of many people, graffiti is something that "bad boys" only play, it is rebellious and difficult to appreciate, and it is a kind of visual and even environmental pollution. But in the eyes of another part of the people, graffiti is a monologue of the creator's true personality, an aesthetic that most reflects human nature, and the controversy between the two still exists today.
Zhu Xiaofeng, 25, is a graffiti enthusiast in Jinan. In his view, today's graffiti has long been far away from the category of "street culture" and is gradually moving closer to the new art. For Zhu Xiaofeng, graffiti is not only an interest in showing his personality and releasing pressure, but also a medium for him to meet new friends and expand his circle of friends. Graffiti also helped him get out of the dilemma of bipolar disorder and achieve a certain degree of "freedom of interest".
Zhu Xiaofeng and his graffiti works
From enthusiast to realization of "freedom of interest"
"I first learned about graffiti in 2015." Zhu Xiaofeng still remembers the first time he saw the live graffiti process, when he studied at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in Chongqing, and because there were fewer professional classes, he often went to Chengdu. At that time, Zhu Xiaofeng was just a skateboarding enthusiast, and at an event in Chengdu, he accidentally realized graffiti, "Seeing the colorful and colorful that is freely sprinkled, hearing the spray paint sound of those 'ding', I was immediately amazed by this way of drawing and painting." ”
Because of his professional art skills and full interest, Zhu Xiaofeng quickly integrated into Chengdu's graffiti circle and gave himself a stage name "Dean" according to the "customs" of the circle. One of Zhu Xiaofeng's favorite graffiti works, the content of which is the subject of his stage name.
Please fill in one of Zhu Xiaofeng's favorite graffiti works here, writing a picture description for "Dean"
In 2019, Zhu Xiaofeng, whose hometown was in Yucheng, Dezhou, chose to come to Jinan after graduation, and he came back with the hobby of graffiti. Zhu Xiaofeng, who just came to Jinan, could not find friends with common hobbies for a while, plus at that time in a children's training institution to do course research and development, heavy work made him almost no time to graffiti, so he chose to play at home.
The graffiti spray paint in Zhu Xiaofeng's storage room
In an offline activity, Zhu Xiaofeng finally found an "organization" in Jinan and joined a QQ group full of Jinan graffiti "masters". In the subsequent sticker sharing, he gradually emerged in the Graffiti circle in Jinan, and successively received invitations for some commercial activities, realizing a certain "freedom of interest".
"In a strict sense, the drawings on street distribution cabinets and sewer cover are just simple paintings and wall paintings, and do not belong to the category of graffiti, and graffiti is generally larger. According to the current area charge, a graffiti can generally earn thousands of yuan, and the 'extra money' income can also be tens of thousands of yuan a year, compared with less than 10,000 yuan of interest expenditure, my current income in graffiti is enough to support my hobby." Zhu Xiaofeng explained.
The "new graffiti" shifted from the streets to the interior
For whether to continue to like graffiti, Zhu Xiaofeng has also done some psychological struggles. In his view, after all, this is an art category that "is not so good in wind evaluation", and when he first "entered the industry", he did cause trouble to some people.
"Before, the graffiti circle had a habit of drawing my own logo everywhere, including when I first started playing graffiti." Recalling his time in Chengdu in the "mixed circle", he described that "at that time, I was either scribbling around in the middle of the night under the leadership of a group of seniors, or finding a place to practice in the parking lot or in the ruins." At that time, I had endless energy, exerting my youthful personality." Zhu Xiaofeng said that at that time, the graffiti circle was full of "underground wind", full of youthful madness and barbaric growth.
As his love for graffiti deepened, he realized the error of his behavior, and gradually, like other enthusiasts, abandoned this bad habit of seemingly personality but actually belonged to street graffiti, and turned to a deeper study of its artistry.
"Playing at home is already the way most graffiti enthusiasts choose today, rather than having to go out on the street as before." While speaking, Zhu Xiaofeng took out the manuscript and coloring pattern of his design, "The basic process of playing graffiti now is to design the manuscript with a pencil at home, and then repeatedly fill in the test, and when the work matures, it is made into stickers to share with other graffiti enthusiasts, which is a bit similar to the previous postcards." "If you're itching, spray it on a home drawing board or apply it outdoors on wide plastic wrap." ”
Zhu Xiaofeng's interior graffiti drawing boards, sketches and stickers
Talking about the process of turning from the street to the room, Zhu Xiaofeng said that the whole process is still relatively smooth, although occasionally when there is "itchy hands", their solution is to pick up more activities, "even some activities are free to help people paint graffiti, as long as they can provide a venue." ”
In 2018, senior Zhu Xiaofeng was diagnosed with the initial symptoms of bipolar affective disorder, a common mental disorder with both manic and depressive episodes, and the root cause is very complicated. "At that time, the doctor learned that I had a hobby of graffiti when he gave me a treatment plan, and he suggested that this hobby of venting emotions should be used instead of medication, supplemented by irregular psychological counseling. Now that I'm basically healed, I think it's a kind of fate between me and the graffiti. ”
Jinan graffiti lovers "a little less"
But in fact, like Zhu Xiaofeng, there are only a few people who have a certain level of art and can "feed their hobbies with hobbies", and most of the graffiti lovers are quickly lost after a shallow taste. When it comes to Jinan's graffiti circle, Zhu Xiaofeng's first cognition is "a little less".
According to Zhu Xiaofeng's understanding in the past 3 years, there are usually five or six people in Jinan's graffiti circle who are still good, and occasionally there will not be more than 10, most of whom are "ticket friends" enthusiasts. "Basically, there can be no other people with good skills who often draw and are not yet known, and there are so few people that they can't even be counted as a 'circle'," he said: "And there is an obvious age gap, and the age of more than 30 years old can be counted as OG and old cannon, compared to Chengdu where I have been before, the people in the Jinan graffiti circle are indeed 'a little less'." ”
The New Yellow River reporter interviewed several Jinan graffiti enthusiasts on the issue of the scarcity of graffiti enthusiasts in Jinan. Their analysis of the causes is roughly as follows:
First, graffiti requires enthusiasts to have a relatively high level of painting, which limits this hobby on an artistic level; Second, spray paint a jar of 20 yuan, a similar work will be sprayed off almost 1,000 yuan of spray paint, from the economic level also "dissuaded" some people; Third, Jinan and even Shandong as a whole have not formed their own graffiti culture, enthusiasts have no sense of belonging, and there is more loss of personnel turnover, which has led to the circle of "people are not prosperous". "A few years ago, some Qingdao graffiti enthusiasts also tried to build their own circles, and even set up their own label SDF (ShanDongFamily)." A graffiti enthusiast surnamed Zhang told the New Yellow River reporter.
Poster for the "CHEERS2021" graffiti campaign
Graffiti on the exterior wall of Jinan Vocational College of Art and Design
In the summer of 2021, Zhu Xiaofeng participated in a graffiti event organized by the SDF called "CHEERS2021", whose first stop was located at Jinan Vocational College of Art and Design. In front of the activity works on the school's façade at that time, the New Yellow River reporter randomly interviewed a number of passers-by, most of whom said that they could not appreciate it and did not understand its painting style, "but it looks green and green, and it is indeed much better than the original red brick cement." ”
In the face of most people's unfamiliarity with this art, Zhu Xiaofeng also expressed a certain optimism. He believes that Jinan has also had some positive developments, and its attitude towards graffiti is not static. "Over the years, Jinan city has paid more and more attention to rejuvenation, and there have been more and more energetic desires, and the most classic symbol is the famous love zebra crossing of the three latitudes and three latitudes, which is actually an improved version of graffiti, and now more and more people are actively accepting graffiti." He said: "From my experience in participating in the event, many Jinan people do not accept graffiti art, on the contrary, they even want to know graffiti very much, but there is no normal way to get it, and this is the direction I want to work in the future." ”
Graffiti and the fusion of Jinan's urban culture
For a long time, some graffiti enthusiasts have insisted that as long as good-looking graffiti should not be classified as graffiti, even if it cannot be called art, it is a kind of beautification and decoration of the city.
In this regard, the relevant person in charge of the urban management department of Jinan Central District said in an interview with the New Yellow River reporter that the quality of graffiti works should be placed in the layout and function of the entire block to determine, and the harmony around can only be regarded as superficial emotional catharsis, and cannot be called beautiful.
The person in charge said that at present, there are no strict laws and regulations in Jinan to clearly regulate graffiti, but who sets up public facilities has a say; The public environment needs to be recognized by everyone; The content of the graffiti needs to be positive, and the relevant departments need to approve the content, and for the above reasons, it cannot be casually drawn. Strictly speaking, in public places, even in areas that are about to be demolished, graffiti is illegal.
The person in charge also said that graffiti belongs to a part of the governance of urban appearance and appearance, although there are currently no penalty cases in Jinan, not counting the object of governance, but graffiti can be used as a means of urban governance to a certain extent, especially can be combined with the governance of urban features such as back streets and alleys. He suggested that graffiti culture should be in line with Jinan's attitude of actively embracing rejuvenation in terms of artistic core, and graffiti enthusiasts should actively contribute to the city management department from the perspective of expanding the idea of jinan's urban cultural development and learning from the advanced experience of governing the city in other places, and develop and expand their own art circle; At the same time, it is necessary to actively understand the urban culture of Jinan, integrate graffiti art into jinan urban culture, make it conform to the aesthetics of the public, combine social fashion with urban needs, and work with the city to create a new cultural label of Jinan. (Jinan Times, New Yellow River Trainee Reporter: Ge Yuanyuan)