Home > Catalogue > Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale > 55 | 2019 > The Kwanyin Clan: Modern Literati Graffiti Writers

Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale | Vol. 55 | June 2019

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Research Article

The Kwanyin Clan: Modern Literati Graffiti Writers

An Aesthetic and Text Analysis of their Main Artworks

Adriana Iezzi    Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Italia    

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abstract

After illustrating the varied artistic production of the Kwanyin Clan, one of the most important Chinese graffiti crews, this paper analyses six of their main artworks in detail (styles, techniques, aesthetic conceptions and artworks texts). In these artworks, the Kwanyin Clan tried for the first time to merge Euro-American graffiti practice with the ancient traditional arts practiced and appreciated by the Chinese literati (calligraphy, poetry, painting, seals and ceramics). Comparing the Kwanyin Clan members to ‘modern literati writers’, the present article shows how this crew succeeded in reinventing ancient Chinese art forms using Euro-American graffiti vocabulary, paving the way for a new development of graffiti art in China.

Published
June 27, 2019
Accepted
June 24, 2019
Submitted
March 18, 2019
Language
EN

Keywords: Contemporary Chinese art • Chinese literati • ‘Three perfections’ • Kwanyin Clan • Graffiti

permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOr/2385-3042/2019/01/013

Copyright: © 2019 Adriana Iezzi. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.