Last year we got over to China a couple of times for some factory visits and the ‘Meeting Of Styles’ event in Hunan Province. We have mad love for China; the people are as nice as they come, the food is dope and the landscapes can change from the urban concrete sprawl to subtropical jungles on just a short drive. Most of all we love linking with the writers in China; Graffiti truly is a global visual language that knows no barriers – style can’t be lost in translation or misinterpreted.
MEMOS hooked up a first hand account of the ‘Meeting Of Styles’ trip in April:“My boy Touchy Wong invited TUES, KEMS, JURNE and myself over to China to paint at the Chinese ‘Meeting of Styles’ in the city of Zhuzhou, in the Hunan Province. While we were there it made sense to make a stop in to the Ironlak Factory and give one of the warehouse buildings a new look. JURNE and KEMS set to work on monster full colour pieces while I made myself busy between chromes, exploring and some work. After finishing at the factory we boarded a bus with Touch and his motley crew of 15 or so Chinese writers; there was a keg of beer followed by plenty of singing and toilet stops on the five hour drive. Once we arrived in Zhuzhou the response to the Ironlak Family members from the crowd was totally overwhelming – real rockstar shit, there was almost a mosh pit at one point! We snuck away for a bando mission and some colour pieces before dropping our final sprays at the Meeting Of Styles and boosting back to Hong Kong for our flights home” -MEMOS.
Here’s Dymsy’s account of their trip later in the year: “I was excited to get back to China for another trip. The last few times I’d been, had been mostly by myself, and all work, and no play. For a few reasons, this trip was a little different. Firstly, the brother SIRUM would be seeing the factory for his first time, and similarly our man James from our retail operation would see China for the first time. TUESY & YESMA were also on the trip, which always makes for a productive, but good time. Annnnd, let’s face it, if we can get in some rap sprays on a China trip, it makes everything more fun.
So anyways, we hit the factory first. While there it was awesome to see the second extension under construction on the land next door. It’s always wild to recall the factory when it was just a muddy block of land, and see now that it’s nearly doubling in size. There were a few work realities to deal with, but once we got a handle on it, YESMA, SIRUM, & TUES blessed the factory with some bunsens. I even snuck off and rocked a little something, something.
The boys literally painted down to the wire, and we jumped in the car and sped off to the nearest airport, just in time to make our flight. Next stop, Shanghai. We were there for a trade fair, and we were hoping that we’d be able to cut class a little early and go for a spray. Somewhat unluckily (and luckily in another way), the trade fair didn’t really appeal to what were tryna do, so, beer in hand, we jumped out hit the rendezvous with our Shanghai connect, ROY, and his homies. We pumped a quick wall inside a university, and after some awkward bathroom breaks, we jumped back to the airport and another flight, this time to have a day off in the Chinese Vegas – Macau. It felt like weird timing to be in this city, but we did our best to make the most of it.
I love China, and I hope to make it back soon. I won’t be in a hurry to return to Macau tho, for me it was more of a one-hit-wonder than Vanilla Ice.
5000” -DYMS.
Shot: Luke Shirlaw (@dymskov)
Cut: Oblvs (@_oblvs_)
Music: Bokeh x Lowquid – ‘Dragon’ (https://soundcloud.com/bokehxlowquid)
Carl – ‘Deadbeats 02 ’ (https://soundcloud.com/cccarl)
Follow the artists on Instagram:
TUES (@tuesy)
SIRUM (@sirumvsvenom)
KEMS (@allchrome)
JURNE (@scienceism)
MEMOS (@bigriddimting)
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