Dan Eldon

Dan Eldon was the youngest photographer ever to work for Reuters.  He was not a naive newby trying to make it when he was stoned to death in Mogadishu in 1993.  He had spent a great deal of his teenage years traveling through the dark continent in a rusted Range Rover.Hia mother has published some of his graphic art work.  Dan apparently kept scrapbooks of his escapades.  The work is interesting, bizarre, and beautiful.  His visual accounts of his journeys in South Africa and Japan are the work of someone who is experiencing the world for the first time, while his sublime photos of war in Somalia reveal a cameraman who is familiar with the brutality and violence of the world.In some ways Eldon’s life was extraordinary.  He did things in 22 years that most people would never do.  Still, when looking at his scrapbook, its hard not to see yourself as a young person, coming to grips with the oddities, frustrations, and small joys.  Besides his brutal death, the thing I will remeber about Eldon is his account of traveling down the length of eastern Africa in his Land Rover.  He and his companions often avoided thieves and muggers by lodging in the safest places available: the local jail’s holding cells.It’s hard not to envious of Dan.  He had a level of self trust that seems alien to me.  He was as accomplished at 22 as most people are in their entire lives.  Every far-fetched scheme he came up with was successful.  His intuition seemed to guide him, and he seemed to know what made him happy.  His search for happiness and his intuition brought him back to Africa again and again.  Eventually, it got him killed.But he lived so, so much.

Art Takes on Traffic

Beijing has become a notorious city for its traffic and its pollution from the roadways. The video below is an interesting film by Beijing-based director Lois Xiang. Intersting mostly because of the fact that it raises the accusation that there is a traffic and pollution problem in Beijing. Government officials have been doing their best to cover it up ahead of the Olympics next year.

This type of film is a good example of the cultural journalism/art that is coming out of China. There is a burgeoning art scene, with whole neighborhoods becoming epicenters of cutting edge culture. Though the 2008 Olympics are meant to showcases China to the world, it will be artists and filmmakers from the younger generations who will bring the world the views and issues of China without her Olympic make-up.

Street Art in Beijing

Here is a link to more graffiti from Hong Kong as promised. Graffiti scene is also alive and well in the mainland. You might be surprised to know that while graffiti is illegal in most of the west, Beijing has a special zone, called Beijing’s 798 art zone, where graffiti can be painted legally. So much for the authoritarianism of the communist regime.Graffiti was an important part of Mao’s communist revolution, with the propaganda posters of communist government like a form of sanctioned graffiti. Though there is some anti-establishment feeling amongst China’s sprayers, for the most part, there art is more a social commentary about China’s rapid development and their place (or lack of place) in this new society.

“Chinese artists are more likely to play cat and mouse with the government, and do it carefully.”

Get the full BBC photo essay and report on Beijing graffiti artists here.

Hong Kong’s Graffiti Legend

Art and ego often go hand in hand. But how about using your art to claim ownership of a city and demand that you be installed as its ruler. Well, that’s what Tsang Tsou Choi did. Since the 1950s, he had been covering Hong Kong with graffiti messages claiming that the land rightfully belonged to his family.Every city has crazy people, yes. But how many of these loonies achieved success on the international art stage. Known as the King of Kowloon, Tsang’s work has been sold at action. While some of Hong Kong’s art community has been charmed by his scribblings, they are fast disappearing. His death in July of this year brought about calls by the art world to preserve his work.Urbanphoto.net gives Tsang his props: in a society that for decades stressed material gain and social mobility above all else, the King of Kowloon was an oddball and an outsider. His unique visual style influenced a generation of creative young Hong Kongers.RIP Tsang Tsou Choi.More about Hong Kong’s art scene in future posts.