Injecting local life
The creator of this coney is Bounce, whose story starts as a teen who loved skateboarding. A graduate of Fu-Hsin Trade and Arts School, he was well trained in classical artistic techniques, but after he was introduced to graffiti art and traded his brushes for a spray can, he found he no longer had to draft his works ahead of time. Images leapt out from his mind fully formed, coming to life unbidden when given the right place and time. “I never do drafts. At most, I write down a few keywords or simple elements,” he says. “When I get to the site, the surroundings tell me what to paint, what will fit in best. If it’s a commercial collaboration, I might go there ahead of time and take a few photos for reference, then go back later and paint.”
For example, at the invitation of the General Association of Chinese Culture, at their premises in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District Bounce painted an image of a young boy wearing a fashionable cap and mirror shades paired with a traditional Taiwanese Opera costume adorned with Hakka floral patterns, to symbolize cultures old and new combining and clashing. On the side of a well-known sportswear brand’s location in Ximending, Taipei, he used an abstract, deconstructed, cubist style to depict classic elements associated with NBA stars and merchandise. In Dongshi, Taichung, he referenced the local culture, painting tung flowers, persimmons, and a mythical “dragon horse” on the wall of a restaurant. Massive graffiti on the outsides of vents from the Taipei Metro and images that inject new life into old communities have also come to life from his mind.
Painting outdoors is more of a challenge than doing it indoors, with all kinds of variables that can test the adaptability of any artist, from searing sunshine and heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic to setting up the site, working with the available angles, and dealing with time constraints. “It seems difficult before painting, but after it’s done it seems much easier.” Laughing, Bounce remarks that given how often he does graffiti high up on the sides of buildings, he’s even had to get himself a cherry picker operating license.
This outlet for a well-known sportswear brand, near to Ximending’s Red House, boasts a cool, vibrant mural in which Bounce made use of bold colors and geometric shapes to create a tribute to Michael Jordan.