Foreign Artist Vhils Engraves Portraits onto Shanghai Walls

An engraved portrait of a Chinese head of household on a home that is about to be demolished in Shanghai, by Portugese graffiti artist Vhils.

From NetEase:

Foreign artist engraves head of household portraits onto homes to be demolished

Recently, foreign graffiti artist Vhils and his team came to Shanghai. With portraits of ordinary homeowners as their template, they drew giant portraits on the exterior walls of houses on the eve of their demolition. Vhils’ artwork has appeared at M50, Red Town, 188 Pingliang Road, and Xiao Nanmen. What is quite special is that he uses a hammer, chisel, and power drill to engrave onto the surface of the wall, the process of creation completed through destruction.

An engraved portrait of a Chinese head of household on a home that is about to be demolished in Shanghai, by Portugese graffiti artist Vhils.

Vhils (real name Alexandre Farto) was born 1987 in the Lisbon suburbs of Portugal, and currently lives and works in London and Lisbon.

An engraved portrait of a Chinese head of household on a home that is about to be demolished in Shanghai, by Portugese graffiti artist Vhils.

Photos are of Vhils’ wall art. [click to enlarge]

An engraved portrait of a Chinese head of household on a home that is about to be demolished in Shanghai, by Portugese graffiti artist Vhils.

An engraved portrait of a Chinese head of household on a home that is about to be demolished in Shanghai, by Portugese graffiti artist Vhils.

Comments from NetEase:

yi表淫才 [网易江西省南昌市网友]:

I commend it, this is what a true artist is like, this is what real art is.

愤怒的小亮 [网易湖南省长沙市网友]:

Art reflecting the common people’s life, this is what true art is, much more impressive than beauty contests or busty models.

无声狂啸 [网易浙江省杭州市网友]:

This is indeed art.

网易山西省运城市网友:

A true artist of the people.

清风泛舟 [网易广东省网友]:

Something true to life yet about to be destroyed.

jakey1617 [网易浙江省湖州市网友]:

Has a lot of visual impact, makes people think.

犬儒主义万岁 [网易吉林省长春市网友]:

Foreigners are all artists, while we’re all fakes! [Uses a pun on "jia".]

网易辽宁省抚顺市网友:

That artist who put himself in a dog leash and crawled on the ground should come take a look.

人民萬歲 [网易上海市网友]:

China’s artists can also do this, but what they carve/engrave is a big big “拆” [chai, demolish].

网易北京市海淀区网友:

Only after seeing this does one realize China is without great artists.

只爱家和国 [网易广东省江门市网友]:

Only things that are to be demolished can be drawn on…

铝合金易拉罐 [网易辽宁省网友]:

I think this kind of thing is much more better looking than the government’s large statues, haha.

sybm001 [网易辽宁省沈阳市网友]:

Yes, even a foreigner releasing a fart is art.

  • Chifitti

    Everytime I see a graffiti in China it makes me happy. This is super nice too.

    • My Name is Lee

      Hope it will not get out of hand, just like in Europe… then it’d be not so nice anymore…

      • dr love

        anything is better than looking at a gray and colorless city. i welcome it, especially in gray jing….i mean beijing

  • jiayi

    I like their expressions. Nice, real nice.

    • mr. weiner

      …and no one on a leash kissing feet to be seen anywhere :)

  • hanyucha

    Great stuff,

    Looks like sophisticated sratchitti on the London underground. God, I hope that trend never catches on in China.

    I think scratchitti and tagging are the most worthless past times ever.

    • deputamadre

      Posting comments on Chinasmack is much more worthwhile, isn’t it? Thank you for your contributions to society.

    • DRaY

      Nice shit, but I agree please no graffiti, in China, …. the first time i visited Europe I was appalled at all the shitty tagging and graffiti everywhere, I mean the great mother land of white people, looked like the fucking South Bronx…. There is a place for that shit in today’s culture, but please not on public walls… it just makes the place look like “the hood”. There are buildings to be demolished, so I guess this is sort of a “temporary exhibit” … lol

      • Dat Ankle

        You must have had it in you to think that Europe is a clean and proper place because its full of white people lol.

    • lonetrey

      Just curious, but how prevalence IS graffiti and what not in Europe? I have no idea, and I’d like to know.

      • DRaY

        depending on the cities you visti there are all sorts of spray painted garbage all over the place… Milano has its fair share, parts of Paris, London has some but not as bad if I recall, all the major cities have some shit on the walls … really took away from my experience…. I just hate seeing it that’s all…. bullshit…

  • hooots

    This is really beautiful stuff. The impermanence of it reminds me of Tibetan Sand Mandalas. My Tibetan monk friend would do one every year.

    • moop

      before or after he was put in a black jail?

      • hooots

        This was in the US. He had already gotten the f*** out and started a Tibetan Buddhist center.

  • typingfromwork

    Very good art. Subtle, elegant, with a message not crammed down your throat by over zealous moralfags. Ends up being more effective for it.

  • Uncle Sam

    It sad to see so many Chinese don’t know the names of their great artists of today. They have so many. It seems to me that their media neglects their true visionaries as much as ours does here in the US.

    China: Yue Minjun is a genius and worthy of the title “true artist”.

    • donscarletti

      Yue Minjun is a guy who paints that face over and over again right?

      He’s of course now the darling of the “fuck China” movement after someone got a hold of a painting of smiley guys in underwear outside Gugong with another guy making a “pew-pew” rifle gesture.

      I think all the artists worth giving a shit about in Beijing are all doing concept art for MMOs right now.

      • Uncle Sam

        Yeah, the same kind of thing happened with Ai Weiwei. In reality though, it is next to impossible to find a patriotic artist. Probably as a result of depicting observations for a living.

        I imagine if you spent enough time putting any one group under a microscope you going to find more germs than anti-bodies. That says more about humanity than a nation.

  • JPAX

    Excellent creativity!

  • Foreign Devil

    Nice! China actually has a lot of great artists.. most of them are doing concept art for film and video games. I saw a room of artists in Beijing cranking away concept art for a “monkey King” movie that never saw the light of day. Their concept art was just as good. if not better than all the concept art done for the Lord of the Rings movies.

  • darius

    This is a complete rip off of JR’s Wrinkles in the City.

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