Design
The Lonely Life of the Chinese Graffiti Writer
Spray-painting walls in Beijing isn't actually all that dangerous. So why are there so few people doing it?
BEIJING—Leave it to China to figure out a way to make graffiti a luxury item.
A couple of years ago, the state-owned newspaper China Daily featured the trend of "indoor graffiti," with Chinese apartment-dwellers hiring artists to paint their walls. The story is illustrated with a picture of one artist's two anime-style cherubs sitting on hot pink toadstools. Having commissioned "graffiti" painted on an apartment wall means "a totally free and luxurious life for young people," says a client who hired a graffiti writer for his place.