Thai Graffiti Street Art Adidas sponsored event in Bangkok Thailand 2012

Thai Graffiti, Street art, Skating, Hip Hop themed event in Bangkok, Thailand, sponsored by Adidas and Oishi

[nggallery id=4]

‘Chakuza’ (not the rapper by the same name) is manufactured by Oishi, an iced tea drink which sells in Bangkok, Thailand, Possibly other parts of South East Asia also. On a rare occasion in Central Bangkok, Thailand, a graffiti, Skating and hip hop style party event was thrown in the heart of Bangkok’s city, near to Chit Lom BTS, Central Word.

A Graffiti competition, tag walls open to the participating public, live DJs and bands, mini flatland skate park, taggers, bombers, skaters, graffiti artists, graffiti lovers, people of all ethnic backgrounds and walks of life, just there to enjoy it all and take in an event that might only happen once in a blue moon, especially it happening in the heart of Bangkok city… There was also live tattooing (tattoo stalls) but nothing to extensive, just tattoo artists setting up stalls amongst all the other lifestyle based pushers such as urban living magazines and street culture clothing…The usual things that come with and are associated with the theme and territory, in a modern day contextual perspective.

[nggallery id=1]

Part of the fun coming to the event as participating artist was competing against all the local Thai graffiti writers and artists, not for the money or the fame but for the fun and thrill of the competition and the graffiti battle. There were a few big famous international graffiti names at the event most of which have already permanently relocated and moved to live in Bangkok, or somewhere else in Thailand, after having personally spent almost 2 years here I certainly see the benefits and the arguments pro rather than against living in Thailand… However that is a story for a different article, this article talks about skating, hip hop, the scene, the culture, art, graffiti, street art, the passion of battling and the people who love the graffiti art scene in Bangkok, Thailand.

The event was good clean fun, no fighting, no arms, no lewdness, just a little drunkenness and a good promotional show of local Thai artistic talents and local Thai artist who came to compete in the competition, competitive spirits alike yours truly. Adidas sponsored a graffiti demo wall which was painted by local underground art legend, big time Thai graffiti artist legend and talent and generally cool dude. “Pakorn” a local Thai born and bred graffiti street artist, was asked by Adidas to paint on a giant plus size Adidas sneaker… The shoes canvas itself was based on the traditional Shell toe design made popular by Run DMC back in the 80’s hip-hop scene, however this was no ordinary shoe (see the photos), this plain white shoe was around 3m wide and 1m high, artist Pakorn did his usual take on the 3D organic wildstyle style freehand graffiti with his own visual signature, the other side of the shoe was painted by a Thai female artist, name unknown, however she opted paint brushes and over spray cans, but this event was not so serious, it wasn’t some sort of whos who of graffiti and purist graffiti movement, this was a graffiti event thrown by Adidas and Oishi, outside Central World mall comlpex, personally I’m glad they managed to take it as far as they did!

Oishi, Chakuza were nice enough to offer some open public graffiti tag walls so anyone had a chance to join in, they even kindly left out some marker pens so everyone could have a go at being a graffiti artist for the day, the kids usually love any chance to paint on a wall, illegal or not… Plenty of skate and BMX action at the event also…oh and finger boarding! I personally don’t see the attraction but as you can see from the photos attached to this article there are a fair few number of finger board enthusiasts here in Bangkok who were eager to show off their finger popping shove its and grinding techniques, I don’t even know that these tricks have the same names as the real skate tricks.

A live graffiti demo by Paris graffiti artist “Boher” (and also famous, respected, published international graffiti artist) along with the equally talented Swiss graffiti artist “Ares”. There was equally a very nice display of good local Thai graffiti by local Thai graff artist Puk. The most amazing thing for me personally is this kind of huge event was not held in some remote abstract location but right in the heart of the Bangkok shopping district right outside one of the most famous malls in Bangkok, Central World, Chit Lom BTS. Anyone who knows a thing or two about skate/graffiti/hip hop based events organized in Europe will realize what I am saying about this being amazing.

Anyone from London try to picture a mass underground urban style street event being organized right in front of say Harrods or Selfridges in Central London shopping district, that’s the kind of spectacle I’m talking about. Anyway, check out the photos below, watch this space for more colourful and twisted graffiti art creations coming from graffiti artist Vinni Kiniki soon. Thanks for reading, keep cool, peace out.