Tsang Tsou-choi, 86; Hong Kong street artist known for calligraphy

Graffiti artist Tsang Tsou-choi, 86, whose incoherent Chinese calligraphy writings on public walls have been displayed in Italy and auctioned by Sotheby’s, died July 15 of heart disease, said his friend Lau Kin-wai.

Tsang is a household name in Hong Kong because of his brush-written script that appears in neat lines on sides of pedestrian overpasses and other public places. The graffiti often claimed his family’s royal background and ancestral rights to the area known as Kowloon.

His calligraphy was recognized by the international art world in 2003 when his work was displayed at the 50th Venice Biennale. He was heralded as “probably the oldest graffiti artist in the world.”

In 2004, Sotheby’s auction house sold a piece by Tsang, along with a photograph of his street work, for $7,000.

Born in a Chinese village in 1921, he moved to Hong Kong at 16, became a farmer and worked as a laborer. He married at 35 and had eight children. About 50 years ago, Tsang started painting city walls with his grievances and stopped in 2003 when his legs could no longer support him.