This fine dining restaurant in Hong Kong offers not only gourmet dishes but also a hearty helping of some of the world’s best street art.
Hong Kong has a vibrant art scene and while common venues to bump into art are galleries and fairs like the Hong Kong edition of Art Basel, the city also boasts of art in the most surprising of places. One such space is Bibo, a fine dining French restaurant, which at first sight can easily be mistaken for an art gallery. The restaurant boasts of an incredible collection from street artists like Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Banksy, Invader, Damien Hirst, Mr. Brainwash, Daniel Arsham and JR. View the slideshow for a virtual tour of the art at Bibo.
Mr. Brainwash is the moniker of Paris-born, Los Angeles- based filmmaker and street artist Thierry Guetta. His method of working is to pass on his idea to his team of mostly graphic designers, who then implement the artwork. Mimicking his associate Banksy, Guetta also uses famous artistic and historic images, many of which are copyrighted. He changes the originals in sometimes slight, sometimes significant ways.
Banksy is the pseudonym of United Kingdom-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter. His style of graffiti is marked by the use of stencils, objects found on the roads like street signs. His works are often satirical, combining dark humor with graffiti and spreading messages across art, philosophy, and politics.
Pure Evil is a stable mate of Banksy and the son of Welsh painter John Uzzell Edwards. After 10 years in California, he returned to London and began painting weird fanged Pure Evil bunny rabbits everywhere.
Vhils was born in 1987 in Portugal. His art is poetic, complex, and ambitious. He penetrates through several layers of posters, dirt, and plaster to set free the poetic images hidden beneath urban spaces. This is all done by drilling away old plaster relief forms. He also creates by dissecting poster ads and excavating walls. Other forms of media are collage, wheat paste, wood, metal, installations, and more. He is also known for using etching acid, bleach, pneumatic drills, and other processes to reveal a wall’s layers.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s painting hangs on the left side of the entrance of Bibo. He was an American artist who died of heroin overdose at the age of 27 in 1988. His art focused on “suggestive dichotomies,” such as wealth versus poverty, integration versus segregation, and inner versus outer experience. He appropriated poetry, drawing and painting, and married text and image, abstraction and figuration, and historical information mixed with contemporary critique.
Meanwhile Frank Shepard Fairey aka Obey’s work is seen at the front as you enter Bibo. Born in 1970, Obey is an American contemporary street artist, graphic designer activist and illustrator who emerged from the skateboarding scene.
Blek Le Rat (Xavier Prou) was born in Paris in 1951. He is considered the grand master of street art, and the originator of stencil graffiti. His works have adorned the streets of Paris since the eighties and have been a source of inspiration for today’s graffiti and guerrilla art movements. Interestingly he started out in 1981 with a rat stencil, aiming to create an invasion of rats in the city!
Be sure to pay Bibo a visit when you visit Hong Kong next. It is located at 163, Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong. To make a reservation, click here.
Going to Hong Kong at the end of this month – will be sure to check this out.