Singapore
Singapore is one of Southeast Asia’s top street art cities. Local artists such as Ceno2, famous for his monochrome sultan painting on the walls of the Singapura Club, take over the city and its many corners.
International artists also come regularly to paint beautiful murals. These are found in Kampong Glam, Chinatown, Haji Lane and Little India, and contribute to Singapore’s colourful street art facades.
Taiwan
Taiwan does not appear spontaneously on the Asian street art map. Yet two cities are vying for the top spot in the country.
Taipei, the capital, has directly authorised street art in certain areas of the city. The Ximending district, for example, is home to the most beautiful murals around America Street and the Taipei Cinema Park. Very inspired by the local culture for the robots and superheroes, the murals also integrate a good part of the Chinese culture, especially calligraphy.
Kaohsiung, the country’s third largest city in terms of population, also applies an accommodating policy towards street artists, subsidising murals and promoting this art to embellish facades. Most of the murals are created by the local artists’ collective “The Wallriors” and are located in the Lingya district or at the Pier 2 Art Center.
Some other Asian cities are emerging, thanks to the combined actions of international and local artists. For example, Phnom Penh in Cambodia is seeing street art develop on its facades, as are Yogyakarta in Indonesia, Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket in Thailand.
Vietnam
The latest big Asian cities to get involved in the movement are Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, where street art is coming out of the underground thanks to a relaxation of the local government and the action of private and public partners, such as with DRIP’IN and the French Institute of Vietnam during the Urban Arts Festival in April 2021.
Street artists such as
SubyOne,
Daos501,
Cresk, to name but a few, are very active on the city’s walls and are opening up Vietnam to the international street art and graffiti scene.