Seven Reasons You Should Fall In Love With Hua Tunan

January 02, 2020

Chinese-born street artist Hua Tunan has returned with a new series of beautiful animal portraits, it's like he's taking us back in time. Using a unique blend of traditional Chinese drawing and modern street art, his artwork has won rave reviews all over the world. Although this is not his first series of animal pictures, it is by far his most impressive and most widely distributed. These paintings are part of a larger collection called the Oriental Highway Series, and were originally intended for use as advertising posters for companies in China. But the artists says they are so happy with the response they've received that they've decided to extend their designs into clothing, stationery, pottery, and other fine arts. “This has been a very interesting experience,” says Hua.

The inspiration for this series came from western graffiti. “I got tired of the blank faces and crooked shapes,” recalls Hua. “So I drew some of my friends.” This led to a collection of portraits of Chinese women and men, which he presented to a clothing store in Los Angeles. “The owner loved them so much that he decided to put them on display at his store as promotional products,” says Hua.

“The very first one was a big success because we had so many customers,” says Hua. From that point, it just kept getting better. He also decided to take the portraits of dogs and cats that he did for his clothing store and turn them into unique street art pieces. The resulting images are beautiful, vibrant, and unique, and are designed to attract a younger audience.

Unlike most Chinese art, tattoos are not a major component of hua tunan's business. Instead, he focuses more on teaching people traditional Chinese methods of drawing and ink painting. His classes offer lessons on traditional Chinese medicine, how to protect the environment, and more.

“He's really helped a lot of people,” says Michelle Zhu of Los Angeles, who took a class with Hua Tunan. “The popularity of his street art has blossomed.” “Hua tunan teaches a more traditional approach to Chinese medicine,” explains Zhu. “This combination of western graffiti and traditional Chinese medicine makes it more appealing to the American public.” “Hua tunan's style is more appealing to the younger crowd,” agrees Jeffery B. of San Francisco, who took a street art class with Hua Tunan.

“The images are not over the top and don't have too many colors,” says B. “Chinese students are drawn to western graffiti more than they are to hua tunan.” “It gives us more of an artistic flare,” says Jeffery B. “We just like the colors more.” Some of the images used in the street art that Hua tunan creates have even been copyrighted. Some images he has created have been adopted by other Chinese artists.

“Hua-Tunan,” as he is known in the United States, began his street art career in the Chinatown district of Los Angeles. The name translates literally to “pot of gold.” A pot of gold has always been a symbol for good fortune in China. When Hua tunan first began using the foshan tag for his artwork, he received a lot of criticism from native Chinese in the Chinese community. “They thought that westerners were trying to steal the traditional Chinese way of life,” recalls Hua-Tunan.

“That was my first reaction,” recalls Hua-Tunan. “But I didn't back down. I believe in the traditional chinese way of doing things. My street art was my expression of what I felt was good and right. I never considered myself a Chinese street artist before in my life. Now I think I am one.