Off the wall

• Source: Global Times
• [14:00 June 30 2010]
• Comments

Branching out: the company is quickly expanding.

By Liu Mengyue

The art of decorating exterior walls is not new. As a way of beautifying otherwise drab surroundings, murals have played a large part in building a community spirit in many towns and cities. But when it comes to painting works of art directly onto interior walls, however, people are, unsurprisingly more reticent. Especially when it is their own property. In Shanghai, at least, attitudes are changing and a number of entrepreneurial artists are taking advantage of a growing demand for paintings adorn-ing the walls of hotels, cafes, offices and private homes.

The No.1 Wall Painter is one such operation, a workshop founded three years ago by Ding Ming while he was a sophomore fine art student at Donghua University. His murals were inspired by a college lecturer who suggested it as a possibly lucrative career path. Walking along the stairs and corridors of Ding's studio in Hongkou district today - which also doubles as his home - almost all of the available wall space serves as an advertisement for the creative energy of the 23-year-old, and his artistic collaborators. Pointing to a mural of an overflowing red vine, Ding says: "This one is painted by a guy who applied for a job here. It was a kind of interview test. And yes, he got the job."

On the two walls facing Ding's desk in his office, there are two murals in a classical European style both featuring outdoor cafes by the sea. The company specializes in scenes that lend themselves to larger illustrations, ccapable of giving the illusion of reality. "This is why handscapes look better painted directly onto the wall, because they can better embody a three-dimensional effect," said Ding.

But the No.1 Wall Painter will tackle almost any theme or subject matter: everything from simple flower patterns and landscapes to more complex figurative portraits and Chinese wash paintings.

"We can do anything, as long as we are given a concrete idea," Ding told the Global Times. "We recreated The Last Supper over the entire back wall of a music teacher's living room. It's amazing to see how murals have become so popular recently."

Ding employs more than 20 painters - as either full-time workers or freelancers - to serve his growing number of clients. "Sometimes I think I've just become another businessman weighed down with administration and office work. But then I have to remind myself that I am a painter too!"