Spray paint artist Chen Jo-xin makes a splash with her urban murals
Spray-painted graffiti can be seen around Taiwan’s streets and alleys, but did you know spray painting is a form of art? Spray paint artist Chen Jo-xin, who has formal art qualifications, takes commissions from clients and has been running her own studio for five years. She and her team have created spray paint murals in Miaoli, Wufeng and shopping malls in Hong Kong. Let’s find out more
Wearing a protective mask, she holds a spray paint can in one hand and a mobile phone in the other. She carefully looks at the image on her phone, before letting loose with her spray can.
She sprays black paint to outline the image, and then the artwork is complete.
Chen Jo-xin
Spray paint artist
This is considered small; there are also large ones that can be painted up to six or seven stories high. A pop star was celebrating the 10th anniversary since her solo debut, and fans were asking us to paint a wall for her. In the past this would have been done with advertising billboards, but now there are beginning to be different ways to express appreciation.
Chen Jo-xin studied art-related subjects throughout her student years. She’s also been a spray paint artist for five years. Initially Chen treated her creations as a hobby. Now she has set up a studio and formed a team. Her creative footprint can be found in Miaoli’s Xihu Leopard Cat Embankment, Taichung’s Wufeng District Farmer’s Association and even in shopping malls all the way over in Hong Kong.
The orange tiger against the red wall, with its tension-filled lines, makes the tiger seem as if it could burst through the wall at any moment. Spray-paint murals, whether on low walls or towering building facades, tested not only her skill, but also her courage.
Chen Jo-xin
Spray paint artist
One of the projects that left the deepest impression on me recently was a mural we painted beside National Freeway No. 1. It was in Changhua — we painted the Great Buddha of Changhua on a wall about six stories high. So the client asked us to paint a huge Buddha. I’m from Kaohsiung, and there aren’t any legal graffiti walls there. But there are in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Pingtung. Taipei also has a lot of places that are great for painting, so whenever I come here, I usually do some painting.
Different professions are worlds apart, as the saying goes. The teams’ photographer jokes that although she usually takes photos with the click of a finger, she found pressing on a spray paint can not an easy task.
Photographer
Part of art group
This part of my hand was really sore the next day because I’m used to pressing a camera shutter very lightly. At first, I could barely press the spray can down properly. And when I was trying to control the lines while filling in colors, the paint would build up really thick.
Member
Part of art group
I think the most difficult thing is the large murals that are done at high altitudes. People who are afraid of heights may need to receive training to overcome their acrophobia.
Spray painting art allows a creator’s canvas to push outside the limitations of paper. Instead it can extend to every corner of a city.
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#graffiti #spraypaint #urbanaesthetics
2026-05-26
