George Town, Penang, Street Art, Malaysia

'Marking George Town started off as a competition initiated by the Penang State Government to physically brand George Town as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2009, an international competition was held aimed at exploring innovative ideas in art and design for public spaces in George Town.'

Cannon Hole

A canon shot fired during the 1867 Penang Riots made a large hole in this area, hence the name. Location: Lebuh Cannon.

'Out of the 40 entries within the country and from abroad, sculptured work triumphed with its design concept of 'voices from the people'.

Bullock Cart Wheel

In the days when your money could be as "big as a bullock cart wheel", this was a popular rest stop for limousines of the time. Location: Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling.

'Subsequently, 52 unique and humorous illustrations in the form of iron rod sculptures were installed against the city's building walls.'

Double Role Fire! Fire!

'Up until 1909, the police doubled as George Town's firefighters. Location: Gat Lebuh Chulia.'

The fire hose attached to the wall has been incorporated into the understanding of the sculpture.

Quiet Please

'To the dismay of parishioners of the Portuguese church there, Church Street also housed the headquarters of the notorious Ghee Hin secret society. Location: Lebuh Gereja.'

In the hot humid equatorial climate the steel sculptures are aging well and can still be seen clearly while the walls age and develop an attractive patina.

Roti Benggali. Kulit asing?

'Roti Benggali came from the word, 'Penggali' (shareholder' in Tamil). Location: Lebuh King.'

The humour and style remind me of the work of the famous Malaysian cartoonist Lat.

Cheating Husband

Location: Love Lane.

Shadows cast by the art on to the walls at different times of the day add a changing dimension to the works.

High Counter

'The counter of the pawnshop is typically higher for security. Location: Lebuh Camarvon.'

Boy on Chair

'In the George Town Festival 2012, Earnest Zacharevic was commissioned to paint a few murals...Since then, a few other artists have also contributed to the current street art popularity in George Town.'

These murals are popular photo opportunities with people participating making it a tableau vivant, a living picture. 

Old Motorcycle

Location: Lebuh Ah Quee.

Like the chair in the previous mural, the actual motorcycle is real. The art work is titled after the motorcycle but it is the boy that has been painted.

We stayed in the Spices Hotel, an award winning renovated building. A guest, a Russian woman, painted this 2 story mural on the wall beside the stairs up to the second floor

She also painted a portrait of this well known 'street' person. She chose to tuck her under the roots of an ancient tree that has become part of the wall.

Bruce Lee

Location: Lebuh Ah Quee

The picturesque decaying walls are so much part of each mural.

Elizabeth stands beside a mural. I couldn't find out anything about this one. It is just one of so many waiting to be discovered down narrow lanes, on pillars and high up on walls.

There was also more graphic art work.

The work on the left could be considered graffiti in style and purpose.

Sebastian waited by this wall art to make sure I didn't miss it as I tried to take photographs and keep up with the family group.

There is so much to see and do and explore in George Town, all within walking distance.

Each day I had to pick a theme or 2 to focus on otherwise I would have been in a constant state of sensory overload. What a wonderful place.

When you get paid, is it still Graffiti?

When I travel I like to photograph examples of graffiti.
Here a person is marking a blank white wall with spray paint....

...through stencils.
Is this graffiti or art?

I guess it is art because it is on the right hand wall leading up to this building in Toronto ON.

A group of graffiti artists was commissioned to tag an alley in Fredericton, NB.
They were paid so is it art?

This woman is paid to paint over graffiti.

Her work clothes speak like art does.

SDA 2011 Gallery Day

I am attending the Surface Design Association conference in Minneapolis. After the Meet and Greet session the day was filled with gallery visits - too many to see all in one day so we had the difficult task of picking which ones we would go to.
One of my favourites of the day was work by Ann Hall Richards, called 'Repetition Meditation Revelation'.
The image shows a large curtain of leaves.

Each leaf is hand stitched into a chain. Ann's intention is to 'transform common objects into contemporary and contemplative works that invite and even challenge the viewer to consider not only the content, but also the process and choice of materials.' She was most successful with her intention.

I also enjoyed Teresa Paschke's 'New tools and Ancient Techniques' work. She printed digital images of graffiti onto large cotton canvas surfaces then added her own exquisite hand stitched graffiti.

The butterfly and floral motifs and the obviously slow process employed to add her own marks were in such contrast in every way with the printed graffiti image.

Cleaning the Studio

Then Ron moved inside with the power washer. I got to use a power tool too - the Shop Vac. While Ron sprayed water I sucked it up along with black dirt, grit and 100 years worth of loose paint. See the suction head in the bottom i am trying to operate while taking a picture and trying to avoid being sprayed by water, all at the same time.

The walls and ceiling in the storage and locker rooms is in good condition after cleaning so won't need painting. The floor washed up well and will get a new coat of paint.
I cleaned all of the bathroom stalls and enjoyed it because they are fantastic. The walls are thick slabs of slate with lots of faint graffiti accumulated over the years. The doors are heavy solid wood. The metal fittings are all brass and nickle.

One lot of graffiti i found protected behind a spare door in one of the stalls and I washed around it because it is so interesting.
My guess is it appeared when the building was still an elementary school because the drawing was done by a shorter person. Peter, the president of the college, thinks it is post-WWII- early 50s, going by the style of the planes.
I cleaned the spare door and put it back to continue protecting this bit of history.

Now the studio is clean - you could eat off the floors! But we are still going backwards as far as how the rooms look.
We are leaving the rooms for a couple of days to dry out then Keith, the custodian of the building, will put all of the furniture temporarily back in place for the classes being held in the rooms this week.
Painting is the next stage.

Fredericton - Bay of Fundy

While exploring the streets of Fredericton, we came across a group of legal graffiti artists decorating the side wall of a skate shop. The 1st 2 are local artists while the far 3 were commissioned from Montreal.

Graffiti art is becoming mainstream.
What will be next?

Kissing Bridges, St Martins, New Brunswick

Another special thing about New Brunswick is the large number of covered bridges in good repair and still in use, like this very picturesque one in St Martins.

In the days of the horse and carriage, owners would train their horses to stop whenever on the bridge so in darkness they could kiss the person sitting beside them and not be seen.

It seems this courting ritual on the covered bridges continues.

I was interested in recording the graffiti as part of my ongoing study of the thoughts and views of the 'Y' generation.

I have come up with several different scenarios about Jeff's love life and they are all complicated.

Graffiti and Art

While walking through a park I came across another example of graffiti being used to speak out. North of this park there was a gas station for many years. When it was torn down it was found the underground tanks of fuel had been leaking through the soil into the neighbouring residential area. A big clean up of the polluted soil is underway. The above image is of the temporary station set up to 'vacuum clean' the contaminated soil. The company put up white visual screens on the fence surrounding the 'blend-in green' buildings.
These white screens were obviously begging to be painted and sure enough it wasn't long before they were.
The graffiti artist cleverly chose to write one letter on each screen, a word with the same number of letters as screens: VOLTRON
I wonder what the artist's message is in this word?

And yesterday more art was put up for public viewing. In this case, not only in a socially acceptable place to have a voice but in a special place to speak as an artist, the McMullen Gallery in the University of Alberta Hospital. Here is Diana Young Kennedy, Gallery & Collection Administrator, hanging Articulation's latest body of work, Urban Textures.
Vickie Newington and I travelled up to Edmonton to hang the work. I didn't take photos of the exhibition because when we left at 5:00 to return to Calgary, the lights had not been adjusted and the labels still had to be put up. Next week when we go up for the opening and to run a workshop, I'll photograph it all.
On April 23rd there will be a workshop from 2 to 4 and the opening will be from 6 to 9 pm.