Friday, March 07, 2014

The Street Art of Penang...



I have always loved the work of art and that includes Street Art. Street Art is a form of free expression in a democratic society where artists would create artwork on the wall of buildings along the streets in town to display their creative works. It add colour to the streets which would otherwise remain dull and monotonous. 

In Penang the work of Ernest Zacharevic a young Lithuania-born artist call ’The little Children on a Bicycle' painted on a street's wall along the Armenian Street went viral and soon draws the attention of the world. Eventually more such artwork was created at other places in the city which includes those that are done by the local artists. It soon draws tourists from near and afar to Penang. So while in Penang the other day I decided to go and have a look at the many Street Arts that had been painted on walls all over a certain part of the old city of George Town on the island of Penang; an old city that was found during the colonial era. It was then call the Pearls of the Orients. It is a trading post from the time of the spices trade until the present with its harbour still is one of the busy port of Malaysia. With a long history many immigrants from China and India make it their home here together with the local Malay. Now it has grown to be a metropolitan of millions of people, sort of a microcosm of what the Malaysian society is all about; multiracial, multicultural and multi-religions as it is seen today.  As a thriving city in the North West corner of Malaysia it now can boast  of one of the tourist destination of the world. Tourists from near and afar come here to enjoy its hospitality especial the food, now the Street Arts has become an attraction by itself bringing tourists over just to see it for themselves. 

So while in Penang recently I too decided to go and see this wonder of the arts that have attracted so many to Penang. To do that I took a slow ride on the trishaw and let the paddler take me into the street of George Town where those Street Arts are display. In the slow drive of more than an hour he took me to see the Street Art that has become a tourist attraction in the part of the old town. Everyone who saw it was happy and took turn to photograph it. I did it too and got a friendly tourist to snap one for me as seen in the image above. Indeed a fascinating experience to be in that short period of time. I did enjoy watching the many artworks all over that part of the city and would surely comeback again to look at the other that I had missed during this short stay in Penang. 

Have a nice day.

2 comments:

Howard said...

Very nice, Pak Idrus! Must go and see those next time we go to Penang!

Pak Idrus said...

Howard, thanks for the visit and the good words on this posting.

Well I did enjoy the trip and would surely go again to explore more of the interesting sites in George Town, Penang.

Have a nice day.