GEORGE TOWN, Dec 8 — Wall murals are a huge thing in Penang, so much so that we see long lines of tourists, locals and foreign, waiting their turn to admire and have their photographs taken with some of it in the inner city.

Previously, the peeling, mouldy, and grey splotchy walls of pre-war heritage buildings all over George Town were not something people would notice, much less admire.

This all changed in 2012 when the George Town Festival commissioned a young and at that time unknown Lithuanian artist named Ernest Zacharevic for a Mirrors of George Town street art project.

Zacharevic painted 12 murals on the grey, peeling walls of this port city and before long, they became such a big sensation, there are now souvenirs of the murals sold everywhere.

The popularity of the murals also inspired local street artists to paint their own masterpieces all over George Town, spawning all sorts of street art, graffiti and scribbling.

Three things can be gleaned from the growing street art scene in Penang:

1. Putting paint on public walls is now an art

Street art is no longer frowned upon or considered a nuisance but instead, it has spread more awareness on public art and even created an appreciation for public art.

The public flocked to Zacharevic’s famous murals and along the way, they also stopped to admire many other murals and street art inspired by Zacharevic’s work.

Many street artists and graffiti artists, previously shunned and treated as vandals, suddenly realised they can finally practise their art without fear of prosecution.

A Kuala Lumpur-born street artist known as Fritilldea said, “It is good to finally let street artists be recognised as artists worth our salt and people from overseas are also realising that Malaysia now has a lot of talented street artists.”

Street art is no longer frowned upon or considered a nuisance but instead, it has spread more awareness on public art and even created an appreciation for public art. — Picture by K.E. Ooi

2. Street art is now big, very big

The popularity of street art and wall murals in Penang also inspired the first ever Penang street art festival — Urban Xchange — last month. It is also the first street art festival of its kind in the whole of Southeast Asia.

Jointly organised by Hin Bus Art Depot and Urban Nation, the festival saw 16 local and international street artists coming here to paint the walls of various places all over Penang with about 20 murals and a series of clay sculptures.

The art festival — held from November 11 to 23 — was deemed a success due to overwhelming positive response from the public and its project manager, Eeyan Chuah, believed it also paved the way for street artists to do it the right way.

“We want to show, through the festival, that artists can paint street art as long as they get the necessary approvals from the building owners and local authorities so that they do not break any laws and not risk their work being painted over,” she said.

3. But not all public art is a go in a heritage city conferred the prized Unesco status

The growing number of street art also led to criticisms against some of the unauthorised ones, deemed ugly and inappropriate, and the fear of George Town losing its prestigious Unesco world heritage site status.

As a measure to protect the Outstanding Universal Values of George Town and to retain its heritage status, the Penang state government set up a special public art review panel to vet through street art within the heritage zone.

All street art painted within the zone will be judged by the panel, consisting of art and heritage experts, and if deemed inappropriate to the local heritage of George Town, it will be whitewashed.

George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) are going around counting the unauthorised street art all over George Town that are growing by the day and presenting these illegal murals to be reviewed by the panel.

Zacharevic painted 12 murals on the grey, peeling walls of this port city and before long, they became such a big sensation, there are now souvenirs of the murals sold everywhere. — Picture by K.E. Ooi

GTWHI general manager Lim Chooi Ping said those deemed inappropriate such as the ones of minions from the popular animated feature film Despicable Me will be removed but no action will be taken against the artists.

She advised all artists to submit their works for approvals before painting it if they do not want their work to be removed. To-date, no unauthorised street art have been painted over by the authorities yet.

All works are reviewed based on its suitability to the heritage site as it must have local content or themes related to Penang and Malaysia.

The state government, which had previously been open to street art, had explained this move is necessary only for the heritage zone while there is no control on street art outside the zone.

Despite the art review panel and the warning that their art will be painted over, street art has become such a big part of Penang that new ones will continue to crop up every other day, presenting an endless task for the review panel in which inappropriate ones will still remain untouched till much later.

It is no wonder that Penang is tipped as a potential Asian City of Art.