GEORGE TOWN, Nov 13 — A 100-metre stretch of wall along a busy main road in George Town is splashed with bright colours, in abstract designs.
On the mainland, a large four-storey portrait of a woman begins to take shape just a short distance from an odd 12-sided star structure sticking out of an incomplete bare building.
Back at the Hin Bus Depot, a black and white tiger biting an arrow looks ready to pounce while in the indoor gallery, a curious collection of traditional-looking and yet, contemporary works are displayed.
All these may sound like random public art pieces in different locations but these are all part of this year’s Urban Xchange Festival, the second to be held following last year’s successful debut.
In the Artisan Project, local artist Ownly Penang worked with traditional paper effigy maker, Koh Ah Bah, to fashion a typical heritage shophouse complete with For Sale signs and graffiti on the walls made entirely from paper and rattan.
Visitors can step inside through the back and take a virtual tour by putting on the goggles provided while listening to a recording about Penang and its interesting sites.
As for Ammar Khalifa, he used the art of Chinese calligraphy to create images using Arabic words in his three-part series of Cultural Dialogue.
In the piece he worked with signboard carver, Lee Chee Cheng, he carved out “May you be blessed with Arab prosperity” in strokes that look similar to Chinese calligraphy but are actually Arabic that read out “Enna Razak-naho Rizan Arabiyan.”
Another artist, Low Chee Peng, fashioned thought-provoking sculptures using steel and stones, two of which resembled anchors using the traditional way of anchor-making in collaboration with the last anchor maker of his generation, Teoh Huah Guan.
The traditional kolam is often multi-coloured rice used to make colourful symmetrical patterns that sometimes incorporate flowers, birds and peacocks.
Artist Falah Naim worked with kolam makers R.Vasantha and T.Geetha to come up with Kerjasama, which is a modern take of the kolam in a geometrical design.
He also incorporated traditional kolam designs with his own geometrical designs to come up with several screen-printed works titled Line Fixation.
Meanwhile, by the streets and outdoors, returning artist Sabek from Spain painted his masterpiece on the side of a building along Jalan Raja Uda.
At the same time another Spanish artist, Jesús Moreno also known as Y.E.S, painted a 100-metre colourful abstract art of circles, squares and lines along the frontage of Jen Hotel.
Japanese artist TwoOne painted the tiger with the arrow at the Hin Bus Depot and worked on another piece along Stewart Lane.
Chinese artist Daleast painted what resembled a collection of tiny shards of metal to form an image on a wall along Lorong Argyll while another returning artist Nafir from Iran painted on a wall along Jalan Raja Uda.
World-famous street artist Alexandre Farto from Portugal created an unusual mural using his unique drilling method on the side of a building in Butterworth.
UX Festival kicked off on Oct 31 and one of its main feature, a four-storey high light sculpture at Jalan Raja Uda called The Star, is until November 15.
Find out more about UX events at www.urbanxchange2015.com.
