Tag: murals

Our favorite street art in George Town

George Town is THE destination for all the street art lovers. The scene is huge, on every corner there is something new and surprising. Old, stunning but neglected houses are a great canvas for artists from all over the world. Many pieces are a bit like mandalas… take hours, days even to be painted and then they disappear in a few months.

There is a certain charm about George Town that made us really love the place. We spent a lot of days walking around the streets there and we could have easily spent weeks.

Here is what we found:

  1. A man with a bowl of cendol

Unfortunately like most of the pieces on the list, we don’t know the author of this one. But it’s my favorite one by far. There is something about the colors, something in the way that that man eats his precious bowl of cendol (popular traditional dessert). Something that made me hungry every time I passed by. Luckily there was always a man selling cendol nearby. Location on our map below.

  1. The black swans

Absolutely stunning piece at the Hin Bus Depot. Beautiful colors and patterns makes it the best piece at the Hin Bus Depot. It’s not the only one though, the spot has quite few epic murals. Not to mention they also have an amazing café, art gallery and weekend market. Heaven to stop by.

  1. More art at Hin Bus Depot

A tiger, a circus boy even a girl exercising. All of these murals are really close to each other.

  1. An old motorbike

This is one of the most famous ones. It was painted by Ernest Zacharevic, the most known of the artists in George Town. He’s based there although he comes from Lithuania and paints all over the world. His art is often very interactive and includes something real in the painting like a chair or a bike or, in that case, a motorcycle.

  1. A kid with a monster

The kid on the motorcycle is running away from a monster that is held by another little boy. JD did his best to help him.

  1. Kids on a swing

Another one of those interactive pieces this time by Louis Gan. Here there are two kids on a swing and another swing just next to them reserved for the daring tourists to join the fun.

  1. The delivery siblings

I assumed that those are brother and sister trying to deliver food from the nearby Chinese restaurant.

  1. Kids on a bike

Ernest Zacharevic painted those kids riding a real bike. There is an extra spot in the back for a wheel-lover like JD.

  1. The rowing man

I have no idea who painted this one but I sure hope it will stay there for years. Stunning mural.

  1. The ballerina

A lot of art in Georgetown is very subtle. You could easily miss it if you’re not careful. Just like this ballerina dancing on a door frame.

  1. Guy with an open mouth

How often can you stand in someone else’s mouth??? Not often, right? So let’s use the chances we have 🙂

  1. The woman with the spices

Vibrant colors and massive size makes this piece truly unmissable. Although it's hidden in the courtyard of the urban spice cafe 🙂

  1. The face of a kid

This one looks sooooo realistic. It’s unbelievable.

The murals above are just a fraction of what there is to see in George Town. But as with art not all of the murals, we loved. There were some we didn’t like that much and with some we were disappointed to see devastated or almost completely fainted away. The ones below are also on our map 🙂

Our favorite street art in Singapore

Many say Singapore is such a sterile place, limited by the rules and strict laws. Maybe… but it’s also a place of magnificent street art which is probably better maintained than in most Asian cities. In most of them murals are like mandalas, they cost a lot of work, precision and patience just to be destroyed later by the pass of time or vandalism. Not in Singapore. Here these fragile pieces seem almost eternal.

  1. The Coffee time one

Café ARC has a massive mural on one side of their lovely spot. It’s all about coffee in there. Made with different techniques, by different people… always with love 🙂

  1. The Holy Cow

That one we found completely by accident. I have no idea who the artist is or who commissioned him but the mural is magnificent! It’s colorful, playful and it’s all about cows. Unfortunately it’s also in a very narrow street and it’s massive so I wouldn’t say it’s a mind-blowing picture option.

  1. The peeking boy

Ernest Zacharevic is one of the most amazing street artists in the world. He is mostly famous for his pieces in Penang in Malaysia but he also did a few murals for Singapore. I always like how he adds dimension to his work and how playful and beautiful it is. And this boy looks literally like he is on a mission to spot someone!

  1. The exclamation mark

Another one out of Ernest Zacharevic pieces is a boy(s) playing with exclamation marks.

  1. Girl with a cub

The girl is huge and she lies there with a cub with her little, piercing eyes staring at anyone passing her by. Also by Zacharevic 🙂

  1. Kids in the carts

It seems like it’s only Zacharevic’s art in Singapore which is really not true but this one is so worth seeing. Two kids playing in shopping carts and the carts are actually real, placed in front of the kids. I absolutely love how reality and art meet in a playful way like that:)

  1. Just a colorful wall

Singapore has many really colorful walls that make the city bright and cheerful and for tourists they bring extra background for a portrait. We especially loved these two 🙂

  1. The life of the Indians

The art of the streets embrace all the different cultures merged together in one, tiny country. These ones show the simple Indian life.

  1. Something for the carpet lovers

There are many murals representing the past of Singapore. We especially loved the one showing life of a carpet/basket seller back in the days. Wouldn’t it be lovely to sit on a stunning, unique carpet rather than to shop it out from a supermarket knowing there are millions of the same ones?

  1. The faces of the Singapore club

There are quite some faces on that one although the most prominent is an elderly man in a turban. You could almost overlook a Chinese lady and a Malay man hidden in behind the tables of the Singapura Club.

Those 10 are just our subjective favorites. There are sooo many others spread all over the city and guess what, every day there can be a new one coming on these urban canvas' 🙂

Kaohsiung- the street art capital of Taiwan

Kaohsiung was never on our list of places to visit on Taiwan. We thought there was nothing to see there.

Frankly we ended up picking it when our Airbnb in Tainan got canceled and we couldn’t find any better solution. Kaohsiung was close and cheap enough to be our base to explore Tainan on a day trip basis. The street art and city itself captivated us so much that we ended up staying there every single day…

The Pier-2 art district

I often don’t enjoy twisted modern art galleries. Sometimes they really go too far and conceptual for me. But I love how modern art can be applied into forgotten spaces and bring them back to life, keeping the old vibe and soul at the same time.

That’s exactly why I loved the Pier-2 art district. Situated next to Kaohsiung Port it had all the potential to be useful and beautiful at the same time. Yet it was abandoned for years. Thankfully art came its way and nowadays it’s as vibrant and lovely as it can be.

The neighborhood is divided in 3 areas. Penglai area in the north has the Taiwan Railway museum, exhibition warehouses and a park with steel sculptures…  The park is mostly an oasis of piece except for those unlucky moments when a whole bus of a school excursion unloads.

The central area (Dayong area) has exhibition warehouses, a cinema and a bookstore with beautiful cards and artistic souvenirs from Taiwan. Inside the shop there is also a charming café.

The southern part of the neighborhood (Dayi area) is where all the hungry souls and bellies should go. And that’s where we spend most of our time, mostly window-shopping.

Stunning cafes are combined with art galleries and restaurants, something for the spirit and body at the same time. Except for hip places to eat there is a very colorful flower shop that has the most jaw dropping floral compositions.

Just around the corner there are a few very cool shops, one of which is a fair trade shop with local arts and crafts from all over the world. This one especially has beautiful jewelry, wooden kitchen stuff and piles of things that I just wished I could buy.

All 3 areas are full of murals, sculptures and little art work so we kept our eyes open at all time. We especially loved the 3D train station mural, dogs’ sculptures hanging off the wall and a whale watching over the whole street. As weird as they all sound, they are just terrific!

Cijin Island

We naively thought the word “island” and “ferry” would scare people away from going there. As soon as we saw the massive crowds in the port, we knew we were wrong. After few minutes when we reached our destination a whole flood of people went straight to… the streets of the food market. Leaving the rest of the area deserted. And there is quite a lot to discover.

First we went for a small walk up a mountain to admire views over the city and a small lighthouse. It didn’t take our breath away but we didn’t expect that in Cijin.

Until we strolled along the beach side and found Cijin Seashore Park, calm park just by the beach with beautiful street art. At that point I was wondering how come Kaohsiung was not on every “must see” list of Taiwan.

The Dome of Light

The Dome of Light is the largest glass work in the world and it’s hidden right in the heart of Formosa Boulevard metro station. 4500 glass panels form a massive 30 meter in diameter dome…

I read on Wikipedia that it would be offered as venues for weddings. I can’t possible imagine how it would be possible with metro passengers crossing it all the time and quite poor light. That said, it did not stop quite a few newlyweds from taking their wedding shot over there.