The Many Murals In Ipoh

Murals seem to be all the rage in Malaysia, a requirement if you want your city to appear hip to tourists and cool to the kids. What you got, Ipoh?

Some sort of kid, animal mashup. Chicken riding a cow, sure.

A modern design, including painting the blocks and utility lines. Whoa, 3D. Bruce Lee, curiously long, bulky neck. Foreground bear aliens. OK.

Imitation and commerce creeping in. An Ernest Zacharevic rip-off and an Uber delivery service plug. Blue sack to be replaced with a 4pak Starbucks tray of lattes soon. 

Hinting at propoganda, kids joyfully playing while adults tap rubber trees and a smiling field worker. Insert hammer and sickle here.

Curious mural that's an ode to family. Evidently, smelling hands and rubbing feet are ultimate homages.

Up with cute youth, whether on a team of looking like adorable cartoon kids.

Clowntime is over. A damning portrait of the now defeated and disgraced former prime minister, Najib Razak. Boo hoo. 

Murals Of Melaka

A runaway tourist attraction train was unleashed in Penang when Ernest Zacharevic started his wall doodling. Now, any old area of Malaysia and other countries in Asia are hip to the mural attraction and have commissioned their own artwork.

What you got, Melaka? Bully for you!

Fun with bricks. You gotta have some 3D trickery. 

Fun with trompe-l'œil. Back to a 3D touch, a Malaysian mouse deer on a pot sconce.

Full blown fantasy.

Bringing all the mural, tourism tricks together. Actual bicycle. Promoting the town and a favorite food. A little palm tree illusion, courtesy of well-placed drain pipes.

More Murals Around Penang

If imitation is a form of flattery, Ernest Zacharevic should feel proud. His style has cropped up all over Penang. Once shops and other businesses realized the murals could draw customers, the doodling race was on.

Not an Ernest Zacharevic. Pushing the influence. If you can create something interactive, all the better to get people to linger around your establishment.

More interaction, more 3D touches, more silly tourist photo opportunities.

Branching out (under?), two nice works by the artist Julia Volchkova.

Back to another Ernest Zacharevic homage, with model.

The Ernest Zacharevic Murals in Penang

Penang holds a sweet double connection for Sarah and James, courtesy of Ernest Zacharevic. Zacharevic is from Lithuania and lives in Malaysia, two of the three places Sarah and James have been posted.

Beyond the connection, the guy has been a prolific muralist and he's put Penang on the world street art map in a big way, pun intended.

Zacharevic is famous for incorporating physical items into his murals, adding a semi-interacvtive experience for the viewer. And a bonanza for snaps.

Kids on a bicycle.

"Yea, my turn to ride the bike, junior."

Another location, another bike. And a group sizing up the pose. The current rider looking a little concerned.

More of his murals, going big.

Continuing the 3D theme, using everyday objects to add a little depth to his work.

Street Murals In Kuching

Kuching has brightened an old part of town with lively murals. You can find them covering a couple of blocks near the open food market and Indian street bazaar.

Recreating a scene that exists in reality all around the area: a vendor selling drinks and food on a stick. And a cat.

Recent murals done by volunteers from the design campus of UiTM Kota Samarahan.  Nice touch to shake things up by turning heads.

Using what you have, electrical lines and door awning. And cats.

From 2014, here are two murals that started the trend, also taking advantage of (or adding) physical elements. A no-brainer to feature the area's most famous animal, the mighty Orangutan. A little connection for Sarah and James, the artist who painted these murals is Ernest Zacharevic, a famous street artist from their last posting, Lithuania. Gerai!

Action.