Only approved public art

GEORGE TOWN: Penang has set up a Public Arts Review Panel (PARP) to review public art works following complaints that some had marred George Town as a heritage site.
PARP chairman Lim Chooi Ping said 46 murals and art pieces were currently under review to determine their suitability within the Unesco zone.
Notices will be sent to the artists and building owners whose murals or art pieces are deemed unsuitable asking them to take down the works, she added.
She said public art pieces should protect the George Town Oustanding Universal Values (OUV) which represented the city as an example of a multi-cultural trading town, a living testimony to multi-cultural heritage and the coming together of cultural elements.
"We want to ensure artwork here safeguards the OUV," the George Town Word Heritage Inc (GWTHI) general manager said at a press conference with Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and GWTHI community resource development officer Lim Chung Wei.
Chung Wei also showed artworks which the panel felt did not enhance the heritage aspect of George Town.
These included one of a popular yellow-pill shaped cartoon character in Lebuh Ah Quee and a painting of a fictional superhero at a shop in Lebuh Bishop.
Chooi Ping added that PARP was responsible to vet proposals of new artworks within the site.
She said only art pieces approved by the seven-member panel could be put up in the future. The panel would meet every three months to discuss new proposals.
Guan Eng said the quality of the art was what counted and not the message as the state believed in allowing artists their freedom.
"It cannot just be any painting, we want to make sure the paintings are worth coming to see and to take pictures with," he added.