Penang can be top street art city, says curator

GEORGE TOWN: Penang can become one of the top places in the world to showcase street art if the diverse communities here preserve and promote it.
Art curator Tan Choe Whye said street art is not something new in Penang. "The old Penang can be reflected in our temples and shrines. We had fantastic artists here," he said yesterday.
Tan is the man behind the Can Can Public Art movement, which helps many local and foreign street artists to contribute to steet art in Penang.
He was speaking at a talk organised by the One Academy here to inspire young local artists about conceiving street arts and murals.
The other speakers were Julia Volchkova from Russia and Judith de Leeuw from the Netherlands.
They paid tribute to the Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic, whose mural of children on a bicycle at Armenian Street has become a global reference point for street art.
"Ernest paved the way forward for Penang to become an art haven," said Tan.
Some of the cities, cited for their fine public art, are New York City, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Sao Paolo, London, Santiago, Berlin, Bogota and Christchurch.