Murals or Street Arts @ Waterloo Street

Another piece of art by Yip Yew Chong, together with Yuen Kum Cheong, they painted a series of six door panels murals depicting the scenes familiar to us who grew up with the old iconic National Library, MPH Building, Odeon Cinema around the Bras Basah vicinity.

National Library & MPH
The new National Library and all the Neighborhood libraries are great, well stocked with books, but none can be compared to the original old National Library.
The structure is unique and the memories of the red bricks are still so vivid.
Now the libraries double-ups as study areas for students but back then, the library was just purely for research and reading. Nostalgic.

Tried to explain to the girls that we used to have date stamps on the books to indicate the period of loan. They just shrugged their shoulders and gave me the “huh?” look.

 

 

Two Rails

Odeon Cinema & National Theatre
Do we still build buildings with red bricks? If Esplanade is the iconic “durian” building of current days, then the National Theatre was the iconic “diamond” building of the past. I believe I still have some old photos of my mother and her sisters posing in front of the building. (mental note to do some digging)

 

And who can forget the kachang puteh man?

Mama Shop

Beach Road Army Market & NCO Club
It was my dream to enter the NCO Club when I was still a NSF. But before long, I have given up on that idea when army life seems not so fun. Now, the building is gone and replaced by the very sophisticated looking South Beach.

 

Ice Ball

Location
51 Waterloo Street, building adjoining 222 Queen Street

Murals or Street Arts @ Tiong Bahru

Continuing on my little series on murals in Singapore. This time round I went to one of the most hip neighborhood, Tiong Bahru. The murals in this area are all around the Tiong Bahru Market, so you can based near the market, have a nice meal and continue to the rest of the murals.

Sadly, the famous giant rooster mural is no longer found in Tiong Bahru, for some reasons it has been removed. But fret not, with the old gone, new murals have sprang up recently, and here is a look at them.

Goats
These 3 separate goat murals can be found around the Tiong Bahru Market. With the first two found around the perimeter and the last one found inside the market, at the center staircase that leads up to the hawker centre.

And since you are around the market place, you will find some other murals at level 1. They are so huge you won’t miss it.

Peacock
This piece of art is painted on each side of the middle staircase.

 

Neighborhood
Just opposite the peacock mural, you will find this piece.

Time to move out from the market and explore some other murals in the vicinity.

Goldfish

If you have seen the murals in Everton Road, you will find the next 3 murals with similar touches. It is because there are painted by the same Mr Yip Yew Chong.

Birdcage
This mural reminds me so much of my dad, who used to love sitting under the void deck with his friends, drinking their kopi o, listening to the birds chirps, and talking about life.

Home
If the Barber mural is my favorite in Everton Road, then this Home mural is my favorite in Tiong Bahru.

Pasar & the Fortune Teller
When I first came across this mural, it was just half done as you can see in the first picture, but one week later, the mural is almost done. Can’t wait to go back again and see the final completed art.

Location
Goats – Tiong Bahru Market
Peacock – Tiong Bahru Market
Neighborhood – Tiong Bahru Market
Goldfish – Blk 28 Tiong Bahru Road
Birdcage – Blk 71 Seng Poh Road
Home – Blk 74 Tiong Poh Road
Pasar & the Fortune Teller – Blk 73 End Watt Street

Murals or Street Arts @ Everton Road

Have you seen these murals in Singapore? From research, these murals can be found in several places, like Everton Road, Tiong Bahru Market, Haji Lane, Aliwal Street, Clarke Quay, etc.

What is a mural?
By definition, a mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface.

And Singapore Murals is an integral part of the nation’s aspiration of being a renaissance city but is under developed. A public mural is a source of heritage building, expression of the arts, national education, interactivity of interests groups.

The oldest mural in Singapore can be traced to Changi Murals, which is my next destination. So look out for my updates in time to come.

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Everton Road

A small section of Everton Road had become memory lane. Mr Yip Yew Chong, who has lived near Everton Road and walked along the road for the past 20 years, was inspired to start this project, after seeing the murals in Kampong Glam painted by Mr Ernest Zacharevic, who also painted and made famous the murals in George Town, Penang.

Amah 妈姐
An amah (housemaid), handwashes her kebayas and sarongs in a metal tub while checking in on the child playing behind the sarongs. A rooster and its family strolling along the side.
Further down the right, there is a wooden cupboard that you can almost find in every household of that time, good to keep all the daily bowls and plates we use. I can still see one of these in my Grandma’s house in JB.
Then the equally old-fashioned chair with a cat resting on top.

The unique signature of Mr Yip Yew Chong, painted in style and depicts the era of the paintings.

Barber 理发
Around the corner of the same building, you will find a boy reading an old Lao Fu Zi comic book while drinking Green Spot, as another gets an old-school haircut. There used to be such roadside barbers still active along Chinatown area, but they have since vanished. Missed my chance of getting an old haircut experience.

The Singaporean thing to do, join the queue.

Coffee in a Milkmaid can “hangs” from a pipe.

Provision Shop 杂货店
Towkay Neo and her hardworking team run their little provision shop literally ‘round the clock’.
This is the latest of Mr Yip’s work around Everton Road.

Tikam tikam to win a free bowl of beancurd and soya milk.

According to the creator, you may see the real fat grey English cat roaming around the neighborhood.

Location
Amah – 40 Everton Road @ Choa Kim Keat Garage
Barber – 40 Everton Road @ Choa Kim Keat Garage
Provision Shop – 8 Spottiswoode Park Road

Penang Street Art

If you are visiting Penang, then don’t miss out the famous street art along the various streets.

There are the metal street art that is all over the various streets in George Town. Basically these art pieces depicts the history of that place or street. Coupled with the wacky wordings, it is a good way to understand Penang better and in a fun way.

There are of course the famous wall paintings by the Lithuanian artist, Ernest Zacharevic. His drawings are mainly found along Lebuh Ah Quee and Lebuh Armenian. It will be a 10-15mins walk from the main street – Jalan Penang. Visit it as soon as possible, the drawings are fading away.

Actually, when we walked around the streets, we found some other local wall paintings as well. This is why Penang is so fascinating!

Feeling artistic already? Time to book your flight if you are not.