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

World Monopoly Day

Congratulations to Universal Studios Singapore at Resorts World Sentosa!

On 19 March 2016 on World Monopoly Day, RWS successfully broke the existing Guinness World Records title for most people playing Monopoly game in a single venue. Where a total of 605 individuals played the latest Monopoly Empire game at USS which surpassed the previous record of 585 participants set by Wycombe Abbey School in the UK on 14 Dec 2015.

And we were part of the 605 participants!

(Photo credit to Resorts World Sentosa)

It was great to be back in USS after such a long while.

The new Monopoly Empire game was released in celebration of Mr. Monopoly’s 81st birthday.

The Monopoly Empire game allows player to travel around the board buying and selling the world’s top brands, like Universal Parks & Resorts, Transformers, Yahoo, etc.

The girls’ favourite was the Nickelodeon piece. Probably thinking they can own it and show all their favourite shows all day long.

Getting ready to play and break the records.

 

 

Along with hundreds of other Monopoly fans!

 

Performances after the game before we have the final count of participants.

Barely after 2 hours, the event was over and the officials from Guinness World Records presented the award to RWS representative.

And to end the day, Jayne squeezed through the crowd and got her wish, taking a photo with the birthday boy.

i Light Marina Bay 2016

This year is the 4th edition of i Light Marina Bay, and this year’s event is brighter and seeking to reframe perceptions of light and sustainability, the team hopes to inspire artists and festival-goers to re-imagine and reconsider sustainability issues in a new light and come together to create and sustain a harmonious relationship with the environment.

As a person who likes photography, lights and shadows have always been something fascinating for me. After the first introduction to i Light Marina Bay 2014, this is the second time I am bringing the girls back.

This year the stretch just outside The Shoppes @ Marina Bay Sands, was transformed into a bit like “Artbox” in Bangkok. With small little stalls selling different sorts of arts and stuff. It would be nice to see more of such setups happening in Singapore.

Before we walked through the i Light, we were greeted by this colorfully bright rider, sometimes we are able to see a few other riders together but this night there was only one. Hence, he absorbed all the lime light. He has unofficially became part of the event exhibits.

Ground Control to Major Tom
This multi-colored rocket piece is like a childhood dream coming alive. As simple as it seems, many people were queuing up just to have a look from within, at the world outside. I guess all of us need to see things a little different some times.

Blot
Inspired by how the lightning behaves, this installation aims to bring the irregularity behavior of the lightning closer to earth. By a simple touch of the steel structure, one gets to activates the flashes of the LED tubes attached.

Lampshade
Totally the coolest and most environmentally inspiring piece of installation. During day time, this unique art piece prevents sunlight to shine through and at the same time conserve energy which is used during night time as solar energy enough to power up thousands of lamps.

Shadow Bath
Playing with light and shadows, this is one piece of art I would love to have at home. Maybe a miniature size that could sit nicely in a living room as a coffee table. Imagine the mood it would create at night when you are enjoying a nice glass of wine with your love one. Awesome!

Angels of Freedom
This year, kudos to the organizers for placing many of the light installations against the beautiful Marina Bay night scene. One of which is this angel wing (there are 5 sets of them), and you will be expecting some queue to get your chance for a photo. The halo was a brilliant idea to enhance the structure but also as a great illuminator for the visitor’s face.

Moon Haze
One of the most photographed light installation. The Moon Haze also functions as a monitoring system for air pollutants, picking-up and responding to the ambient air quality – the better the air quality, the brighter the installation. Maybe an idea will be to place this piece on the waters? The reflection will be awesome.

The Cloud
Seriously, I do not understand this art installation. However, this is one of the few installations that captured my attention the most. Maybe it’s the inert nature of man that is drawn towards things we do not understand.

Ping Pong Table
Mini table-tennis tables for visitors to test their skills. About a quarter size of the usual table, this cool piece is lighted underneath with changing lights to create that mystery feel. The game is not about winning, but it’s all about fun and innovation.

There are a few installations that are not really related to lights, but nonetheless it was super creative and simple. The simplicity of the creation amazed me and many others, providing much fun to all.

Started the walk with the multi-colored rider and ended with the same guy on the Helix Bridge.

Heard that i Light Marina Bay will be back starting this year as a yearly event. I’ll raise both hands and legs and shout hurray! Looking forward to more creative installations in 2017.