Charles Leary | Dawn of the Gift Shop of the Apes
The talented Lithuanian painter Ernest Zacharevic, based in Penang, has been described as “Malaysia’s answer to Banksy”, in reference to the renowned British graffiti artist whose identity remains a secret.
If Malaysia’s answer to political, subversive work that flaunts the law would be defined as a cheerful version with official permission to paint in the street, then Zacharevic’s work certainly would qualify.
The India Street Pedestrian Mall Committee in Kuching threatened action against anyone vandalising or littering near a recent Zacharevic work in the heritage district there. (One might hope first for action taken against littering on all streets or the rampant rubbish dumping in Sarawak’s rivers.)
Committee chairperson Wee Hong Seng was quoted as saying, “It is not easy to get an international artist to come and paint those artworks. They have become local attractions and must be protected.”
Zacharevic has reportedly rejected the Banksy label, while Banksy’s influence on him is pretty clear if one notes how, for example, his painting ‘Reaching Up’ seems to derive from Banksy’s illicitly created mural on a sexual health clinic of a naked man dangling outside the window of his lover and her angry husband.
Many of Zacharevic’s paintings depict a child reaching for a windowsill or door. Aside from ‘Reaching Up’, two others in Italy depict children reaching for a window or opening.
Full story: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/275356
