Ernest Zacharevic

Ernest Zacharevic (born 1986 in Lithuania) is a multidiscipline contemporary and public artist based in Penang, Malaysia.

Zacharevic creates oil paintings, installations, sculptures and stencil and spray paint to produce culturally relevant compositions both inside gallery space and in the arena of public art and walls His interest in the outdoor pieces is in the interaction between mural and the urban landscape, with concepts arising as part of a spontaneous response to the environment. As well as his on street works Ernest creates originals on canvas and found objects alike. These works belong to private collections and institutions across the world including the Ritz Carlton and Dean Collection, a private collection of works owned and maintained by Swizz Beats.

In 2012, Zacharevic received worldwide recognition after creating a series of six street art murals for the George Town Festival in Penang, Malaysia, with the BBC calling him Malaysia's answer to Banksy. These images depict scenes of everyday Malaysian life using local people as the models. The two most popular are Children on Bicycle and Boy on Motorcycle; a combination of installation and painting allows the outside community to interact with the works. These murals now stand as cultural landmarks in George Town, complete with plaques and frequent queues of people waiting to have their photographs taken with the works.

Zacharevic held his first solo show in Penang in 2012 at the Hin Bus Depot, a centre for arts and culture located in George Town Art is Rubbish Rubbish is Art. A collection of 30 plus works painted on reclaimed and found materials.

In 2013 Zacharevic received viral attention for his on-street work with the controversial lego mural in Johor Bahru, home to Malaysian "Legoland". Using the lego figures, Zacharevic comments on the violent state of JB, positioning them on a street corner, as a woman carrying a Chanel bag approaches, a masked villain waits around the corner for her. The piece was buffed over quickly, but not before the image went viral, with thousands of people showing their support for the mural and the serious statement it was making.

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Wikipedia