There’s an easy way to make your house stand out from all your neighbors: Hire an artist to paint a mural on its outer wall. That’s just what homeowner Tan Dib Jin did, transforming the blank expanse of wall surrounding his house into a pastoral scene of a kampung with the help of muralist Yip Yew Chong.
Tan decided to get the wall painted because he was tired of looking at its blank expanse. He had originally painted it white, but it always seemed to get dirty, turning the wall — and his house, by extension — into an eyesore. After giving it some thought, he decided that a mural would be a wonderful way to distract from the long wall and dirt, and a great way to bring interest to other people. He said that after the mural was completed, many people started to stop by his house to check it out.
After Tan arrived at the decision that he’d be decorating the wall with a mural, the next step was finding the right artist to complete the task. Tan chose to go with a lesser known artist in order to promote the artist’s work and help him get a leg up in the creative world, and was introduced to Yip through a common friend.
They settled on a scene in a kampung because of Tan’s fond recollections of such life while visiting relatives when he was young. The mural is a wonderfully green treatment of life in the country, including several different type of birds taking flight and investigating a pond reflecting the greenery around them. A father picks papayas from a tree as his son watches. The mural blends with and interacts delightfully with Tan’s real collection of growing trees and plants. There was one omission of kampung life, however: pigs used to run freely, but Tan felt it would be disrespectful to Muslims living in the area to include them in the mural.
Yip recalled several challenges while completing the large mural. For example, heavy afternoon showers washed away a portion of his work, while pesky mosquitoes attacked him in the evening hours. This isn’t Yip’s first mural, however. The self-taught muralist has a total of five murals in Singapore. His other work depicts a household maid washing clothes in a tub, and the scene of a barbershop.
Tan encourages other homeowners to consider brightening their living spaces and supporting local artists at the same time.
Have you always been interested in how artists paint murals? Sign up for an art class on SGArtClass.com to find out for yourself how it’s done. Our expert teachers will take you through the process from start to finish, leading you through the planning stage to the completion of a mural. You’ll learn how to understand scale and such considerations as the most effective paint on a variety of surfaces. Don’t be intimidated by the size of a mural — taking classes will help you tackle your passion.
For more on the mural, go to http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/mural-mural-on-the-wall-art-on-show-for-all.