Transforming a village into a living gallery

His own unique style: Lai relaxing at a ledge which depicts the back of an elephant he painted on a retaining wall, part of the street art project to rejuvenate Mambau New Village.

SEREMBAN: A collection of creative and quirky murals has transformed Mambau New Village near here into a living gallery.

The 42 murals range from an 20cm-tall Marge Simpson sprouting a leafy beehive hairdo to an 2.4m-tall elephant that onlookers can “ride” for a photo op.

The eye-catching street art is the work of Lai Teo Kuan, a former state assemblyman, who surp­risingly has only been dabbling in art for a year.

Kuala Lumpur-based Lai, 60, said he embarked on the street art project after being approached by a friend who is on the new village community management council (MPKK).

The street art project was initiated by the village council to rejuvenate the over 60-year-old community and brighten up the village.

“After I was approached, I visited the village and took pictures of locations I thought would make interesting backgrounds.

“It took me about two months of planning before I began painting the murals in the village early this month,” he said.

A SpongeBob SquarePants artwork.

Working tirelessly, sometimes from 7am to 7pm over the course of 15 days, Lai transformed unsightly cracks on retaining walls and culverts into quirky works of art.

His “canvas” also included drainpipes, a fire hydrant, drainage co­vers, a bus shelter, and even a tree.Some of the unique creations feature popular cartoon characters like Marge Simpson, The Incredibles’ Dash Parr, SpongeBob SquarePants and Dumbo, while others are entirely the product of the artist’s imagination such as a broken heart on a cracked culvert, the silhouette of a woman taking a shower under a drainpipe outlet, and a panda peeking out from a wall covered by overgrown bushes.

Lai said he chose popular imagery because they would resonate with young and old.

“I want my art to make people happy,” said Lai who added that villagers often brought him food and drinks while he worked.

Lai, who completed his street art project at the village on Thursday, said he had been approached by villages in the state and in Selangor to paint murals there, but maintained that he will not be dupli­cating his work if he chooses to accept those projects.

Lai’s work has also caught the attention of netizens.

Village MPKK head Teh Chin Looi said the artwork had been well received.

Incredibles’ dash Parr is ready for hopscotch in this artwork.

“The art has rejuvenated the village.

“We wanted to get rid of the misconception that a village is old fashioned and filled with old folks.

“We can be fun and trendy too,” she said, adding that permission was sought from villagers whose retaining walls were used before the murals were painted.

“The rest of the artwork are on public property,” she said.

The street art has had mostly positive comments from villagers with the exception of an image of Captain America’s shield which had to be painted over after a villager living opposite the artwork complained that it might be bad feng shui for his household.

There are some 250 families living in the village located along the Seremban-Port Dickson trunk road, and which is famous for its yong tau foo, kaya and nasi lemak.

Besides Lai’s masterpieces, the village’s street art rejuvenation project which began a few months ago also includes murals by several other artists from around the country, who volunteered their time and effort to create the murals.