Lithuanian-born Street and gallery artist Ernest “ZACH” Zacharevic combines fine art techniques and his passion for creating art outdoor, using and oil painting, stencil and spray, installation and sculpture; to produce dynamic compositions both inside and outside of the gallery space. Many of his pieces and installations are in Penang, Malaysia where he lived and the proud locals refer to him as Malaysia’s ‘Banksy’.

Zacharevic has street art installations and murals around the island of Penang. Many of them are from the Georgetown Arts and Culture Festival in 2012 which was his first constructive public art project, with  6 walls created over 3 months in a town with no public art or graffiti whatsoever. The public response was phenomenal.

His distinctive style includes children, sometimes accompanied by props such as a chair or supermarket trolley or an old bicycle which he attaches on walls of aged buildings and shop houses along Victoria Street, Perak Road and Joo Chiat and the adjoining alleyways. The two most popular are Children on a Bicycle and Boy on Motorcycle; a combination of installation and painting which allows the outside community to interact with the works. Zacharevic found the motorbike abandoned on the street and every single bit that could be stolen from it had been stolen. He put some bits and pieces to make it look like a motorbike and stuck it to the wall. Since then many locals have replaced the seat, headlights, and petrol tank, (which kept getting stolen) and was probably replaced two or three times. In fact, the locals spend much time and effort maintaining and preserving his street art murals.

• In 2013 he also worked in Johor Bahru as well as painting a series of murals in Singapore, including Children in Shopping Trolleys .
• In 2014 Zacharevic opened his second solo show in Barcelona at Montana Gallery. The collection saw a juxtaposition of more figurative works featuring characters from different cultures in all forms of dynamic poses and actions.
• Recent projects include Scope New York and a painting commission at the Ritz Carlton, Singapore; a Mondrian inspired piece composed of a series of framed canvases all hung together.

In May 2016, Zacharevic went to Christmas Island, an Australian Territory in the Indian Ocean at the invitation of Christmas Island Phosphates and the local Shire government for a scoping trip to beautify the island landscape. He left behind his first ever Australian art installation with ‘Forklift Boy,‘ near a local tavern. An abandoned forklift adjacent to a shipping container provided the canvas for the piece. It is similar in aesthetic to his Boy and Girl on a Bike and Boy on a Motorbike art installation in Georgetown, Penang.

• Visit his website or email: info@ernestzacharevic.com

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