After Penang started the street arts craze in Malaysia, Ipoh was the next to jump on the bandwagon. Street arts started popping up around Ipoh, especially in Ipoh Old Town. Among them is an official set of murals known as the “Art of OldTown”, a collaboration between OldTown White Coffee and the City Council of Ipoh, and created by Ernest Zacharevic in 2014. Ernest is the same Lithuanian street artist that stirred up the art craze in Georgetown, Penang.
The “Art of OldTown” is a collection of 7 murals scattered around Ipoh Old Town — I “collected” the full series in 2015 when the art pieces were still fresh. Some of the murals were gone when I re-visited the old town in 2024 and 2026.
1. Old Uncle with Coffee Cup
Since the “Art of OldTown” murals were initiated by OldTown White Coffee, a Nanyang kopitiam chain, the first artwork is found on the wall outside its flagship outlet of Ipoh OldTown White Coffee located along Jalan Tun Sambanthan, facing an open field called Ipoh Padang. The large mural is aptly titled “Old Uncle with Coffee Cup”.
When you are there, might as well have a meal with a nice cup of Ipoh’s famous white coffee at OldTown White Coffee.
2. Paper Plane
The “Paper Plane” mural can be a little difficult to find if you don’t look up. It is very near to the “Old Uncle with Coffee Cup” mural and you have to look up “to the sky” to find the “plane” carrying two boys.
3. Kopi-O (Lost)
Kopi-O is a combination of Malay (kopi) and Hokkien (O) terms meaning “black coffee”. The mural with 5 packets of coffee hanging on a wall can be missed easily as they blend in with the mould on an old wall — well, the mould was not so thick when the mural was first painted.
This mural was gone as a result of redevelopment.
4. Hummingbird
The “Hummingbird” mural is near to the “Kopi-O” mural in the adjacent carpark.
Since 2024, the carpark had been fenced up and weeds growing on the wall has started to “eat away” the tail of the hummingbird. This mural will soon be gone.
5. Evolution
“Evolution” is another huge painting that depicts the tin-mining industry that once allowed Ipoh to flourish for about 100 years. While you are here, check out Han Chin Pet Soo (闲真别墅), the first Hakka tin-mining museum in Malaysia. The museum is situated in the second unit behind this wall.
Admission to Han Chin Pet Soo is free but a donation of RM10 is suggested for the upkeep of the museum. For comfort and safety, the museum can house up to 40 guests at any one time, so it adopted an appointment system for scheduling of visits. The museum closes on Mondays except public holidays. Find the latest information about the museum and make reservations at ipohworld.org.
6. Trishaw
While all the murals above are wall paintings, the “Trishaw” artwork has a real trishaw cut in half and cemented to the wall. The mural shows a man collecting recyclable items, like carton boxes and probably tin cans in black plastic bags, on the trishaw. This is a common practice in Asia where rag-and-bone men (called “karung guni” in Malay) collect and sell recyclable items for money.
Located at one end of the Second Concubine Lane, this mural has became a popular photo-spot among tourists.
7. Girl (Lost)
This mural was located outside Restoran Sin Kin Kok, a coffee shop, and simply called “Girl”. It featured a little girl standing on a stack of real thick books and plastic chairs to try to reach a real cage — “perched” above a ventilation outlet — with painted birds in it.
The mural was lost after a renovation of the coffee shop.
Out of the 7 art pieces of the “Art of OldTown”, two were already gone after more than 10 years. There might still be time to catch the last 5 artworks before they fade away with time.
Locations
If you don’t like hunting for street arts in the blind, check the map below for locations of the above murals in Ipoh Old Town.
Nearby:
More Murals:
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