Name: Kin Yeng Tan

Name: Critical Thinking and Communications

TH
4
Name: Samantha Futhey
of submission: 03/25/2016

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Little Children on a Bicycle

What exactly makes an art art? Is it just a sculpture or a painting on display in a museum
or our public parks? Or maybe it is simply the talent to capture the beauty of our everyday life
through sketches and photography? Art varies from the way an artist paints to the way a farmer
grows his crops. From a man debating in court to teachers educating the young, and even the
smallest moments such as the ability of a child to ride a bicycle could be recognized as art.
Aristotle once said The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their
inward significance. Every moment we breathe is a moment we spend creating something new
with our imagination, and using those ideas we create our very own definition of art to show the
world how we feel and what thoughts linger in our mind. Many artists sole purpose is to be able
to tell a story and connect their feelings with their audience by captivating them, allowing them
to be in the moment so that they may understand the purpose and the cultural background of the
art piece.
Somewhere on the Armenian street in Penang, Malaysia, is a simple mural of two little
children on a bicycle painted against an old and moldy wall. The mural consists of a painting of
two Asian children, an older girl and a younger boy on an old metallic navy blue and black
Phoenix branded bicycle with one half of its handle, basket and paddle implanted into the wall.
The older sister appears to be smiling with her eyes open and looking forward while her younger
brother appears to have his eyes shut tight like a clam and his mouth wide open while gripping
on to his sister with all his might. Both of the siblings appear to be wearing a pair of clean white

t-shirts, greyed shorts, and a bright white pair of socks and shoes. Other elements such as a
headlight and the word Zachar are also present on the body frame of the bicycle with its
kickstand raised to a horizontal position.

The mural was painted during the month long celebration of art known as the Georgetown
Festival during 2012 by a London trained Lithuanian artist named Earnest Zacharevic (Tye,

Yeoh). The inspiration first struck when Zacharevic was attending a sketching walkabout at the
Goddess of Mercy Temple in Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling where he encountered two siblings, an
older sister, Tan Yi, and a younger brother, Tan Kern, playing with the bicycle that Zacharevic
brought with him to the event. While the two siblings were playing with his bicycle, Zacharevic
got caught in the moment and was captivated by the both of them. He soon started taking
photographs of both the siblings as inspiration to paint what we now know as the little children
on a bicycle mural (Yeoh). According to Zacharevic, the mural was made a public art for his
intension was for his creation to be a part of society as mentioned in a video Art is
something that people can relate to, and something that people can be involved in, and its from
people to people, its for everyone and not just rich collectors (Leow). The mural soon became
much more well known than anticipated as Yeoh said The painting was recently picked by
British daily The Guardians readers as one of the 15 favorite mural out of 378 submitted from
around the world.
What is it about this mural that makes it so well known? The reason that this mural is able
to draw so much attention is because it depicts the daily life style of the Malaysian people
allowing them to relate to it. Zacharevic took a bold leap and attempted to create something new.
He took art to a whole new level by bringing both of the elements of paintings and sculpture
together to create something new, allowing the public to actually interact with the art and making
it a lot easier for the public to understand his work. By implanting a real bicycle into his painting,
Zacharevic created a new dimension for people to view his art. He opened up the possibility for
people to interact with his art like never before, allowing the audience to touch the bicycle,
decorate it, and even sit on it, making the moment more lifelike, as if the viewer was actually
there in the moment itself. The majority of Zacharevics work consists of our everyday life

objects such as a bicycle, motorcycle, chair, and even the electric cables used to watch our cable
television. Using these everyday objects as a part of his art allows people to interact and view the
art pieces from their point of view and not the artists point of view alone. Having said this, the
way a Malaysian local and tourist viewing his art may differ according to their daily lifestyles.
From a tourists point of view, the mural may simply look like an older sister trying to
teach his younger brother how to ride a bicycle or the older sister tricking the brother into riding
the bicycle with her which would explain why the younger brother expresses fear on his face.
However, from a Malaysians point of view, this could be a memory of the past; showing how
much time has passed since the days where the Japanese conquered Malaysia and held it under
their dictatorship. The children on the painting are both from an Asian background, more
specifically the Chinese background. This could be because during the time the Japanese army
invaded Malaysia, Penang was a Chinese dominant state as the Malays, Indians, and Chinese
were all segregated to the Japanese armys advantage. During that time, the Japanese despised
the Chinese as the Chinese were the only ones that stood against them (Japanese occupation).
Because of that the Chinese was forced to wear pale and simple colored shirt to differentiate
between the Chinese and the Japanese whom wore green uniforms which would explain why
both the children are wearing white colored t-shirts.
The shirt that the children are wearing appears to be clean and bright white in color, the
children also appear to have the luxury of socks, shoes and even a bicycle. This could show that
the children were from a middle to upper class family as most Malaysians in the past could not
even afford shoes. The only way for the children to be from a middle to upper class in the past
would be for their family to run business that sells herbs and medicine. The bicycle, however,
was not a common thing to find amongst the Chinese populated areas as the Chinese people were

given the job of being coal miners while the Malays were made to farm and grow the crops for
the army. Having said, the only possibility any Chinese family could obtain a bicycle in the past
would be from the Japanese army themselves. The Japanese army used bicycles as their main
source of transportation during the war as shown in the Japanese Occupation article the
Japanese troops stole bicycles in every town they took, thus making it possible for them to
outpace all Allied estimates of their likely rate of advance. The basket on the front of the bicycle
could also further help to prove that the bicycle was from the Japanese army as the army used the
basket to hold their belongings such as their rifles and helmets (Japanese Occupation).
Travelling quickly from the northern side of Malaysia all the way down to Singapore, the
Japanese started purging many in what is now known as the Sook Ching massacre as Ho
mentioned The suspects were machine-gunned to death and often their bodies were thrown into
the sea Operation Sook Ching succeeded in instilling fear among the Chinese population.
Seeing how a little girl could smile with such joy shows that that was a time when the war had
just ended, finally given the freedom to ride on the streets again without having to fear being
gunned down when spotted by the Japanese army (Ho). However, the younger boy seems to be
expressing the emotion of fear as he is shutting both his eyes tightly and possibly screaming
while holding onto his older sister tightly. Seeing such fear on the boys face could explain that
this could be the first time the little boy had rode on a bicycle while the little girl appears to be
experienced with riding a bicycle. The symbol of fear expressed by the little boy could also relate
to the uncertainty of the future; showing that we know little about it and unraveling it may be
scarier than anticipated. It is also likely that the boy in the picture was too young to ride a bicycle
before the war started or he was born during the war. Considering that the dictatorship lasted for
about three years, we can safely assume that the boy is at least three years younger than the little

girl. Which means the age of the girl would probably be around the age of six while the boy
would be around the age of three.
In the end, the artist still chose to use a real bicycle rather than painting it on. But why did
he choose to do so? Why sacrifice the very bicycle with his name engraved on it into a piece of
art? As mentioned earlier, an artists sole purpose is to show the audience the purpose and
cultural background of his artwork. From this mural alone, the artist spoke his thousand words
using simple objects such as the basket on the bicycle as a symbol for the Malaysians to carry
their hopes and dreams, the headlight symbolizing that there is a light to guide them forward and
an extra seat as a symbol that with unity anything is possible. Even the tiniest thing like the
kickstand in its horizontal position could symbolize to never stop and keep moving forward.

Work Cited
Art quotes. Brainyquotes. Web. 24. Mar 2016
Brainy quotes offers a variety of known quotes for multiple situations. In this essay the art
quotes section was used for research purposes to help in finding a quote that can relate to
the art work.
Chen, Donald. Little Children on a bicycle photograph. Fineartamerica. Web. 24 Mar 2016
The image was found from the fineartamerica.com website. The photograph of the picture
was taken by Donald Chen.
Ho, Stephanie, Operation Sook Ching, National library board Singapore, 17 Jun 2013. Web.
22 Mar 2016
Operation Sook Ching is a research article written Stephanie Ho from the national
library of Singapore. It helped in explaining the history and timeline of the Japanese
occupation in the south east Asia. The information provided are credible as other research
from credible sources was done during the making of this article.
Japanese occupation, Footprint Travel Guides Web. 22 Mar 2016
Japanese occupation is a brief explanation of the historical background of Malaysia
during the Japanese invasion. The article was written by the Footprint Travel Guides which
is a tourism company that works on helping their clients understand the places they wish to
visit.
Leow, Beng Hock. Ernest Zacharevic paints Penang, Online video clip. Only Penang.
Youtube. 19 Dec 2013. Web 19 Mar 2016
Ernest Zacharevic paints Penang is a video found on the only Penang website and can
also be found on Youtube. The video consists of an interview with Ernest Zacharevic, the
artist of the Little children on a bicycle mural found at the Armenian street in Penang,
Malaysia. The interview explains why the artist chooses to paint these art and some
background information about the artist.
Tye, Timothy, Little Children on a bicycle Mural, Web. 19 Mar 2016.
Little Children on a bicycle Mural is a blog written by Timothy Tye to help create and
maintain a timeline of the mural found in penang. It explains events such as the completion
of the mural, vandalism, and other events inspired by the mural.
Yeoh, Winnie, Couple tells story behind Zacharevics famous mural on Armenian Street, The
Star Online, Star Media Group Berhad, 24 Nov 2013. Web. 19 Mar 2016.
Couple tells story behind Zacharevics famous mural on Armenian Street is an online
news article for The Star written by Winnie Yeoh. It article describes the point of view
from the parents of the two children that inspired the artist to paint the mural. It also
provides information about the background of the mural such as how it inspired the artist to
paint it.