Following its first collaboration in May 2012 with Singaporean graffiti artist known as Traseone (aka TR853-1), OCBC Bank commissioned another three street artists to create two large murals on a hoarding in front of its main branch in the central business district.
The mural is a showcase of different street styles, from the detailed realist style of SLACSATU, founder of Singapore’s largest graffiti crew Zinc Nite Crew (tagged as ZNC); to the cheeky graphic style of CLOGTWO! and the sticker/wheat paste interventions of SKL0.
Together, the works captures a slice of everyday life in a tongue-in-cheek manner: a 3m spray-painted circular window featuring a realistic night skyline of Singapore; a construction worker doing the Gangnam style move on a construction hoist; a woman watching a Peep Show “inside” the hoarding; a faux ATM machine and a man climbing the “corporate ladder.”
“This OCBC project is definitely one of the most challenging I’ve worked on,” said SLACSATU. “The height and curvature of the hoarding made is really difficult to execute my signature realistic style, especially painting the faux window with the night skyline at height of 7 meters.”
Though graffiti is still illegal in Singapore this sanctioned street mural project is a “live” canvas, which will continue to evolve over time, true to the ephemeral nature of street art.
