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INTERVIEW
44 | FireFlyz
Best known as the artist
who createdPenang’s street
murals,
Ernest Zacherevic
chats to
SarahRees
about
his life as an artist.
When did you know you wanted to be an artist?
Since I was a child. One of my earliest memories
is colouring in the cartoons that my Dad used to
draw. When I was 11, my parents sent me to a
national arts boarding school in Lithuania. There
was not ever anything else I thought of doing
with my life.
What did the young Ernest draw/create as a
child?
I do not really remember, but browsing through
my old work, I see a shocking resemblance to my
newer works. Curiosity and childish behaviour is
a common subject in my work – it hasn’t moved
too far from when I was a kid myself
Unconventional Route
You trained in fine art, so what led you to become interested in less
conventional techniques and delivery of your work?
I was always interested in graffiti; there was a great scene for it in Lithuania
when I was growing up. After years of such a rigid, traditional artistic
education, my work in the public realm can almost be seen as a rebellion
of sorts. [I was] taking the techniques I had learnt in the studio and then
applying them to my work on the streets.
Atlanta livingwalls