Street Art in Ipoh, Malaysia

Finding street art, murals, graffiti and public art is one of my main hobbies when I travel and I love finding and photographing beautiful pieces to share with you all!

Ipoh is about 2 hours (by train) from Kuala Lumpur and about 1.5 hours from Butterworth. It’s a small city most well-known for its food! I visited Ipoh at the end of July 2024 and spent a few days wandering around, eating good food and relaxing.

And of course, I went hunting for street art. Here’s some of the art pieces I saw during my wanders!

Warning: This post is photo-heavy.

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Ipoh Old Town

This is the main historical part of town, and where the most cafes, restaurants, tourist sites and such are located. And of course it’s where the most street art is!

My main tip is that many of the big murals are officially commissioned pieces of art by the city, so they’re on Google Maps! I’ve noted the “Google Maps names” for pieces that have them, to make it a bit easier for you to go hunting during your own visit.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a lot of info on the artists for many of these murals. If you recognize any of them, let me know and I’ll add them to the post!

Birch Memorial Clock Area

This is on the side of the building where Miker Pizza and OldTown White Coffee Ipoh Padang are located, right across from the Ipoh Tourist Information center. On Google Maps it’s called “Ipoh Mural – No.1 An Old Uncle Drinking Coffee.”

This is probably the most famous mural in Ipoh!

Right around the corner is this mural: “Ipoh Tin mining mural” according to Google Maps.

This part is next to it, but it doesn’t seem to be part of the same mural by the same artist, more like an add-on:

This one is near the other two but it was definitely painted by a different artist as I managed to find a signature:

On the other side of the block, on the Mercantile Building, is this large mural on the top left of a building which needs a bit of refurbishing:

At the bottom is some interesting graffiti which I took close-ups of:

Moving towards the Clock Tower, down a small alleyway is this piece:

Love how it looks like a postcard! I think this one is very new, only painted in July 2024.

Lorong Panglima

Quite a few good pieces on this little alley! Starting from the west and going east, we have this metal sculpture titled Lestari Alami, created in 2022:

The figures are inspired by batik fabric designs and show natural flora and fauna patterns.

Then right next to it is a very large mural showcasing a bunch of local instruments:

At the end, wrapped around to the other wall, is this mural which was just created in July 2024:

And then at the end of the alley is this blue mural with birds and a stag:

And here’s a small Absolut vodka parody which I found charming:

Jalan Market & Concubine Lane area

Lots of art around this area, including some interactive ones. If you want a good photo of yourself with any of these murals, come VERY early in the morning as otherwise it’s bound to be busy.

On Google Maps, this art piece is called “Mural Spot – 3rd Concubine lane.”

Here’s a wall of hats:

This one is at the end of the alley from the and is called “Ipoh Mural – Old Town Relieves Nostalgia with Trishaw” on Google Maps.

As a kind of contrast, here’s a piece called “Motor Wall Art” on Google Maps:

They’re about 2 blocks away from each other, but I like how both of them incorporate a local vehicle to make the mural 3D.

Right next to it is “Fruit tree mural” on Google Maps, showing a durian tree:

And here’s a small art spot on the back of a bar:

Here’s a nearby drawing with a sleeping tapir:

Elsewhere in Ipoh

This is the side of the building where H – Point Pharmacy is located on Jalan Leong Sin Nam:

It’s one of the few COVID-19 related murals I’ve seen, actually.

Here’s a tribute to Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragonball and many other manga. He died earlier this year.

This is on Jalan Jubilee if you’d like to go find it.

See also: An Akira Toriyama-style mural in Chiang Mai.