When Norwegian exchange student Marcus Olnes first arrived at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), he wasn’t expecting to find something that reminded him of home: a place where graffiti artists could legally pick up a spray can and create.<\/p>\n
Olnes, 21, is studying Business and Computing at NTU for a semester.<\/p>\n
After arriving on Aug 3, the budding graffiti artist decided that he wanted to find somewhere he could legally spray paint in Singapore.<\/p>\n
As he was exploring NTU’s campus after class one day, he spotted a wall covered in spray paint.<\/p>\n
Upon closer inspection, he found a sign that read: “Spray Paint Area”.<\/p>\n
Olnes told AsiaOne that he could not believe what he saw.<\/p>\n
“I was really surprised NTU had a wall dedicated to spray painting, considering Singapore’s strict stance on graffiti,” he said.<\/p>\n
Under Singapore’s Vandalism Act, writing, drawing or painting on public or private property without written authority or the owner’s consent may constitute an offence.<\/p>\n
Wanting to be sure the wall was an authorised space for spray painting, Olnes sought clarification before starting work on his piece.<\/p>\n
He first posed a question about it on the NTU subreddit. However, after most students were unable to answer his question, he approached the School of Art, Design and Media’s office directly.<\/p>\n
There, staff confirmed that painting on the wall was permitted.<\/p>\n
“They reassured me that it was okay to paint, so I went through with it!” said Olnes.<\/p>\n
AsiaOne has contacted NTU for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Passion for spray painting<\/h2>\n
Olnes told AsiaOne that he had initially planned on spray painting a wall at Somerset Skate Park, one of the few areas where it is legal to spray paint in Singapore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, he decided it was more convenient to start with the wall in NTU since he lived on campus.<\/p>\n
The exchange student considers himself a graffiti artist, since 2020. He added that he has been drawing and sketching graffiti letters and characters since he was a kid.<\/p>\n
He runs a sole proprietorship in Norway and takes on several commissioned gigs related to his art each year, including creating custom graffiti pieces, logo design and conducting workshops.<\/p>\n
“However, I\u2019m currently not in a position to make this my full time career at the moment,” said Olnes.<\/p>\n
Leaving his mark<\/h2>\n
Olnes took about two hours to complete his work of art in NTU on Sunday.<\/p>\n
His work features his tag, also known as his signature in graffiti, in a bubble-lettering style and the words: “Oslo to Singapore!”.<\/p>\n
He uploaded his completed piece onto the NTU subreddit on the same day and Redditors have commended his artwork.<\/p>\n
One user said that it was “fire” while another commented: “Lovely work man, happy to have your awesome work there.”<\/p>\n
Olnes also posted his work on his Instagram account, marcitospray, on Sept 13 with the caption: “Leaving my mark on Singapore”.<\/p>\n
He told AsiaOne that this was his first graffiti piece in Singapore and that he has “more plans to paint”.<\/p>\n
“I have discovered a few more legal spots to paint on here in Singapore, so I almost feel obliged to do so during my time here!” said Olnes.<\/p>\n
He still hopes paint at Somerset Skate Park and he added that he found another wall in NTU to spray paint called fREe roam art @ Hall 8.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.asiaone.com\/sites\/default\/files\/inline-images\/ntu-graffiti-art-spray-paint.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
“It seems like no one has painted here in a long time, but I’m hoping to change that soon!” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
[[nid:737502]]<\/p>\n
laili.abdeen@asiaone.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When Norwegian exchange student Marcus Olnes first arrived at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), he wasn’t expecting to find something that reminded him of home: a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/85342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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