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| Local artist Crig Francis, showing the comparison of his original work and DBKK's painting at Padang Merdeka during a press conference in Kota Kinabalu. -NSTP/Malai Rosmah Tuah.
By Olivia Miwil - October 16, 2019 @ 2:28pm
KOTA KINABALU: A local artist hopes that the public would appreciate their artwork as a show of support towards the creative industry.
Crig Francis, 41, who is fondly known as Cracko Art, said he was approached by the Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) in February 2018 to come up with a design meant to beautify Padang Merdeka, here.
"I submitted three designs to the authority together with a quotation of my rates. After the General Election in May last year, I was informed that the project was postponed.
"But I was shocked to see that my design was already painted on the staircases at Padang Merdeka," Crig said, adding that the look-alike work which was completed last month was also posted on the City Hall's Facebook page.
The finished version had added an ape, an inverted hornbill and lightened the colour tone of the original design.
He was speaking to reporters at a press conference after several futile attempts to get explanation from City Hall officers.
Besides that, Crig had also approached the college that collaborated with DBKK to find out who were the "artists" behind the painting but once again failed to get any information.
Crig, who has been active as a visual artist in Sabah since 1999, said that artists in the state have not been getting much support.
Besides that, he added some of their artworks were being plagiarised with no recognition at all.
"For this case, I am just hoping for an apology from City Hall and hopefully there is no repeat of this in the future."
Meanwhile, when contacted, City Hall mayor Datuk Nordin Saiman said that he was not aware of the case and was willing to meet with Crig to clarify the situation and give recognition accordingly.
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