WHAT does the average Malaysian know about good public art? Not as much as he knows about good satay or roast chicken (the favourite metaphor of painter-educator Jolly Koh when talking about the subjectivity of art). 

While artists have long blamed this antipathy on a lack of emphasis on art education, StarMag’s street poll and related research show that government authorities – those who hold the people’s purse strings – don’t seem to give either the public or artists a say in what artworks are put up at their favourite hangouts and funded by public money.