PLOG was sad to see that the beautiful murals on Lincoln Road were tagged over the weekend. The murals were created by local organization PLG Arts along with a number of neighborhood artists during September 2009. They have survived the elements and local graffiti far better than anyone expected but it was sad to see them defaced. PLOG even took a sponge and tried to clean them but to no avail. Graffiti artists have clearly respected the work of the muralists and it is unfortunate that one individual could deface the hard work of so many members of the community.
I noticed that too. I think one may be in reference to a teen who recently died from my building, but a sad way to memorialize if you ask me…
I was talking with Joyous yesterday about trying to paint over the tagging. Only the damage on the extreme northern end [the part of Tess's panel perpendicular to the street] would be really difficult to fix. I think we have to cover the graffiti ASAP to show that it’s not OK.
I had a look at this damage yesterday as well. Again, it should be a simple fix, apart from the north-east panel. But we do need to remove/paint over it ASAP – graffiti works like male dogs marking their territory – the presence on one set of tags calls up others. Apart from that, the owner has a legal responsibility to clean up graffiti on his property – if he doesn’t the city will step in and send him the bill. Hello Henry Herbst! A few 311 calls should do the trick.
Mr. Herbst has been responsive to complaints about condition problems on his property but I don’t think we want the him or the city. I’m sure the muralists or other PLG Arts folks would do a much more careful job. And yes, the RIP Alan tags that have appeared on the block and around the corner reference a teen who was recently shot.
I agree about not involving Mr. Herbst. He was pretty decent about letting us use the fence, but I wouldn’t want him to get the idea that he should paint it over, or replace it, to avoid violations.
[...] tags at 40 Lincoln are already gone. The ones on the mural won’t last long. Perhaps a more fitting tribute would be for the young man’s friends to spend a day per month [...]
Unfortunately, humor doesn’t seem to translate well over the internet – I was not serious in suggesting getting Henry Herbst involved (lord knows, in my opinion, I’d like him to stay as far away from this site as possible). Like mot developers, his solution would be the fastest and cheapest one – just whitewash the whole thing.
This really sickens me. When the murals first went up, I expected to see them quickly defaced with graffiti. But, then, when that didn’t happen, I was overjoyed by what seemed liked mass community support and respect for the work of the community artists. Now this. And, not to say I wouldn’t be outraged at the defacing of any of the work on this mural but. . . that of Otto Neals? One of the oldest, best respected and celebrated of the the Black arts community in general, and PLG, in particular? (For a bit on him, check out: http://theqatparkside.blogspot.com/2010/09/peter-and-willie.html). Shame!
I contacted Otto Neils and Tess Korobkin, the two artists whose panels had been tagged. Otto recently repaired his panel; Tess has promised to do so in the near future.