anyway, wynwood is filled with high quality street graffiti on any given wall. what i did not realize was that the streets are considered an open canvas to paint and repaint and then repaint again and again by various artists over other artists' works. not always a good choice, but accepted if it is done with respect.
omen514 painted a fabulous mural across the way from panther coffee. see pix below. it was my favorite in the district. omen514 usually hangs out in montreal.
on one of my frequent trips to panther, i was shocked to see that lister, another grafitti artist from australia/nyc with a legitimate show going on at the robert fontaine gallery across the street, had buffed omen514's beautiful mural with his own work and signed it "omen" in a yellow band of paint. see pix below.
not many graffiti artists can handle a spray paint can and make portraits like omen514. omen is not a homie so we do not know when he will be in the 305 again to work his magic. and it is magic. the mural had a lot to say on the few occasions we were able to have a chat tete to tete.
omen514 was ok with the situation because it was done with respect and not just buffing.
me? i was in tears. omen514 tweeted to me that "bad things happened." i loved that omen514 mural and was happy i got to document it on my blog before it was destroyed.
so people, is it ok for a street graffiti artist with a legitimate gallery show on the same wynwood block to paint over another artist's uber street creation?
yup, apparently so. well, at least for some. others did not think so, and repainted lister's creation. see silver miami pix below. i do not know the artist, but if you know, please leave a comment below and i will include it in this story.
this is part 1 of the wynwood graffiti street wars.
next up is part 2 of the wynwood graffiti street wars. stay tuned for how streethumanity's wynwood audrey painting got repainted by lister which then got buffed by the locals. yes!
some people do not respect exceptional street art work. and some people will seek justice on those who destroy exceptional street art work.
what do you all think?
4 comments:
I know a thing or two about art, so I'll chime in. On one hand, a really cool work was obliterated. People got upset, understandably. On the other hand, impermanence is an element of street art, by definition and purpose.
I remember the so-called Graffiti Bridge in Pensacola, Florida, where I spent every summer growing up. It always upset me to see the changes each time. People would paint things on it, and the city would paint over it(!) and people would paint over it again, and over each other's work. I didn't understand why it could not be left as it was. So finally, I did what any of us would do: I began taking photographs of the bridge to remember it as I wanted. I wonder what it looks like now..
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Mister Lister sucks. That's NOT ART. It's a signature and took .00000001 minute to spray. Love the boots though.
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