City Paints Over Mural with Olympic Blue
Coating of mural in 'Olympic blue' paint angers artist
By Tiffany Crawford, Vancouver Sun, December 28, 2009
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Latest+removed+mural+example+trag...
A fresh coat of "Olympic blue" paint covering a mural located in one of the city's venues for the 2010 Winter Games is intended to cover up a blemish before the Games, says one of the artists who worked on the original design.
On Wednesday a wall of murals located on Beatty Street in downtown Vancouver, commissioned in 2007 by the Steve Nash Foundation, was painted over in light blue.
Milan Basic of High Fi Murals painted the wall -- part of the Canadian Forces Drill Hall at 620 Beatty St. -- along with 15 other artists, for charity.
In an interview on Christmas Eve from his home in Prince George, Basic, 39, said the city never informed him the art was getting a paint job.
"It is a shame to delete that mural because someone thinks it's a blemish," said the father of two.
The news, though, didn't come as a complete shock.
Basic said an unnamed friend on the city's graffiti-management program told him several weeks ago that "they did not want to have that graffiti style for the Olympics," but he did not know they were going to paint it blue.
"I got it straight from the horse's mouth," he said. "I knew for a fact that it was deleted because of the Olympics. Painting it that blue colour was obviously a last-minute decision."
David McLellan, a spokesman for the city of Vancouver, said the mural was removed as part of regular maintenance in the area.
"[The mural] was temporary in nature and it was just its time to go," said McLellan, adding that the city may fund a new project for the wall under the public-art program in the new year.
As for the colour, McLellan said he had "no idea why" that particular shade was chosen by the city's anti-graffiti coordinator, Daniel Paquin.
David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, called the move another example of the "tragic sanitization" of Vancouver in time for the Olympics.
"It's totally linked to the Olympics," said Eby.
"They painted it over in Olympic blue. The only thing they didn't do was paint on the Olympic rings."
Basic said the artists stuck loosely to a children's theme. On one part of the wall a painting called "Choir Piece" depicted dozens of small green figures that appeared to be coming out of the Earth and
singing.
Now it is a solid blue.
"The city is throwing light blue paint over everything, which is a real metaphor for what is happening right now," said Eby.
In November, the city removed an anti-Olympic mural outside the Crying Room art gallery in the Downtown Eastside.
"It's a shame those artists were allowed a voice and that was taken away because some grown-ups were scared of what some other grown-ups might think," said Basic.
In 2007, Basic proposed that adorning the Beatty Street wall for charity should be an annual event, and that graffiti artists be allowed to paint over it every year with something new.
"I wanted to make a cultural commitment to Vancouver. The city is starved for culture," said Basic.
The artist expected a backlash from the Vancouver graffiti community after receiving dozens of e-mails expressing anger over the city's move.