Mural Dramaz

Muralists Bitch Slap Clarion Alley Taggers

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

It seems that painters in Clarion Alley are finally growing tired of dealing with bombers vandalizing their murals.  These two muralists, whos names I won't publish to protect their other works from retaliation, saw a mural they began painting yesterday irreparably destroyed last night.

“We had a sign over the mural saying it was in progress and to respect it, but someone threw up a giant piece over it anyway.”

They've given up on painting in the alley and are in search of a new place that they can help establish a new mural project on, but they decided to leave the alley and its taggers with a parting gift before bouncing.

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

Vandal Claims Clarion Alley Wall For Himself

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

It seems like it was only yesterday that a graffiti heart over the freshly painted A Sunday Afternoon an Dolores Park sent the entire Mission community into a tailspin of despair and outrage.  And rightly so: a bang-up mural celebrating everyone's favorite park was defaced.  But it wasn't just that the specific mural was blemished, rather it was that a mural was damaged.

Now it seems like the norm is for SF murals get covered over with tags and pieces.  Eine's series of alphabet murals along Mission Street were defaced within days by the same crew pictured above.  A quick walk down Bartlett, Market, Divis, or one of the various other mural alleys around the Mission show the same thing.  It almost seems antithetical to the core of what street art and graffiti represents: putting art out there, for free, for everyone to see and admire on their own accord.  In a sense, there's now a crew of kids acting as a gallery owners, determining which murals the world gets to check out and which should be reused as a new canvass.

It's a bummer, really.

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

Rad Lion With Bunny Ears Mural Covered Up By Nice Typography

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Much like Gallery Heist's decision a few month's back to allow Gaia to paint over the famed 'Lazer Cat' mural on Divis, White Walls gallery and Wall Space gave the thumbs up to street artist Eine to paint over Gaia's rad Bunny/Lion mural on Polk.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not really complaining about the fact a mural was painted over; after all, that's the nature of street art and murals.  Plus, I am a fan of nice typography and giving Taco Bell a new slogan that doesn't involve thinking and comparing Mexican fast food to hamburgers.  However, considering Eine was given 27 places to paint in the city (up and down Mission Street, various spots in the TL, Octavia and Hayes, and the side of Valencia Cyclery), most of which were previously blank walls, you think they would have been down with leaving the hybrid animal masterpiece up for a bit longer.

[photo by Big Ed Mustapha]

Previously on Uptown Almanac: