It great to see this wall alive with art again. Back in the 1982 Keith Haring painted it. This was followed in 1983 with a collaborative work by Haring, DAZE (Chris Ellis), NOC 167 (Melvin Samuals), LA2 (Angel Ortiz ), Kenny Scharf, the late A ONE (Anthony Clark).
For decades the wall remained relatively inactive except for the occasional throw up (which I loved) or advertisement . Then in 2008, Deitch Projects, the Haring Foundation and Tony Goldman of Goldman Properties facilitated a reproduction of Haring's 1982 mural in celebration of what would have been Haring's 50th birthday.
Since then, thanks to Jeffrey Deitch and Tony Goldman the wall has seen a series of murals related to Graffiti and street art. It has featured works by Brazil's OS GEMEOS (Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo), San Francisco's TWIST (Barry MCGee), Shepard Fairey, a memorial to SACE (Dash Snow) and most recently a work by Kenny Scharf.
Most of the works survived without incident, but the Fairey and Scharf suffered repeated attacks. They got plastered with throw ups.
Perhaps it is personal or perhaps it is the graffiti vs. street art beef. Graffiti and street art has not exactly co-existed in peace. A lot of street artists are oblivious to the street code and often disrespect graffiti. On the other hand a lot of writers see street artists as pushovers and just don't respect street art one bit.
Maybe I was being naive and too idealistic in thinking that given Fairey and Scharf's longevity in public space and track record of collaborating with writers that they would be given a higher measure of respect than the typical street artist.
Either way hats off to Scharf for battling back.
PS I'd Love to see LEE Quinones bust one out with FUTURA on this wall when MOCA LA "Art in the Streets" comes to the Brooklyn Museum next year… anybody listening? LOL
Peace!
Eric Deal
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Graffiti vs. Street Art 1
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