Outcry Brings Down Murals in Atlanta Art Project

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Outcry Brings Down Murals in Atlanta Art Project
December 13, 2012
By ROBBIE BROWN
The New York Times

ATLANTA — Two murals intended to spruce up blighted neighborhoods in Atlanta have been painted over after some residents complained that they were confusing at best, demonic at worst.

A mural by an Argentine artist, Hyuro, was taken down in September.

The sprawling, outdoor paintings were made for Living Walls, an annual gathering of street artists from around the world who paint on walls and buildings. The project has been praised as brightening up a city struggling with one of the nation’s highest foreclosure rates.

But it has also prompted an outcry. Some residents have raised concerns that too much of Atlanta has become a canvas, and some find the works disturbing or offensive.

One mural depicting a nude woman was taken down in September after residents called it pornographic. On Tuesday, Georgia Department of Transportation workers painted over another mural — of an alligator-headed man with a serpentine tail — that neighbors said confused them and was possibly demonic.

“The best thing you could say about the alligator painting was that people didn’t understand it,” said Douglas Dean, a former state representative from the largely black neighborhood in southwest Atlanta. “It absolutely did not represent what people want to see on a busy street every day.”

Most of the 64 murals have been less controversial. Many contain bright, surrealist imagery and portraits of smiling children. The project, founded in 2010, has grown in scope and recognition, and sponsors include a prominent law firm, the Museum of Design Atlanta and the W Hotel.

The mural of the woman was done by an Argentine painter, Hyuro, and the alligator painting was by a French painter, Pierre Roti. Mr. Roti, who traveled to Atlanta on his own budget and spent 11 days on the mural, said he found the reaction confusing. He intended the mural as an allegory about the brutality of capitalism, not a statement on religion or demons.

“It has left me speechless,” Mr. Roti said. “But if the community decides to take it down, why not?”

Living Walls paintings are done with the owners’ permission and permits from three city departments. City Council members say a public art ordinance requires approval of the full Council, which Living Walls did not receive.

That is why the alligator mural was removed, said a Department of Transportation spokeswoman, Jill Goldberg. It was a matter of proper permits, not artistic value. But she added that the state’s public art policy prohibited works that “include any content that could potentially divide a community.”

“We are not angry at Living Walls at all,” she said. “They may put up a new art installation if they meet requirements.”

Before they were painted over, both murals were vandalized. The nudes were spray-painted with profanity and Mr. Dean, the former state representative, personally blotted out large parts of the alligator painting.

Monica Campana, the founder of Living Walls, worried that stricter rules and vandalism would frighten away artists who come each August from countries including Brazil, Canada, Italy and Spain.

“The artists are really worried,” she said. “Especially when artists are traveling from so far away, no one wants to paint a wall that is going to get painted over.”

But she said the group did not want to limit artistic expression. “We want to put out provocative, challenging, but not offensive art,” she said. “We don’t think we have to paint a rainbow and butterflies to make art that represents a community.”