On Monday, August 24th, a man was spotted painting over several murals on Clarion Alley, with a bucket of white paint. Local artist Doug Rhodes, whose art studio is on the alley, saw what was happening and confronted the man, telling him he couldn’t do what he was doing. The man (aka the ‘idiot’) reportedly said, “My boss told me to”, before getting on his phone and leaving the scene.
The 4 murals were painted over on Clarion Alley in white paint. Doug subsequently painted, “In progress'‘, to signify that Clarion will rebound from this idiocy.
Photo by Alex Mak.
The Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP), the local nonprofit that for nearly 35 years has commissioned and maintained hundreds of incredible murals on Clarion, is understandably quite upset over this destruction of art.
Upon hearing about the paint-over, CAMP contacted Makras Real Estate, the company that manages the building where the erasure occurred. Makras replied in an email that the property owner ordered an employee to paint over some reported “graffiti.”
The problem with that explanation is that there was no graffiti on the murals, and CAMP has had a written and verbal agreement to maintain the murals in the alley with the property owners for decades. How a long-time property manager like Makras or a building’s landlord could allow the destruction of murals without at least contacting CAMP is unknown, but it appears to be due to sheer incompetence.
Makras Real Estate has a 1.8 out 5 stars rating on yelp. Many of the one hundred and thirteen, 1-star reviews are complaints about property maintenance. No shock there.
Murals by John Viola, Daniel Doherty, Floyd, and The Graffiti Camp for Girls, were all painted over.
“We’re all in this together,” by John Viola. A memorial for activist and artist Kirsten Brydum was lost.
“Everything Must Go,” by Daniel Doherty 2015. A tribute to the closure of Adobe Books on 16th, was lost.
We asked CAMP if restoration of the murals was possible, and they replied, “Restoration is only possible if we have funding support for supplies and to compensate the artists for their time. It is also dependent upon the artists' availability and willingness to repaint.”
We also asked why they thought Makras Real Estate would order someone to paint over the murals. CAMP stated, “Makras took no responsibility for the painting. When first asked, they denied they managed the property. When probing further, they confirmed they managed the property but did not authorize the painting.”
Camp continued," ‘They then followed up to say that the bldg owner authorized the painting due to reports of graffiti. They did not respond when asked why the landlord, rather than the building manager, would authorize it, especially since there was no graffiti on the murals: Graffiti abatement on the alley has typically been handled by CAMP, the artists, and the community.”
CAMP is a small organization that is largely volunteer-funded, so any funds they receive go to minimal operations costs and to maintain and compensate artists to put up new murals.
To support the restoration and maintenance of Clarion Alley, you can donate to CAMP here:
And next time you’re on Clarion, and you see artist Doug Rhodes, say ‘hi’ and buy some of his art too. His studio is usually open during Valencia Live every 2nd Thursday, May- October.
Artist Doug Rhodes at his studio on Clarion Alley.
