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But Really Though: Why Was This Wall Buffed?

1–2 minutes

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A few weeks ago, a wall next to the El on Front street in Fishtown was worked on by a group of super talented graffiti writers. The guys were out working on the wall for hours. In full daylight. Presumably with the permission of the garage owner next door. (In fact, I really can’t see how these guys could have worked on this wall for as long as they did without the permission of the wall’s owner. It’s possible, yes, but really unlikely, in my opinion.)

Then, less than 5 days after it was put up, the wall was buffed… But why?

The wall was fucking BEAUTIFUL. I honestly wish I had taken more photos of it when I happened to see it. And as I say, it was put up in the middle of the day, under no secrecy, so I have to assume the owner of the building was more than cool with it.

I don’t know, it just seems unlikely that the owner asked for it to be buffed. But, if that was the case, so be it… On the other hand, if the city just randomly buffed this wall, then that’s something else entirely.

One commenter on Instagram mentioned that whether or not the building’s owner gave their permission, that a piece of this size would need a permit. Does anyone know if that’s true?

Whatever the case may be, I was really sad to see all this fantastic work go.

6 responses to “But Really Though: Why Was This Wall Buffed?”

  1. Karen M and Anthony C

    Why is it that The Mural Arts can put up some really bad art and something like this gets buffed?

    Reply
    1. Daniel Kovacs

      because they wanna erase all the history look along the R Line specifically bu North Philly they just threw orange paint on everything that even resembled anythign graffiti related.

      Reply
  2. Victoria

    I believe the same artist was doing work on another building side in Kensington on Hagert between Coral and Emerald. I was walking home from the el in the afternoon and he was just finishing up. The wall was incredible and looked pretty similar to this one you posted. Unfortunately this wall was also covered over. That permit stuff is bullshit.

    Reply
    1. mgeno

      I also saw this, but noticed actual “crap” graffiti along the viking mills building which was adjoined to that, pop up after. I know the wall gets hit a lot and the owners of the mural’d wall seem to stay on top of graffiti well. I know the group painted it all saturday afternoon when the business was closed. I don’t believe they asked for permission. It was very beautiful, but the crap graffiti that followed around it, was not.

      Reply
  3. The Case for Graffiti Pier | Streets Dept

    […] have otherwise been left abandoned. It’s a win for graffiti artists, who seem to be getting buffed quite a lot recently. And it’s a win for people like me, people who love graffiti and who will travel to go see it […]

    Reply
  4. Streets Dept’s Top Posts of 2014 | Streets Dept

    […] 8) But Really Though: Why Was This Wall Buffed? […]

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