City Cleans Artwork off Gallery Wall

The Central City Improvement District (CCID) cleaners have removed part of a mural by the artist Cameron Platter that was painted on the exterior wall of the AVA Gallery in central Cape Town. The work which is part of the AVA's contribution to the World Design Capital is a pastiche of a political poster which states 'We're Better Together' with the word 'Better' crossed out with spraypaint and with stick figures beneath the slogan appearing to enjoy themselves.

According to Brenton Maart, the new AVA director, the jeweler opposite the AVA found, on Wednesday morning, the CCID cleaning Platter's spray painted jape of a penis and testicles sprayed between the legs of one of the stick figures.  Maart informed ArtThrob that the jeweler had run up to the cleaners and told them that this was in fact part of the artwork. The CCID apparently apologised and then desisted from cleaning it further.  According to the gallery the 'CCID anti-graffiti squad' were apparently acting on a complaint from a member of the public.

The city, who are in the process of creating a new arts policy document, have at times been castigated for their seemingly conservative approach to graffiti.  Councillor Garreth Bloor, Mayoral Committee Member for Tourism, Events and Marketing, when contacted by ArtThrob stated that the issue of street art and graffiti 'is being addressed both in the revision of the by-law and in the processes around it, whereby we have streamlined and created a more supportive environment with the street art community.'

For the past decade the city of London has also been struggling to define the distinction between gang related graffiti, its harmless art focused alternative and the defiling of property.  In the Borough of Hackney, where a great deal of art informed graffiti began to appear in the last ten years, a special Environmental Enforcement Team was setup to deal with the issue. 

According to Hackney's website some of the reasons for the removal of graffiti are: offensive, gang related, insulting or against public interest; inappropriate for the location; a cause of complaints to the Council and any work on a listed building or in a conservation area.  However, these policy guidelines have often been measured against the knowledge that works by famous graffiti artists have increased tourism to this area of the city.

This is also not the first time that a person has 'censored' one of Platter's works on public display.  His video 'Black Up That White Arse II', which appeared in the Young Blackman project space in 2009, was obscured by a person whitewashing the gallery's windows.