In recent weeks, two men have been removing Invader's mosaic tile art from around walls in NYC.
The French street artist addressed it in an Instagram post on Monday:
For the past few weeks, some guys in New York have been destroying my work by trying to rip it off the walls, probably to resell it. Shame on them! Street art belongs to the street, and in my case, once ripped from the walls, it is nothing more than broken, unsigned tiles that you could find in any tile store. They will never be authenticated.Buyers should think twice of what they buy, not only are they being duped but they are also depriving other people of enjoying free art on the street.
He followed up yesterday with a photo of a theft someone took, showing two men removing a classic invader above the signage at Ralph's Famous Italian Ices on the NW corner of Avenue A and Ninth Street...
As Invader noted, the mosaics likely have little resale value. Plus, when he installed these, he reportedly used larger, thinner tiles that would chip apart upon contact with a tool.
An array of mosaics arrived in NYC and the East Village, some in collaboration with the LISA Project, in 2015. A few were immediately vandalized, though there are still several around if you know where to look.
17 comments:
Why hide the thief's face with a black marker?
I think we've all seen him around anyway
Brazen AF vandals on Avenue A this week.
WTF is wrong with people? Seriously. He should be apprehended. Has the NYPD seen this?
Is the Lou Reed one still up on 7th st?
Wouldn’t taking a photo and printing it out be much safer and practical?
@9:53. That’s what I’d do. The person on the left looks very familiar.
Why didn’t the person taking the picture call the police? Two guys with a ladder after hours of a business is very suspicous.
Probably not wanting to risk the chance of "legal" murder by the cops for a relatively minor (though, don't get me wrong, highly shitty) property crime.
This is another reason it's terrible to have the cops be so untrustworthy. These days I'm reluctant to call unless someone is in actual danger of physical harm. I don't want the blood on my hands. It's stupid to have to live this way because the people we pay to protect us refuse to act right.
What night did this happen? I live in that building
The question is "did he have permission from the owner to install the artwork in the first place?"
@ 5:17
Yes.
It's in the post from 2015 linked to here as well as the NYT piece.
What "legal" murder, what are you talking about? Who was murder by them in the city in recent years?
Even if he didn't, that's irrelevant. A theft is still a theft.
Thx grieve!
Kawaski Trawick, for one: https://www.propublica.org/article/it-wasnt-the-first-time-the-nypd-killed-someone-in-crisis-for-kawaski-trawick-it-only-took-112-seconds
The NYPD (or, rather, the city, that is, you and me) paid $115 million in misconduct settlements last year alone. From time to time, like their brethren across the country, they fully wild out and kill someone.
I would really like to live in a world where I could expect that the cops engage in a professional and proportional response to whatever bad thing is happening on the street at any given moment. We don't.
Hopefully also called 911. Wtf with a ladder up by 2nd floor windows. Sure wouldn’t appreciate it if I lived there.
What is up with people who document instead of also calling 911 at the same
Time??
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