Art or graffiti?

[JulesMaximus]

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/arts/article_f3e52a4a-96a7-11e0-bd06-001cc4c002e0.html

The mystery of the "Surfing Madonna" mosaic mural in coastal North County has quickly unraveled.

Last week art conservators from Los Angeles came down on the city of Encinitas's dime to see how the contraband mural, which went up suddenly on a train bridge one day in April, could be removed without being destroyed. They found it was affixed more securely than they thought. (Union-Tribune)

At the top of the mosaic, hidden from street view, they also found letters that read "ARK PATTERSON." So it wasn't long before a Leucadia artist named Mark Patterson stepped forward Wednesday, sending a letter through an attorney to the city, which has deemed the piece illegal and said it must come down, offering to help remove it. He also spoke publicly about his vision for the piece, to remind all who see it to work to save the ocean.

Fox 5 caught up with Patterson first, posting a nearly 20-minute interview with him to their website Wednesday night. Patterson went to Italy to learn mosaics last fall, quit his job to make his piece in October when he asked himself if his tech job was really how he wanted to spend his time, the U-T's Jonathan Horn learned.

From Horn's story:

"And that answer came back, no," Patterson said. "I was being paid to do something that I was good at, but I wasn't particularly in love with."

It took Patterson nine months to build the mosaic. Some days he would work 15 minutes, and others into the wee hours of the morning. He said he would only work when he was inspired. It would come out poorly otherwise. More than a thousand dollars later, the piece is, unintentionally, famous.
I asked: "What do you think the city of Encinitas should do?" Readers mostly agreed in comments on our post, on our Facebook and on Twitter that the city should treat the artwork as a gift, not illegal graffiti. What do you think? Tell us.

The artist also stopped by KPBS on Monday to chat about what might come next for the mural, which reportedly attracted a flash mob of supporters in veils to symbolize the Virgin Mary this weekend.

Personally, I like it and think the city should leave it up. I'm going to go take a picture of it this weekend.

 

[spidey07]

Problem is if they let it stay it will give others a blank check to do more graffiti. Sure it's art, but it's still graffiti.

It would be nice if they could let it remain, but the consequences of doing that are worse.

 

[anxi80]

I took a picture of it a couple weeks back and I like it there. Better than the plain, drab walls. Its creative and original, better than seeing "PsYko 760" or something like that aerosol'd up there.

edit: I also find joy when people dress up the Cardiff Kook statue.

 

[Lithium381]

Problem is if they let it stay it will give others a blank check to do more graffiti. Sure it's art, but it's still graffiti.

It would be nice if they could let it remain, but the consequences of doing that are worse.

so long as it's "artful" graffiti instead of the usual gang tagging it doesn't really phase me....i think it spices up the view

 

[ViviTheMage]

so long as it's "artful" graffiti instead of the usual gang tagging it doesn't really phase me....i think it spices up the view

but 'artful' graffiti could become the new gang tags ....

 

[SlitheryDee]

The difference between art and graffiti is permission to use the canvas.