Graffiti murals outside an Olympic live site in downtown Vancouver were painted over yesterday, but the city's community services general manager denied any connection to the Games.
David McLellan said Goodbye Graffiti was called to conduct "regular maintenance." He said the graffiti contained no pro- or anti-Olympic messages. Art on the wall across from the Beatty Street Drill Hall was created for the 2007 Steve Nash Foundation Charity Classic block party.
"It was done without the benefits of any permits under our mural program," McLellan said. "It was always our understanding this was a temporary installation."
COPE Coun. Ellen Woodsworth called it "censorship of art and freedom of expression."
Artist Milan Basic of HiFi Murals coordinated the project involving 15 artists from Vancouver, San Francisco, San Diego and Texas. He said the destruction of public art was another case of the Olympic city being sanitized.
"Vancouver is starving for culture, it's like a beautiful woman without a personality," said Basic, now living in Prince George.
"This (wall) was a voice and it's now been muzzled," he said. "I'm afraid that the backlash from it is going to be worse than what they just erased."
The Larwill Park EasyPark lot is surrounded by Dunsmuir, Georgia, Cambie and Beatty streets. It is being transformed into LiveCity Downtown to host federal and Manitoba government pavilions from Feb. 13-28.
