Early on the morning of the 1st of September, I was woke by the phone ringing: My Piece Was Getting Buffed! I immediately went down to the river, found a crevice to hide in, so that I could watch the whole production of the piece being painted out.

Watching something that I had done 12 LONG years ago, being painted over, I didn’t expect my reaction to be what it was. I thought I’d feel horrible, it was something I had done when I was in my twenties, when I still felt invincible and had an unwavering sense of mission. But hiding there watching the workman paint, what I actually felt was a calming sense of accomplishment. What I sacrificed to create this piece, gave back to me ten fold. I never expected it to reach all corners of the world. And even though it was only a blurb in history, I feel it helped put LA graffiti on the map.

Ultimately I’m not happy with them painting over history, BUT, I won’t mind, if it means they will follow through and adopt an intelligent policy along the lines of the Friends Of The LA River’s mission:” to protect and restore the natural and historic heritage of the Los Angeles River and its riparian habitat through inclusive planning, education and wise stewardship”. Fuck it! I would rather trade shopping carts, rotting canine corpses, and florescent purple water with a shit brown tint, for clean water and a flourishing, vital habitat, wouldn’t you?.

After I got back home from the river I was inspired to make some adjustments to a small number of the river posters I have, one hundred of them in total. They were signed, dated, numbered, and hand touched, all on the day it was buffed.

Here’s what I came up with, what do you think?

For Sale In My Shop NOW

Friends of the LA River

On September 1, 2009 federal stimulus money was used by the Army Corps of Engineers to buff the Los Angeles River of graffiti. In doing so, they white washed an important part of L.A.’s artistic history. Key among the pieces that were destroyed was a work by the artist SABER; artwork recognized by many worldwide as the largest graffiti masterpiece. Created in 1997 on the sloping concrete banks off the 5 freeway, the piece measured 250’ x 55’ – nearly the size of an NFL football field – and took 97 gallons of paint. Most large-scale graffiti in the L.A. River, such as the MTA roller (also recently buffed) are straightforward two color blocks. What made Saber’s piece world famous (beyond it’s impressive scale and staying power) was that it was a complex full color piece. Few beyond the graffiti scene truly appreciate the dangerous logistics of getting the artist and his supplies to that site, much less the technical and artistic skill required to create such a large piece on an angled surface. This historic artwork has become such a landmark on the LA River that SABER has been featured in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County’s exhibition “L.A.: light / motion / dreams” in 2004-2005 and KCET’s Departures series about the river this past July.

We in Los Angeles are no strangers to having our art history destroyed, from the whitewashing of David Alfaro Siqueiros’s Olvera Street mural “La América Tropical” in 1932-33 to Kent Twitchell’s mural “Ed Ruscha Monument,” painted over in June 2006. Of course, the big difference here is the Getty Conservation Institute is unlikely to fund a multi-million dollar restoration (as in the case of the Siqueiros mural); nor is SABER likely to win a $1.1 million dollar settlement under the Federal Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA) or the California Art Preservation Act (CAPA) as Twitchell did in 2008. You might think that is because the piece by SABER was illegal, but recent history suggests otherwise.

In 2007, the graffiti gallery Crewest, along with help from the activist group Friends of the L.A. River (FoLAR) organized “Meeting of Styles: LA.” The event brought together over 100 graffiti artists to spray paint a 10,000 square foot section of the L.A. River at the Arroyo Seco Confluence in Highland Park. Despite the fact that the organizers secured all necessary permits for the mural project, and that the event was fully licensed by the county; supervisor Gloria Molina objected to the work after the fact and introduced an emergency measure to the County Board of Supervisors that forced the mural to be whitewashed from the flood walls. A spokeswoman for Molina called the legal graffiti murals a “public nuisance and a potential safety hazard,” and justified Molina’s decision to introduce the mural’s removal by saying the county was “trying to save lives.” That is because unlike any other form of public art, people believe that graffiti art is dangerous, that is ruins neighborhoods and turns juvenile delinquents into criminals. At no point does anyone stop to think that they are looking at a generation of artists who have grown up within a public school system stripped of arts education, and in a physical environment that seems to have no problem with the proliferation of illegal advertising billboards and super-graphics. Graffiti artists and supporters have pushed hard to create legal public spaces for people to paint, but one by one places like the Venice Walls and Belmont Yard have been destroyed, as charges for vandalism went from misdemeanors to felonies. Yet those corporate interests have no problem stealing the intellectual property of those artists in order to market to the youth.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) included $6.5 million to ensure structural integrity, remove graffiti and manage vegetation along the Los Angeles River. Graffti abatement is a popular ploy for politicians, able to point to the stark visual change it produces and claim that real improvment is being made. However, they don’t seem to understand that providing a newly buffed surface is only an invitation to graffiti writers who know that the politicains will inevitably turn their backs on the river once again. While buffing the river may create a few immediate jobs, I fail to see how this money works toward the Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan’s worthy goal of transforming a more than 30-mile stretch of the L.A. River into a greenbelt linking communities. I hope one day that the powers that be recognize that graffiti art, such as Saber’s historic river piece, are as important to linking communities and the health of the L.A. River as the meaning of “traditionally navigable waters” is.

– Post From PS: the Public Square.

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“cant believe its gone!!!!!!!!!!!???

they buffed history they got rid of something that made it to the guiness book of world records, they got rid of something so positive in a not so positive area, the boring grey concrete w/ something more to it…… they killed a masterpiece that gives LA its notoriousness, i go to LA just to see the graffiti to see the art and they Destroy it im so PiSSSSED!!!!

some people just dont get it….. and can ya believe they took away money from schools to buff it what a waste all this for nothing for a boring blank coat that people will go over again!!!!!!!! LA has got alot of stupid PEOPLE that are in charge of this buffing system i think its funny….. at times… THATS NUTS!!!!!!!!

i met saber and revok and augor and risk and rime badass ppl all gotta good personality not bad ppl if u consider graffiti a bad thing than u may consider them VILLANS OR TERRORISTS TO THE WALLS cause they bomb hard and with style!!!!!!

much RESPECT TO SABER!!!!!!!! MAY YOUR PIECE LIVE ON! IN HISTORY FOREVER iN THE NEXT 200 years let there be kids growin up look in a magazine and see your piece.. let kids interested in graff know that there was alot in the LA RIVER and let them google it to find your piece and BE LIKE WTF?????????!!!! lol well thats it i just had to speak my mind freedom of speech which kind of is censored if you think about it getting buffed out…… thats insane.. im in shock that the city would waste money!!!”

Comment By: Anonomouses Running For Cheese