Street Art Gallery Buffing Street Art?

The very next day after it went up, 2wenty's commentary on the current state of street art went up featuring a hammer poised over a piggy bank, got buffed.

The piece was placed across the street from Lab Art, which is hyping itself as the biggest collection of street art in the world (its not), the night before their grand opening.

And, it has been suggested to the blog that someone associated with Lab Art arranged to have 2wenty's street art buffed before the opening of the show.

Although we have heard first hand that the owners of Lab Art were upset and didn't like the piece, we do not have anything to confirm it, or, at this point, any pictures of the buff going down (if you've got pics, send em in!).

Our personal take is that it does seem strange that the piece got buffed so quickly. Most pieces last a few days, and this wall at Sonora has had art on it for most of the past year. It has been one of the hottest spots in the area, and the pieces usually ride for awhile. And if it were the city who buffed it, it would still take at least an extra day for the buff squad to come out--its not immediate. Finally, the color of the buff paint doesn't match the previous buff paint. So it is very unusual that the piece got buffed the very next day, like it did.

So this is pure speculation at this point, but if its true, how fucked is it for a supposed street art gallery to actively buff actual street art?


NOTE: We would link to the original article about 2wenty's piece, but it got deleted during the blog crash. There is a pic of the piece below. The Blogger system is trying to recover the posts.

***Thanks to Katherine for sending in the pic of the new action on the wall above.***

UPDATE: Here's the link to the original article.