Mission Residents Mad About Artist Covering Up Community Wall

The wall of the old Mission police station at 1240 Valencia has served as a community art space since 1996, when architect Bruce Tomb bought the building to use as his office. Rather than erase graffiti spotting the exterior, Tomb decided to encourage it, a laissez-faire attitude that has attracted all kinds of creative "vandals" to the spot, whose surface constantly changes, with new posters and paintings covering up the old.

Over the years, the community wall has become a popular public forum for artists and, for some, is a source of pride in the neighborhood. But recently it became a source of controversy after years of artistic contributions were obliterated under a thick coat of orange paint.

The obfuscation was not the result of a paint sale or overzealous antigraffiti squads. Artist Mabel Negrete and the Plain Human collective had painted the wall using the signature color of prison jumpsuits as part of Prisoner Awareness Day.

Writer, artist, and longtime resident John Ross made his displeasure known. He confronted Negrete earlier this month while she was painting and wrote on the wall, "Whose wall? Our wall! Not my wall." Previously, he left a note reading, "This wall was emblematic of the diversity that defines this neighborhood, our Mission! You have made it into a monochronisity [sic] monopoly, a violation of our fundamental dignity and individuality. Fuck you!"

Ross was not the only one who took offense. A flurry of e-mails circulated among community members debating the change. One person wrote of the collective, "You have arrogantly obliterated the palimpsest of other artists' contributions for your project alone."

Negrete admits it was a risky choice, but says, "If it was on my terms, I would paint the whole building because it was a prison, and I would paint every other building that belongs to the government."

Tomb, who takes a hands-off approach to what goes on the side of his building, says while he understands that people may be angered by the covering over of the whole wall, he's amused that they got so upset. The nature of the wall, he argues, is that it changes all the time, and if one person doesn't like what's on the wall, they have the option of changing it.

He has a point. Only days after it was painted orange and angry detractors scribbled their messages on top, another artist added a surreal statement to the fray: a big, pert mustache painted in black brush strokes.