Vandalized 9/11 Mural Restored

A Bronx neighborhood was outraged last month when a building's mural memorializing 9/11 and a local firefighter who was killed at the World Trade Center was tagged by a graffiti artist. The tagger painted his initials directly over the face of Peter Bielfeld. Tips eventually led police to arrest 16-year-old Avery Prince, who goes by the tag SIPS and has since apologized for defacing the mural.

Artist Eddie Gonzalez has since restored Bielfeld's face to the mural and added some artistic embellishments that he hopes emphasize the sacrifice Bielfeld made (the firefighter was off-duty when he raced to the WTC and ran inside) that might deter future vandals. Also, the mural is being painted over with a protective layer of varnish that will make make washing off additional graffiti easier.

Photo by Jonathan Hyman

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By Dave Hogarty in News on July 5, 2008 11:17 AM

Comments [rss]

Art Vandelay

Wow, a lame-ass tagger who disrespects public and private property -- what a surprise. Maybe he's on scholarship from Mark Ecko or something.

patleeman

"graffiti artist"

More like Graffiti punk, that crap isn't art, its just vandalism. There is REAL graffiti art out there, and this kid just ruins it for the REAL artists.

patleeman

"graffitti artist"

More like Graffiti punk, that crap isn't art, its just vandalism. There is REAL graffiti art out there, and this kid just ruins it for the REAL artists.

Spirit of 76

Ah, the next troll wannabe. Obviously, you didn't notice that sonyactivision, the premier troll of Gothamist, was kicked off a week ago and his posts deleted. He hasn't been seen since. His 30 day post count dropped from about 450 then to 1 as of today. His posts weren't even as stupid and vapid as yours. Keep it up. I'm sure your time is near.

cuntry

"we will never forget". most annoying quote ever, you simple minded douche. um, no shit you won't forget, you should want to though. of course you won't forget. stupid quote. and that silly boy shouldn't be writing on the heroes face, most graff writers know better, but, as in everything, people don't always do the right thing. or the "write" thing ¡jajajajajajaja!

GOP

Graffiti is one element of hiphop. I blame rap music for this atrocity.

Spirit of 76

A selfish graffiti vandal who doesn't care about anyone but himself? Wow, who could have possibly imagined it? Look, they're already being pessimistic by using that varnish that's supposed to make graffiti easier to remove. That shouldn't even be necessary in a civilized society.

Everybody always says "We will never forget." This shows that many kids will never even remember. This brat was only 9 when it happened, so it meant nothing to him.