Over the last year or so, the concrete slab on the corner of Houston and Bowery has taken on several unique incarnations. HOST18 and TABOO painted some illegal pieces on the wall in November 2006. Unfortunately they were soon covered up with a legal mural by JACE, who was in town to paint 11 Spring Street. HOST18 and TABOO had their final word over the mural and 11 Spring Street for that matter. MISS 17 and REMO came along and bombed it too, before the legal OMNI mural went up.
Now, a Keith Haring mural that lived on the slab for a brief time in the early ‘80s is making a comeback. The Keith Haring Foundation and Deitch Projects are working to recreate the fluorescent mural to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Haring’s birth on May 4th.
“The concept of recreating a mural is not necessarily something we would ordinarily agree to,” Ms. Gruen said, noting the technical resources needed to re-create, as opposed to simply restore or repair, an artwork. “It was really the fact that the wall still exists that made this so attractive.”
The mural, Haring’s first major outdoor project, existed for a few months before its Day-Glo colors began to fade under the sun. Haring then painted over the work, destroying his own creation before it could further decompose.
Several artists were at work on the mural this morning, and it looks like they’ll be finished this week.
