Stephen Rex Brown Workers on a cherry picker chipping away at the mural this morning.While trudging through this morning’s nasty weather, The Local spotted a pair of workers peeling away the Shepard Fairey mural on the building adjacent to the recently rechristened Standard Hotel.
Later in the day, a spokeswoman for Balazs properties, Lucy McIntyre, confirmed that the mural depicting a monk was coming down. “Having discussed with Art Production Fund that the piece was originally intended to be a temporary mural, and given its condition was peeling off the wall, we opted to remove it,” Ms. McIntyre said.
Daniel Maurer Hours later, the mural showed signs of a haphazard removal.The mural has been on the side of the building at East Fifth Street and Cooper Square since April of last year, when Mr. Fairey put the finishing touches on it. (The artist is back in the news this month after creating an Occupy Wall Street poster nodding to President Obama.) The wall was designated a space for public art by the Cooper Square Hotel back in 2009, well before Andre Balazs changed its name to The Standard East Village. The removal of the mural is one of the first examples of the many changes in store for the hotel.
Ms. McIntyre said that no plans are currently in place for another piece on the wall of the four-story building.
