A B.C. artist has said he’s “upset and disappointed” about the City of Vancouver’s decision to remove several murals as part of a pre-Olympic scrubbing of the downtown core. Milan Basic, project coordinator of a series of paintings put up along Beatty Street in 2007, told the Straight that he wasn’t surprised by the news.

“I’m not a graffiti artist, but I come from graffiti roots,” Basic explained from his home in Prince George. “A graffiti artist takes pride when their piece burns—when it keeps burning and stays up there for a long time.”

The murals were up between Dunsmuir and Georgia streets for more than two years. “To have the wall burning for so long was, I think, really something that was cool for a lot of these people that don’t usually have that privilege,” Basic added.

On December 23, the City of Vancouver removed the murals, which were created by 16 artists for the Steve Nash Foundation. Basic noted that many of the 15 other artists who contributed to the wall were very attached to the series.

David McLellan, the city’s general manager of community services, told the Straight that the murals were painted over as part of “routine maintenance” in that area.

But Basic said an employee of the city’s graffiti management program had previously told him that city hall was unhappy with graffiti-style art so close to Olympic venues. (The wall is near GM Place and B.C. Place, and borders one of the city’s “live sites”, which will be gathering places for the public during the 2010 Games.)

“Although I do not take the buffing of this wall personally,” Basic remarked, “this has been a real loss for us.” (To see photos of the murals, click here: Beatty Street murals painted over by City of Vancouver.)

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