Update, 4 p.m.: Maurielle Lue of Fox 2 interviews the artist Sintex and Derek Weaver of the Grand River Creative Corridor in an eight-minute report below.
Murals on buildings in Detroit are becoming a hot subject of controversy.
Things have gotten ugly since a local muralist who uses the name Sintex declared war on out-of-town artists last summer, Steve Neavling of Motor City Muckraker writes. Sintex has vandalized and defaced out-of-town artist's murals and his murals have been altered, the blogger adds.
In August, Sintex painted over a large mural that honored Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American beat to death by two white men in Highland Park in 1982. The mural was painted by Baltimore artist Gaia as part of the popular Grand River Creative Corridor on Detroit’s west side.
Soon after, Sintex painted over another mural on Grand River – this one by Los Angeles artist Revok, who was working on the Detroit Beautification Project. Sintex painted an image of Tupac clutching a gun, next to the words, “I got the juice now.” (Photo above by Motor CIty Muckraker.)
Neavling reports that this month one of Sintex’s murals – Art of War – in the Grand River Creative Corridor was defaced with a black, bubbly lettered, “Revok.”
Sintex, a Cass Tech High graduate, believes local artists should get more of the work in Detroit.
In the Fox 2 coverage below, he tells Maurielle Lue: "If you can't paint better than me, than you shouldn't be painting over my artwork." He describes himself as "one of the best" muralistsin Detroit.
