slimvictor
Bluelight Crew
A towering mural on the former Oaksterdam University building in the heart of downtown Oakland was painted over by a new landlord this week, shortly after the school packed up and moved. The 7,300-square-foot, three-story mural on Broadway at 17th Street depicted a series of defining Oakland vignettes, including a rower on Lake Merritt, the Fox Theater, shipping cranes at the Port of Oakland and BART. "Oaksterdam University" was written in stylized script - a marijuana leaf in the O - referencing the mural's benefactor, the marijuana-industry school that was once the state's capital of cannabis culture.
But Oaksterdam moved out of the building it leased at the end of November after the building was sold, and last weekend, the new landlord had the mural painted over in beige paint.
Jerry Chang, the Danville real estate agent for the buyer, who lives in Taiwan and whom Chang refused to identify, confirmed that the landlords had painted over the mural. Chang didn't know why.
Some Oakland residents said they were sad to see it go.
Art symbol 'lost'
"This was just a nice representation of the Oakland that I live in," said Cyrus Farivar, 30, an Oakland resident who watched the painters cover the mural on Sunday. "A symbol of local art has been lost."
Salwa Ibrahim, a former Oaksterdam executive who oversaw the design and creation of the mural, said it cost the school $15,000 to $20,000 to install in the spring of 2011. The mural had been an icon of downtown, particularly given its prominent location and a large parking lot beneath it that allowed a distant viewing. The mural remained even after a federal raid in April on the properties and businesses associated with Oaksterdam's president, Richard Lee.
Roughly two months ago, while Oaksterdam still occupied the building, someone sprayed red paint all over the lower portions of the mural, Ibrahim said. Then it began to attract tags, graffiti that marks someone's name or pseudonym. Because of the laborious and particular way the mural was painted, fixing it was tough, said Ibrahim.
The artist, R.B. Morris III, painted each column of scenes separately. Unlike many muralists, who use store-bought paint, Morris mixed his own paints, Ibrahim said. No two blues are identical, she said.
"He said it would be impossible to match the paint colors," Ibrahim said. "We'd have to start from scratch."
Money was an issue for the current and past Oaksterdam operators interested in fixing the mural. Lee quit his various cannabis businesses after they were raided by federal drug investigators. Those who have taken over his enterprises, including the school, which relocated to nearby Telegraph Avenue, don't have the resources his empire once had.
Lee's departure and the drastically diminished Oaksterdam meant less rent for the 27,000-square-foot building, whose only tenant was Oaksterdam. The building slipped into foreclosure, and the new owners wanted
Oaksterdam out, said Dan Akol, the previous owner who sold the building.
"The new owners probably wanted to dissociate themselves from the marijuana paradigm as much as possible," Akol said. "The feds are still cracking down. There's still a worry there."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/artic...-mural-painted-over-4116589.php#ixzz2F7lcuSWF
But Oaksterdam moved out of the building it leased at the end of November after the building was sold, and last weekend, the new landlord had the mural painted over in beige paint.
Jerry Chang, the Danville real estate agent for the buyer, who lives in Taiwan and whom Chang refused to identify, confirmed that the landlords had painted over the mural. Chang didn't know why.
Some Oakland residents said they were sad to see it go.
Art symbol 'lost'
"This was just a nice representation of the Oakland that I live in," said Cyrus Farivar, 30, an Oakland resident who watched the painters cover the mural on Sunday. "A symbol of local art has been lost."
Salwa Ibrahim, a former Oaksterdam executive who oversaw the design and creation of the mural, said it cost the school $15,000 to $20,000 to install in the spring of 2011. The mural had been an icon of downtown, particularly given its prominent location and a large parking lot beneath it that allowed a distant viewing. The mural remained even after a federal raid in April on the properties and businesses associated with Oaksterdam's president, Richard Lee.
Roughly two months ago, while Oaksterdam still occupied the building, someone sprayed red paint all over the lower portions of the mural, Ibrahim said. Then it began to attract tags, graffiti that marks someone's name or pseudonym. Because of the laborious and particular way the mural was painted, fixing it was tough, said Ibrahim.
The artist, R.B. Morris III, painted each column of scenes separately. Unlike many muralists, who use store-bought paint, Morris mixed his own paints, Ibrahim said. No two blues are identical, she said.
"He said it would be impossible to match the paint colors," Ibrahim said. "We'd have to start from scratch."
Money was an issue for the current and past Oaksterdam operators interested in fixing the mural. Lee quit his various cannabis businesses after they were raided by federal drug investigators. Those who have taken over his enterprises, including the school, which relocated to nearby Telegraph Avenue, don't have the resources his empire once had.
Lee's departure and the drastically diminished Oaksterdam meant less rent for the 27,000-square-foot building, whose only tenant was Oaksterdam. The building slipped into foreclosure, and the new owners wanted
Oaksterdam out, said Dan Akol, the previous owner who sold the building.
"The new owners probably wanted to dissociate themselves from the marijuana paradigm as much as possible," Akol said. "The feds are still cracking down. There's still a worry there."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/artic...-mural-painted-over-4116589.php#ixzz2F7lcuSWF
