René O'Deay gBlog

Gray Ghost busted for mural coverup - Breaking News from New Orleans - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com: "The Gray Ghost finally went too far.

Fred Radtke, who has fought a zealous battle against graffiti in the Crescent City since 1997, was issued a summons for criminal damage to property Thursday night, according to New Orleans Police Department spokesman Bob Young, after Radtke and fellow activists painted over a mural that had been placed on a wall with the property owners' permission.

Police initially reported Thursday evening that an unnamed person had been detained and released without charge in the incident.

Radtke, known as the Gray Ghost for the color of paint he uses, was arrested Wednesday afternoon by Military Police as he and anti-graffiti activists slathered a thick layer of gray paint over a newly finished mural near the corner of Burgundy and Press streets."
This is the man who covered up some of the highly rated Banksy work in New Orleans.

More photos on the art covered up by the Gray Ghost from Doug McCash, Times Picayune

Broad Strokes- NOLA.com: "--- Clandestine celebrity ---

E-mail blasts, blog notes and a New York Times blurb trumpeted that the British graffiti artist known as Banksy visited New Orleans in the waning days of August, applying illusionistic stencils to scattered sites. Banksy's works address the threats of Hurricane Gustav (a child swinging on a life saver as if it were a tire, for instance) and graffiti eradicator Fred Radtke (a gray workman blotting out sunflowers).

Banksy might be somewhat conflicted by his dual craving for attention (one e-mailer implied that he has a 'representative') and anonymity, but it must be said that his realistic, relevant, trompe l'oeil stencils are a vast improvement over the unimaginative doodling favored by most Crescent City sprayers.
British street artist Banksy has raised the bar far above the usual wall scribbling seen in New Orleans.
Arts writer Doug MacCash can be reached at dmaccash@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3481. Read him online at www.nola.com/arts."

Photos of Banksy work in New Orleans on his website and on flickr.com, one photostream.
Unfortunately the Gray Ghost has already painted over at least one of them.

Wow, Banksy managed about a dozen before Gustav hit, and a few photos and comments made the scene.

I've been begging everyone to ask Banksy to come to New Orleans. Now if we can just stop the Gray Ghost, Fred Radtke.



René O'Deay

Elysian Fields at Decatur