The organiser of a Dundee street art festival has said it is “kind of cool” that someone wanted an artist’s work so much they stole it from a doorway.
The Open Close festival asked artists to transform Dundee’s otherwise dull and dreary doorways, walls, shutters and shopfronts into works of art.
But one work has already been stolen after being almost entirely stripped from a doorway in Sugarhouse Wynd.
London artist Indie Matharue’s work, which saw bubbles papered over a door onthe side of the Hawkhill Brewery, has been almost entirely stripped away.
But festival organiser Russell Pepper said neither he nor Indie were upset by the theft.
He said: “It’s kind of cool that somebody wanted it that badly they nicked it.
“But if would have been nice if it had stayed up a bit longer.
“You always see pieces of street art that have been added to – even on the Seabraes hoardings you see people adding to the work that is there.
“It’s cool to see it evolving, although in Sugarhouse Wynd they didn’t really add to to it.”
Mr Pepper added: “Indie just laughed.
That’s the nature of street art, it’s going to get weathered, nicked or vandalised.”
Although heavy rains may have caused the artwork to start peeling from the door, Mr Pepper said it would still have taken a lot of work to remove so much of it.
He said: “The rain might have affected the glue but somebody must have peeled it off, either by hand or they had some sort of stripper.”
Mr Pepper, who is part of the Fleet Collective, said the Open Close street art trail has been successful.
They are currently printing maps detailing the locations of all the artworks which will be sold in independent stores around Dundee.
Mr Pepper said: “We are looking to sell the maps for £1 or £2.”
Mr Pepper was inspired to start Open Close after spending time in Barcelona and took heart from the success of a similar street art project in Aberdeen.
