Taggers Target Murals, Police Track Damage
DENVER (CBS4)- Graffiti taggers are targeting murals across the City of Denver again, upsetting artists and employees of the businesses covered in the street art.
This week, and for the fourth time in three years, taggers have spray painted over a 100-foot mural on the side of Bound by Design off Colfax Avenue. Painter Nixi Theodora Pixi says this time, the damage was most severe, covering one of the central figures in her design.
"It was my heart," Pixi said of the mural. "I poured everything I had into it, so it's just really disappointing to see someone come around and in just a few minutes eradicate so much time and love and effort."
Her partner quickly painted over the damage, writing the word "no" to cover the tagger's letters. In recent days, Pixi says incidents of such vandalism to street art have occurred across Denver. Recently, a graffiti tag turned up on a more than 30-year-old mural on the side of The Cherry Bean, at 40th Avenue and Tejon Street.
"If they keep doing it we're going to lose this privilege and we're going to lose this life beat and heartbeat of Denver," Pixi said.
Denver police use graffiti tracking software to log such cases, and register how much money each act of vandalism costs.
Denver Police Detective George Gray has told CBS4 graffiti tracking software helps investigators log such incidents and register the dollar amount the damage ends up costing the city. He says it can be difficult to identify the perpetrators.
"They're mainly out there to show that group how talented they are," Gray said.
While Pixi and her parent worked quickly to paint over the damage, not wanting the tagger to get the last word on her painting, she says the damage is too extensive and she'll have to replace her artwork with a new mural.
"Such is life," Pixi said, "That's the price of street art and we'll do it again."
Lauren DiSpirito reports for CBS4 News at 10 p.m. She covers breaking news and feature stories along Colorado's Front Range. Follow her on Twitter @CBS4Lauren. Share your story ideas with her here.