Vandals Deface Shepard Fairey Mural in West Dallas With Slurs

Vandals have defaced a mural in West Dallas by contemporary street artist Shepard Fairey. The colorful mural on a retaining wall below the Belmont Hotel was marked with white and black spray paint, including an expletive and homophobic slur, an Instagram post shows. By Tuesday, black paint covered much of the mural.Fairey, best known for his image of then-presidential-candidate Barack Obama, has painted murals in various cities and uses his art to take on social and political topics.As of Tuesday morning, the artist had not responded to the vandalism on his social media platforms. The Dallas Morning News has reached out to Fairey for comment.Fairey designed posters for marriage equality rallies in California in 2008. Most recently, he designed posters featuring Muslim, Latino and African-American women for the January marches in Washington against President Donald Trump.In Dallas, Fairey has murals in West Dallas, Oak Cliff and Deep Ellum. His vandalized artwork was commissioned by the Dallas Contemporary in 2011 and painted in early 2012. At the time, its director, Peter Doroshenko, said he loved how Fairey's murals provoke reactions with his eerily bold images.Doroshenko could not be reached Tuesday, and the Contemporary did not have information on the vandalism.  Continue reading...