Commissioned in 2020 from LA artist MisterAlek, the mural was intended to be temporary. While it’s painted mostly on pieces of plywood, about a third of the design is on the building itself.
Some of this mural is painted on plywood attached to a building on Indian Canyon Drive. Those pieces will soon be removed and the building repainted.
Years after it was first painted, a mural meant to recognize a period of racial reckoning in the country is coming down.
The Palm Springs Arts Commission decided recently to remove much of the George Floyd mural from the private building it was created on in the 300 block of Indian Canyon Drive, citing ongoing vandalism and maintenance issues. The decision, made during a special meeting, comes after years of debate about the artwork’s future.
Commissioned in 2020 from LA artist MisterAlek, the mural was intended to be temporary. While it’s painted mostly on pieces of plywood, about a third of the design is on the building itself — a former bus station once destined to become a retail cannabis shop.
Although it has been defaced by vandals several times—costing the city roughly $4,000 to $5,000 in repairs—the building’s owner has allowed it to remain. Commissioners came close to voting on its removal in April but held off due to a lack of a new location to install it.
In 2021, the commission asked nearby building owners if they would want the mural on their property, and most either said no or didn’t reply.
With new vandalism still visible, commissioners decided to remove the plywood portions of the mural and store them until a new location could be found. The fact that the mural is on a private building weighed heavily in the decision.
“Personally, I don’t think we can keep a mural up there and keep spending indefinitely to have it unless we go through the processes of designating that mural as part of the collection, which may mean we have to buy a building,” Commissioner Natasia Gascon said at the Nov. 14 meeting.
As per a previous agreement, the commission will consult with the artist before removal. Its members will also investigate whether local preservation groups are interested in keeping the mural boards and have the city pay to repaint the building.
Options for memorializing the artwork in a different format might also be explored. High-resolution photos were taken before it was defaced, allowing for potential reproduction in other forms.
Commission Chair Gary Armstrong recommended removing the boards and commissioning a high-quality print of the mural to be framed and displayed at City Hall, adding, “We’re actually torn by removing boards, but we need to remove the target on that area.”
Acknowledging that erecting and maintaining the piece presented several issues that other murals did not, the commission also agreed to address mural ordinances and policies in future meetings.
“There are problems with the mural ordinances that we can deal with,” Armstrong said. “They’re complicated.”
