Overnight Patrol Polices 190 Bowery During its Full Graffiti Cleanse
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This guy is gonna deter vandals from tagging up the facade of 190 Bowery. Team Aby Rosen tapped a lone security guard to work the graveyard shift in an effort to ensure that no one vandalizes the building while it gets a power wash. He sits in an office chair during the watch. Good thing he’s on his phone…
The cleanse heard ’round the world began a couple weeks ago at the Germania Bank Building, and has been accelerating. Each day a cherry picker is mobilized to clean the uppermost exposures of the 1898 building. There is also a plethora of those graffiti removal panels dotting the easy-to-reach sections of the facade.
One will remain, though. The decade-old NEKST tag won’t be erased from the Bowery facade, despite a partial cleanse earlier this spring. In doing so, Rosen is seemingly trying to maintain a controlled setting, much like when graffiti goes indoors. Taggers will return, though, and a bomb-vs-buff war is likely.
As previously reported, Rosen purchased 190 Bowery from artist Jay Maisel for $55 million two years ago.
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