Peeling paint, marker messages the reasons why graffiti bear painted over
Beloved bear was 'peeling badly' and had 'messy marker messages' all over it
To some, the blue and black bear on the side of a building on Ontario Street in downtown Kitchener was an iconic piece of graffiti.
But the StylFrugal bear is now gone, replaced with a different, colourful piece of street art.
The change generated a number of comments on the CBC K-W Instagram page.
"That's unfortunate," "So sad," and, "That's criminal," were the first three comments on the photo posted Monday afternoon.
The bear and polka dots on the former thrift store have been painted over with a fresh coat of white. A new red and orange abstract piece replaced the bear, which was located in the alley beside the storefront.
Artist Chris Austin painted the bear.
"Grrrrr," he wrote under the Instagram post, then added, "Give me a wall to paint!"
The owners of the new coffee shop, called the Unicorn Brew Bar, said they are leasing the space and had asked Austin to repaint the image.
"He was unfortunately too busy and the whole corner and the face was peeling badly and had messy marker messages [scribbled] all over it, which is not a good look for any new small business," the business said in the comments.
"We will be doing repaints all summer long to create a space for other local artists to showcase their work and already had tentative plans to have Chris back."
The coffee shop, which is set to open in July, also noted, "The best way to support your favourite local artists is by attending their shows and purchasing their work."
Brent Wettlaufer wrote that he didn't mind the change in art.
"Street art is meant to be temporary, so I don't see this as a problem," he wrote.
"The fact that two beautiful pieces existed there over the past four years is kind of inspiring — it shows that we have an evolving local arts scene."