Olek Adds Her Commentary to the Cope2 Scandal at the Bowery Graffiti Wall

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Longtime graffiti writer Cope2 made headlines last week after painting the Bowery graffiti wall. But mostly for the wrong reasons.

The South Bronx native was lambasted by Vandalog editor RJ Rushmore for his homophobic rants while attacking detractors. For his part, Cope2 insists that he’s got nothin’ but love for his gay friends, though admitted to Gothamist that he was wrong in employing those slurs.

In response to those allegations, and in honor of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, crochet artist extraordinaire Agata Olek jumped into the proverbial ring. She spent Saturday afternoon crocheting the words “Respect the Rainbow” on the chain-link fence adjacent to the Bowery wall. (The website this piece points to was created by Olek and is only a splash page with the photo below)

Going one step further, Olek also tasked a few actors to don the trademark colorful camouflage suits (and sweatered spray-cans) to help with the inauguration.

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Photo: Respect the Rainbow

What’s super ironic about all this discourse is that the graffiti wall was initially made famous by the openly-gay Keith Haring in 1982, when the canvas was just a piece of shit slab of concrete. That orange mural was resurrected in 2008 by Goldman Properties, which owns the space, on what would’ve been Haring’s 50th birthday.

Meanwhile, in its weeklong tenure, the Cope2 installation has yet to attract any tags or overwrites.

[h/t Brooklyn Street Art]