In Cologne, graffiti distributed by the pioneer of street art almost disappeared by mistake – Libération

2024-09-13 15:42:24

The German cleaning company has almost completely destroyed a famous work of art by the Swiss graffiti artist Harald Naegeli, better known as “Sprayer von Zürich”. The community promises that the gang will be restored.

The name Harald Naegeli may not mean anything to you. This Swiss, who is now 84 years old, was one of the pioneers of the European graffiti scene, making a name for himself in the late 1970s under the nickname “Sprayer von Zürich” (“Sprayer of Zurich”). It seems that this name means something perhaps to the group of cleaners who, a few days ago in Cologne, destroyed one of his works in particular, even though it was classified. In this case the skeleton which decorates the west door of the Romanesque church of Sainte-Cécile, located in the city center and which houses a museum dedicated to religious art. In the famous silhouette, only the skull and hands are behind what the city of Cologne describes as“disaster management”explaining that l’“The cleaning company deserves to remove another graffiti”.

As his nickname indicates, Harald Naegeli began painting by decorating the walls of the Swiss financier with filiform figures created at night using black spray paint. After seeding more than 900 jobs in the city, the authorities arrested him and prosecuted him for damage to public and private property, despite the support of scientists and artists defending your picture He escaped the Swiss justice system by fleeing to Germany and escaped a sentence in absentia of nine months in prison and a fine of 206,000 Swiss francs.

“Without Naegel, there might be no Banksy”

On the other side of the Alps, he continued to practice his art, especially creating in Cologne, between 1980 and 1981, a series of 600 graffiti known under the name Cologne dance of death (“Cologne’s Dance of Death”). It is to this structure that the angry skeleton is, most of the other pieces were deleted soon after their creation by civil works. With time and recognition of the so-called street art, when it was appropriated by government officials, the few surviving graffiti by Sprayer von Zürich were saved, and even shared. “Without Naegel, maybe he couldn’t have come Banksyespecially since he began his career in obscurity shrouded in mystery,” he refused Cologne City Gazette.

The speech is all the more ironic since, as local media remember Report-Kthe work in question has been the subject of restoration. Indeed Harald Naegeli has reproduced the picture in question himself, this time in hot weather and as a guest, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Cologne Art Association. He will not be able to participate in the exercise again, his health does not allow it anymore, but he has given his contract for a new restoration, promised by the community.