Memphis tries to paint over 'satanic' murals, exorcises wrong ones

The city of Memphis this week mistakenly painted over seven public murals in Midtown as they exorcised artwork that some City Council members claimed was "satanic."

Instead of painting over six controversial murals flagged by City Council members, Public Works crews painted over seven non-controversial murals, destroying artwork valued at about $35,000 that was donated by 15 artists as part of Paint Memphis' annual, 133-mural public art project, said Karen Golightly, who leads Paint Memphis.

"We want to keep our city walls beige, apparently, because we don't want to honor diversity," said Golightly, an assistant English professor at Christian Brothers University. 

Public Works Director Robert Knecht on Friday said he was responsible for a "miscommunication" that led to crews painting over the wrong murals.

"This was not intentional," Knecht said.

Knech said the city will hold off on painting over any more murals until Paint Memphis has a chance to argue against removal at the City Council.

Golightly said the city violated a written agreement with Paint Memphis that allows the removal of murals, but only ones containing nudity, obscenities, gang images and substance abuse.

Most of the colorful murals in last year's Paint Memphis installation were benign decorations of the walls lining the public underpass at Willett and Lamar, and of a few nearby private buildings and a public skatepark. But some council members took offense at some of the more graphic murals, including a highly visible maggot-infested zombie on a private building and a mural of Elvis Presley with a viper snaking through his parted lips and empty eye socket on the wall of the public underpass.

The two murals survived the purge, the zombie because it is on private property and the Presley mural because crews hadn't yet gotten around to that side of the underpass.

Council members Jamita Swearengen and Joe Brown have called the murals "satanic" and, along with other council members, asked Knecht to remove them and four others. The council may also require future public art projects to obtain prior approval for the art.

But even so, the damage is done: Paint Memphis will not enter an agreement next year with the city, choosing instead to work with private partners, Golightly said. She said the city had practiced censorship, which could have a chilling effect on the city's art scene.

"I'll still spend the time and effort doing that again — but the artists might not," she said.

Reach Ryan Poe at poe@commercialappeal.com and on Twitter at @ryanpoe.