He's Warning You

Vandalized Obama mural to be repainted into a new Uncle Sam pose at BreakfastKlub

The well-known Obama mural at Travis and West Alabama was vandalized earlyMonday morning.
KTRK/Facebook
Mural artist Reginald Adams quickly painted over the damaged image inpreparation of a new replacement work he will paint Tuesday night.
Photo by Tyler Rudick
Adams' new mural comes just in time for the 2012 elections in November.
Courtesy image
Melvinie and Marcus Davis
The Breakfast Klub/Facebook
Surveillance video shows two glass jars filled with red paint crashing into theformer Obama "Hope" mural.
Photo by Tyler Rudick

Houston art vandals are at it again . . . and this time, it's fueled by partisan politics.

During the weekend, an unknown assailant (or assailants) threw bright red paint across the Breakfast Klub mural of President Barack Obama at the intersection of West Alabama and Travis. Surveillance cameras show two glass jars filled with paint shattering across the eyes of the president early Monday morning.

Breakfast Klub owner Marcus Davis — a staunch Obama supporter who commissioned the piece in 2008 and owns the building upon which it was painted — discovered the vandalism and quickly contacted the mural's original artist Reginald Adams to discuss the next step.

"The new image is great. It shows Obama pointing at the viewer in this sort of Uncle Sam 'I want you' pose. It's almost looks like he's warning potential vandals."

Adams, in fact, had been busy tweaking another Obama image for the upcoming election, hoping to create a mural from it for another Houston building. Until Monday, he hadn't found the right location.

"The way they damaged the old mural, Marcus and I knew we'd have to start from scratch," the artist tells CultureMap.

"Amazing, though, I already had an idea ready to go, one using some of the 2012 graphics. The new image is great. It shows Obama pointing at the viewer in this sort of Uncle Sam 'I want you' pose. It's almost looks like he's warning potential vandals."

Adams has covered the original mural in white primer in preparation for the new work, which he will start to paint during the Breakfast Klub's presidential debate watch party on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

"The mural's been vandalized three other times, but we're determined to keep protecting it," Davis says.

"We're inviting the whole community to join us for the debate and in helping Adams paint the new mural . . . Much like what Obama's done with the auto industry and the job market, we're hoping to turn a something negative into something positive."

Watch a KHOU report on the vandalism:

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