From Norm in Portland comes this follow-up to our
post yesterday regarding LACMA’s decision to destroy works by Barry McGee and
Margaret Kilgallen:

“Just recently here in Portland, Oregon, some
folks put their heads together and saved a number of amazing murals painted on
columns supporting a bridge/ramp in the city’s industrial district / train
yards. The Lovejoy Columns, as they came to be called, featured everything from
mythical animals to Greek philosophers and were painted by Greek immigrant and
train night watchman Tom Stefopoulos in the 1940s.  If you’ve seen Gus Van
Sant’s “Drugstore Cowboy” you may have spotted them in a few of the train yard
scenes.  I remember stumbling upon them accidentally way back in 1994 when I
moved here from the Midwest.  I couldn’t believe how beautiful they were, and I
wondered how they had managed to survive for over 60 years.  Who knows how many
graffiti artists they’ve inspired over the last six decades…

/>Anyway, in 1999, the Lovejoy Ramp was slated to be demolished. Somebody cried
out and then a team of quick-thinking, concerned artists, architects, and
conservators joined together to figure out a way to save them.  Eventually, I
believe the bridge overpass section was temporarily suspended and the columns
with the murals intact were cut down.  They languished in storage for a few
years, before just this year, a developer heard about their plight and
resurrected two of them in front of one of his buildings—not too far from their
original home.

For those looking for ways to save McGee/Kilgallen’s
treasures—and keep them intact with the pillars/walls on which they were
painted—the Lovejoy Columns story along with the people involved might be a
good place to start for both information and inspiration.  Good luck.”