/>“Fred Radkte, The Grey Ghost is a fanatic in New Orleans who has taken it upon
himself to control graffiti with grey colored paint in various shades and a
roller rig. He indisciminately paints over graffiti, stickers and wheatpastes,
no matter what the quality, surface or color. It looks worse than the graffiti
because he doesn’t even try to match the color on the wall.

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He
doesnt call it psychological warfare, but it has that effect because it makes a
strong visual statement. Driving to the hotel from the airport, I knew right
away something weird was going on in that city becuase the grey squares were
everywhere. Made me really upset becuase it was so ugly. Makes a lot of the
residents angry too because he doesnt always get permission and some of them
like the street art. The city gives him a lot of respect though, but they don’t
fund him. They did pass a law that businesses have to paint over any graffiti on
their buildings within thirty days, or pay a fine of $500, which actually seemed
quite smart (except that would put some smaller businesses out of business in
bigger cities, between the fines and the constant paint jobs).

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I
would have a lot more respect for his work if he actually matched the paint
colors or had some sense that not everything has to be eradicated. Maybe he
likes the attention though; he is more famous than any of the street artists in
that town. Next time I go to visit my sister, maybe I’ll get some different
shades of grey and a roller and make cool mosaic patterns out of all those grey
squares around the city. Some already look pretty cool because he has buffed
some spots so
many times.