German street artist Mark Gmehling painted a five-story mural on the former Cruises Only building in 2014, coinciding with the Snap! Attacks exhibition that was being hosted by local art instigators, Snap! Space.
The mural, featuring his trademark “melty” figure with Mickey-like gloves, was Gmehling’s first mural in the United States.
However, due to some recent severe water intrusion issues, the owner was forced to waterproof the exterior of the building to prevent further flooding, which meant covering up Gmehling’s work to preserve the integrity of the structure it was painted on.
Snap! owners, Holly and Patrick Kahn, posted the following message on their gallery’s Facebook account regarding the repairs and some hints about what could possibly be replacing it. Scroll down to see the video they refer to in their post.
Sadly, this is the second mural that Orlando has lost this year, that the Kahn’s have instigated in the City; the first being the short-lived wheat pasted Inside/Out Dreamers mural by another award-winning international artist, JR (Facebook | Website), that was pressure washed away on January 7.
Editor’s Note: The Kahn’s have been hard at work on a secret project that they refer to above as “CITY UNSEEN” which promises to memorialize some of these pieces but we’ve been sworn to secrecy and will be sharing more information at a later date.
SNAP! Orlando presents Mark Gmehling from Eyesview Media on Vimeo.
