As a professional mural artist, you may be asked to paint a mural on the outside of a building for advertising purposes or simply for aestetic reasons. One of the things you may need to consider is how to protect your mural from being damaged by graffiti. Some cities have huge problems with this type of vandalism due to street artists or gang members that tag walls to claim their territory. The mural to the right is a historical mural in east harlem that was commissioned by Hope Community, a social services group. It fell victim to graffiti vandals this June of 2009. Click the photo on the right to read the articlce by David Gonzalez of the New York Times. Graffiti vandalsim is a problem that is not going away. Millions of dollars have been spent cleaning up graffiti ridden walls that had to be scrubbed and repainted. Fortunately, products have become available that help prevent permanant damage to painted walls or murals.

There are a couple different types of anti-graffiti coating products available. Some coatings can be scrubbed and will remove only the outer clearcoat and not the mural underneath. Other coatings will allow you to scrub off the graffiti without disturbing the coating and leaving the mural and coating completely intact. Finding these specialized products won't be as easy as running to Home Depot. Although Home Depot does carry products to clean up graffiti after the fact.

If you want to purchase an anti-graffiti coating to protect your mural check out this website: http://www.sealantsandcoatings.com. to locate products that are sold in your area.

You know the old saying..."an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."