By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
LOWER EAST SIDE — The ever-changing graffiti wall on East Houston Street took another turn Tuesday, with taggers covering the massive canvas with a tribute to a late Lower East Side artist.
Witnesses said a graffiti crew arrived at the wall, located at the corner of the Bowery, Tuesday morning and proceeded to cover the previous piece by street artist Barry McGee in large black letters spelling SACE — the tag name of artist Dash Snow, who died of an apparent drug overdose in 2009.
Martha Cooper, a longtime street-art photographer who chronicled the new piece's installation Tuesday, called the work the "grand finale" of McGee's mural, which was made up of hundreds of red-colored tags.
"I love that this was just boom, boom, boom — really quick," she said of the speed with which the anonymous artist painted the piece on Tuesday morning. "Maybe people will look a little differently at tags."
Prior to McGee, artist Shepard Fairey had a tumultuous four-month run at the wall, with a controversial piece that endured assaults by everyone from graffiti writers to vandals who ripped large holes out of it.
Cooper said that McGee likely thought up the tribute to Snow himself, and sent a friend to make the revision to his work.
She also noted the new piece will only stay up for 24 hours, before artist and Keith Haring contemporary Kenny Scharf takes to the canvas for its next iteration.
"Anybody who misses it will read about it, but it will be too late," Cooper said of the temporary replacement. "My advice is to keep your eye on the wall."
