Kobe Bryant mural may face demolition, but Brooklyn artist tries to save it

PARK SLOPE, Brooklyn (PIX11)--  It became a media sensation, including sparking a major social media following. Now, a mural depicting NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianni, or Gigi, is threatened with being removed or destroyed. 

Its artist says he's doing all that he can to prevent that from happening, but even if the popular artwork is spared, finding a way to preserve it and display it elsewhere may be a challenge. 

On Tuesday, work crews spent hours erecting and painting a green wooden construction wall over the mural, which is painted on the roll-down gates on the street-level facade of a building at the corner of Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue. 

It's right across the street from Barclays Center.

Also, on Tuesday, the artist Efren Andaluz came back to the site to talk about the mural that launched his career as Andaluz the Artist. 

That's the title he now uses on his social media outlets, where he has tens of thousands of followers and fans. 

"This is the mural that changed my life," Andaluz said, as he looked at his artwork, covered over with the green wood panels. 

It had been his first major urban piece. He painted the Kobe and Gigi Bryant mural in early February 2020, days after the emotionally close father and daughter lost their lives in a helicopter crash in California. 

The artwork's placement was intentional, Andaluz said. 

"His last game was literally at Barclays Center right here," he said while referencing the mural's proximity to the sports venue. 

"Someone in the city, or some company, or some museum would love to have this," Andaluz said. 

The site had become one of at least two major storefronts in the area that had been empty for years. 

Now, however, the space is being gut renovated and expanded to house a major drugstore chain. Its facade will be glass rather than roll-down gates, so the mural has to go. 

Every person from the community with whom PIX11 News spoke was against the change. 

Giselle Green said that she's a longstanding resident of Brooklyn. "Let the community

see an icon," she said, "as Kobe was, and remember his life."

"[You're] talking about a legend and his daughter who just so happened to pass away in a tragic accident," said another resident. "Keep it up. Leave it there. Don't take it off." 

The owner of the building, Henry Weinstein, told PIX11 News in a phone interview that he will donate the metal gates on which the mural appears to Andaluz. He, in turn, said that he understands that that could still mean that his artwork may not survive, since it will have to be removed, restored, and transferred to a new home, if he can find one. 

"If nothing comes forward and I have to say goodbye to the mural, that's street art," Andaluz said resignedly.

Still, he added, he's not giving up without a fight. 

"Nothing lasts forever," he said, "but history is history."