Paavo Arhinmäki, one of four deputy mayors of Helsinki, Finland, may have a future ahead of him as a graffiti artist if he’s ever done being a politician.
He apologized for painting a graffiti mural in a train tunnel in his hometown with the help of a friend, according to an AP report, which specifies that some are asking the deputy mayor in charge of culture and leisure to resign. Finland’s Transport Infrastructure Agency further told public broadcaster YLE that it would cost around $3,830 to remove his artwork, a mural with letters in shades of green over a cityscape.
“I’m so sorry for this stupid madness on my part,” he wrote in a Facebook post, translated by the social media company. “I ask forgiveness.”
The mural depicts the Pasila district of Helsinki, he explained, calling it “the birthplace of graffiti in Finland”, where he grew up and became enthusiastic about the art form. He has been painting at some of the city’s legal graffiti sites for 15 years, he added. When he and a friend noticed what he thought was an unused tunnel, especially in the middle of summer, they decided to paint a mural, which took over two hours to complete. But when he heard noises, he knew a train was coming.
“At the same time, guards appeared on the bridge, who shouted that it was not worth trying to escape,” Arhinmäki wrote. “What would we even try, middle-aged parents, to run for when the car was parked next to us?”
According to the local newspaper Helsingin Sanomattrain traffic on one line was interrupted for 10 minutes due to graffiti.
“The easy joke is that he shouldn’t quit his day job, but that’s partly for good,” graffiti expert Carlo McCormick told Artnet News over the phone. “The style is a little weak. Instead of bubbly letters, it does curvy letters, which is nice because it has nothing to do with the evolution of graffiti writing.
According to the AP report, Helsinki spends more than $700,000 a year cleaning up illegal graffiti and working to create places where street artists can legally practice their craft.
The biggest problem, McCormick said, is how the country deals with graffiti in general. The cordoned off areas where it is allowed, he said, are “public policy looking for a problem. They spend over half a million euros every year to clean up this shit, and why?”
Arhinmäki served as minister of culture and sports from 2011 to 2014, and is a former lawmaker and chairman of the Left Alliance party.
“I committed a crime and I bear full responsibility,” Arhinmäki told YLE on Monday, but gave no indication he would step down. The Left Alliance supports his retention on the Helsinki City Council.
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