Maltapost wrote to the Valletta mayor yesterday complaining that its pillar boxes were being “defaced” by the works of celebrated Parisian street artist Christian Guémy.

The pillar boxes are now being repainted after Maltapost established that the mayor had never granted C215, the artist often referred to as France’s response to Banksy, permission to draw on postal facilities.

“Had they bothered to research the works of Mr Guémy, they would have realised that in France he was honoured with his first solo exhibition of his famous post boxes,” mayor Alexiei Dingli said.

“I think it’s utterly ridiculous that Maltapost cannot see beyond its nose. Is this its contribution to Valletta 2018?”

The decision to paint over the artworks, he added, proved that Malta still had a lot to learn.

“The value given to art is not high. These are new art forms that we should embrace.”

When contacted, Maltapost was not in a position to react.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20141104/blogs/institutionalism-1-art-0.542634