DETROIT — A mural of the late Queen of Soul was vandalized in Detroit overnight.  

A friend of the artist notified WXYZ that they discovered the damage Saturday afternoon at the Eastern Market.

The mural was painted by Richard Wilson for Murals in the Market on the back of the old Busy Bee Hardware on Gratiot. 

The friend says the vandals climbed up on the cherry picker and used the paint to vandalize the mural. Most of the damage is seen on the Aretha Franklin cover Wilson painted. 

 

 

 

 

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Well, I was finished...but overnight someone climbed up the machine, yes climbed up the mast like walking a beam and stole a bunch of paint and then chucked and also rollered some on top of Dilla and Aretha. Obviously fixing it up today and tomorrow. I never seen this before, it’s common to leave paint in a machine as long as you leave it up high. But wow, they climbed up! I get the stealing stuff but wow, throw it onto Aretha!!! Damn Ok let’s fix it ❤️

A post shared by Richard Wilson (@richardwilsonartwork) on Sep 29, 2018 at 8:53am PDT

The artist is working to fix the mural.