HOME | Superette Mural

The Superette Market at 2531 NW. Monroe Ave. planned to commission a mural in order to bring their community together and for students to recognize as a symbol for their store.

On May 1, they got their wish when Christian Bergin painted colorful wings with the word, 'Superette' hovering right above them.

However, their vision would soon be taken from them.

On Sept. 19, the mural was defaced with graffiti in the middle of the night. Bergin then passed the torch to another artist, Elle Stephenson. She repainted the mural as quickly as possible, only for it to be ruined again on Nov. 11.

The police investigation on the crimes is undergoing, and there are currently no suspects.

The artists behind the mural's creation

Christian Bergin, Oregon State University student and artist.

Elle Stephenson, Oregon State University student and artist.

Bergin got to work on the mural on April 5 when the Superette reached out to him, explaining how they wanted a painting of colorful wings so students and the rest of the Corvallis community could take pictures in front of the store. They gave Bergin this idea to work with.

The project was exciting for Bergin as it was his first public mural. Before that, he just painted larger images in his fraternity's basement and specialized in painting landscapes and portraits.

“My favorite part of the Superette mural was getting to talk with all the people on the street that wanted to see what I was up to,” Bergin said.

Bergin added some of his own personal touches to the piece, including different colors that appealed to him more.

Bergin’s art was only intact for a few months. On Sept. 19, the mural was first vandalized. He woke up to a mass of distressing texts the next morning, informing him of the devesting news. His mural and a number of other businesses on Monroe Avenue were tagged that night.

Bergin was disappointed that his hard work had been ruined and informed the Supperette he could repaint the mural for them. Soon after agreeing to do so, Bergin realized he didn’t have enough time to work on the project. A friend informed Bergin that his sister, Stephenson, would love to fulfill Superette’s request for a new winged mural.

“Giving the project to her was a good way to let another artist get their name out there and get involved with the community,” Bergin said. “I gave her some ideas for how to make it better like extending the mural downwards so shorter people can pose with it easier and extending the wings out horizontally to make it bigger. I was super stoked to see her finish it up and it looked awesome.”

Stephenson took Bergin’s advice and extended the wings downwards and stretched the wingspan out horizontally. The new mural was done and ready for photographs on Nov. 11, and luckily, Bergin and Stephenson took a few pictures with it because later that same night, tragedy struck again.

“I’m not sure why someone would do this, probably some sort of insecurity because it’s pretty messed up to ruin someone else’s work,” Bergin said.

Stephenson was very distraught by the ordeal because she spent 14 hours total on the project over the course of two weeks.

“It was really disappointing,” Stephenson said. “I worked really hard on it. There were nights where I spent so long out there I couldn’t move my fingers from the cold. To have it gone in just a night was heartbreaking.”

Stephenson is planning on repainting the mural, as she really wants to give the owners of the Superette what they want. She plans to start it after winter break.

“They told me they’re going to go for one more try and if the vandal hits it again they’ll give up,” Stephenson said. “I feel terrible for Sook, one of the owners, she’s very upset about this whole ordeal. There’s just not much they can do, unfortunately.”

Both Bergin and Stephenson disapprove of what happened to their murals but they continue to see graffiti as a form of art. Graffiti is an interesting way to share a unique art form, but not at the expense of others’ work, according to the two artists.

“I definitely see some graffiti as art still,” Stephenson said. “This was just some ego-tripped kid that wanted attention and to piss someone off. I’ve always thought there’s a difference between graffiti artists and vandals. Anyone who paints over art is always going to be a vandal unless they’re improving it.”

Bergin shares a similar opinion. “I think murals and art in a graffiti style are cool,” he said. “I have no respect for someone going around ruining murals and vandalizing businesses. Karma will catch up with them eventually.”

Stephenson will continue to spend her years at OSU by pursuing a major in art. Bergin will continue working on more paintings, specifically with oil paints in his fraternity’s basement until he graduates this term with a degree in marketing. Both artists do commissions and anyone can reach out to Bergin by his Instagram and Stephenson by her Instagram for painting requests.

The investigation of the vandalism

When the mural was first vandalized Ono Sook Kim, part-owner of the Superette, did not report the incident to the police. Multiple businesses on Monroe Avenue were vandalized that same night such as Allan’s Coffee Shop and Subway. After speaking to the other businesses, she decided to not report the crime.

“I didn’t think anyone cared,” Kim said. “Talking to my neighbors, they all thought it was just some kid not worth the trouble, but after the second time customers and friends urged me to report it to the police because the art was being ruined.”

Kim was fed up with the situation, and called the police shortly after finding the mural vandalized for the second time.

The Corvallis Police Department was on the scene shortly after. There was security camera footage of the incident courtesy of Superette’s CCTV surveillance system. The footage shows two suspects approaching the mural around 3 a.m., then with one acting as a lookout, the other began to spray paint over the mural.

“I think it was someone young,” Kim said. “Maybe it was a student because on the CCTV you can tell it is a young man.

This may seem like a good lead, but the perpetrators were wearing dark hoodies with masks on. No Distinguishable facial features could be made out from the footage. The police were back at square one.

This is common in graffiti and other vandalism cases. Graffiti artists are very hard to track down. If there are no eyewitnesses, no footage of the incident, or if they are not caught in the act it is nearly impossible to find suspects, according to Lieutenant Ryan Eaton of the Corvallis PD.

“Essentially these are crimes of opportunity where somebody is going to spend a very brief amount of time committing the crime,” Eaton said. “For that to be intercepted by an officer, you’re talking about two individuals intersecting in one place at one time at the exact right moment. The likelihood for that to happen is very low.”

Another way to catch a graffiti artist is by looking at the patterns. If one person is going out and committing multiple acts of graffiti, chances are that they are leaving behind traces of their identity in their style or moniker, a nickname or tag commonly used in graffiti.

“If we can identify somebody who did one, it can start a cascade of being able to charge them with multiple counts of graffiti,” Eaton said. “Graffiti artists usually have a particular moniker or style they are using, whether that is a slogan or an image, and if we can attribute that to one person, we can then build a case to charge them with all of their graffiti.”

All possible leads and links to other graffiti around town are being looked into, but at the moment there are no suspects for the vandalism of the Superette mural.

The trail has gone cold, but Eaton is sure about one thing. Whoever vandalized the mural did it to make a statement. “In the Superette case, they are painting over somebody else’s artwork, so they are trying to destroy it, take it over or detract from it,” Eaton said.

If you know anything concerning the vandalism of the Superette mural at 253 Monroe Ave., please contact the Corvallis Police Department at their non-emergency phone number, 541-766-6924, or send them an email at police@corvallisoregon.gov.

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