Chevron Says It Destroyed Public Art Piece in California Near Refinery

Last week, Chevron said that it had removed a public art project installed on a fence near the company’s refinery in Richmond, California. At the time, it was unclear if the work had been placed in storage or if it had been disposed of. A Chevron spokesperson told ARTnews late Friday that the piece had been destroyed.

“The wood was placed in our wood bin weeks ago when it was taken down. It has been processed with other wood since then,” the spokesperson told ARTnews in an email.

The piece, entitled Fencelines – A Collective Monument to Resilience, comprised hundreds of wooden slats that community members in Richmond had painted with messages of hope and Richmond pride, with wishes for clean air and water. Residents worked on the project over the course of the past year.

The Chevron refinery has operated in Richmond for 120 years and has deeply impacted local residents. The city’s asthma rates are double the state average, according to an ongoing study at the University of California, San Francisco. In 2012 an explosion at the refinery left 15,000 Richmond residents seeking medical treatment. In 2018 the company agreed to pay the city $5 million to settle a lawsuit related to the incident.

The Chevron spokesperson said the company does not consider Fencelines to be art but an act of vandalism, though they have confirmed that they will not pursue charges.

While Graham LP, the lead artist on Fencelines, told ARTnews that the majority of the artwork was on a city-owned portion of the fence, something the organizers confirmed with the city when they began planning the project, Chevron has argued that the piece was solely on its property.

“This isn’t a he-said/she-said question,” the spokesperson said.

The Fencelines organizers, LP, Princess Robinson, Gita Khandagle and the Richmond Art Center, are working with the mayor’s office to release a statement that will provide documentation of permissions and ownership.