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A look behind the latest Asylum mural

(Nicholas Schroeder, The Portland Phoenix) With a postcard replica and classic Maine lighthouse-as-spraycan motif, graffiti art has never been less offensive than now. The Phoenix caught up with “Turt McGirt,” one of the artists who recently repainted the Asylum’s mural wall, to discuss street art ethics, accountability, and “the man.”

HOW DID THE MURAL ARTISTS GET CHOSEN? The city’s graffiti artists — graffiti writers — have been painting it for the last 15 years. You get to a certain skill level, and they kinda invite you on.

THEY BEING THE ASYLUM? No, the graffiti writers who orchestrate the whole thing.

COOL. SO IT’S THE SAME TEAM THAT DOES IT ANNUALLY? For the most part. There’s a lot of guys who are really good and have proven themselves over the years and they obviously stay on. It kinda rotates a little bit. Somebody might have done a lot of work in the past year, and they’ll come on . . .