Keith Haring in the subway, 1983, photo by Chantal Regnault

When Keith Haring made his jitterbug black and white drawings on the walls in the New York subway system, hundreds of drawings, usually in empty spaces reserved for advertising, his biggest problem wasn't the police. It was collectors who wanted what he gave to all to belong to just them. (Haring subway history here.)

Haring is dead, but these centers of their own universe go on forever.

Two weeks ago, as part of a Sound Transit's attempt to coat the blight of abandoned buildings with a pleasing visual veneer, a Seattle art group called Friends of the Nib decorated a chain link fence surrounding a defunct Jack in the Box with beauty.

Their work on vinyl banners encircles the building, images here. The project is a sizable cut above the usual make-nice coverups. Each artist contributed a 6x6 foot panel. Bob Rini's drawing of a jazz trio lasted less than two weeks before somebody cut it out and took it home.

The Missing Link: Bob Rini's illustration of the Nat King Cole Trio, image via The Nine Pound Hammer

Says Rini in an email, "There is an obvious risk to making public art. ... Some people say we were stupid to leave our work outside in the first place. That's the law of the jungle. Maybe people didn't know it was 'art,' they say. Meanwhile, the missing art is probably hanging in some garage or dorm or in a dumpster somewhere. The work was supposed to be up for several months, and now no one will see it."

No, Bob. Somebody's seeing it. Some greedy jerk.