Opinion on the image which was seen on the City Gate entrance yesterday was certainly divided. Many thought it was cool. Many thought it was heartwarming. Many others still thought it was a deplorable act of vandalism.

But although the jury was out, it certainly caused a stir and raised some discussion on the social media yesterday. Undeniably, it did look rather good. The image was one of love. The lines were clean, and it actually looked quite impressive.

But there are several arguments which detract from the placement of it. If it was put on some boring wall somewhere, it would have been fine and it would have been a decoration that would have caught the attention of people.

Commissioned artworks in Malta are mushrooming, as are the efforts of those who have decorated the skate park. Some people do not like them, but the vast consensus is that the pieces at the Peace Gardens in Sliema, Ghar id-Dud and San Gwann are worthy pieces of art that make Malta look better. There should be more of them.

At the same time, the government should also allow more space for good pieces of art that are not commissioned – those which just appear out of the blue. One such example was a really colourful piece containing a socio-political message (not partisan) which was painted underneath the Manuel Dimech Bridge, beyond the tunnels leading to Paceville. Sadly, it was painted over and removed.

But, the piece which was painted onto City Gate was inappropriate – only in terms of the place the person chose for it. If it was left there, then what else would appear on the stone cladding? Probably a myriad of ugly tags – which are nothing more than vandals spraying their initials or obscenities on the wall.

Again, we emphasise, this was not a piece of art. It was merely a stencil. Someone bought a cut-out and sprayed the inside with black paint. Malta must decide what it is going to tolerate. The British artist Banksy – who shows up in the middle of the night to beautify walls with his works, has become an international sensation. His identity is a mystery, yet he receives requests to paint work onto the dullest and drabbest of places. One such instance was a piece which he painted onto a drab wall of a Poundland store in the UK. The local council immediately ordered a plastic casing to be placed over the piece to preserve it and prevent it from being damaged by vandals.

The jury is still out. But at the end of the day, the consensus seems to be that the image looked good and would have been fine if it was placed elsewhere. The police will obviously seek to prosecute the person who sprayed it on there, but there is one point that we will raise. In the person’s defence, he did not spray it onto historic walls that might be damaged and difficult to clean. He sprayed it on modern cladding that would not be damaged irreparably. Now whether that was simply because he (or she) wanted a flat surface is another matter entirely. It is time for a policy on this issue. Good works of street art should not be removed, just because they are not commissioned and perhaps it is high time that more dedicated spaces are created for artists to brighten up. Look all over the world and you will find that cities embrace it. We have, but only to a very limited degree.