The Urban Renewal Authority has vowed to preserve what is one of the last street graffiti by the King of Kowloon before it can find it a proper home, which won't be until the end of this year.
But the arts community is worried that the decaying ink calligraphy by the late Tsang Tsou-choi, painted on some doors at the defunct Silver Theatre in Kwun Tong, might not be able to survive that long.
The South China Morning Post reported the issue in September but no progress has been made. Artist Pak Sheung-chuen was worried that the preservation efforts may be too late.
"People are already scribbling around the metal doors," Pak said. "If [the authorities] really want to preserve this work, why can't they do it earlier? Many [of Tsang's works] have already vanished from the streets."
The city was once blanketed with Tsang's graffiti but they have been painted over by authorities over the years although the works have won praise from around the world.
The Kwun Tong doors were among four of Tsang's surviving street works. The others are a pillar at Tsim Sha Tsui's Star Ferry pier, a lamp post in Ping Shek estate and a wall near Baptist University's Academy of Visual Arts.