NEW YORK—Art handlers at the Tate Britain museum sanded down and painted over a Richard Wright painting last week, completely obliterating the work, which he had realized on a museum wall with gold leaf. No need to worry, though: The deletion was intentional and approved by the artist, who orders many of his works erased after their exhibition.

The fresco in question earned Wright Britain’s coveted Turner Prize late last year, beating out three other artists, including Roger Hiorns, whose installation was favored to win, according to odds-makers taking bets on the outcome.

Wright’s work lives on only in photographs from the exhibition and the minds of viewers, who numbered 77,000 at this year’s Turner Prize exhibition, down from a total of 92,000 at 2008’s exhibition. Wright is represented by the Gagosian Gallery, where, one imagines, there are non-ephemeral works for sale.

Read more at the Guardian.