MATLACHA, Fla. —
A Matlacha business owner says an artist she hired painted over a mural at her store after she ended their working relationship over a missed deadline.
Penny Orren, owner of Trashy Treasures on Pine Island Road, said the artist covered the unfinished mural with white paint and wrote “NO PAY” on the building’s exterior.
“It’s depressing. I hate white. My store is so colorful because I like color and vibrancy. That’s why I came to Matlacha. I love the colorful vibes,” Orren said.
Orren said the artist was halfway through the mural but missed the agreed-upon deadline, so she ended their working relationship. She said the damage has affected her business.
“Not one sale. People come in, but they just ask me about the building, and nobody’s, like, giving sales,” Orren said.
She said she is treating the scene like a crime scene and cannot clean up the damage until the investigation is complete.
“I was excited to come to the business, and now I’m ready to quit. I don’t want this,” Orren said.
Gulf Coast News
Mural before being painted over with white paint,
The artist, Yoslin Ofarril, who is based in Bokeelia, acknowledged painting over the mural. He said Orren had not paid him in full and had told him to retrieve his belongings from the back of the store, before November 6th or should consider him trespassing.
“I picked up my stuff before the date that she gave me so I wouldn’t be trespassing and I did a special design for her that I’ve done only twice in my life. It’s called a whitewash. It’s when you paint a mural, well, a whole month you don’t get paid, and you just whitewash it,” Ofarril said.
Ofarril said he was frustrated because he had completed much of the project and had only a few details left on the mural.
“There’s a lot of work that’s been done already besides the mural, just for this whole project. So why do you change your mind at this moment, when all I literally have to do is finish a couple fish and sign it? It’s like two days of work at most,” he said.
Ofarril added that he worked hard on the project, and did more than what Orren paid for. She only wanted to pay half the price.
“I’m thinking this lady have done this before, she’s too comfortable doing this and the way she handle it was just to me was so disrespectful. I just couldn’t be the bigger person, I even told her at one point, I think I should finish the mural, because the town and the city is expecting it to be finished,” Ofarril added.
Ofarril says he documented everything including the texts, he feels like he did nothing wrong.
“Now you going out of your way to damage my character, my reputation and what I do. So at that point, I just couldn’t let it go,” he said.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office confirmed its 1st Precinct Crime Section is actively investigating the incident. Deputies are interviewing the people involved, and the assigned detective is staying in regular contact with Orren.
An incident report obtained Friday states the damage was estimated at $4,000. Orren also reported a stolen sign valued at $250.
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