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The destruction of a downtown Dallas mural last week has sparked reactions from prominent voices and community members alike.
\nLocal World Cup organizers began painting over Robert Wyland\u2019s 82-foot-tall by 164-foot-wide whale mural with bright blue paint to create a blank slate for a new mural for the World Cup.<\/p>\n
The destruction of a downtown Dallas mural last week has sparked reactions from prominent voices and community members alike.<\/p>\n
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The North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee had workers begin painting over Robert Wyland\u2019s 82-foot-tall by 164-foot-wide whale mural with bright blue paint to create a blank slate for a new World Cup mural.<\/p>\n
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More here: There’s 2 Dallas FIFA World Cup murals. Here’s what to know about each amid controversy<\/a><\/p>\n Shortly after the destruction began gaining traction on social media, Texas native and country pop star Kacey Musgraves took to Instagram to proclaim, \u201cThis makes me really sad. We suck the soul out of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Wyland himself condemned the destruction, which he says blindsided him.<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNow, I couldn\u2019t be more sad,\u201d Wyland told Dallas Morning News Editorial Columnist Robert Wilonsky<\/a> on Thursday. \u201cIt can\u2019t be restored now. No matter what. To see it destroyed by FIFA doesn\u2019t make any sense to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Related: Wilonsky: Thanks to FIFA, downtown Dallas\u2019 enormous, beloved whale mural is \u2018gone forever\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThey picked the wrong artist, I can tell you that. I am going to go after them and go after them hard. I am going to ask the community of Dallas to stay with me,\u201d Wyland told The New York Post.<\/a><\/p>\n Community members have also spoken out against the destruction<\/a>.\u00a0Joshua Hurston, a senior at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, recently started a petition<\/a> to \u201cBring a new Whale Mural to Dallas and Protect Public Art.\u201d Currently, the petition has 685 signatures.<\/p>\n The petition asks that Wyland be allowed to paint a new, permanent downtown mural and for Dallas City Council to ensure no more public art is erased without open hearings, the high schooler wrote on Change.org.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s important to let Dallas know that we are fighting for culture over capitalism!\u201d the petition reads. \u201cDallas leadership continues to favor short-term profits over lasting public art and the preservation of our history.\u201d<\/p>\n Other North Texans took to social media to express their dismay over the destruction.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ONLY way to correct this is to allow him to create ANOTHER mural and it must be legally protected indefinitely,\u201d wrote Brandon Johnson in the comments section of a post on The Dallas Morning News\u2019\u00a0 Facebook page about the mural\u2019s destruction.<\/p>\n Another commenter, Pat Novak, wrote: \u201cIt\u2019s called common sense. You don\u2019t suggest painting over original iconic artwork. No excuses!\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Wyland painted the downtown mural of humpback whales in 1999, one of about 100 for his \u201cWhaling Walls\u201d series. The mural covered the southwestern walls of a building at 505 N. Akard St.<\/p>\n Covered for several years by advertising, the mural was rediscovered<\/a> in 2020 when ads were removed. \u00a0<\/p>\n