With less people around, communities worldwide are seeing a return of wildlife.
Recently, Wyland, an artist known for his efforts to showcase life-sized whales, got a surprise when he was informed his mural of humpbacks returned to downtown Dallas.
The eight-story-tall, 164-feet-long mural painted on the side of a city building is visible again after an advertising billboard was pulled down. The six whales are shown swimming near a coral reef.
“I painted this to bring the ocean into the inner city,” Wyland said on Monday, April 27, while in quarantine in the Florida Keys. “Herschel Walker (a Dallas Cowboys player) came up on the scaffold and dedicated it. It was a monumental effort where I painted for six days straight. People loved it.”
The mural, painted in 1999, is No. 82 of 101 murals by Wyland that cover skyscrapers, sports arenas and large public buildings in 18 countries worldwide.
Wyland, who painted his first grand-scale whale mural – a gray whale mother and calf – in his Laguna Beach live-work gallery, has said he uses his murals to help viewers experience the inhabitants of the world’s oceans in their actual size. He hopes that will translate into an understanding of their power and intensity and, ultimately, into love for the creatures.
Each mural is donated by the Wyland Foundation with support from the local communities.
The humpback mural was dedicated to the community with donations from retailer J.C. Penney, which paid for all the paint. Wyland last recalls seeing his creation about five years ago while on a visit to Dallas.
“It was completely covered and I was like, ‘Man!’” he said. “At least the mural wasn’t destroyed and I knew it was always under that. I always meant to get a hold of the mayor and City Council.”
About two weeks ago, Wyland got a surprise when a reporter from the Dallas Morning News called him to let him know his humpbacks had reappeared in downtown Dallas.
“With coronavirus there isn’t a lot of positive news,” he said. “But that call the other day made my day.”
The large billboard had been used to display local events and was run by San Antonio-based Clear Channel Outdoor. When there were no more events to broadcast, the advertising went down.
“Right in front of the mural is a vacant lot,” said Leigh Gathright, a resident in Uptown, an area of Dallas just north of the downtown. “Usually, every square foot of the downtown has something built. That’s what is so beautiful about it. We have a clear view now.”
Gathright, who was introduced to Wyalnd’s work during trips to Maui, said she became aware of the mural being uncovered by chatter on Nextdoor.com, a social media platform for neighbors.
“People were excited,” she said. “Now, the comments are: ‘How do we keep it from being covered up?’”
Jason King, a spokesperson for Clear Channel, the advertising company who manages sales for the wall space, said the billboard was taken down because one campaign had ended and another is set to begin there soon.
“We are part of the communities where cities and towns have allowed us to operate our business, we adhere to all local zoning ordinances, state laws and federal regulations,” he said.
In a letter to the Dallas City Council sent this week, Wyland said he asked city leaders to pass a resolution “to stop billboard advertising companies from covering up public artworks and allow them to be seen.”
A call to the mayor’s office for comment was not returned in time for deadline.
Wyland credited the Texas city for being environmentally aware and recently winning a Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation.
“We believe passing a resolution to protect this mural and others would reaffirm the city’s commitment to the things we all value,” he wrote.
Wyland also offered to come back to restore his mural next year.
The Dallas mural is not Wyland’s first run-in with advertising blocking his art. In Detroit, his childhood hometown, Wyland took on General Motors when a huge ad blocked his mural across from Comerica Park in 2005. He penned an editorial in the Detroit Free Press reminding the community that public art is federally protected and citing the Visual Artist Rights Act created to protect public art.
With support from that City Council, the advertisement blocking his mural was removed.
“This is really about standing up for public art everywhere,” he said. “Ads don’t only cover the mural, but the message of conservation I’m trying to send. It may be even more important in these landlocked cities.
“I want to bring the spirit of the ocean so that people there can make the connection,” he said. “You don’t expect to see humpback whales in Dallas.”
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