Covering up the Whaling Wall?
Posted by HJA12@reddit | Dallas | View on Reddit | 70 comments
My office building has a view of Wyland’s Whaling Wall in downtown, and it looks like they're painting over it. Anyone know anything about this? I know it used to be covered up by ads, but painting over it seems like a mistake.
TheShaneRyan@reddit
In many street art cultures around the world. If your mural isn’t respected it gets painted over. If you paint over something that is respected there are consequences. I say let’s wait for their new artist to make their soccer mural that we don’t want and we show up with bunch of catapults with balloons filled with paint.
TravelnMedic@reddit
If they’re painting over it… I hope they reviewed the agreement with wyland before doing so. As there’s a clause in the agreement that painting over it will result in owner/city having to pay wylands foundation either 500k or million + adjustment for inflation from year the mural was done, which at 27 years on is 1-2 million now
bemvee@reddit
Who do we contact to find out if they’re actually painting this? And then who do we contact to inform Wyland if it is, in fact, paint?
Cause this is the type of snitching that’s totally okay.
Animekaratepup@reddit
Wyland is upset about this. I'm currently looking for his social media so I can show support.
trickdog1999@reddit
Someone (down below) commented that they contacted the artist on Instagram, and sounds like Wyland had no idea this is happening 😢
othersymbiote@reddit
sure hope this is the case.
Appropriate_Pressure@reddit
Yes. Remove all the beautiful things and replace them with I-phone ads. Really helps the dystopian Robocop vibe of the city.
RandomDriver2021@reddit
I mean robocop did use our town hall as their hq so it fits... 🤣
misty_skies@reddit
I hate this so much. And yes, it is a damned FIFA thing…
My question is why they couldn’t just slap a poster on it like they’ve done over others if they wanted an ad?? To cover a classic mural for something so temporary is just beyond me. It makes no sense.
A_kernel_of_cornn@reddit
They are unfortunately painting over it. A lot of local mural artists are livid right now because alledgedly they are painting a new mural over it for FIFA after holding a contest for it and most of the selected artists for it are not even from Dallas.
jamesdukeiv@reddit
Of course they weren’t
Far_Tennis9463@reddit
Downtown Dallas Inc did this.
No_Priority9162@reddit
I had an art teacher in elementary school and at the end of the year she told us her husband was the artist behind a few of those murals and the one of the boy pulling the wagon was their son. Our field trip was to his art studio and was the coolest memory. I think about them everytime i pass by.
No_Priority9162@reddit
Lol just realized this is from another artist 🤣 but i still hope it’s not being painted over
Educational_Salad623@reddit
AWW I really liked that one
MexicanVanilla77@reddit
Is there a way we can call the city and complain? I know the city is broke so… honestly that’s probably part of why they’re doing it but I still want to call and share my opinion on how dumb they are
MexicanVanilla77@reddit
I drive past this mural every week day and I love it and yes I saw it today and it is paint and I was so fucking pissed
CarefulContext@reddit
I reached out to the artist on instagram and was able to chat with his assistant, they had no idea this was happening. I live in the building next door I saw them working on it again this morning. It sounds like they plan on fighting it, though I'm not sure how much of the current damage can be undone. I loved this mural as a kid and I'm so disappointed that it's been covered up.
Mysterious-Heron9671@reddit
Oh man, I hope that our eyes are deceiving us and that's not paint. They slap big paper ads up all the time, but I'll be sad to see the whales go permanently ):
HJA12@reddit (OP)
I’m hoping it’s paper too, but the uneven lines made me think it was paint. We’ll see once it’s finished
skteitelman@reddit
I saw someone’s pov on TikTok and it is indeed paint. I didn’t realize what I was looking at until I saw this post.
pants_on_all_day@reddit
Saw a new mural going up on the side of the auxiliary jail facing west 😯
12VoltGuardianAngel@reddit
Yeah. FIFA shit
Double_Emergency6254@reddit
Whale see what it will be
jffadvisors@reddit
I worked downtown when he painted it. It was amazing.
It was on full view for 6 years until the owner of the property leased it to Clear Channel Outdoor. It stayed covered up until the pandemic.
Frankly, it is very faded and it either needs to be redone or painted over.
aqua_nettt@reddit
Yep we went and saw it during Covid shortly after they had uncovered it. Super cool.
jamesdukeiv@reddit
Apparently the foundation has restored a few of the series, Dallas could be done if it’s not ruined entirely
peachtreeparadise@reddit
“Make Dallas Ugly”
benhur217@reddit
Chance at it being restored?
The-William-Munny@reddit
It’s because dallas has no class. Tear it all down. Nothing is relevant after 20 years.
OneMaharajah@reddit
yup, Dallas is very much a fuck your history type of city. Nothing is worth of value in this city besides the money it makes.
EPTX89@reddit
Where am I going to pray now that my whaling wall is gone???
aggie_squirters@reddit
This breaks my heart. 💔
Mindful_Rager@reddit
Nooooo. I was just telling myself the other day when I saw it that I was glad one mural in downtown is sticking around through the years.
aarononymity@reddit
Painted paradise, put up an iPhone ad
Extreme-Tart-2825@reddit
If it is being painted over or covered up, it is a true travesty.
Current_Analysis_104@reddit
Wouldn’t it be the “Wailing Wall” or are there whales in downtown Dallas that hang out at a wall?
jaclyn824@reddit
Ugh this is really sad. I work over there and will have to check it out tomorrow. I was in elementary school when it was painted and our class took a field trip down there while he was painting it and a few of my classmates got to add in a few paint strokes.
JokersGlascowSmile@reddit
I don’t understand. The city celebrated this being uncovered during Covid. Literally one of the best things that happened then. People would go drive and just sit and look at it, like a drive-in art museum.
emeryldmist@reddit
2021-2023 I worked downtown and I would park in this lot and walk the extra 5 blocks just because it made me smile in the morning and evening every time!
gmatocha@reddit
Don't worry, like Mass Transit (worth the google) which has been covered and uncovered several times, it will be back.
h4tchb4ck@reddit
NO
lovelylotuseater@reddit
Placing my bet down now that it’s a FIFA thing.
killerkuts@reddit
There’s one going up on the building next to Lew Sterrett jail
HJA12@reddit (OP)
There was a World Cup poster up on the side of the 511 building briefly last year, so very well could be.
banjobarn@reddit
one of my first childhood memories is our whole family posting up in the back of our aerostar van and watching him paint this 😭 i really hope it isn’t being painted over and gone forever.
Ambitious_Ad_9637@reddit
Pretty whale faded, as you can sea
shedinja292@reddit
There was graffiti on the bottom, especially the bottom left. Maybe they’re just redoing that part? Let me know if you find out
UncloudedDrift@reddit
A new mural is supposed to be going there for FIFA.
Pure-Breath-6885@reddit
I’m surprised it’s taken them this long. They covered almost all the others with ads, long ago.
slimtuxedo@reddit
NOOOOOOOOO. That wall has been there since the early 2000s at least.
spookaddress@reddit
Is the mural Icon still there or is it gone?
Accurate_Ferret8491@reddit
Sadto say it's paint guys
ImaginationSea7684@reddit
TF????? 🤬
jhectorchrist@reddit
Booooo! Hate this…
hunterwhurst@reddit
I swear if it’s another ChatGPT ad…
Substantial-Quit-151@reddit
That's really sad. One of the really bright things in the city.
Accomplished_Pear_96@reddit
Not again 😭 I’m 30 now but have a photo in front of this mural as a little girl. They covered it once already and I was so happy when they brought it back
ganonkenobi@reddit
Something else is going up the other side of Lou Sterrett towards downtown coming across the commerce bridge.
mollyyfcooke@reddit
It’ll just be a QR code now
live_for_the_funk@reddit
I remember going downtown with my grandma to watch him paint this when I was a kid. This breaks my heart.
Euphoric_addict2024@reddit
hot take but it's about time. it's really pretty, but doesn't really reflect dallas at all. the dallas world aquarium is more of an aviary exhibit than an aquarium and we are nowhere near a whaling area. i hope it does refelect the spirit of dallas this time
bratbats@reddit
Why the hell does everything have to be about theming? Art is nice to look at. Especially in a concrete junkyard like Dallas.
EnvironmentalPizza78@reddit
Born and raised here; no, it very well should stay part of Dallas. I grew up seeing it and always felt it belonged not just because of the aquarium, but as an artistic freedom that Dallas is kind of known for. Not even gonna mention the artist as the comment above me already did.
DubyaKayOh@reddit
It's not about Dallas, it's part of a 100 mural/city project that the artist was invited to do here as part of the project. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Whaling_Walls
DirtySperrys@reddit
So sad to see art taken away
ChuckDaddyTeez@reddit
GTA VI Marketing is about to start
heliohead@reddit
I remember being a courier back in the 90’s/2000’s and watching that being made. Made me smile.
Personal_Pop_9226@reddit
What a shame. It’s no. 82 of the 100 “Whaling wall” murals Wayland did. Many are slowing fading away or completely gone now.
obvious_karma_stud@reddit
No. Not like this.