Our Robert Wilonsky writes:

The vanishing of Wyland’s downtown mural Whaling Wall 82, now buried beneath pool-blue paint, has become a far bigger story than anyone involved in its disappearance ever imagined. Bigger, even, than the building-sized mural itself, which faced Field Street for 27 years — eight of them behind ads for cruise ships, airlines and light beer — and whose time of death late last week coincides with the arrival of FIFA World Cup. 

One of the parties responsible told me Friday they were expecting a little blowback — “maybe” — when it was erased for a new mural to be painted by a local artist. That was before news of the whales’ demise made it all the way to the New York Post, CNN and Kacey Musgraves, who lamented the mural's demise on Instagram by proclaiming that “we suck the soul out of everything.” Before The New York Times and the British tabloid the Daily Mail started calling. Before the legal threats. Before members of the North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee started receiving physical threats on social media. 

READ MORE