Review: Was Wyland's whale mural great art? No. But it's still a loss for Dallas
Posted by Fantastic_Scratch_62@reddit | Dallas | View on Reddit | 56 comments
Do we think DMN has received a call to stop hammering FIFA every other day?
Few_String545@reddit
It was a piece of art that added personality to our ugly-ass downtown. I'd qualify that as great. I enjoyed seeing it every time I drove by. Now it's just plastered over with ads like the billionaires would like to do to the inside of our eyelids.
Emergency_Basket_851@reddit
I got downvoted for saying this a couple weeks back, but I'll try again:
There is a 2 story quiktripin downtown fort worth, with a distinctive architectural style. I asked the employees what the deal was, since it seemed the second floor was largely unused. It turns out that in Fort Worth, if you build a new building, you have to at least attempt to match the surrounding architecture.
Now, Dallas doesn't really have much of a unifying architectural style anymore, aside from steel-and-glass. But I feel we should be doing more to prevent all this new construction in the city from looking like shipping containers dropped from the heavens.
Having grown up in fort worth, it's nice seeing the art-deco/spanish architecture influence throughout the city. I had to work in many of the schools and it was cool to see even new ones built in the same style. It took me years living in Dallas to even figure out what the dominant house style used to be.
Sorry, I'm coming off being sick and wanted to rant. I know its only tangentially related.
Low-Competition3550@reddit
Is the second floor accessible to people? I’d make a drive just for that. Sounds fun
liberal_texan@reddit
I was actually at one of the DDRB meetings where they reviewed that QT. FW made them put a lot of effort into that gas station. At least we’re not Houston, but we could learn a lot about managing development from FW and Austin.
sushisection@reddit
would be a shame if local graffiti collectives tagged this wall and delayed the fifa ad.
daphoreal@reddit
I feel that, while its not a classical masterpiece, its still our art, and FIFA took it away
sushisection@reddit
if it was allowed to stay up for another 30-50 years it would be considered a masterpiece. if Wyland was dead it would have been considered a masterpiece
Potential-Ant7834@reddit
Wow, this was a terrible take falsely assuming to be high brow but condescending AF while pretending to be pro-culture. This reflects on how uncultured the DMN is and how out of touch this art historian is. His references to “high brow” art like Hirst or Yves Klein is not appropriate and the reference does not click with the average reader. There are hardly any murals anywhere that are considered high art. Murals also do not have secondary market value like the artists he listed.
The Wayland was public art that had a clear agenda: conservation. And Dallas is light years BEHIND on environmental issues. We love flying in Wagyu and caviar and dumping waste in dispossessed neighborhoods and the city won’t pass any ordinances that respect the planet. Environmental conservation is not the language of contemporary art. Public murals are almost always representational art and not conceptual.
Hate to shit on DMN because they have some good folks and the industry is in tatters but they really have bad taste. This was a meaningless take.
We had accepted this mural as part of our city for decades. There are so many empty walls to choose. Outside of art, it showed that Dallas leaders will do anything for outsiders to prove to we can always be bought.
Dallas is the definition of try-hard, pick-me. Will shit on our own people to get the approval of outsiders.
JustMeInBigD@reddit
I try not to be cruel for no reason, but after a couple of paragraphs, I wondered if this was written by a high schooler. It reads like a three-point essay, and not a particularly astute or persuasive one.
Hukthak@reddit
I’d personally like to see more well thought, high school level essay style writing from people giving their opinions.
JustMeInBigD@reddit
I agree, that would be an improvement for many of the opinions DMN receives. But this was supposed to be art commentary.
Hukthak@reddit
Oh my bad I thought you were talking to the guy above you, who seems to have some well thought out opinions.
TacosNGuns@reddit
Newspapers write for general readership at the 6-7th grade level. I’d say this piece is par for the course. That said the author is unnecessarily pretentious. These days I skip his column.
JustMeInBigD@reddit
Fair, but the writing in this article is poorly constructed and clunky. That's not about reading level.
Potential-Ant7834@reddit
The DMN and Lima are equally at blame. The editor read this high school level essay and instead of looking up his comparisons to judge the quality of his argument, decided to publish it, assuming that his voice was meaningful because he’s an art historian and editor of some obscure journal that is only meant for other academics. This writing wouldn’t be taken seriously by anyone who works in the art market. DMN Editor assumed he was vetted because an academic editor wandered down out of his ivory tower to talk at us plebs.
His references are basic bitch vanilla latte, which is DMN style, which is the Dallas way. Could support a local coffee shop but went and shoved money, time, energy to sing the praises of Starbucks instead. DMN Food did a video asking readers which chains do we want to see here. That’s content? That got published? DMN has bad takes.
Everything this city does aligns: the paper, the writers, the museums, the academics, the schools, the people. We’re just a big suburb eager to erase our history and differences to be picked by outsiders, who don’t give AF about us.
BC Dallas is controlled by basic bitches.
us1549@reddit
The whale mural was painted on a private building and the owner is allowed to do whatever they please.
Do you ask the public every time you paint your walls? Absolutely ridiculous
Wafflehouseofpain@reddit
Someone being legally allowed to do something doesn’t mean they’re not an asshole for doing it.
Big-Perspective-9480@reddit
They werent legally allowed tho. There are federal regulations and contracts in place for public art like this.
GeekyTexan@reddit
I essentially agree with you. If you want a mural to be permanent, then you need to own the building you are painting it on.
If you don't own the building, then it's reasonable to assume that at some point, the building will be painted or demolished, and you don't get a say because you don't own the building.
faceagainstfloor@reddit
Such a stupid comparison. This is a public facing historic mural. Why would the people of the city give a shit if an asset management company would rather have a fifa ad put on it.
If you disagree take it up with the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990.
us1549@reddit
Reddit is all about personal rights until someone does something they disagree with.
faceagainstfloor@reddit
Last I checked “Slate Asset Management” of Toronto, CA is not a person
us1549@reddit
what's your point? are you saying they don't have the right to paint the building in whatever art they choose?
ManitouWakinyan@reddit
I mean, that's not for us to have. A court is going to decide that.
faceagainstfloor@reddit
If you think companies that don’t even function in the US purchasing buildings in the US and destroying our historic murals to put up advertisements isn’t wrong, then I don’t know what to tell you.
Just cause they may or may not have the legal right to do it doesn’t make it any less awful. Why be happy to let these massive corpos get away with making the city you live in uglier and worse just because they get to get rich off of it. It’s very different than you painting your house and exercising your personal freedom.
LostinIKEA512@reddit
🤣
Skunk_Gunk@reddit
I think it’s less that people viewed it as some great art project and more that it got painted over without any input to put up a World Cup ad.
us1549@reddit
The whale mural was painted on a private building - what input would you be expecting?
Big-Perspective-9480@reddit
To acquire a $15M mural gifted to the city as public art, obviously contracts were signed with the artist, building owner and the city to not destroy it. There are also federal regulations regarding destroying public art without the explicit consent of the artist and/or all contracted members.
csonnich@reddit
Probably the kind specified in the contract saying the building's owners couldn't just paint over it whenever they wanted.
TeamImpossible4333@reddit
Maybe to ask people if they wanted to get rid of a decades old mural for an event that is going to last for 4 weeks….OBVIOUSLY
us1549@reddit
Do you ask the public what color to paint your house (no HOA)?
TeamImpossible4333@reddit
For a world cup mural, yep
PrefersEarlGrey@reddit
They really could have put this FIFA ad on any of the other 4 buildings in the area that already have advertisements on them that can be seen standing in front of the whaling wall.
Makes no sense to destroy a piece of culture that's been around for decades.
Version_Popular@reddit
Such a Huge glorious piece of bad@ss ART that we'll (Dallas folk) never get to see Live again... it's truly heartbreaking 💔
New-Worldliness5163@reddit
it was something that was there and served its purpose. Now to bring in something else
IranianLawyer@reddit
Do we actually care about this whale mural or do we just hate FIFA? Hating FIFA is a totally valid view of course.
psycwave@reddit
I believe that all art that exists for a good purpose is great art.
OuterspaceOdysseus@reddit
Show up with your paintball guns and lets show them how we feel about it
OrangeTrees1974@reddit
The World Cup sucks. Soccer is not popular in US. We don’t care about it
dallascowboys93@reddit
It’s cool to see the world come together for an event like the World Cup, but FIFA is a terrible and corrupt organization
Upstairs_Balance_464@reddit
We lack the “vernacular architecture” because as soon as a style goes out of vogue we knock it down. In 50 more years City Hall will be “vernacular architecture” and we’ll look back on the DMN ghouls pushing for it to be knocked down as fools that squandered the city’s history.
JustMeInBigD@reddit
Even if they do, the general public will never "get" that this wasn't really the global FIFA organization's doing. Or that it wasn't about money. (I'll come back to that part.)
The North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee made this decision. That committee is made up of local people, some of whom are long-time, public servants. Downtown Dallas Inc (DDI) scouted multiple potential new art locations. DDI is also made up of some long-time public servants. The Dallas Office of Arts and Culture (also dedicated public servants) had a hand in this unfortunate occurrence as well.
The missing "rest of the story" is that there will be multiple public art works created to celebrate FIFA, but not specifically referring to FIFA or the World Cup, so not time limited. The intention was for these to last a long time and become something historic and cultural to celebrate (like the Wyland mural was). They are also giving local artists a chance to showcase their work and increase their presence in downtown. The Field Street wall was just one of numerous planned art pieces, and was unquestionably the largest one and the biggest "get" for all involved.
What made the whole thing a comedy of errors (and I'd call it that more than anythng else, even though it's sad) was a combination of people in multiple orgs not knowing Wyland was a big deal (or not caring?) and not knowing the history of the series of murals or the specific history and significance of the Dallas one.
The fact that the organizing committee wanted to make a big surprise announcement/reveal about the Field Street painting created some of the problem. If they'd not been hush-hush about the surprise PLUS in a time crunch to get it done, I promise SOMEONE along the way would have said, we REALLY need to think about this choice.
There was poor (and sometimes absent) communication throughout the whole process, so frustration and disappointment are valid and expected. But the mob mentality, speculation with no knowledge of the situation, and desire to quickly and furiously blame FIFA or any of our local orgs should also be distressing.
About the money. The "Whaling Wall" building owners were NOT paid - they donated the space. They have said they understood that Wyland was notified, but Wyland says he wasn't. Wyland wasn't paid to paint the original. The artists for the new works WERE going to be paid, presumably from a marketing budget from FIFA and managed by our local organizing committee, but this is not some highly profitable scheme for anyone. For once, and I get that that's certainly rare, this issue is/was never about money.
I'm also appalled that some people don't know the difference between "street art/graffiti" and a nearly 17,000 square-foot work of public art donated to the city by an artist who is (or at least WAS and somehow now IS again) known world wide.
Robert Wilonsky's latest article really made the whole thing make as much sense as you can make of something this crazy. Robert Wilonsky does that on the regular. He is a treasure!
Sorry, I needed to say all that, and none if it really has anything to do with the article referenced in this post, which in my opinion adds nothing of value to the discussion. But the "attack FIFA" comment got me fired up again.
Potential-Ant7834@reddit
The organizing committee is comprised of a lot of volunteers but the heads of those committees are paid.
Someone approved that bad decision. The paid folks are not all qualified and don’t know what they are doing, even if they are being promoted or falsely given authority.
You’ll start to see how unqualified these people are as we near the events. This mural debacle is just the first sign of stress. There will be more problems that crop up.
Monica Paul didn’t hire the right people to lead some of these committees and then the city won’t pay the right people who are qualified to do these jobs and they won’t offer a budget to the right people either.
You cannot count on volunteers to organize a project of this scale.
JustMeInBigD@reddit
That's a fair criticism.
earthworm_fan@reddit
That piece was ao much better than murals I typically see in any urban area
sportsnatik@reddit
Was Benjamin Lima a great columnist? No, but he’s still employed at DMN
Operator_Starlight@reddit
At this point, my only advise, architecturally, is to tear down ever brick building of any historical significance and replace it with neon & glass. Let’s make Dallas the official Tron-esque ‘Grid City’. We’re already halfway there.
jmster109@reddit
At least it was genuine and memorable. I’ll take the whale painting over an AD any day, Dallas already has enough of that.
Friendly-Media4214@reddit
Fu. Op
SimpleVegetable5715@reddit
Long term losses for short term profits, that’s the Dallas way!
Fastgirl600@reddit
It was an iconic landmark and an awesome feature for the aquarium
VictoryGreen@reddit
Too much advertising murals. The best spots for a mural should be reserved for cultural value
CrimsonAllah@reddit
All my homie hate Benjamin Lima.
Fuck that guy.
214forever@reddit
Do we think the Hearst family was ever going to do anything else with DMN besides turn it into a mouthpiece for business interests?
They didn’t get a call about FIFA, they got a call from the Dallas Country Club / Old Parkland crowd to stop making the regular folk realize that Dallas city government works for business, not the public.
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