[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/wyland-ocean-life-dallas-mural.jpeg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen soccer fans converge on Dallas this month for World Cup games, the aesthetically inclined ones will encounter a city home to art museums, galleries, and public art. And yet, the city will be missing a major and longstanding public artwork, after conservationist artist\u2019s beloved mural was painted over in May.<\/p>\n
\n\tFlorida-based artist Robert Wyland has filed a $25 million federal lawsuit against FIFA and the owners of the building where his mural had appeared for a quarter-century, who, he says, painted over Ocean Life<\/em> (1999), one of a hundred murals he painted around the world to raise consciousness about marine pollution and conservation efforts. The eight-story-high, 17,000-square-foot mural showed endangered humpback whales and dolphins and other marine life.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe suit, filed on June 1 in the District Court\u2019s Dallas division by Dallas firm Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal, claims that the destruction of the mural, designated as Whaling Wall 82, violates the artist\u2019s rights under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA). It names as defendants FIFA, the Canadian company Slate Asset Management, which owns the building at\u00a0505 N Akard Street where the mural was created, and 3PZ Property Company, which it names as a Slate subsidiary or affiliate and claims owns the building.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThis isn\u2019t just about one mural; it\u2019s about honoring the promise our laws make to artists that their work won\u2019t be altered or destroyed without respect for their rights and their voice,\u201d said Andrea Perez, head of the firm\u2019s art law section.<\/p>\n \n\tDallas is one of sixteen US cities hosting World Cup soccer matches, which will also take place in Canada and Mexico. Games begin June 11, with Mexico facing South Africa.<\/p>\n \n\tAccording to a local Fox affiliate, the city of Dallas claims that Wyland had been asked for permission to paint over the mural, a contention that the artist disagrees with. \u201cThat\u2019s a lie with a capital L,\u201d Wyland told Fox. In May, the artist told ARTnews<\/em>, \u201cThey picked the wrong artist. It\u2019s protected under VARA if anything is.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tA month before games were due to start, crews painted over the mural, and the North Texas FWC Organizing Committee issued a statement saying that a new project there would \u201ccelebrate and build excitement for the upcoming World Cup 2026.\u201d The larger of the two adjoining walls where the mural had appeared had been painted over in blue by mid May. A North Texas FWC Organizing Committee spokesperson told ARTne<\/em>ws at the time that a \u201cportion\u201d of the mural would be \u201cpreserved\u201d as a \u201ctribute.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn the complaint, Wyland\u2019s attorneys allege that FIFA, Slate and 3PZ authorized the destruction of the lion\u2019s share of the mural without ever contacting the artist.\u201d They said further, \u201cThe right of integrity grants Wyland the ability to prevent the destruction of any of his works of recognized stature, and to prevent any intentional distortion, mutilation, or other modification of his works of that would be prejudicial to his honor or reputation\u2026 The right of integrity can only be waived by Wyland if he has signed a written instrument expressly stating such.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe suit points out that Dallas mayor Ron Kirk presented the artist with a key to the city, and famed Dallas Cowboys running back Herschel Walker was present at the dedication of the piece. The artist painted the mural singlehandedly, by hand, says the complaint, over many weeks, without preparatory sketches. Dallas community leaders including retail giant JCPenney covered much of the cost of the mural, says the complaint, with Wyland himself footing the bill for the balance not covered by donations.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tFurther arguing for his bona fides, Wyland\u2019s attorneys point out that the artist operates seven brick-and-mortar galleries nationwide, and that he established a foundation in 1993 to promote awareness of marine pollution and conservation issues.<\/p>\n \n\tFIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The North Texas FWC Organizing Committee declined to comment. Slate, for its part, said through a spokesperson that \u201cSlate was approached by Dallas Downtown Inc. and the North Texas FIFA World Cup organizing committee in March 2026 with a request to donate the wall at 505 N Akard for a new public art installation to be completed by a local Dallas artist. Slate is not being compensated in any way for the use of the wall space and was told by the local groups that Mr. Wyland had been notified.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/muralist-wyland-vara-lawsuit-dallas-whale-mural-fifa-1234788123\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/wyland-ocean-life-dallas-mural.jpeg?w=1024″] When soccer fans converge on Dallas this month for World Cup games, the aesthetically inclined ones will encounter a city home to art museums, galleries, and public art. And yet, the city will be missing a major and longstanding public artwork, after conservationist artist\u2019s beloved mural was painted over in May. Florida-based […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1969170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1969170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1969170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1969170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1969170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}