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Internationally renowned marine artist Wyland is fighting Hawaiian Airlines over the future of two murals he painted 18 years ago on the Airport Center building on Ualena Street.
Wyland originally painted the two 35,000-square-foot murals, “Hawaiian Humpbacks” and “New Millennium,” which flank each side of the Airport Center building, in 1999. The first includes humpback whales frolicking in the ocean, with one leaping up in a breach on the vertical part of the L-shaped building. The second depicts whales swimming across the wall with Diamond Head in the backdrop.
Wyland said Thursday that he has declined to sign a contract for restoration of the murals with Hawaiian — which acquired the 14-story Airport Center building at 3049 Ualena St. for $10.8 million in May 2016. The artist described the contract as a “work-for-hire” agreement with a payment of $100 for the restoration, and says it essentially results in the loss of his intellectual property rights to the artwork. The airline gave him until Thursday to sign it, he said, threatening to otherwise paint them over.
“I’m taking on a billion-dollar, greedy corporation trying to bully an artist who’s trying to stand up for artists’ rights,” said Wyland at press conference he arranged across from the building. “If they get away with this with me, anybody can buy a building an artist painted on or has a sculpture in and destroy it, and I’m not going to let them do it.”
The contract offered to Wyland was a “standard commercial agreement”
covering liability and insurance, according to Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman Alison Croyle.
“The contract language does not include the transfer of any rights to either party,” she said in an email. “Rather, it ensures Hawaiian, as the property owner, has the right to responsibly maintain and protect its investment.”
Hawaiian Airlines sought to collaborate with Wyland, she added, timing its repair work in August to accommodate his travel schedule. Painting contractors and facilities experts recommend that repainting be done within a week of spalling repairs and no later than Sept. 11 to “properly seal the repairs and protect the building.”
The company committed to donating an estimated out-of-pocket cost of $50,000 to Wyland for equipment, she added, including two sky climbers and a cherry picker with an operator, which is “considerably higher” than hiring professional contractors to paint the building a neutral color.
The murals are part of 100 that Wyland voluntarily painted in 17 countries over the past 30 years as part of his “Whaling Walls” art-in-public-places project.
He completed the 100th mural in 2008 and has been restoring some of his murals, which earlier this year included “Humpbacks Off the Pali Coast” at the Kauai Village Shopping Center in Kapaa. On Kauai, he said, property owners were happy to work with him as they renovated the building and coordinated a community unveiling of the new mural.
Wyland said the two Airport Center murals were created as gifts to the city of Honolulu “to recognize the past, present and future of Hawaii’s fragile marine life ecosystems,” and are viewed by millions who drive to and from Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. As public art, he said, the murals should be protected under the federal
Visual Artists Rights Act,
enacted in 1990.
“It’s disgraceful,” he said. “They’re disrespecting a piece of art that’s part of the community and belongs to the people of Hawaii.”
He added that he was “standing up for all artists in Hawaii and around the world.”
Hawaiian Airlines acquired the Airport Center building near its Koapaka Street corporate headquarters to meet its need for additional office space.
“We remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement with Wyland and move forward by our deadline,” said Croyle. “Ultimately, however, Hawaiian has a responsibility to properly maintain the building.”
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