Renowned Hawaii artist Wyland is upset about the prospect of removal of two of his iconic murals near Honolulu International Airport. “New Millenium” and “Hawaiian Humpbacks” are 35K square-foot pieces that he painted in 1999 on the Airport Center Building.
Both are part of a global collection of 100 murals painted by Wyland over the past three decades. They were done for his nonprofit art-in-public-places initiative. The huge murals were a gift to the city of Honolulu, according to Wyland, and were intended by him for environmental awareness.
Hawaiian Airlines purchased the building last year and wants to paint over them when doing repairs. The company indicated it reached out to Wyland for coordination regarding the situation and the repairs and repainting needed.
Wyland has offered to donate the time and services needed to repaint the murals, but indicated that Hawaiian Airlines wants other terms related to the future of the artwork with which he is not in agreement. These apparently include Hawaiian Airlines having control of the future of the murals.
We hope and expect this to be resolved amicably in the very near future and that we’ll continue to see these beautiful murals on our drives around HNL.
Wyland image courtesy of Wikipedia.
There are many buildings purchased where the new owner must keep part of the building intact. Why not protect two wonderful historical pieces of art that were donated by one of the worlds renowned Marine artists.?
Leave the murals along. They were painted with thoughts about protection of our seas and mammals. They are history. Leave them alone. Hawaiian Air, what IS your problem? Do you plan to purposely run your planes into those murals. So what’s your big deal?
I am in full support of Wyland. The airlines should NOT have control of the murals. That simply means future destruction of the beautiful artwork.
Hawaiian Airlines purchased the building. They now own the murals. They can and should do as they please.
Corporate entities at their worst. Paint over a piece of art?
I find this outrageous!
Another case of airlines behaving badly.