‘They picked the wrong artist’: How a Dallas mural cover-up led to a $25m lawsuit against Fifa

F lorida-based artist Robert Wyland – he’s almost always referred to as simply “Wyland” – was busy in his studio in the Florida Keys a few weeks ago doing what he always does: painting or sculpting vibrant, vivid scenes of aquatic life. Then his assistant walked in. Wyland, 69, has earned international acclaim for his “whaling walls,” a series of larger-than-life murals across the United States and abroad, many which have become iconic parts of the fabric of American cities. Peacefully depicting the largest mammals on earth on warehouses and office buildings, the murals’ whales lumber along gracefully, offering city goers a moment or two of tranquillity amid chaos. In the late 90s, Wyland threw one such mural, dubbed Ocean Life, up in Dallas, Texas. At 82 feet tall, it was among his favorites. Over the ensuing thirty years, folks in the city grew attached to it. And like everything else around it, the mural started to age a little bit, too – the blues and blacks started to fade, and cracks began to show in the paint. Wyland frequently touches up his work, and doing so to Ocean Life had long been on his list of future projects. At least it was, until Wyland’s assistant delivered him the bad news. “She told me someone had called and told her that they were whitewashing the wall, or blue-washing it, I guess,” Wyland told the Guardian. “I was shocked. It really caught me off guard.” Sure enough, photos of the wall soon cropped up on social media, and on Wyland’s phone. …