Posted Sep 29, 2014, 2:29 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 2,312
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What Chip Wilson has to follow city bylaws like everyone else? What the hell is the world coming to? 
Quote:
As works of art go, Chip Wilson’s seawall is again a blank canvas.
Mostly blank, anyway, other than someone’s political message spray-painted in green.
Where once pieces of graffiti adorned the seawall behind the Point Grey Road home owned by Chip and Shannon Wilson of Lululemon fame, the graffiti has been painted over by the owners with only the words “The City of Vancouver: Consistently opposing the arts” on display.
It’s not known whether the Wilsons or some freelance critic of the city is responsible for the critique. Regardless, the message definitely falls afoul of city bylaws as much as the Wilsons’ former graffiti work did.
In any case, it was the Wilsons who covered up the controversial graffiti, according to the city hall.
“The city looked into the mural behind Chip Wilson’s house after receiving an inquiry about whether it had received a permit,” a city hall spokeswoman said in an email.
“The mural was un-permitted, so the city met with the property owner to see what could be done to bring the mural into compliance.
“Upon review, there were some sections of the mural that didn’t meet city requirements — particularly as related to the prevention of graffiti — and the property owners took it upon themselves to paint over those sections.”
The Wilsons’ backyard has 200 feet of seawall, which abuts provincially owned beachfront, and the city requires permits to be granted before work such as the Wilsons commissioned is carried out.
The couple, who built a massive $37-million concrete home with touches of glass, pine and bamboo on Point Grey Road in Kitsilano, got the idea for graffiti on a trip to Australia when they visited Bondi Beach outside Sydney. They commissioned several local artists to paint their wall about a year ago.
The hope was that graffiti art would deter other graffiti artists from tagging (signing stylized signatures) the wall.
“The wall facing the water is owned by (the Wilsons), but it doesn’t mean they can put anything they want on it,” city engineer Peter Judd told The Province last year after a Kits resident complained about the art work. “They made an assumption that permitting wasn’t required.”
Permits are required because the city does not allow commercial content, hate messages or “stylized” writing such as tags.
“The city remains in discussion with the property owner about the possibility of a city-compliant mural in the future,” the city spokeswoman said Monday. “The city of Vancouver’s street-art program is part of our integrated graffiti management program.
“Street art, such as wall murals and utility box wraps, help(s) to provide a canvas for artists and deters from graffiti. It also animates and creates vibrant community spaces.”
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http://www.theprovince.com/news/Billiona...eawall+gallery+blank/10226264/story.html
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