A proposal to put another large mural on a central city building has run into opposition.
I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, but as all the comment I have seen and heard about this recent efflorescence has been enthusiastic I was disappointed.
The mural is proposed to go on a side wall of the Mansfield Apartments building in Bond St. The wall was never intended to be seen but became exposed when a neighbour was demolished some years ago, the space left empty to become, sigh, another car park.
The building's owner, Susan Dovey, and Justin Cashell, a member of Dunedin Street Art (DSA), the group responsible for the recent run of murals, applied for a resource consent to have the work permitted.
A mock up was made for the hearings commissioner, Colin Weatherall, and submitters to see what was proposed, which was published (ODT, 28.3.15).
The work would be very large and visible from a number of nearby apartments and John Williams, who owns one of them, and Simon Eddy, who owns or occupies another, have objected.
The image is titled Love is in the Air and depicts two children, a girl and a boy, on a garden seat. The girl is kissing the boy on his cheek and he looks surprised, or alarmed or at least a bit disconcerted.
Given the subject matter, it might have been sentimental. Indeed, it probably is a bit, reviving parental reactions to observations of just such incidents which tend to be of the ''isn't that sweet'' variety, with amused chucklings about how the boy's feelings will have changed in a few years' time.
These are perceived as illustrations of the innocence of childhood and the cartoonist C.M. Schultz, the inventor of Peanuts for example, made much use of them.
This image, though, is not in anything like Schultz's style. It is no kind of caricature but a highly skilful ''realist'' treatment. It's more akin to Norman Rockwell's manner, though nothing like so corny.
And Rockwell usually has boys kissing girls, not the other way round. I think it is simply charming and very highly accomplished.
Mr Williams is concerned the mural might reduce his apartment's value and in time, as it deteriorates, believes it will decrease his property's value. Mr Eddy thought consent should only be given if there was substantial support from affected parties.
Other submitters disagreed, saying they thought the mural would tend to enhance values. The council's planner for this matter, Sophie Lord, had recommended consent be granted. It is anticipated the consent holder will be responsible for the mural's maintenance.
You would think that should be enough to satisfy the objectors on the matter of value. Usually when a building is redecorated, it raises its own and the neighbourhood's value.
Usually there is no condition that the improvement has to be maintained. Natalia Rak is Polish, born in 1986.
She has had a solid training in art and has developed an admirable international reputation for large, public murals. In my view this would be a good addition to her portfolio and an admirable one to our gallery of street art.
In another report (ODT, 4.4.15), Dr Glen Hazelton, another city planner who is also a member of DSA, pointed out the group's efforts with street art had prompted excited approval from abroad, where Dunedin has been hailed as having a ''world class'' street art trail in a league with London and Melbourne for example.
It has been a struggle to get this project off the ground. An earlier proposal to put a mural there by Chinese born artist DALeast's work, The Haast Eagle, had been rejected by Mr Eddy as ''too dark''. It got put on the wall of My Mate John's warehouse in Stafford St.
This is a magnificent image, one of the best of the DSA's, dynamic in its conception, brilliantly executed and very witty withal. The extinct Haast's eagle was a huge, ferocious bird.
To be out in the open in prehistoric New Zealand and find yourself being dived on by one of these would indeed be a dark experience. It would be terrifying like hearing the scream of a Stuka above you just before it opened fire with its machine guns.
But DALeast's eagle is made of twisted wire and as it crashes into the ground it is disintegrating. Its clawed feet are coming off. There are coils like wheels hurtling off sideways and a jet trail of shards and fragments flying out behind.
This menace is not threatening after all but a comically fragile fury. You could take it as a comment on the frailty of menace, however dangerous it may seem.
I hope the application succeeds and feel confident property values are only likely to be enhanced. Aesthetic ones certainly would be.
Peter Entwisle is a Dunedin curator, historian and writer.
