OFF THE WALL - STOP THIS MURAL FROM BEING DESTROYED!!!!!!

My name is Mick Minogue and I am here to recruit you. I need your help, after you read this I hope you will take action prevent bullshit authority ruining the art world yet again. If I can convince even a few people to actually help me It might work so please read and do take action by writing a letter or sending an email.  

In January of 2010 an artist by the name of DANLEO and myself were commissioned to paint the entire front of the well know and loved Turf and Surf Hostel in Bundoran, Co.Donegal. It for us was a huge commission and a tough one  as we had to map the piece out by hand on roofers scaffold and do it in cold unpredictable January weather. We had the to paint the mural twice, the first time we nearly had it completed and a massive rain storm came in and washed it away on us so we had to paint over the mess and start from scratch again a few weeks later. Heart breaking. 

Since we painted the mural it has become a tourist attraction and has been in the Donegal press and on the BBC. It has gotten loads of positive feedback and the neighbours on the row all love it and have supported it but sadly and typically not the county council of Donegal. They have ignored all the positivity and great life the mural has brought to the area and put there authoritarian boots on and just walked all over the beautiful couple Mary and Killian who own and run the hostel and Surf School.

The council have issued them with a court summons  ordering that the mural be painted over to a natural colour by March 1st. There has been a huge struggle to stop this from happening and it has all failed so far so I am hoping to get the support from YOU to shed light on this for us in hope that the Council will over turn their decision. To add insult to injury the couple who own the hostel and who took a chance of doing something different and new are now being fined by the county council as well as being brought to court and having to pay the costs of getting all the repainting done, which is appalling and lower than low.  

In the light of the elections coming up i feel that we haven't a hope a getting this issue dealt with let alone getting resolved as all the TD's and Politicians are more interested in building their Noah's arch for us mere animals. The TD's and Politicians seem to love us when they want to get down with the " cool kids" and when its highlighting some good for them "graffiti" becomes cool but when we need their help we get ignored.

 This is not only about a painting being destroyed for no good reason but it is about the waste of job opportunities. This was two hostel owners who employed two young artists and paid them well to do a good job, this is our full time employment and we survive on this. We are not graffiti artists, just artists, illustrators and it is not like we vandalised a street shop front in the dead of night. We do large paid commissions to encourage a good vibe and in this backwards country run by "back in my day when we had to walk to school with no shoes" fools we are dying slowly. 

Where are all those politicians now or those TD's who offer so much wisdom and advice and tell us they are going to fix things. Eating the same shit out of the same trough and then spitting it in our faces with full mouths! We are being audibly and visually force fed their hypocritical nonsense everyday without one of them showing results or even flash cards of what results look like. The thing that kills me Is that these men and women who are hailing themselves as God like figures who will save our impoverished souls are the most unimaginative people you could ever come across. The greatest people in history who made real change were those who had ideas that sounded undo-able but used their power and money to have it made. Our government both now and the next are so inbred they seem to have lost all human senses. They haven't even got the sense to look over other countries shoulders and copy their examples which they get A+ in how shit should be done. My ranting point is that when we are all caught in small country and it is being quickly filled up with the ego flatulence of the people trying to run it the first ones to die in the stink is us, the little insignificant artist. Why have a mural on a wall when you can have a plain wall that is in-keeping with the rest. Look at Philadelphia, when I was there I was nearly brought to tears by the community murals art. Every corner you turn there was art on the walls that you wouldn't see on the wall of a museum. All made by communities of people of every colour and background, brought together by art. It generated  jobs, money, support, good feeling, positivity and a sense of pride. Why it kills me is It could be done here, but whereas there when they have a derelict building or a gable end of a wall and it is allowed be painted, here it's seen as graffiti, vandalism or an IRA up the Ra type thing! Look at this link and see how a mural can bring a lot more together. LINK! 

gmail.com and even better if this has encouraged you or made a spark well send it to someone else ask them to send it on, Facebook it, Tweet it just get it rolling. If everyone who reads this posts it somewhere else well that's the start so be apart of it.

All we hear is of how we need change and change will fix this country but just like the politicians we are all talk so I am asking everyone to help us on this.  

For me it has started with this hostel, for this to be painted over because of something that can be overturned or even ignored. If so many people are in favour of it why does one or two men in a County Council have the right to inflict their authority upon us. 

Some of the worlds greatest surfers like Kelly Slater have stayed at the Turf and Surf and it is an embarrassment for it to be allowed happen. 

I have attached pictures of the mural and would love if you could put them on your blog to show everyone what we are fighting for.We have less than a month to try prevent the mural from being painted over so the support from you.

Remember it will be painted over on MARCH 1st so we only have a few weeks. 

  
Email the Donegal County Council at this address info@donegalcoco.ie    or check them out here for contact details www.donegalcoco.ie/council/

Please spread the word, 

Hoping to hear back from you,

Mick