For years, a painting of a whale's tail splashing out of the gray, misty ocean has been one of the most popular license plates in California. Nearly 200,000 have been sold, raising millions for coastal and environmental conservation programs.But the artwork by Wyland was deep-sixed after the Laguna Beach muralist's request for 20% of the state's profits from the plates to fund his environmental foundation was rebuffed.
Rather than tangle with the artist over the rights to the painting, titled "Tails of Great Whales," the state decided to retire the plate instead and hold a contest to replace it.
The new plate to debut Aug. 2 is a crisper, brighter rendering of a whale's tail that California Coastal Commission officials say more closely resembles an actual whale — a humpback — than Wyland's more dreamy design.
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"This new design looks like a bright day that is very evocative of California," said Christiane Parry, director of public programs for the Coastal Commission. "The old one was more hazy and moody, but this is a little more optimistic."
The second-generation plate boasts a few other practical improvements. The new tail is more true to life, based on humpback whale flukes, and it takes up less space on the plate so it won't be covered up by registration stickers.
Steve Creech, project director of the Wyland Foundation, called the new image "a very poor imitation of a Wyland artwork" but said the artist did not plan to "continue to make a big fuss about this."
"Here you have an artist that basically contributes something on which he bases his livelihood, which he loaned to the State of California for 20 years, and basically he's shunted aside with little more than a thank you," said Creech.
― Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Friday, 15 July 2011 03:18 (fourteen years ago)