UPDATED: Feud Erupts Over Pearl District Mural Covered With Festival Banner

Artist Klutch sends response and explanation

Klutch's mural as it stands on April 21

UPDATE April 22, 11 am:

The mural artist, Klutch, has sent a response and explanation via e-mail, reproduced below in part. Klutch thanks Hoyt Properties for use of the space, and in part cites his own mental health issues for his reaction to the WhiskeyfestNW ad. 

"Like us all," he writes, "I'm a flawed human being and often times when trying to do something good I mess it all up and upset people instead." 

His explanation for his objection to the sign is below. 


Original post:

A 130-foot-long plywood mural in the Pearl District was interrupted by a commercial break Saturday.

The construction site at Northwest 10th Avenue and Northrup Street had been the site of a large mural painted by Portland street artist Klutch. On Saturday, his work was partly covered by a banner advertising  the second-annual WhiskeyfestNW. Klutch responded by painting over his own art in red paint. 

"Whiskeyfest destroyed this mural with their mania for NASCAR overbranding," was displayed in large letters on the buffed section of Klutch's mural. "Who puts a billboard over a mural? Money ruins everything good in this world."

On the other side of the billboard were the words, "More ads, less art." 


On Instagram, Klutch asked users to tag the most disgusting images they could find with the hashtag #whiskeyfestnw. The feed (sign-in required) currently includes a urinal full of darkly ominous pee, pages of a disheveled Exotic magazine left on the street, a smattering of dead birds and an Easter egg painted "Whiskeyfest sux." There was also an image of a gloved hand holding a tightly packed ball of feces.

"I was disappointed to see that reaction," says WhiskeyfestNW spokesperson Erika Watson, who tells WW the organization had an agreement with the landlord that predated Klutch's work on the mural. 

The incursion into Klutch's artwork is at first glance ironic: WhiskeyfestNW is a benefit for the Luna Foundation, a charity that offers funding to promote arts opportunities for families affected by poverty or illness. 

"We in no way meant to disrespect the artist," Watson says. "We spoke to him a week before that, and he said that he knew about it." The artwork was always designed to be temporary; on a Kickstarter page for the project, Klutch wrote that he anticipated taking the piece down in early summer.  

Watson says that they took pains not to injure the painting. "We planned on displaying it at the festival," she says, adding that Klutch apologized Monday morning for his reaction to the billboard.

Klutch did not respond to requests for comment, but on his Facebook page April 21 he wrote the following, saying he needed to take a break from art:

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