Famous Sydney artwork painted over for mural of Jennifer Lawrence

IT LOOKS nice enough — a beautifully painted mural of a Hollywood superstar. But the locals of an inner city suburb in Sydney are spewing.

AN ADVERTISING agency that painted over an iconic public mural in inner city Sydney with an ad for a Hollywood horror movie has apologised for their “ignorance”.

The agency, Apparition Media, sparked a social media storm after destroying the artwork It’s like a jungle sometimes, painted on the side of a terrace in Newtown in the city’s Inner West more than a decade ago by local artist Colin Bebe.

Appalled residents took to Facebook and Twitter to call out advertising agency Apparition Media for desecrating the mural with the ad for Mother!, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Badem.

Apparition Media, which takes commissions from corporations to paint murals promoting consumer brands and Hollywood blockbusters, had its own work defaced by locals within hours of the poster appearing with somebody scrawling over it in red: “F--- off! It really is a jungle sometimes — NO RESPECT!”

The advertisement was illegally installed on the heritage building, and did not have the approval of Inner West Council.

“Council did not approve this advertisement, and the display of advertisements is generally prohibited in heritage areas such as Newtown and Enmore,” a spokesman said.

“Council, like many members of the public, was very disappointed to see the iconic It’s like a jungle sometimes artwork painted over and this matter is being investigated by council’s compliance section.

The mural has been defaced with the words “no respect”. Picture: John Apppleyard

“The company responsible for the movie advertisement has already announced that they will rectify the situation; while Council is pleased to see positive action to reinstate the iconic mural, the investigations by council’s compliance section will continue and if a breach is detected, appropriate regulatory action will be taken.”

Newtown resident Alex Vee said the mural was painted by Colin Bebe.

“The mural had been there a minimum of 15 years and everyone knows it,” Mr Vee said.

“The original artist is about 80 years old now and he comes back to visit and clean it up quite frequently.

“It’s an extremely iconic spot in Newtown and you can imagine the frustration of residents when the advertisement went up.

“Everyone is just disgusted with it.”

The original mural which was painted over.

Mr Vee said he was pleased to see the advertising agency had acknowledged comments by residents, but wants to see the original artwork restored.

“Because of the backlash they’ve now recognised what they’ve done was wrong and apologised for it.

“We need the wall back to how it was.”

Apparition Media has issued a public apology and corresponding with the original artist to rectify the mistake.

“Hey Newtowners, let’s just start by saying we’re sorry to you all and you’ve been heard loud and clear; we managed to get in touch with the original artist and he is a ripping bloke,” Apparition Media posted on Facebook.

“We have expressed our regret for painting over it and apologised for our ignorance; we are going to work together to restore the original mural in the coming weeks.

“In the meantime, he has asked that we finish our mural.

“After we complete the final stage of this mural, we are going to restore the original mural in collaboration with the artist and we have agreed to cover all costs, assist him in painting it and get the story of the mural out there to as many people as we can.”

Apparition Media said it will also use the opportunity to raise money for a charity linked to the awareness and prevention of youth suicide.

Originally published as Famous Sydney artwork painted over for mural of Jennifer Lawrence