A controversial mural that appeared on a tenement gable end in Glasgow’s Dennistoun has been painted over black.
The Duke Street mural, which was the work of London-based artist Josephine Hicks, was commissioned by shoe retailer Clarks to advertise desert boots as part of their new ‘For the World Ahead’ brand campaign.
The appearance of the mural on the gable end of one of the area’s oldest tenements in the past few weeks sparked local outcry amid concern that Glasgow’s rich gable end mural landscape could be at risk from 'creeping commercialisation' as a result.
Dennistoun Conservation Society, which showcases the history and heritage of Dennistoun as a designated conservation area, took to Twitter to express their confusion as to how Clarks "got the gig" for the mural, while BAFTA Scotland award winning photographer and filmmaker Chris Leslie tweeted that it was a "slippery slope to massive semi permanent ads across the city".
These concerns were echoed by Labour MSP for Glasgow Paul Sweeney, who said at the time that it would be “of great concern” if the appearance of commercial murals in the city “was to become the norm”.
As the building on which the Clarks mural was painted is a listed building and within the Dennistoun Conservation Area, an application for planning consent for an ‘application of colour’ would have been required as well as advertising consent, Glasgow City Council informed The Herald.
The council confirmed that no planning application was received in relation to the mural.
A Glasgow City Council spokesman told The Herald: “This is not an issue where we’ve had to intervene and it appears the matter has been resolved locally. No planning application has been received in relation to this mural.”
In response to the news that the mural had been painted over, a spokesman for Clarks informed The Herald that the mural “was only a temporary piece of art”.
MSP Paul Sweeney welcomed the news of the mural’s disappearance by saying that he hopes that Glasgow’s mural landscape continues to pay tribute to the city’s heritage “from now own”.
He told The Herald: “Traditionally, Glasgow’s mural art has been a vehicle to pay tribute to our city’s heritage, our local heroes and to pioneers who have put Scotland on the map. It was sad to see them commercialised in this manner but thankfully it appears we won't be seeing it happen again, especially without planning permission or listed building consent as was the case here.
“Glasgow is a city teaming with history and tradition. There are countless achievements of Glaswegians that we could and should be drawing attention to; achievements that put Glasgow on the map globally. That is what I hope to see from now on, not the commercialisation of our city's assets."
The disappearance of the Clarks mural comes days after Glasgow welcomed three new striking murals on the 9.4m tall rounded tanks at Chivas’ Strathclyde Distillery in the city’s Gorbals area.
The project, delivered in partnership with Glasgow-based production company artpistol Projects, saw local artists Molly Hankinson, Michael Corr and Rogue One transform the tanks with paintings of iconic local figures, with additional typography woven throughout by artistic signwriter Ellie Mills.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel