Vandalism fuels new display of Ukraine murals in Southwest Florida

Community artists are sending a bold message to vandals Thursday. New murals to support Ukraine are standing strong off McGregor Boulevard after the original art pieces were defaced with paint last month.

When it comes to public art there is always a risk. That’s why the vandalism only fueled the artists who painted the murals to keep going. They decided to bring in other artists with the same goal in mind to create something even more beautiful than before.

It all began when two artists came together to paint two murals supporting Ukraine. Then someone threw paint all over the murals.

Erik Schlake is one of the artists and told WINK News the destruction didn’t stop them from creating more. A new art exhibit is opening at the Alliance for the Arts. At least twenty new murals all painted by southwest Florida artists in the last month.

“We weren’t trying to make a political point,” Erik Schlake says. “What we kind of really realized that we could very well be at this crossroads of history that maybe people should pay a little bit more attention to.”

“Usually it takes a year to put together an exhibition,” Schlake explained. “This we put together in three weeks, and it’s probably one of the strongest exhibitions in Fort Myers in a really long time.”

Artists like Deb Lawless are thankful to have worked on the new murals.

“At the end of the day, I just wanted to make sure that like art is a way for us to show how not only we feel, but it’s an interpretation for everybody,” Lawless says. “So, you might see the piece and feel something different than what I intended, but there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Any proceeds raised by the Fort Myers mural society will go directly to artists in Ukraine who are running a boots-on-the-ground campaign.

Sadly, the murals aren’t the only pieces of community art that have been vandalized. Cape Coral police say someone sprayed graffiti on the utility box artwork in downtown Cape Coral. Police say in total four boxes were marked. We told you earlier this week the art is so popular leaders are talking about adding more utility boxes on Cape Coral Parkway and Del Prado Boulevard.