The Laguna Beach artist who created California’s iconic whale-tail license plate is making a splash with state coastal officials, revoking the state’s right to use his art after they snubbed his request to share profits from the image with his environmental group.
Wyland, the marine muralist whose paintings of ocean life envelop buildings around the world, let the state use his hazy blue image of a whale’s flukes for environmentally themed license plates fourteen years ago in what state officials describe as a “handshake deal.” But Wyland says he allowed the use of his image for environmental causes for a period of time and that the time is up unless an agreement can be reached.
California earns about $3.77 million a year from the plates, but the Coastal Commission receives only a third of the funds: about $15 for each new plate sold; roughly $1.4 million a year. The rest goes to other state environmental programs. According to Coastal Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas, Wyland gave his image to the state unconditionally. Not so, says Wyland. Read the full story
Personally, I think Wyland may have erred in not getting something in writing at the onset and then waiting fourteen years to press the issue. What’s likely to happen? IMO, Wyland will either take the offer the Commission claims to have offered, or we’ll soon see a different whale tail on our license plates.