A graffiti artist is furious that a mural he created in honor of Shane Warne, the late cricketing legend, has landed him in court.
In March, Warne died of a heart attack while on vacation in Koh Samui, Thailand, shocking the country and the athletic world. He was 52 years old.
Jarrod Grech has taken to TikTok to express his dissatisfaction with his future criminal damage case, calling it a “waste of police and court time.”
Grech painted the mural on the exterior of a home in the Melbourne neighborhood of Carlton, at 40 Canning Street.
The prolific street artist is encouraged by the outpouring of support for his work in the comments section of his TikTok video, with one person calling the allegations against him “un-Australian.”
When he initially did the mural, Grech said ‘Australia lost a legend!
‘In this portrait I tried to capture Shane’s charisma and fun nature. One of my fondest memories is playing cricket in primary school trying to bowl like Shane and Brett Lee.
‘I hope I did your porcelain veneers proud brother. See you in the next life.’
In April Grech said he had painted the same wall numerous times despite not knowing who lived in the attached residence.
‘The windows are boarded up,’ he told 3AW.
‘Usually I find the owner’s details and I ask them for permission, and then usually if they don’t like it I just spray it back.”
Grech also admitted he ‘didn’t have a leg to stand on’, legally speaking.
‘I’ll be getting permission from now on,’ he said.
‘I think your homage is great!’ said one supporter of Grech’s work. ‘Excellent work!’
‘Amazing tribute, mate!’ commented others. ‘Bloody fantastic – should be more of yours and less of the scribble that’s around,’ ‘art is not a crime,’ ‘excellent piece,’ and ‘Bloody awesome – should be more of yours and less of the scribbling that’s around.’
Some agreed with his assessment that the summons is a “waste of police and court time.”
‘It’s art… the terrible rules need to be reviewed – art shouldn’t be considered criminal damage,’ one of them explained.
Another user said that the cops’should be arrested,’ which was backed up by a comment that read, ‘Exactly true.’ ‘It’s very un-Australian.’
Others, on the other hand, were critical of Grech’s mural’s location.
‘You can’t just go around painting on walls unless you have the owner’s permission.’ ‘It doesn’t matter if it’s a tribute or not,’ one remarked.
Another person said, ‘Did you have permission to spray there?’
‘The house is abandoned and covered with graffiti,’ the artist responded.
‘So you illegally defaced private property,’ said another poster in response.
Grech’s response of only one word, ‘Correct,’ may not have helped his legal case.
He might be better off simply writing on his TikTok account, ‘Love you Shane,’ to explain his motivation for the artwork.