Aslan’s Christy Dignam has said he was “disappointed” to find a mural tributing the star vandalised and felt tempted to give it a scrub himself. The beautiful salute to the Dublin band has been a feature in the village of Finglas for years yet was found defaced yesterday.
The mural had been painted on an electricity box in 2018, just outside Saint Canice’s Church, as part of the Dublin Canvas project. The mural, titled “Christy”, is the creation of Emmalene Blake and features a young Christy singing the lyrics to the band’s first single, This Is.
After surviving the Irish weather all these years, the Aslan frontman said he was really disappointed to find that the mural had been vandalised.
“It’s been there a couple of years now and nobody touched it,” he told The Star. “I was really pleasantly surprised nobody had gone near it because people write on everything these days. I don’t think it was anything personal because there’s a David Bowie one down the road from it and that one was tagged as well.”
In a statement released by the band, the Dublin hitmakers said they were sorry to see the mural destroyed.
“We are so saddened to see Aslan mural in Finglas village defaced. The time and effort spent by Emmalene Blake in creating this… now destroyed…Surely someone knows who this “tag” is belonged to?!”
Vandalization of the painting occurred late into Wednesday night. Widespread fury took hold of the local community, as many shared their disgust at the disgraceful act on their social media pages.
One Facebook commenter said: “That’s a disgrace, no respect for nothing or anything.”
Another wrote: “So disrespectful of the artist who painted Aslan and of course of Aslan, I suggest [the taggers] do the same on your hall door and see how your family like it.”
While a third declared: “Aslan are Finglas’ Beatles, imagine if the little toe rags defaced the Beatles stuff in Liverpool.”
