DALLAS — When Preston Pannek attached a mural to the east-facing brick wall of St. Pete's Dancing Marlin in Dallas' Deep Ellum, he says he didn't mean for the work of art to be disrespectful.
But, since the owner of the Dallas Mavericks told him that's exactly what he thought it was, the artist made drastic changes on Tuesday with a roller and a can of flat black paint.
The mural, that Pannek and his wife Adrienne created in their home studio and then transported to the corner of Commerce and Crowdus to be attached to the outside wall of St. Pete's Dancing Marlin, showed Mavericks star Luka Doncic surrounded by some of his recent mind-blowing stats including a recent 60-point game, while holding a sign that says "please send help."
"Ten percent of people are a little bit upset that we might be talking badly about the other Mavericks players," Pannek said of the social media storm his art work created.
In fact Preston Pannek received emails from Mavs owner Mark Cuban who told him "It is disrespectful. But it's your choice to do what you want. If that's the way you want to be a fan. Go for it. Go Mavs!"
"I'm a little confused why a billionaire is messaging me. I thought he'd get the joke," Pannek said. "I'm gonna let y'all know, if and when I become a billionaire, I will be doing billionaire stuff and not messaging people that are doing art. Just so we all know," he said, joking.
But, a defiant artist or not, Pannek decided on Tuesday morning to make some pretty big changes to the mural.
"It's never fun to cover up a mural. It's just not," he said with a paint roller in hand. "Sorry homey," he said while tapping on the Luka mural. "Let's do this."
Using black paint he completely erased his work of art. Then his wife, using a can of blue spray paint, added a message. She wrote: "COMING SOON. This new mural is planned with the support of Luka Doncic. Brought to you by @lukadoncic and @thehouseofpannek. #MFFL."
"I'm sorry we didn't mean to offend anybody," said St. Pete's Dancing Marlin owner Pete Zotos. "I just thought it was like, pretty cool thing....send him some help. I can see where some guys would get their feelings hurt a little bit. But hey man we didn't mean it like 'hey you're guilty.' It means 'hey let's do something.'"
Pannek says he and his wife, at their home studio, will create a replacement mural and install it at the same location within the next two weeks — this time, with the blessing and input of Luka Doncic himself.
"Luka has a new message that he would like to send out to Dallas and, together, him and I are going to bring that message on this wall here in about two weeks," he said of the conversations he has had with Doncic and his representatives.
What that message will be, the artist won't tell. But he did want to offer an apology.
"I never, ever meant to disrespect any of the actual players. I love all you guys. Love all of you," he said. "That was for the front office," he said of the message of the original mural, "not the players."
We'll let you know when the new mural, and its updated message, are in place.