A boat owner in Seaside, California, has deployed art in an uproarious and novel way to protest a city ordinance dictating to him how he must park his boat on his property.
Illusionistically painted on the new white fence he was forced to build on the driveway he had to have paved is the visage of his proud vessel’s prow and trailer—literally inches away from the actual ones parked behind, now fenced off from view from the street in front of his house.
Etienne Constable is the cheeky resident responsible for sticking it to the city for their “silly laws” with his First Amendment-inspired fence mural, though a local artist was hired to tackle the task of painting.
“There’s some logic to the law about not having decrepit vehicles,” he told the outlet. “And I figured, ‘This is not unsightly.’ I don’t know why they would threaten me that way.”
Mr. Constable devised a novel way of protesting.
“I just figured there’s a First Amendment right of writing whatever statement I want, on whatever property I have,” he said, speaking of the artistic rebuttal he arranged. “So, yeah, just kind of standing up for myself.”
Thanks to the artist’s talented brushwork, even with the fence in place, it appears to be either transparent or non-existent.
The optical illusion is so convincing that, at a glance, passersby probably wouldn’t even spot the subterfuge—with its faux driveway, sun-dappled rendered bushes, and foreshortened boat, all painted in perfect perspective.
It’s in compliance with code and protected by the Constitution.
Mr. Constable said he was “ready for whatever reaction might come” from officials, though he didn’t expect it to go viral—which it did, racking up views on Instagram. The two were “tickled” and didn’t expect the fame that followed, Mr. Constable said.
Despite being trolled by the boat owner and artist, the city responded amicably with good humor, not fining Mr. Constable the $100.
“I got a call from the acting city manager/police chief and he said, ‘Dude, you’re hilarious. I’d give you a high-five. I'd love to meet you someday. And, you know, if you need anything, let me know,’” Mr. Constable told Fox News, adding that “ninety-nine percent of everybody else in this community thought it was hilarious.”
The installation of the fence reportedly set him back several hundred dollars, plus he paid his neighbor for the mural.
The painter, who has many murals up across the central coast, has been inundated with orders for similar work since his boat mural went viral.
