THE DISAPPEARING MR BLOB MURAL
AN EXCELLENT MURAL BY MR BLOB WAS REPLACED BY A POOR QUALITY MURAL WITHIN A YEAR [THIS PROVED TO BE A COMPLICATED STORY]
The Curious Case of the Vanishing Mural: Mount Sion Avenue
One of the great pleasures—and occasional frustrations—of documenting street art is its inherently fleeting nature. Walls evolve, pieces get replaced, and sometimes an entirely unexpected mystery unfolds between festival seasons.
During my visit to the Waterford Walls festival in August 2025, I came across Italian artist Mr. Blob painting a striking gable-end piece at the corner of Mount Sion Avenue and St Ignatius Street. Supported by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, it was an intricate, psychedelic composition of organic roots, neon accents, and a glowing crystal core. Although it was still unfinished when I had to head home, he completed and signed the work before the festival wrapped, leaving a remarkable finished mural on the street.
Returning to the exact location last week hoping to finally photograph the completed piece for my archive, I was astonished to find that Mr. Blob’s mural had vanished entirely. In its place stood a radically different design featuring a colourful circus tent marquee over simplified animal silhouettes.
A local resident with an eye for photography and the city’s mural trail stopped to chat, voicing his disappointment with the sudden change. According to him, the circus mural had been thrown up in a matter of hours. That comment made immediate sense upon closer inspection: the execution was flat, and the thin, low-grade paint lacked the rich pigmentation, crisp line control, and weather-resistant quality expected of an international festival headliner.
Adding to the puzzle, the official Waterford Walls map attributed the wall to renowned French street artist ADOR. Anyone familiar with ADOR’s distinct illustrative style—characterised by whimsical, long-nosed humanoid characters—could instantly tell that the attribution was completely off the mark.
The real explanation came into focus when I remembered collecting the printed festival guide: the organisers explicitly warned that there were a few late artist no-shows.
Connecting the dots reveals how this played out on the street:
The Advance Roster: The wall had been officially earmarked and registered in the festival catalogue for ADOR well before the guides went to print.
The No-Show Void: When ADOR was unable to attend, the wall became an abandoned slot on the festival roster.
The Unsanctioned Fill-In: With the wall pre-cleared for repainting (or the owner having agreed to a fresh 2026 piece), the primed blank surface was left in limbo. Instead of hosting a masterwork from a headline artist, a hasty, basic decorative scene was thrown up locally over an afternoon to ensure the gable wasn't left as a half-prepared void during festival week.
While it is exceptionally rare to lose a fully finished, high-calibre festival piece after just a single year, the Mount Sion Avenue gable stands as a vivid reminder that the street art trail is subject to late logistical hitches, unexpected no-shows, and rapid local interventions.
The Curious Case of the Vanishing Mural: Mount Sion Avenue
One of the great pleasures—and occasional frustrations—of documenting street art is its inherently fleeting nature. Walls evolve, pieces get replaced, and sometimes an entirely unexpected mystery unfolds between festival seasons.
During my visit to the Waterford Walls festival in August 2025, I came across Italian artist Mr. Blob painting a striking gable-end piece at the corner of Mount Sion Avenue and St Ignatius Street. Supported by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, it was an intricate, psychedelic composition of organic roots, neon accents, and a glowing crystal core. Although it was still unfinished when I had to head home, he completed and signed the work before the festival wrapped, leaving a remarkable finished mural on the street.
Returning to the exact location last week hoping to finally photograph the completed piece for my archive, I was astonished to find that Mr. Blob’s mural had vanished entirely. In its place stood a radically different design featuring a colourful circus tent marquee over simplified animal silhouettes.
A local resident with an eye for photography and the city’s mural trail stopped to chat, voicing his disappointment with the sudden change. According to him, the circus mural had been thrown up in a matter of hours. That comment made immediate sense upon closer inspection: the execution was flat, and the thin, low-grade paint lacked the rich pigmentation, crisp line control, and weather-resistant quality expected of an international festival headliner.
Adding to the puzzle, the official Waterford Walls map attributed the wall to renowned French street artist ADOR. Anyone familiar with ADOR’s distinct illustrative style—characterised by whimsical, long-nosed humanoid characters—could instantly tell that the attribution was completely off the mark.
The real explanation came into focus when I remembered collecting the printed festival guide: the organisers explicitly warned that there were a few late artist no-shows.
Connecting the dots reveals how this played out on the street:
The Advance Roster: The wall had been officially earmarked and registered in the festival catalogue for ADOR well before the guides went to print.
The No-Show Void: When ADOR was unable to attend, the wall became an abandoned slot on the festival roster.
The Unsanctioned Fill-In: With the wall pre-cleared for repainting (or the owner having agreed to a fresh 2026 piece), the primed blank surface was left in limbo. Instead of hosting a masterwork from a headline artist, a hasty, basic decorative scene was thrown up locally over an afternoon to ensure the gable wasn't left as a half-prepared void during festival week.
While it is exceptionally rare to lose a fully finished, high-calibre festival piece after just a single year, the Mount Sion Avenue gable stands as a vivid reminder that the street art trail is subject to late logistical hitches, unexpected no-shows, and rapid local interventions.
THE MISSING MR BLOB