‘Starry Night’ case gets help from Calif.
Lake couple fight to keep their mural
After having their home painted to look like Vincent van Gogh’s famous “Starry Night,” a Mount Dora couple at the center of a debate on what is art has gained a powerful ally to fight a city edict that it must be painted over.
The Pacific Legal Foundation, which has chalked up nine victories before the U.S. Supreme Court over individual rights, is representing the couple for free in the city’s case against them.
“As soon as I heard this case, I knew it was one I wanted to take over,” said Jeremy Talcott, an attorney with the Sacramento, Calif.-based group.
On Feb. 1 — two days before the city’s signature arts festival — a magistrate ordered the couple to pay $8,100 in fines after they refused to paint over the home on Old Highway 441 and pay an ini-
tial $3,100 fine levied in December. The fines will continue to accrue by $100 a day and now total more than $9,000.
Talcott was denied a request for a suspension of fines while he seeks dismissal of the case and an appeal in federal court on grounds the code violation was so loosely applied that it violates the couple’s First Amendment right of free expression.
“We thought we were giving a gift to the community, and then this nightmare,” said homeowner Lubomir Jastrzebski, 69, a physicist who emigrated from communist Poland in the ’70s. “I feel like being back in dark times … behind [the] Iron Curtain.”
He and his retired wife, Nancy Nemhauser, said they decided to paint “Starry Night” on a wall in front of their home last summer to “please” and “calm” their 24-year-old son, who has autism. The family moved to Mount Dora in 2015 from South Florida.
“Nancy and Lubomir are victims of a regulatory process that is straight out of Kafka,” said Talcott, referring to author Franz Kafka’s fictional novels, which frequently depict people in conflict with a stubborn bureaucracy.
The painting prompted a debate on social media, with some calling the painting “ugly” and others labeling it “kitschy.” It didn’t go over well with the city.
In July, the couple found a code violation taped to their door, setting off a fight over artistic expression in the artsy city, which welcomed tens of thousands of visitors Feb. 3-4 to the 43rd annual Mount Dora Arts Festival just a few blocks away.
After snubbing their nose at the initial order to paint over the wall, Nemhauser and Jastrzebski doubled down and had the entire home painted in the theme of “Starry Night,” painted by the Dutch master in 1889. They said the code-enforcement officer told them the home and walls needed to match to comply with city rules.
It’s become a local tourist attraction, with motorists slowing down to get a look at the unusual painting that has created all this fuss. The flap also has drawn attention to the artist, Richard Barrenechea of Mount Dora, a native of Uruguay, which has led to more work for him in Lake County.
Eustis City Commissioner Anthony Sabatini, who’s advocated for property rights since taking office last year, said that Mount Dora needs to change its “anti-free speech ordinances.”
This spring, Barrenechea is due to paint a mural at the Leesburg Center for the Arts in downtown Leesburg.
Support also has come through a petition on Change.org. More than 6,200 people have signed the petition, which says Mount Dora “has built a reputation on supporting the arts,” in favor of the artist and homeowners.
“I’m happy with the public’s answer,” Barrenechea said. “We have a lot of people who support it.”
But officials in the city of 14,300 said they’re just following the rules.
The city initially called the wall “graffiti” but later said the painting on the wall and home violate Mount Dora’s sign ordinance.
“I’m not into that type of artwork,” code-enforcement officer Cindy Sommer, who retired in December, testified during a September hearing. “It’s a distraction to people driving and that’s the complaints that I get — and how horrendous it looked.”
City Council members would not comment on the issue because it is in litigation.
Talcott said the conflict is a First Amendment issue because many other residences in Mount Dora have designs on their exterior.
“I’ve seen designs over front doors, designs over garages, designs on sheds,” he said. “And the city has not cited any of those because they don’t mind them.”
Nemhauser said she’s sacrificed her privacy for this cause and is “disgusted.”
“The Constitution makes it worth it,” she said. “Our son makes it worth it.”