Mystery man pays for Cookie Monster mural on Illinois building — that he doesn’t own

The big mural with Cookie Monster towering above a city skyline and a Russian caption isn’t the strangest part of this story.

Artist Joshua Hawkins says a man paid him to paint the mural on a brick building in Peoria, a city of about 111,000 in central Illinois. The man he knew only as “Nate” met him at the building the day after Thanksgiving and provided half the payment and paint, Hawkins told McClatchy News.

The man also supplied Hawkins with a grid print of the mural and told him the caption under the Sesame Street character translated as “Land, Peace, Cookies,” Hawkins said.

At first, Hawkins was hesitant to do the job because the man wanted it finished too quickly. But it was “one of the best paying commissions” Hawkins ever received, so he recruited friends to help him meet the deadline. Hawkins declined to say how much the man paid but said it was “definitely worth my time to paint it.”

A couple of days later, Hawkins met “Nate” for lunch and showed him photos of the progress.

“He loved it,” Hawkins said.

That was the last Hawkins heard from the man.

Then things turned strange, Hawkins says. The owner of the property contacted Hawkins, asking why he painted “crazy (stuff)“ on his building.

Nate Comte, the real property owner, told the Peoria Journal Star he didn’t give Hawkins permission to paint the mural. He said the mural was graffiti, not art, the newspaper reported.

“I don’t hate art,” Comte told the Peoria Journal Star. “But don’t know what the hell that was.”

Hawkins apologized in a Facebook post.

“I do apologize to the owner of the building, and while this is stressful and confusing — the fact remains that we were paid by someone!?” Hawkins said.

Now the mural is painted white. That’s prompted pushback from people on social media who wanted the Cookie Monster mural to remain.

“That’s awful!!” a Facebook user said. “I loved the cookie monster.”

Hawkins says “Nate” has vanished and won’t respond to his messages. He wants the man to reply if for only one reason: Many people on social media want the Cookie Monster print used to paint the mural and Hawkins doesn’t have a copy.

“I’m still confused by it,” Hawkins said.

This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 3:06 PM.