A FURIOUS son says his late mum’s ‘artivist’ neighbour is a nightmare after leaving a mound of ‘rubbish’ to build up in his garden for years.
John Kirby has been forced to take mum Doreen Moore’s house off the market after struggling to sell it due to the “eyesore” pile.
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Doreen – who had Alzheimer’s – had been living in a care home since last year, before her death on Monday.
And John, 62, has been trying to sell her two bedroom home in Dalgety Bay, Fife, in Scotland, in an effort to keep up with her care bills and now cover the small debts that have built up.
He said 86-year-old Doreen, even up to her dying day and despite the memory loss caused by her condition, was asking if the house had sold and if the rubbish had gone.
However, neighbour Denis Carbonaro said the pile-up is actually part of his latest ‘artivist’ campaign which he calls the ‘Dalgety Baycott’.
He said the house sale delay “is a small price to pay” as he looks to protect what he calls his ‘Busker’s Home’.
Carbonaro said the conflict “stems from almost a decade of disrespect towards my privacy, intellectual property, my work, and my model”.
He previously created a number of wooden sculptures several years ago, including a Spanish galleon and a woolly mammoth, and later a shrine to Covid victims.
The artist then opened The Bark Park in 2015 to show off the works in his front and back gardens, and for people to visit for donations.
However, bad weather has destroyed all of the art and left mounds of debris – with a fridge freezer, shopping trolley and other rubbish also since added, leaving it resembling a scrapyard.
John says he and his neighbours have complained to Fife Council, as well as Police Scotland, but he claims they’ve been told Carbonaro is not breaching any rules.
However, he believes the artist was warned off by the authorities from sounding an air raid style horn attached to a tree.
John told The Sun: “I don’t know what I can do. I’ve tried going down all the routes I can.”
He now fears all the old wood used to build the sculptures could prove to be a fire hazard.
Which he says would be made worse by the fact most of the houses have external gas pipes, installed after the estate was originally built, and his mum’s are just yards from the rubbish pile.
Meanwhile, when the Covid shrine first collapsed, it crushed a neighbour’s greenhouse, claims John.
“Years ago he went around gathering a whole load of wood in a big car and dumped it in his front yard,” he explained of the origins of the sculptures.
“I think Fife Council told him to clear it up, and that’s when he did the mammoth in the front yard.
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“I thought it was fantastic,” he admitted. “I really thought it was really good, but my mum hated it from day one.
“She just said it would make it hard for her to ever sell her house. I just said to my mum, it was modern art, that’s how things are moving now.”
John went on to say: “Shortly after that he did a big spider at the back of the house and, again, I also I thought it was absolutely fantastic and clever.
“Again, my mother just didn’t like it.
“Then progressed to the ship up the tree, which was done outside his property,” he continued.
“Again, I was kind of a fan of that but then he did a whole load of other stuff.
“He did a shrine during Covid, and then storms came along, and destroyed a lot of his artwork in the garden, and he just kind of went into anarchy mode.
“He’s just dumping more and more rubbish in the garden now and it goes back a number of years.”
“I don’t think many people had an issue with The Bark Park.
“Maybe some people could have made a donation but he’s at war with everybody. Why he’s decided to put all of that s*** in the front garden I’ve no idea.”
Wacky sculptor creates galleon ship, with rigging, sails and mast
In 2017, Denis Carbonaro, then 48, showed off Bark Park, which is all made from recycled wood.
At that point, he’d just completed the galleon.
He spoke about how he hoped it would become a dedicated sculpture park.
Carbonaro is a former web designer originally from the Italian island of Sicily.
He said: “I created the mammoth sculpture first and after that I made the spider, and I still had two more trees left in the garden.
“I had the inspiration of creating a nest in the trees with an eagle landing on it.
“When I was doing my research, it became much more complex as I decided to transform my tree into what would look like a very old oak tree.
“I drove around the area looking for oak trees and any branches that may have fallen from them, and I brought them all back here.
“All in all, it took me around five months to get the sufficient amount of wood to do this.
“Once it came to actually building the nest though, I decided to build it in the form of a pirate ship – the idea being that the eagle would be creative.
“I have yet to create the eagle but the objective is still to finish it all in order for it to fall in line with the story that the eagle and spider collaborated on this.
“That’s why I have made the sails look like they have been made from web.”
Read the full story here.
John said people have been discussing the issue on local Facebook groups, but: “It’s almost like he’s thriving on the publicity.
“Every day the garden just gets worse and worse and worse. I mean, there’s a fridge freezer in the front garden now, and I’ve now heard there’s a banner hanging from his front windows.
“I don’t know what he’s trying to do. I’ve had to take the house off the market because nobody’s going to buy it with that eyesore.”
He said another neighbour was told by an estate agent “there’s absolutely no point you putting your house on the market”.
“They suggested to her to go down the legal route with solicitors,” he added.
John said his estate agent – having put the house up for sale in early July – suggested several weeks ago he speak to Mr Carbonaro – but he claims he wouldn’t budge.
And alleges he has since been messaging him disparaging things on a daily basis, despite them previously having got along fine.
He said the council’s head of planning said “he’s not breaching any regulations, so there’s nothing I can do”.
Fife Council service manager Alastair Hamilton has confirmed council colleagues have visited the property, however the owner is not breaching any planning legislation.
He added: “We responded to a complaint and have raised the concerns of neighbours with the owner of the property.”
Police Scotland told The Sun: “We would only comment if a report of criminality had been made to the police.”
CARBONARO’S RESPONSE
In an email statement, Carbonaro told us John’s claims of him being “at war” with his neighbours are not correct, and “the reality is more complex”.
He explained that between 2015 and 2020 Bark Park operated without any complaints.
He said: “The core issue is a fundamental ‘disrespect for diversity’.
“Bark Park is not a cookie-cutter home, but a Busker Home, created by a busker/inventor.
“The ‘Busker Home model’ is essential to sustain this independent project, and it requires respect for my privacy, my intellectual property, and contributions from visitors.
“While the park itself was successful, the Busker Home model, designed to ensure its sustainability, was not.
“After years of attempting to maintain this balance, my ‘Wows on Strike’ in 2020 and the ‘Pay the Piper since 1284’ campaign in 2023 failed to bring any change, leading me to escalate my actions.
“The desperate need to protect my privacy and my intellectual properties gradually led to the latest artivist campaign, ‘Wows don’t grow on trees, garbage and clutter do’.
“The visual noise of this campaign, unlike the audio megaphones used in the ‘Pay the Piper’ campaign of 2023, cannot be labelled as antisocial behaviour.
“Instead, it has quietly but powerfully achieved results similar to those of a peaceful, legal, and socially acceptable boycott.
“One that, despite its silence, has proven to have an undeniable economic impact, mirroring the equally undeniable economic and personal toll I have endured for nearly a decade due to the ongoing lack of respect.”
He continued: “My visual noise campaign, now known as the ‘Dalgety Baycott’, is having noticeable economic repercussions on the surrounding property market, mirroring the way Bark Park once boosted the area’s prestige.
“The situation has now reversed, much like the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which economically impacted the bus company.
What are your planning permission rights?
Planning disputes are often troublesome, here are your rights in the matter.
The first and cheapest route is to talk to your neighbour and try to come up with a solution.
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors offers a boundary mediation service, and neighbours can access 30 minutes of free advice from a chartered surveyor.
Your local council may also offer a mediation service.
Under permitted development rights, it’s possible to extend your house by up to four metres at the rear without having to apply for planning permission, or consult your neighbours.
So if your neighbours want to do that, they can.
Similarly, they can put up a fence up, as long as it’s on their land, although it would probably be subject to a height restriction, depending on where you live and what your local council’s rules are.
If you suspect that it doesn’t match these criteria you should object to the local planning authority immediately.
Legal action
A homeowner is supposed to get a legal document called a party wall agreement signed if they are carrying out works near or on a property boundary.
This sets out the work being carried out and the times it can be done.
According to Gov.uk, building works must avoid causing unnecessary inconvenience and protect a neighbour’s property from damage.
A homeowner must also fix or pay for damage that they cause.
Notice of between two months and one year usually needs to be given depending on the circumstances.
You can find out more about getting a party wall agreement on the Gov.uk website.
“Just as Rosa Parks was initially labelled the ‘bad’ person for defending her rights, I too have been portrayed as the ‘bad boy’ for defending my privacy, intellectual property, and the Busker Home model.
“However, I believe that over time, those who have disregarded these rights will come to understand the deeper issues at play.
“John Kirby’s home may be seen as the first casualty of the ‘Dalgety Baycott’, but a few months’ delay in the sale of his ‘Mother’s Home’ is a small price to pay for finding solutions to the larger ‘Busker’s Home’ issue next door, which stems from almost a decade of disrespect towards my privacy, intellectual property, my work, and my model.
“The ‘Dalgety Baycott’ will continue until the rights of Busker Homes and those of their buskers/inventors, are properly acknowledged and respected.”
He added: “I hope this provides a clear and comprehensive understanding of the current situation.”
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