Someone’s looking with googly eyes at public sculptures in Oregon — and city officials aren’t happy about it

All eyes are on Bend, Oregon, where a mysterious vandal (or group of vandals) has trained large, plastic googly eyes on public art sculptures across the city. Many residents say they love the unofficial decorations, but the city is not happy with them.

The perpetrator (or perpetrators) looked with googly eyes at eight art installations in city centers. Roundabout Art Routea path that connects 27 sculptures placed in the middle of roundabouts. They attached them to a six-foot sphere called I orb created by artist Brandon Zebold; a sculpture of a horse called Bueno Tribute to the Buckaroo by Danae Bennett-Miller; and a piece called deer family Big ears by Joe Halko, among others.

So far, city officials say they have spent $1,500 removing the googly eyes from the sculptures. New York Times“Emmett Lindner. They also expect to spend another $5,000 on cleaning and restoring a piece called Crossroadswhich was also vandalized with graffiti.

“Adhesives can remove the paint, wax or other protective coatings from the metals,” said René Mitchell, spokesperson for the city. Times. “If paint on steel is chipped, scratched or removed with glue, the steel will rust.”

Bend police are not looking for the vandals or conducting an investigation. But in a recent social media post, the city urged residents to take care of public art. Bend, located in central Oregon on the Deschutes River, is home to approximately 100,000 people.

“While the googly eyes on the various works of art in the city may make you chuckle, it costs money to remove them carefully so as not to damage the art,” said the Instagram post.

The sculptures are previously decorated with Santa hats, wreaths and leis. The city also says it does not condone these decorations, but asked residents to “stay away from glue, graffiti and anything that can damage the art.”

Online commenters voiced their support for the googly eyes – and joked about the city’s reaction to the prank.

“Long live the Googly Eyes Bandit!!!” wrote one person.

“Don’t worry citizens, [the] city ​​of Bend is addressing the big problems I see,” wrote another.

Artist Ulrich Pakker created one of the googly-eyed pieces, called a sculpture Three get up. His wife Pamela Pakker-Kozicki, co-owner and manager Ulrich Pakker Studios with him, says the Times that she finds the decorations “silly” and “playful”, but only if they can be easily removed and do not damage the statue.

“It is absolutely preferable for a public work of art to interact with the public rather than be ignored,” she says.

Bend resident Melinda Hannah echoed that sentiment, and it was telling Central Oregon Daily NewsSteele Haugen said she didn’t know the googly eyes caused any damage, but overall she loves them.

“I think it brings joy,” she says.

The brouhaha even caught the attention of Stephen Colbert, who talked about it during a segment on his show “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

‘Are you going to get angry about that? It’s fun,” Colbert said. “And honestly, it’s safer. If Bambi’s mother had those eyes, she might have seen that hunter coming.”

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Melanie Kebler, the mayor of Bend, posted the Colbert clip on social media and wrote in the caption that she wasn’t upset about the joke.

City officials say they never intended to be “heavy-handed” with their response, and they encourage the community “to engage with the arts and have fun,” Mitchell says. Associated pressClaire Rush.

“We just have to make sure we can protect it and that it doesn’t get damaged,” she adds.

Meanwhile, authorities in Boston voluntarily added googly eyes to the front of some subway trains earlier this year. A group of “transit enthusiasts” approached the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority with the idea, the AP“Steve LeBlanc.

“If we talked about it, it would be like finding Waldo,” Phillip Eng, the agency’s managing director and CEO, told the AP. “It gave us all a chance to laugh and for the people who use our service to have fun.”

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