Next month, googly eyes appeared on bits of common skill throughout Bend, Oregon. Individuals may rubberneck, befuddled and amused by figures of deer and other carvings that had been given an humorous, cross-eyed eye. The sight became a discomfort, except among irritated city officials, who paid for their treatment.
The identity of the person behind the antics, who became known as the Googly Eye Bandit, was unfamiliar. That is until Jeff Keith came forth to say role. Keith, 53, the founder of the Guardian Group, a nonprofit that aims to stop sexual trafficking in the US, claimed in mid-Dec he snuck into a circle and painted some wiggly eyes on some common art. ” Great Lips” by Joe Halko, a artwork depicting a community of deer, became googly-eyed- including the little calf between its family’s legs. ” If Bambi’s mom had had those eyes, maybe she’d have seen that hunter coming”, Stephen Colbert joked on” The Late Show”.
” I love making people smile”, Keith said in an interview on Saturday. ” Other people started playing.” I don’t give credit to all of them. That’s the cool part”. Placing the eyes around the city was a “release” from the nature of his work, he said, adding that he did not know who else joined the effort.
On statues around Bend, even more googly eyes appeared. Among other art installations, a six-foot sphere was brought to life and given a touch of whimsy and a red phoenix took on an air of bewilderment. While the pranks received a lot of attention, the city was given the task of getting rid of the eyes. While the city claimed on Instagram in December that “it costs money to remove them,” “while the googly eyes might make you laugh.” According to its spokeswoman, the city paid$ 1,500 to have the eyes removed while carefully preventing the art from being damaged.
Some online commentators expressed frustration with the city, saying that officials couldn’t take a joke and suggesting better uses for the city’s budget. Keith, who has lived in Bend for more than 20 years, claimed he went to the city’s offices and offered to pay for the cleanup, but he had not heard back. Bend’s city office is yet to comment about Keith’s offer and if it had identified him as the prankster.
