Six of Bend’s roundabout sculptures have been defaced by someone who appears to be strategically placing oversized googly-eyes in humorous locations across the city.

Pictures of the six artworks with googly-eyes placed on them have been circulated over media the last couple months with largely positive reactions, but Art in Public Places Board President Romy Mortensen said the damage isn’t worth the laughs.

“Some of them come off easier, but some have quite a bit of adhesive that is now adhering to the metal, so you can’t just pull them off,” Mortensen said “You have to use different solvents and chemicals that remove the adhesive glue that also doesn’t damage the metal underneath.”

Googly-eyes are stick-on plastic novelty eyes with a free-moving black pupil in a white disk with a transparent top.

So far, the sculptures that have been tagged are:

• “Three Rising” at SE Reed Market Road and SE 15th Street

• “Crossroads” at SW Colorado Avenue and SW Columbia Street

• “Atilt, Sundra and Garden Gate” at NW Newport Avenue and NW 14th Street

• “Big Ears” at SW Century Drive and SW Simpson Avenue

• “Might of the Workforce” at NE Eighth Street and NE Butler Market Road and

• “Orb 1” at Skyliners Road and NW Mt. Washington Drive.

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This ocular “art bombing” joins other instances of adding seasonal or humorous decor to roundabout sculptures in Bend. “Grizzly,” a bear sculpture at NE Franklin Avenue and NE Eighth Street, has been adorned with a roll of bathroom tissue, a nod to its seated position. A logger statue on Reed Market Road near Farewell Bend Park is routinely dressed in holiday garb around Christmas, or a patriotic bikini around Fourth of July. And “Redsides,” a colorful school of trout at Colorado and Simpson, has been “knit-bombed” with yarn.

Typically, the city of Bend works to quickly address roundabout vandalism if it presents an immediate safety issue or is offensive, said Jacob Larsen, communications manger with the city of Bend, but for major repairs the city works with Art in Public Places to make sure removal doesn’t damage the artwork.

Larsen agreed that the roundabout vandalism does more harm than good, putting a burden on workers with already limited time.

“City staff who respond to make repairs to roundabout art are taken away from performing core duties for the community, such as street sweeping, snow plowing and pothole repairs,” Larsen said.

The city owns the sculptures, but they are commissioned by Art in Public Places, which donates them to the city. The sculptures are funded by the Bend Foundation.

Mortensen said the damage to some sculptures is enough that Art in Public Places has had to bring in a conservator to address the googly-eye issue. This is the same conservator, she said, who had to previously perform work on a roundabout sculpture that was damaged by pineapple juice.

“We can tolerate the occasional sweater or holiday attire, but when we’re getting into acidic fruits and vegetables, the (googly-eye) adhesive or even just outright graffiti, that’s a whole other level we haven’t seen before,” Mortensen said.

Recently, Mortensen has noticed an uptick in Bend of “art bombing,” when someone places or alters art in a public place.

Things like Santa hats and sports team T-shirts are largely harmless Mortensen said, and typically get taken down within a couple weeks without any interference from Art in Public Places or the city. That doesn’t mean these nondamaging examples aren’t dangerous though. Someone could fall climbing onto a sculpture, she said, or damage the landscaping inside the roundabout.

Mortensen doesn’t believe the googly-eye perpetrator means any harm, but requests that the person finds a different way to engage with the sculptures.

“We appreciate their interest, but we’d like them to recognize that it’s damaging the art, which I don’t believe was their intention. Googly-eyes make everybody giggle. It’s funny, but at the end of the day it’s damaging and that costs the taxpayers money to have that fixed.”