Playing With Googly Eyes (8 Photos)

Eight times someone gave the street eyes.

Two eyes and a cookie turn a bin into Cookie Monster, while a crack turns concrete into Pac-Man. Four of the eight works are by Bulgarian artist Vanyu Krastev. Elsewhere, eyes appear on a stump beside the water, a giant evergreen, and Joe Halko’s bronze deer group.

More: See 17 Times Vanyu Krastev Gave the City Eyes

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🍪 Cookie Monster Bin — By Timm Schneider (Ich bin Kong) in Wiesbaden, Germany 🇩🇪

Part of Timm Schneider’s They Live series, this Wiesbaden bin becomes Cookie Monster with two oversized eyes and a cookie. The same photograph appears in a preview of Streetart in Germany, where the caption identifies Ich bin Kong as the artist, Wiesbaden as the city, and Schneider as the photographer.

💡 Nerd Fact: Schneider used styrofoam or ping-pong balls for the eyes and called his temporary public art an “urban intervention.”

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👀 Concrete Pac-Man — By Vanyu Krastev in Bulgaria 🇧🇬

Krastev’s archive lists this photograph as entry 52. The crack is the mouth; the round bollard does the rest.

💡 Nerd Fact: Krastev said he began after discovering an initiative by two Danish creators. A 2012 Core77 report identifies them as Kim Nielsen and Peter Dam, who coined the term eyebombing in late 2011.

🔗 Follow Vanyu Krastev on Instagram

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😟 Panic on a Rusty Pole — By Vanyu Krastev in Bulgaria 🇧🇬

This photograph is entry 79 in Krastev’s archive. A jagged corrosion hole supplies the open mouth; two uneven eyes make the pole look panicked.

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🌿 Mossy Face — By Vanyu Krastev in Bulgaria 🇧🇬

Krastev archived this as entry 49. The gnarled, moss-covered wood already had a brow, nose, and hunched posture. Krastev added two plastic eyes.

💡 Archive Fact: Krastev numbered the archive entries in sequence. He published entry 200 on February 8, 2021.

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🙂 Smiling Boarded-Up Window — By Vanyu Krastev in Bulgaria 🇧🇬

Krastev’s first archive entry shows two tiny eyes above an existing curved opening, giving the boarded-up window a broad smile.

💡 Artist Advice: In an archived Radio Bulgaria interview excerpt, Krastev’s advice included one memorable rule: “don’t stick eyes wherever there are ones already.”

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🌊 Waterside Tree-Stump Creature — By an Unknown Creator in an Unknown Location 🌍

A weathered stump beside the water has two oversized eyes, and its twisted roots look like limbs. The photograph appeared in a 2020 Reddit post, but neither the person who added the eyes nor the location was identified.

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🌲 Giant Inflatable Eyes — By Filthy Luker in an Unconfirmed Location 🌍

Filthy Luker’s official Inflatable Eyes gallery includes this photograph and a second view of the same evergreen, but neither image is captioned with a city. Filthy Luker and Pedro Estrellas have installed similar eyes on trees around the world.

💡 Nerd Fact: Pete Hamilton, who works as Pedro Estrellas, began making inflatable sculptures in 1994 after experimenting with a hair dryer and scrap hot-air-balloon cloth. Luke Egan, known as Filthy Luker, began collaborating with him in 1996. Around 2004, the pair started taking their sculptures into public space as street art, according to their studio history.

More: See 8 More Times Trees Became Art

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🦌 Big Ears — Sculpture by Joe Halko, Googly Eyes by Jeff Keith, in Bend, Oregon, USA 🇺🇸

The City of Bend shared this googly-eyed deer group in December 2024. Jeff Keith later told the Associated Press that he attached the eyes with duct tape. Art in Public Places identifies Joe Halko’s bronze group as Big Ears, installed in 2001 at the Simpson Avenue and 14th Street roundabout.

💡 Nerd Fact: Before becoming a full-time artist in 1976, Halko earned a biology degree and worked as a taxidermist.

More: See Fun With Statues (26 Photos)

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Which one is your favorite?