Raise your hand if the mere sight of a work of art (for example, that of Sam Durant drone sculpture on the Highline, or maybe a Jeff Koons”balloon dog“) has already unleashed so much uncontrollable rage and fury that you just had to run it over with your car. No? I can’t relate.
In a puzzling case of public art vandalism, police in Wilton Manors, Florida arrested a man earlier this week after surveillance footage showed him deliberately driving his car into a 14-foot-high blue rabbit sculpture feet in a local park.
Officers received calls shortly before noon Sunday, May 21 about a vandalized sculpture in Justin Flippen Park, according to the department. Press release. When officers arrived, witnesses described a driver who appeared to deliberately ram his car into the base of the statue.
Footage from nearby cameras backed up their claims when the grainy video showed a red vehicle driving off-road to crash into the shimmering blue sculpture. Shortly after the collision, footage shows the driver getting out of his car to inspect the front bumper, before reattaching an object that appears to have fallen off during impact, then driving off.
The damaged artwork, titled ‘Thunderbunny’ (2021), comprises 30,000 glass tiles on a metal base and is the work of Hunt Slonem, a multidisciplinary artist known for his vividly colored depictions of rabbits, butterflies and butterflies. tropical birds that have taken shape. in the form of large-scale paintings and sculptures.
hunt said Hyperallergic that he was “shocked” when he learned that his work had been vandalized.
“My hope was to uplift the world, and then it happened,” the artist said. It is not the first time that one of his works has been damaged due to unforeseen circumstances.
“I had a big mural at the World Trade Center that was destroyed when [the buildings] collapsed, which was terribly upsetting,” he said. Hyperallergic. “Things happen. We are not immune to a lot of unusual activity in this world.
As for the attacker, police say it didn’t take officers long to locate the vehicle responsible for the vandalism and its driver, Derek Alan Modrok, 49. As it turns out, this encounter wasn’t Modrok’s first vandalism offense. After being detained, Modrok admitted to other public damages, including tampering with the Justin Flippen Park sign on May 16 and toppling a popsicle artwork at Rachel Richardson Park on May 18.
Initially, local residents expressed concern that the motives for the vandalism were fueled by an anti-LGBTQ+ bias, as reported by the New Pelican. But when officers asked Modrok about his motivation behind the offences, he explained he was motivated by his dislike of the late mayor of Wilton Manors, Justin Flippen. Flip died suddenly in 2020 during his tenure when he suffered a brain aneurysm, according to a tribute page commemorating his legacy.
Modrok told officers that Flippen, for whom the park is named, was the reason for the “birds we hear”.
Police have charged Modrok with three counts of criminal mischief. He was later released, according to local reports.
hunt said Hyperallergic that while this event will not prevent him from continuing his artistic practice, he hopes that greater protection for public works of art will be put in place in the future.
“I know it’s hard. There’s never time or money. But I would just like to see more protections for public art and more public art. I think it’s a something positive and uplifting,” he said.
Hunt said damage to the sculpture is being assessed.
