Whether you consider them a landmark or an eyesore, there’s one thing for certain: The painted mannequin legs that stood proudly on the roof of The Center are no longer there.
Randy Stephens, interim executive director of The Center, said he snapped a photo of the legs on June 3 then noticed they were gone on June 9, so they disappeared on or close to Gay Days weekend. Stephens file a report with the Orlando Police Department, which is classifying the case as a commercial burglary and has no suspects.
The legs were installed in June of 2009 to promote artist M. Scott Morgan’s art show made up of recycled mannequins. The sculptures are valued at $900.
Stephens said the structures supporting the legs are still attached, and they can tell the thief climbed a tree to get to them based on broken branches found by the side of the building.
“If they’re displaying it in their home, eventually someone is going to notice,” Stephens said.
He said there are security camera tapes but they haven’t been reviewed yet.
Some may speculate that there’s a pattern of vandalism, as hateful anti-gay messaged were spray painted on the building in November of 2009, but Stephens doesn’t think that’s the case.
“This isn’t vandalism, it’s theft, and we don’t see this as any kind of hate message,” he said. “We can’t call everything that happens here a hate crime; sometimes it’s mischievous.”
He said reactions to the missing art have been mixed.
“There have been people who walked in and said, ‘Oh thank goodness, you took the legs down,’” he said. “Others have said ‘Oh my gosh, what happened to the legs?!’”
