A public art project called “Centered” has run into some unforeseen delays, stalling the project that was supposed to be finished by now.

In fact, two pieces were destroyed by vandals. 

A lot of the sculptures in the art project have popped up around town on street medians.  Installation of the art pieces began last October, and it’s near completion.

The colorful head of a jaguar brightens up the drive along McLeod, just north of Desert Inn, and just down the street from that piece of art, there’s a steel octopus sitting right median.

The public art project is the first its kind in Clark County.

“I think some of it is a little bit ludicrous, shall we say,” according to Scott Meek, resident who has mixed feelings about the art project.  “I think I like that word there. But some of it is in good taste, adds to the looks of the place.

A total of 10 installations were expected to be completed by now, but a piece near Eastern and Serene was pushed back a few months due to road construction.  Another one in North Las Vegas will be finished by the end of the week.

The project got off to a rocky start one art piece was vandalized when someone stole the golden lion with red eyes and smashed thee pink crocodiles surrounding it. The art piece was repaired, but then a crocodile was stolen. 

However, Clark County is not as concerned with the thieves as much as it’s concerned with drivers.  Especially, after a piece called ‘Anthropos’ near Decatur and the 215 was destroyed beyond repair after a driver jumped the median.

“I drive a taxi, so nothing surprises me out here,” Lou Rago said.

A second sculpture met a similar fate near Pecos and Las Vegas Boulevard when it was crushed by a car.  The art is being repaired, and it will be moved to the Walnut Community Center nearby.

“People seem to have more trouble controlling their automobiles than I thought they would when we started this sort of thing,” Patrick Gaffey, a Cultural Program Supervisor of Clark County said.

While drivers have been responsible for irreversible damage to some of the art pieces, Clark County has a part-time employee who cleans up any tagging and vandalism to keep public art in tip-top shape.

“I think it’s a shame,” said Donald Walsh who enjoys Public Art.
“They spend money to make the city look beautiful and then people do things to it to make it look bad.”
   
For protection, all of the pieces have a coating that makes it easier to remove graffiti without causing any damage to the art.