Three thieves came at 4am on September 11, in a truck beep-beep-beeping its way into a laneway off Sydney Road in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Brunswick. Their target: a statue in the centre of the Barkly Square shopping centre. The angle-grinders came out, sending sparks arcing across the tiles; six clean cuts to the support struts, flush to the ground. A crane on the back of the truck lifted the statue, and then it was gone.
The world is full of statues – and thieves, for that matter – but there was something particularly brazen about this incident, because we are not dealing with a bland piece of public art. The prey was a lifesize, humanoid bronze bear, wearing thick-rimmed glasses, a checked shirt, trendily-cuffed trousers and brogues, with a five-string acoustic guitar slung across its back. He’s on a to-scale bronze tandem, because of course he is, with a seat spare at the back for whatever passengers might want to hop on for a ride. He’s also a local icon with a name: Sparkly Bear.
Sparkly Bear is a statue by world-famous artists Gillie and Marc – a collaborative couple who have produced hundreds of works of public art, and are best known for their Dogman and Rabbitwoman series. Often the protagonists of their work are a hybrid of animals and humans (Sparkly falls into this category); for the artists it’s a way of promoting conservation causes they believe in and sharing a sense of childlike wonder.
In that sense, Sparkly Bear seems to have achieved his brief; since installation a few years back, children and adults alike have clambered onto the spare seat, buffing it golden. He is “the spirit of Brunswick”, as one sad local put it in a Facebook thread mourning his theft.
So why was he taken?
The most likely hypothesis is that someone saw a big lump of raw materials. At more than two metres long and almost as high, that’s a lot of bronze, although according to one supplier Escape Collective spoke to, it’s not an overly desirable theft target; their best hypothesis was that it might be melted down for ingots (the current scrap price in Australia is around $7 a kilo). And then there’s the value of the art: the statue at the time of installation cost $60,000 – that’s the fee paid to the artist, rather than the bronze alone.
But it’s a big and distinctive statue, and Sparkly Bear seems well-enough known – and has enough media heat following him – that it seems a long shot he’ll turn up in public again. CBRE Australia – managers of Barkly Square and as such, owners of Sparkly – have been told by the police that it’s “highly unlikely that Sparkly will be returned,” putting his likely fate in a scrapyard somewhere.
Gillie and Marc, for their part, are holding out hope for a different outcome. “It’s difficult to say for certain, but we like to believe that the sculpture was taken for its artistic value rather than the raw materials,” the artists told Escape Collective. “Sparkly Bear was created to bring joy and connection to the community, so it would be heartbreaking to think it was taken simply for its materials. We hope that whoever has it recognises its significance and the emotional value it holds for the people who have connected with it.”
The case is still under investigation, but inasmuch as the Police has shared with Escape Collective, the trail went cold soon after Sparkly’s violent removal: according to a police statement, the truck and its cargo turned towards Barkly Street, before the vehicle was later recovered by police in the western suburb of Deer Park (sans Sparkly). Requests for CCTV footage or any images from the aftermath were declined due to the ongoing investigation. But Melbourne is a big city and there are many places to hide a big bronze bear on a tandem bike, especially if he no longer holds that form. Sparkly’s last ride has likely already met a permanent end.
If that is the case, the memory of what he represented lives on. There’s a whimsy to the statue and heart-on-sleeve quality to it which may not have resonated with everyone, but for the artists – even after all these commissions around the world – Sparkly is remembered as an important piece. “We wanted to bring [a] sense of wildness and wonder into an urban setting, reminding people of the beauty and importance of wildlife, even in our everyday lives,” Gillie and Marc explained.
Situated in a sunny laneway off Sydney Road, between Mexican and Vietnamese takeaways, Sparkly did that for the people who walked by him or observed him as they ate their rice paper rolls and burritos. “We felt a special joy creating this piece, knowing it would spark conversations about nature and our relationship with animals … it’s heartbreaking to think it may no longer fulfil that role,” they continued. “However, we still believe Sparkly has touched hearts, and we remain hopeful it will continue to inspire people, even in its absence.”
Looking through Gillie and Marc’s portfolio, I realised something: the recurring motif of a bicycle across many of their works, being ridden by Dogman and Rabbitwoman and many other animals. One of their largest recent exhibits, “A Wild Life for Wildlife”, includes a sculpture of a vast multi-seat tandem bike. A rhino steers the bike, with a giraffe, zebra, lion, monkey, Dogman, Rabbitwoman, gorilla, hippo, and elephant trailing behind. As much as bronze animal sculptures can look happy, these ones do. Can’t blame them: it makes me want to jump into the vacant seat between Rabbitwoman and the gorilla and join the party.
The artists feel like they understand something about bikes, and it feels like there’s a reason Sparkly Bear is – or was – riding one in Barkly Square, building relationships with all the shoppers that passed him by. Sure enough: “the bicycle, especially the tandem, has become a recurring symbol in our work because it represents partnership, teamwork, and the journey of life,” Gillie and Marc explained. “Riding a tandem requires trust and balance, just like relationships. For us, it’s a metaphor for the way we navigate the world together – whether that’s in art, life, or love.”
Did we do a good job with this story?