Last October’s crown jewelry heist at the famed Louvre Museum in Paris rocked the art world. But it turns out, downtown Eugene has seen its own share of art theft in recent months.
Throughout 2025, the New Zone Gallery and more than two dozen local artists launched the “Parking Meter Art Repair Project.” Roughly 250 tiny masterpieces were installed in old vandalized parking meters as a form of “guerilla art,” intended to beautify defunct eyesores.
But now, quite a few have either been vandalized or completely disappeared, including one for KLCC that featured a radio, microphone, and distinctive tower complete with transmission circles.
Judd Turner, a Eugene sculptor who worked on the project, said it speaks to the impermanence of things, a Buddhist principle he follows…