The City of Vancouver says it will remove an unsanctioned sculpture of a giant spider in East Vancouver that’s been generating plenty of attention.
The piece, by Montreal artist Junko, is located under a City of Vancouver overpass near Broadway and Victoria, and can be seen from the SkyTrain Millennium Line.
The artist posted a photo of the sculpture, titled Phobia, to their Instagram account last week with the caption, “Time to face our fears.”
In a statement, the city said it was alerted to the statue last week, and has received complaints from the public asking for it to be removed.
“Since then, the City has been working with its partners to discuss the best path forward for the removal, to ensure there is no damage to the bridge structure and that the removal is done safely with minimal service level impacts to the adjacent rail lines,” the statement reads.
“The removal of the unsanctioned artwork will follow City’s impoundment process and the owner will have the ability to claim the piece via that process.”
The city said it did not have a cost estimate for the removal.
The guerilla installation — and subsequent city removal — echoes a similar incident in 2014 in a nearby part of East Vancouver.
In that case, an anonymous artist erected a large, red, naked and anatomically complete statue of Satan from a small park area on Clark Drive at Grandview Highway.
That unsanctioned statue was also fully visible from the SkyTrain and caused a social media stir, before city crews moved in to remove it the day it appeared.
With files from Jennifer Palma