The Residents' gigantic eyeball 'Mr. Blue', worth $100,000, has been stolen

28 May 2015, 16:26 | Written by Laurence Day

(News)

(The Residents)

Avante-garde pioneers The Residents, whose identities remain shrouded in mystery to this day, are missing a giant top hat-wearing eyeball.

Its name is 'Mr. Blue', and it's worth about $100,000. A rare photograph was also stolen, which is reportedly worth $20,000. Both items were on loan to museums as part of the Spectacle: The Music Video exhibition; when they were due to be returned, the recipient - the band's co-manager Homer Flynn - was not at home.

Speaking to NBC, Flynn said: “My best guess is that FedEx left it on the landing of my building and someone took it. I seriously doubt that they knew what was in the shipping box... at this point FedEx still claims to have made the delivery which was signed for, but the signature is ‘B Ham’. There’s no one with that name in my building and subsequent emails have indicated that no one was here when FedEx claims to have made the delivery.”

This is the second time someone has stolen one of The Residents' giant eyeballs, with 'Mr. Red' being pinched and irrepairably damaged on Boxing Day 1985.

The Louisiana band are one of art-rock's biggest legends, having released approximately 60 records in their career. They are known for exploring various media (including pioneering CD-ROM technology in music), and have garnered a reputation for complex experiments in both standard and non-standard music.

[via The Guardian]